Tobias Smollett, a Scottish author, wrote the picaresque novel The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, which was first published in 1751 and then amended and republished in 1758. It chronicles the fortunes and misfortunes of an arrogant man, Peregrine, during the height of 18th-century European society. Smollett's satire on human cruelty, stupidity, and greed is based on Peregrine's rich life experiences, which include his upbringing, education at Oxford, travels to France, time spent in prison at the Fleet, and unexpected heirship to his father's fortune before his final conversion and marriage to his beloved Emilia.