'
Armstrong 89 Armstrong
ARMSTRONG, ARCHIBALD {d. 1 672), ruly speeches, the king treated Archie with jester at the courts of James I and Charles I, increasiuj^ favour, and he not only gained commonly called Akchie, was born of Scotch ^reat social distinction, but amassed a large parents either at Arthuret in Cumberland fortune. On 16 May 1611 he was panted a (Lysons, Magna Britannia, iv. 13) or at pension of two shillings a day during plea- Langholm in Roxburghshire (Stakk, Bio- sure, which a month later was re-granted yraphia Scotica). After gaining a widespread for life, and almost every year James pre- reputation, according to a well-known tra- sented him with an elaborate uniform. On dition, as a dexterous sheep-stealer in the 20 Aug. 1618 a patent for making tobacco- neighbourhood of Eskdale {Minstrelsy of the pipes was secured to him, and rich presents iScottish Border, iii. 479), he was attached at were frequently made him by the king's an early age to the household of James VI friends and suitors. In May 1617, when of Scotland. On his accession to the English James was hunting near Aberdeen, he was throne, Armstrong accompanied the king, admitted, with other royal attendants, to and, dui'ing the first yeai's of his reign in Eng- the freedom of the city, and was given ' one
' land, he took a regular part in the fooleries Portugall ducat ' {Keith-Mmray MSS., Hist. which the master of the revels prepared each MSS. Com. Rep. iii. 409), and the boroughs evening for James's amusement, but the per- of Coventry and Nottingham honoured him formances recorded of him consisted mainly with gifts of apparel and money when he of the roughest horseplay (Weldon, Cou?'t was visiting those towns in attendance on of King James, p. 92). The king, however, the king (Nichols's Progresses of Jam^ I, evinced a strong attachment for Armstrong, iii. 430-1, 711). The important place that who was characteristically Scotch, and, mak- Armstrong held in court society at the time ing him his official court jester, gave him a is further attested by John Taylor, the water permanent place among his personal attend- poet, who dedicated, in 1021, his 'Praise, ants. Antiquity, and Commodity of Beggary,' to Armstrong rapidly took advantage of the ' the bright eye-dazeling mirrour of mirth, influence he acquired at the Englisli court to adelantado of alacrity, the ])ump of pastime, treat his I'oyal master and the noblemen in spout of sport, and regent of ridiculous con- his service with the utmost freedom and fa- fabulations, Archibald Armestrong, alias the miliarity, and he was repeatedly the cause of court Archy.' The dedicatory epistle speaks petty imbroglios. The story is told that on in no complimentary terms of Armstrong's one occasion before 1612, when the king was avarice and of his nimbleness of tongue,
staying with a large company at Newmarket, which makes ' other men's money rimne into
Armstrong raised a childish quarrel between your purse ; ' it is, therefore, significant that James and his eldest son, Henry, by ascribing in the collected edition of Taylor's poems, to the prince a greater popularity than his published in 1630, the epistle was suppressed father commanded in the country, and the (Hazlitt, Prefaces, Dedications, Epistles, prince's friends revenged themselves upon the selected from Early English Books, 1874). fool's impudent officiousness by tossing him In 1623 Armstrong reached the zenith of ' every night they could meet him in a blanket his public career. Although he condemned like a dog.' Sir Henry Wotton describes an the Spanish match with his customary di- elaborate contest 'at tilt, torny, and on foot,' rectness of speech (Neal, Hist, of Puritans, that took place in London in 1613 ' before ii. 122), he Avas included at his own desire in «<^ieir Maiesties,' between * Archy and a the retinue of Prince Charles and Buckingham famous knight called Sir Thomas Persons,' on their famous visit to Spain. An ' extra-
whom the fool had insulted (Iteliquiee Wot- ordinarie rich coate ' for Archie holds an im- toniance, ed. 1685, p. 406). On another oc- portant place in the wardrobe accounts of the casion (9 April 1616) Armstrong addressed expedition {Denbigh MSS., Hist. MSS. Com. a boldly familiar letter to the Earl of Cum- Rep. vii. 2246), and just before setting out berland, lord lieutenant of several northern he created much consternation among 'the counties, peremptorily demanding a vacant privy-chamber gentlemen,' who complained
' office for my cozen, .tohn Woollsen ' {Dart- bitterly of the favours bestowed on him, by
mouth MSS., Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. ii. 19«). asking permission to take a servant to wait Similarly, in September 1619, when the upon him. While in Spain, Armstrong be- king was being meanly entertained by the haved Avitli un])recedented arrogance. He Earl of Northampton, avIio had recently been soon ingi-atiated himself with the royal family promoted in the peerage, Armstrong openly at Madrid, and in a letter to James I, dated called James's attention to the small account 28 April 1623, he wrote that the King of Spain
< the earl made of him ' now that ' he had got received him in audience when neither 'men what he wanted.' But in spite of his un- of your own nor your son's men can come Armstrong 90 Armstrong
nere of him' {Addit. MSS. 19402, f. 79). three kings is gone ; ' from the same source According to his own account Philip IV Ave learn that Armstrong Avas married, and granted him a pension of which he received that a son had just been born to him whom
' in 1631 the arrearages amounting to 1,500^.' he named Philip for the ' King of Spain's sake,' {Authentic Documents of time of Charles I, and Avhose godparents comprised five of the ii. 104), and we know that Olivarez, the prime highest officials and peeresses in the state. But minister, gaA^e him a 'rich suit.' James Armstrong's fall was not far distant. With Howell {Letters, p. 136), Avriting from Madrid Archbishop Laud he was, as Avith Bucking- (10 July 162.3), says that ' our cousin Archie ham, ncAcr on good terms. The fool openly hath more privilege tlian any,' and that ridiculed his religious and political principles, he was often invited to amuse the Infanta in and a quarrel betAveen them lingered on for her private chamber, and one day twitted her many years. On one occasion Armstrong, with the defeat of the Armada. To his Eng- having obtained permission to say grace at lish companions he made himself rejjeatedly Whitehall in Laud's presence, blurted out obnoxious. Sir Tobie MattheAv, one of Prince ' Great praise be given to God, and little laud Charles's attendants, unable to endure his to the devil.' The archbishop was at first un- blunt taunts, quaiTelled openly with him able to obtain any redress ; his enemies rallied one day at a public dinner, and before the round Armstrong, and the fool continued with embassy left Madrid he came to very liigh impunity to ' belch in his face such miscar- words with Buckingham. He ' dared to speak riages as he Avas really guilty of.' But on his opinion to the duke,' says Fray Francisco, the Marquis of Hamilton's return from Scot- the author of ' the Narrative of the Spanish land in 1637 AA'ith the news of the rebellion Marriage' (published for Camden Soc. p. 252), at Stirling in opposition to Laud's neAV * with all the force of truth, blaming severely litiu-gy, the fool, after many expressions of the manner in which the whole negotiation disapproA'al of the Scotch policy, Avent a step had been carried on without consistency or too far. Meeting the archbishop as he was truthfulness.' Buckingham, unable to silence entering the council chamber at Whitehall
Armstrong, threatened to have him hanged, on 11 March 1636-7, he shouted out, ' Whoe's and ' the fool replied in a way worthy of one feule now ? Does not your grace hear the " of better sense : No one has ever heard of a news from StriAeling? ' Laud at once brought fool being threatened for talking, but many the matter before the council, at which the dukes have been beheaded for their inso- king and many noblemen Avere present, and lence," ' On his return to England, Arm- Armstrong was condemned ' to haAC his coat strong's continued attacks upon the Spanish pulled OAer his head and be dischai'ged the match and upon Buckingham rendered him king's serA'ice and banished the king's court.' highly popular. Ben Jonson made more or Armstrong pleaded in vain the privilege of less complimentary references to 'the princi- his office ; the order Avas summarily exe- pal fool of state ' in a masque prepared for the cuted, and the post of court-jester aa^is imme- court revels on Twelfth Night 1623-4, in the diately filled up. According to some ac- 'Staple of News ' (iii. 1), written in 1625, counts Laud endeavoured to bring the fool
' and in his Discoveries ' (vii. 80), and Bishop before the Star Chamber, and the mediation
