Tobias George Smollett (1721-1771) was a Scottish poet and author. He was best known for his picaresque novels, such as The Adventures of Roderick Random (1748) and The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (1751), which influenced later novelists such as Charles Dickens. The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom was Smollett's third novel; its central character is a villainous dandy who cheats, swindles and philanders his way across Europe and England with little concern for the law or the welfare of others.