John Galt was born in Irvine, Ayrshire on the 2nd of May. Growing up he recieved his education in Irvine and Greenock. Galt began to study law at Lincoln's Inn, London. In 1809 he set out on a tour of three years to southern Europe and the Mediterranean. During his tour he was accompanied by George Gordon, Lord Byron, whom he later wrote a biography about. In the following years Galt had a total of 40 publications, from novels to art critisism, until his death in 1839. Galt's novels generally invole the important concerns of his times, and they are important as contributions to the development of the realistic Scottish novel, enhanced by local color derived from minute details of village life day-to-day and a generous use of vernacular speech (Mudge 104-114). Galts characters are very unique. They do not show the slightest resemblance to heroes or heriones. The method he used to write strictly excluded the centralization of interest on the description and action of lovers (Dublin University Magazine). To many authors lovers are useful to them when writing, but Galt saw them as hindrances to his art. His men and women are turthful men and women, surrounded in all their natural life-like manners and actions, with simple incidents (Dublin University Magazine). Some argue that his male characters are reflections of each other in every book just placing them in different situations. Galt based his characters on the successes and failures of man and show that he deeply studied the selfishness man possesses. The main characters in Galt's novels have family oriented qualities and the one goal of making money any possible way. Although Galt does not glorify success, he works with those who strive after it and attain it; but he finds, mirth and humor in the race after wealth (Dublin University Magazine). All of his characters possess qualities the characteristics of reality. Those of which cause the reader's feelings to shift from one character to another as the story progresses. If Galts genius was not wide but confined in its range of characters, it was, at least minute and complete (Dublin University Magazine). Galt was considered the have a lack of artistry. His novels were said to have an uneven quality due to their subject matter and Scottish dailect. However Galt did provide a basis for a deeper understanding and lasting appreciation of his novels in a system he called "theoretical history" (Greenfield 116-121). Galt argued against the importance of a plot. He stressed unity of place through his fictive "theoretical histories" (Mudge 104-114). In The Provist, he used "theoretical history" to base the story in a Scottish town that was very similar to his birthplace of Irvine. He also used this system when writing a group of tales called "Tales of the West" to put them in the area of Scotland bounded by the Clyde River and the towns of Irvine, Greenock, and Glasgow. His system of "theoretical history" applied to his characters as well. In The Provist, the main character was based on Ballie Fullarton who ran the town council when Galt was a boy. The actions that take place during the story reflect some that occured in Galts childhood.