' Corbet in his Poems ' (p. 68) spoke of the of the queen alone preA^ented the success of clamorous applause and laughter provoked this attempt. by ' salt Archy.' For some years after his disgrace Arm- On the accession of Charles I Armstrong strong remained in London. He Avas seen retained his office, and, being permitted as on one occasion walking disconsolately about much license as before, wielded for a time AVestminster Abbey, dressed in black like a no little political power. A petition fi-om priest, a disguise in which, he said, he could William Beloe, a Danish pensioner of the speak Avith impunity whatever scandal he king's mother, shows how jealously he was pleased. But his AA'ealth had enabled him to regarded by the other attendants at court. become a large creditor, and he spent much Beloe states, that the king had given so special of his time in mercilessly distraining on his a direction for the payment of Archie's enter- debtors. Many petitions to the priAy council tainment, that he was better off than in the and the House of Lords complain of the sharj) late king's time; andanother petition of a later practices he employed to obtain the repayment date tells us that Charles I gave Armstrong of his loans, and from 1638 to 1642 a law- an estate of 1,000 acres in Ireland. In a suit Avas pending betAveen him and the Dean letter of much political interest addressed at of York Avith regard to 200/. alleged to be the end of the year 1628 to the Earl of Carlisle, due to him from tlie latter, and Ijaud inter- Archie boldly writes in reference to the murder A'ened in the clergyman's behalf. One at- of Buckingham, that ' the greatest enemy of tempt Armsti'ong made to rcA'enge himself : ;
Armstrong 91 Armstrong
on the archbishop. In i. 1641, on Laud's arrest Days, pp. 181-5); Gent. Mag. xci. part ii., by the order of the ciii. ii. commons, lie published a part ; Thoms's Anecdotes and Traditions small pamphlet entitled 'Archy's Dreams, (Camden Soc.), p. 67; Nares's Glos.siry (ed. sometimes Jester to his Majestie; but exiled Halliwell and Wright), i. 31.] S. L. L. the Court by Canterburies malice. With a relation for whom an odde chaire stood wide ARMSTRONG, COSMO (Jl. 1800- in Hell.' JNIany instances of Laud's tyran- 1836), line-engraver, was a pupil of Thomas nical cruelty are here adduced, and Ann- Milton, the landscape-engraver. He w^as a strong confidently consigns him to hell, to oin governor of the Society of Engravers, and j I * blind he exhibited with the Bonner and AVoolsey,' whom he intro- \ Associated Engi-avers duces ' dancing a galliard.' Almost imme- in 1821. He engraved some plates for
I diately afterwards Armstrong apparently re- Cooke's edition of the British Poets, Sharpe's I
tired to Arthuret in Cumberland, where, ! edition of the British Classics, Kearsley's according to a reference to him in a poem edition of Shakespeare, Suttaby's edition of I on a local topic published in 165(j, he became the British Classics, Allason's ' Picturesque a considerable landowner (Fatal Nuptials, or Views of the Antiquities of Pola,' 1819, and
the ' Ancient Marbles in the Mournful Marriage ; London Magazine, x. the British Museum.' 287, 408). In the parish register of Arthuret Among his other works may be noticed there are entries of the baptism of ' a base ' Camaralzaman and Badoura' and 'The son' of Archibald Armstrong on 17 Dec. Sleeper awakened,' after Robert Smirke, for Miller's edition of ' 1643 ; of his marriage, probably for the second the Arabian Nights,' pub- lished in 1802 ' time, with Sybella Bell on 4 June 1646; ; Don Quixote's Combat with the Giant Malumbruno,' also after and of his burial 1 April 1672 ; but no me- Smirke, for morial of him in the churchyard survives. Cadell's edition of ' Don Quixote,' issued in Besides the pamphlet asci'ibed to him 1818 ; and small portraits of Michelangelo, above, he is credited with the authorship of Shakespeare, Charles I., after Van Dyck, Lord
' Byron, after Phillips, A Banquet of lests : a Change of Cheare. Thomas and George IV, Being a collection of modern lests, Witty after Sir Thomas Lawrence. Cosmo Arm- leeres, Pleasaunt Taunts, Merry Tales,' the strong possessed much power of execution, first edition of which was published in 1630. but was too irregular in his application and A portrait of Armstrong forms the fronti- too eccentric in character to take the rank in spiece, with the verses inscribed beloAv his profession that he might otherwise have done. He was still living in 1836. Archee, by kings and princes graced of late, Jested himself into a fair estate. [Raimbach's Memoirs and Recollections, 1843,
p. 36 ; Redgrave's Dictionary of Artists of the After the book had passed through three English School, 1878.] R, E. G-. editions, a second part was added in 1633, and a fifth edition of the whole work ap- ARMSTRONG, EDMUND JOHN (1841 peared in 1639. Only a few of the jokes -1865), a poet who died in early manhood, have any claim to originality ; the majority was born in Dublin 23 July 1841. As a boy are to be found in previous collections. In he was distinguished by his adventurous 1660 there was published in London, * A spirit, romantic temper united with humour choice Banquet of Witty Jests, Rare Fan- and love of frolic, and his passionate delight in cies, and Pleasant Novels. Fitted for all the music and literature. Long rambles among Lovers of Wit, Mirth, and Eloquence. Being the Dublin and W^icklow mountains gave in- an addition to Arcliee's Jests, taken out of spiration and colour to his verse. At the age of his Closet ; but never published in his Life- 17-18 his religious faith yielded before turbu- lent time.' But the appearance of Armstrong's moods of scepticism ; a disappointment name on the title-page was probably a book- in love added to the gloom of this period. seller's device; the fact that he was still In 1859 he entered Trinity College, Dublin, alive in Cumberland is a certain proof that distinguishing himself highly by his compo- he was in no way connected with the publi- sitions in Greek and Latin verse. Immode- cation of the work. rate work and intellectual excitement in the spring of 1860 were followed by severe ill- [Lysons's Magna Britannia, iv. 13; Calendars ness ; a blood-vessel in the lung was burst, of State Papers from 1611 to 1639; Strafford ii. and the lung seriously injured. A summer Papers, 133 ; Osborne, Memorialls of King James in his of convalescence was passed in Wicklow, Works (1682), p. 474 ; Rushworth, it possible to trace Historical Collections, part 2, vol. i. pp. 470-1 and then he found back House of Lords Journal, v. h, his way towards christian beliefs. He win- 372 433 a ; Doran's History of Court Fools, pp. 196 et seq. (with the tered, 1860-61, in Jersey—a joyous and fruit- supplementary chapter in Chambers's Book of ful season for him, during which much was '
Armstrong 92 Armstrong seen, felt, and thought. Here began a long cluding essays on Coleridge, Shelley, Goethe's correspondence on religious questions with a Mephistopheles, E. A. Poe, Essayists and friend as yet unseen, Mr. G. A. Chadwick. Essay-writing, Brittany, he left Jersey reluctantly in mid- Armstrong ' (1877), a portrait is given. An summer 1861, and spent the warmer months article on Armstrong, by Sir Henry Taylor, of the year in Ireland. On the approach of appeared in the ' Edinburgh Review,' July ] winter he again resorted to Jersey, now ' 1878. accompanied by a younger brother, G. F. i [Memoir as above ; personal knowledge.] Armstrong (since professor of English lite- E. D. rature. Queen's College, Cork). In April 1862 , the brothers started for Xormandy, thence ARMSTRONG, GEORGE, M.D. {Jl. I visited Paris, and once more returned to 1767), brother of John Armstrong, the poet, Jersey, to bid it a final farewell. Armstrong after practising pharmacy at Hampstead, had now sufficiently recovered to accept a qualified himself as a physician, removed to tutorship in the north of Ireland. During his London, and established in 1769 a dispen- vacation (summer of 1862) he walked much sary, supported by contributions, for the re- among the Wicklow mountains, and was en- lief of poor children. This beneficent in- ' gaged in writing his poems, ' The Dargle stitution continued to exist for more than and ' Glandalough.' In October 1862, now twelve years, and it was calculated that looking forward to the clerical profession, he not less than 35,000 children were relieved continued his college course. In April 1863 during that time. But it met with small he read before the Undergraduate Philoso- pecuniary support, and in December 1781 its phical Society an essay on Shelley, designed career of usefulness was closed. In 1767 he partly as a recantation of his earlier anti- published an ' Essay on the Diseases most christian opinions. In May of the same fatal to Infants ;' a second edition appeared year he was rapidly producing his longest in 1771, and a third edition, dedicated