Tobias George Smollett

Tobias George Smollett (1721-1771), Scottish novelist, was born in Dalquhurn, Dumbarton County Scotland. Smollett was born beneath a plane tree at Dalquharn House on the family estate of Bon hill in the Vale of Leven, near the village of Renton, Dumbartonshire. At fourteen Smollett was apprenticed to a Glasgow doctor. He studied medicine at Glasgow University and moved to London in 1740. He was a ship's surgeon in the Carragena expedition against the Spanish in the …

…a brass handle girded on his thigh by a tarnished laced belt, and a good oak plant under his arm. I picked this paragraph because here Smollett is describing the hero of the story Roderick Random. I believe it is important to have a brief if not full description of characters, so that you can imagine seeing them maybe even being there, in your mind, while they are doing what is described in the book.