The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom, Smollett's third novel, was given to the world in 1753.

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, writing to her daughter, the Countess of Bute, over a year later [January 1st, 1755], remarked that "my friend Smollett.

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has certainly a talent for invention, though I think it flags a little in his last work." Lady Mary was both right and wrong.