to poem, ' The Prisoner of Mount Saint Michael,' Queen Charlotte, in 1777. An enlarged a romantic tale of passion and crime in edition appeared in 1808, edited by A. P. blank verse, the landscape and local colour Buchan, M.D. To the third edition was ap- having been furnished by Armstrong's wan- pended ' A General Account of the Dispen- derings in France. This was followed by the sary for the Infant Poor,' which had been idyllic poem ' Ovoca,' partly dramatic, partly printed, in a shorter form, in 1772. Arm- narrative in form. In October 1863 he came strong claimed that * no charitable institu- into residence at Trinity College, Dublin, tion was ever established whereby so much and attracted much attention by speeches good has been done, or so many lives saved delivered before the Historical Society, and at so small an expense,' as by the dispensary essays read before the Undergraduate Philo- he had founded. He dwells with emphasis sophical Society. Of this latter society he on the fact that it was the only institution was elected president, and in October 1864 where children were received ' Avithout any delivered his opening address, * On Essajdsts letters of admission, provided the parents and Essay-wi'iting.' In the winter his liealth are really indigent, the case dangerous, and broke down, and he went to reside at Kings- requiring speedy relief.' The date of his town, where, after an illness of several weeks, death is unknown. In ' Rees's Cyclopaedia he died, 24 Feb. 1865. He was buried at he is said to have died ' in obscurity.' He Monkstown, co. Dublin. As a memorial of left three daughters (to whom their imcle his genius, his college and other friends pub- had bequeathed his property) and a widow. lished the volume ' Poems by the late Ed- [Kees's Cyclopaedia; Works.] A. H. B. mund J. Armstrong ' (Moxon, 1865). It in- cludes the two longer poems named above, ARMSTRONG, JAMES, D.D. (1780- with many lyrical pieces which show much 1839), Irish unitarian minister, born in 1780 ardour of imagination and mastery of verse. at Ballynahinch, county Down, was the son A short memoir by Mr. Chadwick is pre- of John Armstrong, who married a daughter fixed. His poems appeared in a new edition, of Rev. John Strong, for thirty-six years with many added pieces, edited by G. F. (1744-1780) presbyterian minister of Bally- Armstrong, in 1877 {' The Poetical Works of nahinch. He was a descendant of John Edmund J. Armstrong,' Longmans, Green, Tjivingstone, of Killinchy, one of the foun- and Co.) At the same time, and by the ders of Ii'ish presbyterianism [see Living- same publishers, were issued a volume of his stone, John]. He was first trained at the prose (' Essays and Sketches by Edmund J. Rademon Academy, under Moses Neilson, Armstrong, edited by G. F. Armstrong '), in- D.D., after which he became classical assist- — Armstrong 93 Armstrong ant to William Bruce, D.D., in the Belfast Newcastle he was a name of terror. On Academy, and conducted a special class of 28 March 1528 James V held a parliament sacred history. lie graduated at Trinity at Edinburgh in which he consulted with College, ])ublin, and studied philosophy in his lords and barons as to what measures Edinburgh under Dugald Stewart. He was should be taken to 'stanch all theft and ; licensed 11 May 180(i by Antrim Pi-esbyteiy reving within his realm ' and proclamation (non-subscribing). The same year he re- was made that all lords, barons, and gentle- ceived calls to Clonmel and Strand Street, men should appear at Edinburgh, with a Dublin (2 Oct.) ; choosing the latter, he month's victual, to accompany the king on was ordained 25 Dec. 1806 by Dublin Pres- an expedition against the freebooters of bytery (non-subscribing) as colleague to John Teviotdale, Annandale, and Liddisdale. Moody, D.D. (/,. 11 Dec. 1742, d. 15 July Hoping to gain favour by submission, Arm- 1813)^ after whose death William Hamilton strong, with tliirty-six followers, came into Drummond, D.D. [see Drummond, W. HJ, the king's presence. But the king 'bade became (25 Dec. 1815) his colleague. He take the tjTant out of his sight,' saying, was one of the founders of the Irish Unita- ' What wants this knave that a king should ? rian Society (1830) and of the Association have ' Armstrong oftered to maintain him- of Irish NonsubscribingPresbyterians (1835), self and forty followers always ready at the and he represented the latter body at the king's sei'vice, without doing injury to any celebration of the tercentenary of the re- Scot, and imdertook to bring any English formation at Geneva in August 1835. In subject, duke, earl, or baron, before the king the previous year he had received the degree within a fixed number of days. Seeing that of D.D. from the university of Geneva. He his offers were vain, he exclaimed proudly, was a member of the Koyal Irish Academy. ' It is folly to seek grace at a graceless face. He died very suddenly at Stonehouse on Wed- But had I known this, I should have lived in nesday, 4 Dec. 1839, having preached on the the borders in despite of King Harry and previous Sunday, and man-ied a coiiple that you both ; for I know that Ilany would very morning. He married Mary Allman, downweigh my best horse with gold to know and left two sons (John Strong Armstrong, that I were condemned to die this day.*^ A.B., president of the Dublin Historical So- Then he and his followers were hanged on ciety, and Eev. George Allman Armstrong, trees at Carlani-igg Chapel, on the high road A.B., originally a barrister, who succeeded to Langholm. Such is the account given in him in 1841 at Strand Street) and four Pitscottie's 'History of Scotland,' p. 145. daughters. A petition from his widow is According to the old Scotch ballad, the king ])rinted in Pari. Debates on the Dissenters' wrote to Armstrong ' to cum and speik with 1. ; Chapels Bill, 1844. He published: 'A him speidily ' whereupon the Eliots and * Discourse on Presbyterian Ordination,' and Armstrongs gathered a ' gallant company an * Appendix, containing some account of and rode out to bring the king on his way the Presbyterian Churches in Dublin,' both to Gilnockie. At their approach the king included in the ' Ordination Sei'vice ' for turned fiercely on Armstrong Martineau, (this appen- James Lond. 1829 Away, away, thou traytor Strang, dix is one of the most valuable contributions Out of my sicht thou mayst sune be. yet made to Irish presbyterian biography, I grantit never a traytor's lyfe, being the fruit of most accurate and exten- And now I'll not begin -n-ith thee. sive research). 2. ' The Sin against the Holy makes large promises to the king, but all Ghost,' Lond. 1836 (sermon before the British He to no purpose ; and so and Foreign Unitarian Association). 3. *A Sermon vindicating the Principles of Unita- John murdred was at Calinrigg, all galant rian Christianity,' Dublin, 1838 (a discourse And his companie ; originating in local controversy). But Scotland's heart was never sae wae To see so many brave men die. [Appendix (as above), ; Bible Christian, p. 77 Because they saved their country deir 1839, p. 426 ; Drummond's Memoir and Funeral Frae iinglishmen ; nane were sae bauld, Sermon, A. G. 1840.] Quhyle Johnie lived on the border^syde Nane of them durst cum neir his hald. ARMSTRONG, JOHN, or JOHXIE, of Gilnockie {d. 1528), a famous freebooter of Buchanan represents Armstrong to have been the border-country, lived at the Hollows, a dreaded alike by Scots and English, and says stronghold near Ijangholm, whence he was that, being enticed to seek the king, he rode accustomed to ride abroad with twenty-four out with fifty unarmed knights, fell into an able gentlemen well horsed. He never mo- ambush, and was brought a prisoner before lested any Scot, but from the borders to the king. Bishop Leslie adds that his brother^ Armstrong 94 Armstrong George Armstrong, saved his life by turning [Musgrave's MS. Biogra]5hieal Advert iser, 5718, informer, and Obituary 5727 in British Museum; Gent. Armstrong is also the hero of an English Mag. xii. p. 219; London Mag. 1742, p. 205; ballad and chap-book. These make him to Thompson's History of the Royal Society, Ap- pendix, have lived at Giltnock Hall, in Westmore- p. 35 ; Badesdale's History of the Ancient and Present State of the land, where he entertained eight score fol- Navigation of the Port of King's Lynn, &c.] lowers. After the battle of Bannockburn A. S. B. the king summoned him to Edinburgh under ^ARMSTRONG, JOHN, M.D. (1709- the pretence of conferring honour upon him. 1779), poet, physician, and essayist, Avas born Coming, bravely attended, into the king's in the parish of Castleton, Roxburghshire, presence, he Avas denounced as a traitor. A about the year 1709. His father Avas a clergy- desperate fight ensued, in which the streets man. He studied at Edinburgh University, of the city ran with blood ; but at length and took his degree of M.D. on 4 Feb. 1732, Armstrong and his men were slain by the composing for the occ/ision a ' Dissertatio de king's guards, a page alone escaping to take Tabe Purulenta,' which he published at Edin- the news to the widow. The chap-book burgh in the same year, with a dedication to prefaces the narrative by an account of Arm- Sir Hans Sloane. A Latin letter which the .strong's youthful adventures in the Holy author sent to Sir Hans Sloane with a copy Land. of .the thesis is preserved in the British Mu- The Scotch ballad was first published by seum {MS. Sloane, 4036). Before 1735 Arm- .Allan Ramsay in his ' Evergreen,' who says strong was practising medicine in London. he took it down from the mouth of a gentle- At an early age Armstrong began to cul- man called Armstrong, of the sixth genera- tivate poetry. He tells us that the verses tion from John. It bears every mark of a entitled ' Winter ' (an ' imitation of Shake- high antiquity. The English ballad, which speare'), first published in 1770, were written no doubt belongs to the middle of the seven- in 1725. Thomson, Mallet, Aaron Hill, and teenth century, is preserved among the ' Bag- Young received manuscript copies of the ford ' and ' Roxburghe Ballads,' and has been verses from the youthful writer, and ex- published by Ritson and others. Thei-e are pressed to him their congratulations. Mallet several editions of the chap-book, which promised to print the piece, but afterwards seems to have been composed early in the changed his mind. last century, In 1734 Armstrong published, in a'oI. ii. of the ' Edinburgh [Ritson's Scottish Songs and Ballads; Scott's Medical Essays,' an essay ; ' on Penetrating Topic Medicines ' and in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border ; Ritson's Se- the same year he wrote a paper (read before lect Collection of English Songs ; The History of Johnny Armstrong of "Westmoreland, n. d. the Royal Society on 30 Jan. 1735, and pre- (chap-book) ; Burton's History of Scotland, iii. served among the Sloane MSS., i\o. 4433) 144-6, second edition.] A. H. B. on the 'Alcalesceut Disposition of Animal Fluids.' His next production was a satirical ARMSTRONG, JOHN, F.R.S. (1673- pamphlet entitled ' Essay for abridging the 1742), became major-general and quarter- Study of Physick,' 1735, 8vo. In the fol- master-general of the forces, colonel of the loAving year he made his first appearance as royal regiment of foot in Ireland, surveyor- a poet. The ' fficonomy of Love, 1 736, 8vo, general of the ordnance and his majesty's was published anonymously; and it is indeed chief engineer, and was elected fellow of the a production which not many men would Royal Society on 2 May 1723. He appears care to claim. A more nauseous piece of to be the person who, as ' Colonel John Arm- work could not easily be found. When the strong, Chief Engineer of England,' was the author reissued the poem in 1768, he had author of part of a work entitled a ' Report the good sense to cancel some of the Avorst with Proposals for draining the Fens and passages. It vA^as followed by a ' Synopsis of amending the Port of King's Lynn and of the Ilistoiy and Cure of Venereal Diseases,' Cambridge and the rest of the trading towns In 1741 Armstrong solicited Dr, Birch's re- in those parts and the navigable rivers that commendation to Dr, Mead for the appoint- have their course through the gi'eat level of ment of physician to the troops going to the ' the Fens called Bedford Level.' In Watt's West Indies (Sloane MS. 4300). . Bibliotheca Britannica ' the authorship of the Writing many years afterwards, in 1773, whole work is ascribed to Colonel John Arm- he ascribes his limited success in his profes- strong, but it is evident that the compiler sion to the fact that * he could neither tell a ' of the Proposals for draining the Fens ' was heap of lies in his own praise AA-hereA'er he Thomas Badesdale, and that Colonel Arm- Avent; nor intrigue with nurses; nor as- strong was only the author of the ' Report.' sociate, much less assimilate, with the — ;! ' Armstrong 95 Armstrong various knots of pert insipid, lively stupid, brilliant, Armstrong's prose is undeserving of well-bred impertinent, good-liuinoured mali- the neglect into which it has fallen. cious, obliging deceitful, waspy drivelling In 1760 he received the post of physician gossips ; nor enter into juntos with people to the army in Germany. Writing to Wilkes who were not to his liking' {Medical Essays). on 3 Nov. of that year, he enclosed a poetical Habitual inert lu'ss and a splenetic tempera- epistle entitled ' Day,' wliich was published ment were probably the real drawbacks to in the following year. A letter in the ' Public his advancement. Br. Beattie, in a letter to Ad>ertiser ' of 23 March 1773 accused * Sir William Forbes, writes : I know not W^ilkes of having published it against the Avhat is the matter with Armstrong, but he author's wish. In the following number ap- seems to have conceived a rooted aversion peared a reply, signed ' Truth,' denying the against the Avhole human race, except a few charge ; and this was followed, on 1 April, friends, Avhich it seems are dead.' In Thom- by a letter, signed ' Nox,' wherein the vin-iter ' son's Castle of Indolence ' there is a stanza declared that the verses were published at which is supposed to refer to Armstrong : Armstrong's repeated requests and against Wilkes's advice. Several years aftei-wards With him was sometimes join'd, in silent walk there appeared in the ' Gentleman's Magazine (Profounclly silent, for they never spoke), (January 1792) the notes of a conversation One shyer still, quite detested talk : who between Wilkes and Ai-mstrong on the 8ul> Oft, stung by spleen, at once away he broke ject of the correspondence in the ' Public To groves of pine and broad o'ershadowing oak Advertiser.' According to this report Arm- There, inly thrill'd, he wandered all alone strong accused AVilkes of having written the And on himself his pensive fury wroke, three letters in question, AVilkes Nor ever iitter'd word, save when first shone denying the — charge with caustic pleasantry. W^hether the The glittering star of eve ' Thank Heaven the day is done.' letters were written by Wilkes, or whether any such conversation ever occurred, is ex- ' In 1744 appeared the Art of preserving tremely doubtful ; but as to the publication * Health,' a didactic poem in four books, which of Day ' we are able to refer to Armstrong's sprang at once into popularity, and has passed unpublished lettei-s in tlie valuable ' AVilkes through several editions down to our own Correspondence ' acquired a few vears ago by day. In the class of poetry to which it the British Museum {Add. .¥aS.'30867). On belongs, the 'Art of preserving Health' 3 Nov. 1760, when sending the epistle to : — holds a disting^xished place. No wTiter of W^ilkes, he writes ' I . . . send you letters the eighteenth century had so masterful a by the brace. If you approve of that in grasp of blank verse as is shown in parts of rhyme, I Avish all the people in Britain and this poem. The powerful passage descrip- Ireland would read it, that I might be in- tive of the plague (book iii.) has been highly dulged in the vanity of being knoAvn for your praised. As in all didactic poetry, the prac- friend. But if you think it worthy of Mr. t ical directions are of little interest ; but BoAvyer's press, don't submit it to that severe those who value austere imagination and operation till eveiything you find wrong in weighty diction cannot afford to neglect it is altered.' W'ilkes ruthlessly excised Armstrong's masterpiece. whatever he thought to be inferior, and He Avas appointed, in February 1746, a exposed a tattered version to the public, physician to the Hospital for Lame, Maimed, indicating the cancelled passages by stars. and Sick Soldiers in London. Five years Moreover, after sending the epistle to press, later (17ol) he published ' Benevolence, an he seems not to haAe troubled himself to Epistle,' which added little to his fame ; and make any communication on the subject in 1753 'Taste, an Epistle to a young Critic,' Avith the author ; for on 29 Oct. 1762, un- readable but acrimonious. At this time Dr. aAvare that the epistle was already in print, Theobald addressed to him two complimen- Armstrong wrote from abroad to ask W ilkes tary Latin odes. Armstrong's next venture to hand over to Millar, the bookseller, ' one was a tragedy, ' Tlie Forced Marriage,' written strayed ode—item one elegy—item one epistle in 1754, but not published until 1770. Much entitled a " Day," Avhich I shall be glad to more interesting are the ' Sketches or Essays clear of a few clouds. You must knoAv I on various subjects, in two parts,' published kept only the first copy, which is mislaid, or in 1758 under the pseudonym of Launcelot more probably lost.' 'The next letter broke Temple. It has been suggested—without ofi', once for all, the connection between the evidence—that he was assisted in the com- friends. AVe print it, for the first time, from :— position of these essays by Wilkes, with whom Add. MS. 30867, p. 216 ' London, 17 Sept. ne was nearly acquainted for many years. 1763. Sir,—I tliank you for the honour of Always terse, often original, and sometimes a letter, and continue sensible of every mark — Armstrong 96 Armstrong of friendship I liave received from you, which There is a mezzotint portrait of him, from makes me regi-et it the more that you have a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, inscribed for ever deprived me of the pleasure of your ' John Armstrong, M.D. The suffrage of the couA'ersation. For I cannot with honour Avise, the praise that's worth competition is* or decency associate myself with one who attained by sense alone and dignity of mind.' has distinguished himself by abusing my One who kneAV him Avell, Dr. Cuming, of country. I am with all due sincerity, Sir, Dorchester, —has set doAvn his character briefly your most humble servant, John Armstrong.' as follows : ' He alAAays appeared to me Had it not been for the publication of the (and I Avas confirmed in this opinion by unfortunate ' Day,' he Avould probably have that of his most intimate friends) a man of continued on familiar terms with Wilkes, learning and genius, of considerable abilities who (it is supposed) had procured him the in his profession, of great benevolence and post of physician to the army, and to Avhom goodness of heart, fond of associating with he was certainly indebted for much pecu- men of pai'ts and genius, but indolent and niary help. In some very vigorous lines of inactiAe, and therefore totally unqualified to Churchill's posthumous satire, ' A Journey,' employ the means that usually lead to medi- published in 1764, Armstrong is held up to cal employment, or to elbow his way through unsparing ridicule : a crowd of competitors.' Let them with Armstrong, taking leave of sense, [The original editions of his works Nichols's Eead nnisty lectures on Benevolence, ; Literary Anecdotes, ii. 275, &c.; Public AdA-ertiser, Or con the pages of his gaping Day, 23 and 24 March and 1 April 1773 ; Gentleman's Where all his former fame was thrown away, Magazine, January 1792; Add. MSS. 30867 Where all but barren lal)oiir was forgot and 30875.] A. H. B. And the vain stiffness of a letter'd Scot. One writer after another has asserted that Churchill's attack Avas provoked by some re- ARMSTRONG, JOHN (1771-1797), journalist and writer of A^erses, AA'as born of flections on himself in ' Day,' but the reader humble parents, Leith, in must be extraordinarily lynx-eyed to dis- at June 1771. After attending cover any allusion to Churchill in Armstrong's the Grammar School of that town and the High School of Edinburgh, he epistle. It is far more probable that the entered UniAersity, gi"a- lines were written at the suggestion of Edinburgh where he M.A. published ' Wilkes, who was on terms of close intimacy duated In 1789 he Juvenile Poems, Avith remarks on Poetry, and Dis- with the satirist. a sertation on the At the recall of the troops from Germany best means of punishing Armstrong returned to London, receiving and preA'enting Crimes.' These poems, if stilted in style and hackneyed in sentiment, half-pay for the rest of his life. In 1770 he are characterised by general good taste and published, in two volumes of ' Miscellanies,' 6\y- such works in verse and prose as he wished some artistic finish. Their publication tained for him the honour of being iuA'ited to preserve. He took this opportunity of the AA'ords of the in printing in his own name the four concluding to compose songs used connection Avith the ceremony of laying the stanzas of the first canto of the * Castle of foundation-stone Indolence.' Accompanied by Fuseli, he of the Edinburgh UniAer- sity buildings. W^hile tutor in a family in started in the same year for a tour in France the theolo- and Italy. At Leghorn he visited Smollett, Edinburgh, Armstrong pursued gical studies necessary to qualify him to be- who Avas fast sinking into his gi-ave. Under come a preacher in the church of Scotland, the title of ' A Short Ramble through France in he removed to London, where he and Italy,' 1771, he published some desultory but 1790 notes taken on the journey. In 1773 he obtained employment on one of the daily papers at a small weekly salary. In 1791 he published his last work, ' Medical Essays,' in collection poems, under the which he coarsely charges his professional published a of title * Sonnets from Shakspeare.' His lite- brethren Avith incompetency and servility. rary prospects continued gradually to im- Armstrong died at his house in Russell prove, he Avas in receipt of a considerable Street, CoAent Garden, on 7 Sept. 1779, and income, when his health began suddenly to from the effects of a fall. He had been giAe retired to Leith, Avhere he staying in Lincolnshire, and as he Avas pre- way. He died of rapid decline, July 1797. paring to return home his foot slipped Avhen a 21, stepping into his carriage. the he was To [Memoir in Edinburgh Magazine, new series, sui-prise of he left the of cAerybody sum vol. X. pp. 254-5, which contains some addi- 3,000^. As his pension and his very small tional details to those given in Monthly Maga- practice Avere his sole means of support, he zine, vol. iv. pp. 153-4, and Gentleman's Maga- must have liA'ed someAvhat parsimoniously. zine, vol. Ixvii. part 2, pp. 731-2.] T. F. H.^ | Armstrong 97 Armstrong ARMSTKONG, JOHN, senior (1784- entirely on his own observations. Their im- 1829), physician, Avas born, 8 May 1784, at portance has, however, been greatly dimi- Ayres Quay, near Bishop Wearmouth, county nished by later discoveries, and especially by j Durham, where his father, George Armstrong, the discrimination of several kinds of fever a man of humble birth, was a superintendent which were at that time confounded to- of glass works. He was educated at first gether. The latter consideration probably privately and afterwards studied medicine explains the changes that Armstrong's own Measles, Pulmonary Consumption ' (London, described by his friend Dr. Boott as a man 1818), which added to his reputation. In of high integrity, absorbed in his profession, the next year he was appointed physician to of gentle and reserved character, with much the London Fever Institution (now called power of sympathy. He appears to have had Hospital), an office which he resigned in few intellectual interests outside of his daily 1824, and in 1820 became licentiate of the work, and spoke with some contempt of College of Physicians. ' learned physicians.' Dr. Armstrong rapidly acquired a large Besides the above. Dr. Armstrong was practice and also became a very successful author of: 1. ' An Address to the Members and popular teacher of medicine. In 1821 of the Royal College of Surgeons on the in- lie joined Mr. Grainger, an eminent teacher jurious conduct and defective state of that of anatomy, as lecturer on medicine at the Corporation with reference to Professional school at that time being founded by the Rights, Medical Science, and the Public latter in Webb Street, which, before the com- Health,' London, 1825. 2. 'The Morbid plete development ofthe great hospital schools, Anatomy of the Stomach, Bowels, and Liver, was one of the most important in London. illustrated by a series of plates with expla- In 1826 he joined Mr. Bennett in founding natory lettei-press, and a summary of the another school in Little Dean Street, Soho, symptoms of the acute and chronic afFection& and for some time lectured on medicine in of the above-named organs,' 4to, London, both institutions. In 1828 failing health 1828 (unfinished). 3. ' Lectures on the Moiv compelled him to give up teaching, and he bid Anatomy, Nature, and Treatment ofAcute died of consumption on 12 Dec. 1829, at the and Chronic Diseases,' edited by Joseph Rix early age of 45. (after the author's death), London, 1834. There can be no doubt of Dr. Armstrong's [Boott's Memoir of the Life and Medical great energy and brilliant talents, though Opinions of John Armstrong, in 2 vols., 1833 ; the rapidity of his success and the fact of Munk's KoU of College of Physicians (1878). iii. his being unconnected with any of the greater 216.] J.F. P. medical schools caused his career to be watched with much surprise and possibly a ARMSTRONG, JOHN, junior (1818- little jealousy. His opinion was, however, 1856), bishop of Grahamstown, was the son highly valued by his professional brethren. of Dr. John Armstrong, the physician [q. v.]. Dr. Armstrong's works on fevers became He was educated at a preparatorv school at extremely popular in this country and Ame- Hanwell, and at Charterhouse. In 1832 he rica, and they have the merit of being founded was elected to a Crewe exhibition at Lincoln VOL. II. '' a Armstrong 98 Armstrong College, Oxford, and having graduated in 1882. He was also a successful tract-writer. classical honours (third class) in 1836, he re- He wrote many of, and was the responsible ceived holy orders in 1837. He was curate editor of all, the ' Tracts for the Christian for a very short time, first at Alford in Somer- Seasons,' the first series of which came out setshire, and then at Walton-Fitzpaine in monthly from Advent 1848 to Advent 1849, Dorsetshire ; but within a year of his ordi- and the second from Advent 1849 to Advent nation he took a curacy at Clifton, where he 1850 ; and these were followed in 1852-8 by remained about three years. In 1841 he be- ' Tracts for Parochial Use.' Mr. Armstrong's came a priest-vicar of the cathedral at Exeter, strong common sense and genial humour are and in 1843 rector also of St. Paul's, Exeter. conspicuous in these tracts, and their popu- In the same year he man-ied Miss Frances larity has been very gi-eat. Mr. Armstrong Whitmore. About this time his convictions had always taken the deepest interest in became strengthened and his spirituality what are called * social questions.' He now deepened, chiefly through the influence of the threw himself with characteristic energy into ; earlier ' Tracts for the Times ' and it is an a scheme of which he was unquestionably the instance of his peculiar attractiveness that chief originator. The scheme was, to establish views and practices then very unpopular a system of penitentiaries, in which the chief made him no enemies and raised very little agents should be self-devoted and unpaid opposition. The 'surplice riots,' e.g., were ladies, working on sound church principles raging at Exeter, but they were little felt at and under the direct superintendence of St. Paul's. In 1845 he exchanged posts with clergymen. Mr. Armstrong advocated this Mr. Burr, vicar of Tidenham, in Gloucester- scheme in articles on ' Female Penitentia- ' ' shire, He found Tidenham in a ferment, ries in the Quarterly Review ' in the au- ' owing to the introduction of usages which tumn of 1848 ; in the Christian Remem- ' are now all but universal ; but Mr. Armstrong brancer' in January 1849; in the English soon lived the opposition down, and carried Review ' in March 1849 ; and in a stirring his points with all but universal approbation. tract, entitled 'Appeal for a Church Peni- Both at Exeter and Tidenham he almost en- tentiary,' also in 1849. The interest of the tirely gave up what is called society, and public was awakened. Mr. Armstrong was devoted himself exclusively to the labours of as indefatigable in his private correspondence a hard-working parish priest. But he was on the subject as in his articles for the press. ' thoroughly happy in his domestic life ; he I have acres of his letters,' writes a friend had a truly like-minded wife and children, to the present wi'iter, ' all on one subject— whom he loved to have about him even in House of Mercy for Gloucestershire.' The his busiest hours. * There was, I believe,' first church penitentiary was founded in Mr. writes an eye-witness to the present writer, Carter's parish of Clewer ; in the same year * no separate study in the vicarage, so that (1849) another house of mercy was founded much of his work was done in the midst at Wantage ; and shortly afterwards another of his family. I found him one morning at Bussage, in Mr. Armstrong's own diocese. writing a sermon with three of his children In 1852 the Church Penitentiary Associa- climbing over and playing with him ; and so tion was formed, and Mr. Armstrong's day- far from rebuking them, from time to time dream was in a fair way of being realised. the pen was laid aside, and he joined in their Among the rest of Mr. Armstrong's writings frolics, returning again to his graver thoughts may be noticed his 'Pastor in the Closet,' and wi'iting ; and on my admiring that he published in 1847 ; a singularly vigorous ar- " ' could so work, he replied simply, I would ticle in the Christian Remembrancer ' on give but little for a man that could not." the ' History and Modern State of Freema- Mr. Armstrong made his mark as a preacher sonry' from the christian point of view, far beyond the limits of his country parish. which can hardly have been acceptable to * ' He was,' writes a clergyman still living, ' the freemasons ; and articles in the National best all round country congregation preacher Miscellany,' a monthly religious periodical I ever knew.' A volume of ' Sermons on the which he founded a little while before he left Festivals,' preached at Exeter Cathedral, was England. * published in 1845 ; another volume of Pa- In 1853 he was ofi*ei"ed the new bishopric rochial Sermons ' in 1854 ; and the series of of Grahamsto-\vn, chiefly through the influ- 'Sermons for the Christian Seasons,' from Ad- ence of Bishop Gray, of Capetown. His vent 1852 to Advent 1853, were all of them penitentiary scheme was well afloat, and edited, and several of them written, by him. after having consulted some tried friends he In some interesting sketches of ' successful accepted the post, and was consecrated at * preachers,' one of Bishop John Armstrong Lambeth on St. Andrew's day ; after a few ' will be found in the Guardian ' of 20 Dec. months' delay, during which, in spite of bad '' Armstrong 99 Armstrong liealth, he pleaded the cause of Africa m va- him to Africa. He set himself to combat the nous parts of the country, he set sail for besetting | sin of the colonists, drunkenness^ Grahamstown One of the most interesting but he was called to his rest before he could presents which he took with him was a set effect much in this direction. He was buried of episcopal robes worked by the Bussage in the cemeteiy at Grahamstown in the penitents. He regarded his position as that rochet made for him by the Bussage of missionary peni- a as well as a colonial bishop. tents and after ; the lapse of more than a * think,' Do you he said at a public meeting, ' I quarter of a century his memory still remains go forth thinking the diocese of Grahamstown fresh in the hearts of his many friends. is to be the bound and limit of Cliristian Few men, in the course of a comparatively entei-prise ? God forbid! Africa is given short life, have had more and truer. There to us if we will first do our part.' The dio- is a striking heartiness and unanimity in the cese of Grahamstown, however, was in itself testimony which numerous correspondents no trifling charge ; it was almost as large as have kindly given to the present writer, to England, and, owing to bad roads and other what one of them calls his 'superlative hindrances, twenty miles a day was the ave- worth ; ' and few men, without possessing rage of travelling. His first work was to any commanding genius or incurring any make a visitation tour of his diocese. He won unpopularity, have done more thoroughly golden opinions wherever he went ; and he useful work for the chiu-ch and for society at found or made many able coadjutors. There large. is little doubt that if his life had been spared he would have been eminently ^''^?? "'" successful; lormationfoiJjlf ff^A'^lf "i™'^*""^.' 1.: V J- i !-• ii i- -1 • ^ irom Archdeacon Hardie Mrs Ami- his buoyant temper, his attractiveness, his strong, H. Woodyer, Esq.! '^Rev*•T'xebJ-- -rveme,b ite\. ^ . r™ ardent piety, his defimteness of aim and con- -- ^- — - j,. . ^ Erskine Knollys; Bishop Armstrong's "Works viction, his readiness to recognise good P<'>^«sjm.] J. H. 0. wherever he found it, these and other quali- ties found a larger sphere for development ARMSTRONG, ROBERT ARCHI- abroad than at home. No one can read BALD, LL.D. (1788-1867), Gaelic lexico- Bishop Armstrong's letters home, or his gi-apher, was the eldest son of Mr. Robert * Notes on Africa,' a journal published by the Armstrong, of Kenmore, Perthshire, by his Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, wife, Mary McKercher. He was born at without deep interest. In 1856 he began a Kenmore in 1788, and educated partly by second visitation tour ; but it Jus father, and aftei-wards was too much I at Edinburgh and for at St. him. His health, which had decidedly ; Andrew's University, where he gra- improved after he left England, failed him; duated. Coming to London from St. Andrew's and he died with high somewhat suddenly in Whitsun I commendations for his Greek and week, in the presence of his faithful friend Latin acquirements, he engaged in tuition, j and chaplain, archdeacon Hardie. His last and kept several high-class schools in siic- public utterance was an opening lecture on the cession in different parts of the metropolis * Character and Poetry of Oliver Goldsmith He devoted his leisure to the cultivation of at the Literary Institute at Grahamstown, literature and science. Of his humorous ' which, after some opposition, he had succeeded articles The Three Florists,' in ' Eraser ' for in establishing on a general basis, and not in January 1838, and 'The Dream of Tom connection with any one religious body. He Finiarty, the Cab-driver,' in the 'Athenaeum,' regarded literature and the natural sciences are notable examples. His scientific papers as ' common ground on which churchmen, appeared chiefly in the ' Arcana of Science without resigning one iota of catholic truth, and Art ' (1837 et seq.), and relate to meteoro- might meet dissenters as brethren and hold logical matters. But his gi-eat work was kindly intercourse with them.' And even in ' A Gaelic Dictionary, in two parts—I. Gaelic religion, uncompromising churchman as he and English, II. English and Gaelic—in was, he was ever ready to acknowledge good which the words, in their different accepta- christian work done by other bodies. ' The tions, are illustrated by quotations from the exertions of the Wesleyan body have been best Gaelic writers.' London, 1825, 4to. very great,' ' The Wesleyan body have been This was the fii-st Gaelic dictionary pub- the honoured instrument of converting him lished, as there previously existed only voca- —such like remarks are not infrequent in his bularies of the language like those of Shaw letters. But none the less does he deeply re- and others. It is a most meritorious work, gret, over and over again, that the church had the afiinities of the Celtic words being traced not been the first in the field ; for he held that in most of the languages of ancient and to be * the more excellent way.' His desire modern times. To it is prefixed a Gaelic to deal with social questions accompanied grammar, and there is a short historical ' H 2 ;' Armstrong lOO Armstrong appendix of ancient names, deduced from the for the use of the exiled prince. He delivered authority of Ossian and other poets. Arm- the gift into the prince's own hands, and strong's dictionary will always be prized by returning to England was, on the sixth day^ Gaelic scholars, but it was partially eclipsed, imprisoned by Cromwell in the Gatehouse. three years after its appearance, by the publi- In 1658, after another interval of liberty and cation of the still more comprehensive * Dic- of fidelity to the royal cause, Armstrong tionarium Scoto-Celticum,' compiled under suffered a third imprisonment in the Tower the direction of the Highland Society of but on the death of the Protector, on 3 Sept. . Scotland (2 vols. 4to, 1828). Mr. Armstrong of that yeai", was released, and married sank his small fortune in the publication of Katharine, a niece of Clarendon's (Old- his three-guinea quarto, and in a pecuniary Mixox's Hist, of the Stuarts, vol. i. p. 687). sense he Avas a considerable loser by its He was one of the signatories to the Royalists' publication. For about twenty-two years Declaration to Monk, April 1660 (Kennet'& he maintained his family by establishing the Chronicle, p. 122) ; and on the Restoration, South Lambeth Grammar School, and on his in the following month, he was knighted by retirement from the head-mastership to Rich- the king for his services, made lieutenant of mond in 1852 a representation of his neces- the first troop of guards, and subsequently sitous condition was sent toLordPalmerston, gentleman, or captain, of the horse. Shortly who obtained for him acivillist pension of 60/. afterwards Armstrong became intimate with This opportune assistance and a grant from the Duke of Monmouth; and, according to the tlie Literary Fund enabled him to recommence testimonies of unfriendly authorities, he 'led his scholastic business, which, though now of a very vitious life ' (Burnet's Hist, of Ovm small proportions on account of his great Times, vol. i. p. 577). Sprat says that he age, he continued till he Avas struck down ' became a debauch'd Atheistical Bravo by paralysis about a week before he died. In (Sprat's True Account of the Horrid Con- 1826 he had been appointed Gaelic lexico- spiracy, p. 29) ; he fell, at any rate, into dis- grapher in ordinary to the king, but the ap- favour at court, whence he was dismissed pointment was honorary and no salary was and having * distinguish'd himself by murder- attached to it. He died in Choumert Road, ing Mr. Scroop, a considerable Gentleman, in Peckham Rye, Surrey, 25 May 1867. Lord the Play-house ' (Eaciiard's Hist, ofEm/land, Derby advised her majesty to cheer the last p. 1027), he left England in 1679 with the days of the veteran scholar by a grant of Duke of Monmouth for Flanders, to join some 100/. from the Royal Bounty Fund ; and in English regiments there. 1869 the queen, on the recommendation of In 1682, Armstrong, who was ' Parliament Mr. Gladstone, granted an annual pension man ' for Stafford {State Trials, vol. x.), being of 50/. to his widow. Dr. Armstrong married, back again in England, was fi-equently a visi- in 1842, Emma, daughter of Mr. Stephen tor at the house of the disaffected Earl of Dungate, by whom he left issue three Shaftesbury in Aldersgate Street {Copies of daughters. the Informations, 1685, p. 196), and was gradually embroiled in the Rye House plot. [Private information ; Gent. Mag. ccxxiii. was frequently at Colonel Romsey's house 113.] T. C. He in King's Square, Soho Fields {Copies of In- T" ARMSTRONG, Sir THOMAS (1624 ?- formations, p. 28), desiring interviews with Tl . 1684), royalist, and concerned in the Rye Ferguson early in the morning, before Romsey "^ House Plot, was the son of an English soldier was dressed ; he was at West's chambers in pO'^/**J?tltCT gerv'ing in one of James's Low Country expe- the Temple, offering to get admittance to the Jk *^ ditions, and was born at Nimeguen, where his Duke of York, under the pretence of discover- v^e father was quartered, about 1624. He was ing some plot against him, and then to kill brought to England young, and served under him {Copies, p. 61). He was a visitor at all Charles I ; he joined Ormond in Ireland in those taverns where the conspirators met, viz. 1649, and declared for Charles II (Heath's the Fortune at Wapping, the Horse Shoe on Chronicle of Ciiil Wars, part i. p. 240), for Tower Hill, the King's Head in Atheist Alley, which and similar royalist services he was the Young De^il Tavern between the two imprisoned in Lambeth House by Cromwell. Temple gates (for full list see Sprat's True There he endured many privations, owing Account, p. 52) ; he was at Sheppard's house to the inability of his party to provide him in Abchurch Lane with Lord William Rus- with money or help; but he contrived, sell and the rest, going thence, with the after a year's imprisonment, to get released. Duke of Monmouth and Lord Grey, to look About 1665 he was sent out of England, by into the condition of the king's guards, to the Earl of Oxford and other cavaliers, to see if it were possible to break through them Charles, with a considerable sum of money to carry the king away, and returning with ; , Armstrong lOI Armstrong the report that the guards wei*e certainly in vain for a writ of eiTor to Lord Keep«!r remiss, and the thing quite feasible {ibid. North, Jeffries himself, and other oJHcialH. p. 150). Evidence was forthcoming also Armstrong was executed on Friday, 20 June that, on the failure of the Rye House plot, 1684. Huggons {Remarks on Burnet's Hist. still intercept the king : Armstrong offered to p. 269) relates ' I saw that unhappy man go and the duke on their homeward journey, to die ; ... he threw about his arms as lar provided money and men could be immedi- as the rope that tied him would permit . . . ately procured. The king himself declared he ttirned about his head, shrugged up his that when Armstrong had come to him shoulders, with convulsions and distortions 4ibroad, nearly thirty years before, with the of his countenance.' At the scaffold he be- gift of money, he had confessed that he had came so resigned as to astonish those who come, employed by Cromwell, to kill him knew his hot temper. He was met by Teni- and on 28 June 1683, a proclamation was son, who took charge -of a written paper h«! issued for his apprehension. Armstrong, gave him protesting his innocence. tiu*n being greatly depressed at this of events, His body was quartered ; his head was went to Romsey {Copies, p. 109) one night, fixed at Westminster Hall, between the in fear for him as well as for himself, 'and heads of BradshaAV and Cromwell (Eachaeu, Souls, Oxford) ; Sydney Godolphin signed a Russell, p. 257 ; Clarendon's Hist. ; Kennet's warrant the same day to Captain Richardson, Chronicle.] J. H. keeper of Newgate, to receive the prisoner and tliither, still in irons, he was conveyed ARMSTRONG, WILLIAM {Jl. 1596), on the moiTow, 11 June. He was stripped a famous border mosstrooper, was generally of anything lie had of value ; he was searched known as Kinmont Willie, from his castle a bill of exchange was found in his pocket of Morton Tower or Kinmont, afterwards between one Hayes, a merchant at London, called Sark, on the Sark water, in the parish and another merchant at Leyden, and Hayes of Canonbie, Dumfriesshire. He is said to was at once committed to Newgate for com- have been a near relation of the equally fa- plicity with a traitor. Armstrong was not mous John Armstrong, of Gilnockie, and in allowed to see his family and friends except the ' Register of the Privy Council of Scot- ' in the presence of his gaolers ; and, all money land (iv. 796y he is mentioned as one of the having been taken fi-om him, he was unable principals of the clan Armstrong. The earliest to obtain the assistance of counsel {State notice of him is under date 22 Oct. 1569 as Trials for High Treason, 35 Charles H). In entering a pledge for himself and kin (ii. 44), three days, 14 June, he was taken to King's and he again appears, 5 March, 1570, as Bench, Guildhall, attended by his daughter, making submission in respect of feuds be- Jane Mathews, another being repulsed. tween him and the TumbuUs (iii. 169). Will size and strength Titus Gates was one of his accusers ; Jeffries is said to have been of great ' was his judge. His claim was for a pi'oper — ' the starkest man in Teviotdale —and he trial, under the statute 5 and 6 Edward VI, and his sons brought together as many as c. 11. Jeffries denied his right to be heard three hundred men, who were the dread of on the ground that he was an outlaw and a the English border. With liis followers he traitor, and sentenced him to death in spite accompanied the Earl of Angus to Stirling of his protests and his daughter's shrieks. in 1585 to displace the Earl of Arran, when On the 18th his Avife and daughters applied it is repoi-ted that, not satisfied with emptying Armstrong I02 Armstrong the stables and pillaging the town, they tore mosstrooper. The rescue of Armstrong from oft" the iron gratings from the windows and Carlisle Castle is the subject of the ballad of carried them away. In 1587 his capture and ' Kinmont Willie,' first printed by Sir Walter that of Robert Maxwell, natural brother to Scott in liis ' Scottish Minstrelsy,' who states Lord Maxwell, formed the object of a royal that it was preserved by tradition, but has expedition to Dumfries ; but the freebooters been much mangled by reciters. It is also succeeded in escaping at Tarras Moss. The included in Ayton's ' Ballads of Scotland.' conjecture of Sir Walter Scott that Arm- [Scott, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border ; Scot strong originally held some connection with of Satchells, a true history of several honourable the Maxwells, the hereditary enemies of the families of the name of Scot (1776) ; Scott, Bor- Scotts of Buccleugh, is fully corroborated by der Exploits, p. 325-329 ; Spottiswoode, History the ' Register of the Privy Council,' which of the Church of Scotland, iii. 1-5 ; Tytler's shows that in 1569 Lord Maxwell was his History of Scotland ; Fraser, The Scotts of Buc- (ii. surety 44), while in 1590 he is mentioned cleugh (1878), i. Ixvi, 169, 180-202, 206, 209, as his landlord (iv. 796). On 14 Aug. of the 222 ; Eegister of the Privy Council of Scotland, same year, in a proclamation for the peace of ii. 44, iii. 169, iv. 796, 799, 804, 805, v. 290^ the borders, it is declared that lands debate- 298-9, 300, 323-4, 361, 423, 761.] T. F. H. able within the West Marches shall be ' sett heritablie or in long takkis or rentale ' to cer- AHMSTRONG, AYILLIAM (1602?- tain persons ; Willie Armstrong among the 1658 ?), known as Cheistie's Will, a border- number (iv. 799). The effect of this arrange- freebooter, was the son or grandson of the ment was only temporary. Armstrong, by Christie Armstrong referred to in the ballad his continued depredations, so tantalised the of 'Johnnie Armstrong' as ' Kristy my son,' English borderers, that his capture came to and inherited Gilnockie Tower. Having be regarded as of prime importance. Ac- been imprisoned in the Tolbooth, Jedburgh, cordingly, while returning in 1596 from a for stealing two colts during a marauding warden court held by the English and Scotch expedition, he received his release through deputy wardens, he was pursued by 200 the interposition of the Earl of Traquair, English borderers, brought before the English lord high treasurer, and henceforth became warden, and by him imprisoned in Carlisle devoted heart and soul to the earl's in- Castle. Scott of Buccleugh, the Scotch war- terests. Some time afterwards a lawsuit, den, demanded his release of Lord Scrope, on in which the Earl of Traquair was a party, the ground that the capture was made during was on for trial in the Court of Session, a truce, and, receiving no satisfactoiy reply, Edinburgh. The decision, it was supposed, arrived on a dark tempestuous night with two would turn on the opinion of the presid- himdred men before the castle, and, under- ing judge, Lord Durie, who was known to mining a postern gate, carried him off unper- be unfavourable to Lord Traquair. Arm- ceived by the guards. Notwithstanding the strong, therefore, kidnapped the judge at bloodless character of the daring exploit, it Leith Sands, where he was taking his usual almost led to a rupture between the two exercise on horseback, and conveyed him kingdoms, and was the subject of a conside- blindfold to an old castle, the tower of Gra- rable amount of correspondence, Avhich is ham, on the Dryfe water, near Moffat. The given in the State Papers. On account of it judge's fi-iends mourned for him as dead, the Buccleugli had for a time to go into ward in belief being that his horse had thrown him England [see Scott, Waltek, first Lord of into the sea ; but after the case was settled Buccleugh]. The ultimate fate of Annstrong he was again conveyed blindfold to Leith is not known. The only fui-ther notice of Sands, whence he made his way home three him is in the list of border clans in 1597 as, months later than his horse. As Lord Durie along with Krystie Armstrong and John was twice chosen president of the court, Shynbank, leader of a band of Armstrongs namely, for the summer session of 1642, and called ' Sandie's Bairns.' The tombstone of a for the winter session of 1643, his capture William Armstrong, discovered in an old must have taken place in one of these years. churchyard at Sark, is stated by W. Scott, Armstrong is said also to have been ern- •^ho gives an engraving of it in ' Border Ex- ployed by Traquair, during the civil war, in ploits ' (1832), p. 329, to be that of Kinmont conveying a packet to the king,- and on his Willie. The tombstone was presented to the I'eturn to have made his escape at Carlisle Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, but, as is from the pursuit of Cromwell s soldiers by pointed out in their ' Proceedings ' (new series, springing his horse over the parapet of the viii. 234), the Armstrong to whom it refers, bridge that crosses the Eden, which was then having died in 1658 at the age of 56, must in flood. It is not impossible that the tomb- be a different person from this noted border stone discovered in the churchyard of Sark;, ; ' '; Arnald 103 Arne supposed at one time to be that of * Kjnmont preached before the university (in 1781) was Willie,' may really commemorate * Christie's published in the year after his death. Will.' The William Armstrong it to whom [Nichols's Leicestershire, iii. pt. ii. pp. 1059, refers died in 1658 at the age of 56. The 1071 ; History of Corpus Christi College, Cam- bdlad of ' Christie's Will,' published Sir by bridge, 1831, p. 456; Cole's MS. Athenae.] Walter * Scott in Minstrelsy of the Scottish A. H. B. Border,' is, according to Sir Walter, not to be regarded as of genuine and unmixed ARNALL, WILLIAM (1715P-1741 .P), antiquity. political writer, was bred as an attorney, but took to political writing before he [Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.] was twenty. He was one of the authors in Walpole's pay T. 1«\ H. who replied to the ' Craftsman' and the va- ARNALD, IlICIIARD (1700-1756), a rious attacks of Bolingbroke and Pulteney. distinguished divine, was born in 1700. He He wrote the * Free Briton ' under the sig- Avas a native of London, and received his nature of FrancisWalsingham, and succeeded - ' , education at Bishop Stortford School, whence Concanen in the British Journal.' One of he proceeded in 1714 to Corpus Christi Col- his tracts, in which he disputes certain I / lege, Cambridge. After graduating B.A., he claims of the clergy in regard to tithes, is '• removed to Emmanuel College, where he reprinted in ' The Pillars of Priestcraft and ' I v was elected to a fellowship on 24 June, 1720, Orthodoxy shaken.' A letter to Dr. Codex [Dr. Gibson] ^ and took the degreeV)f M.A . While resident on his modest instructions to at Emmanuel he printed two copies of the Crown,' and ' Opposition no proof of Pa- Sapphics on the death of George I, and a triotism,' upon Bundle's appointment to the sermon (on Col. ii. 8) preached at Bishop see of Londonderry, are attributed to him. Stortford school-feast on 3 Aug. 1726. In The report of the committee of inquiry into 1733 he was presented to the living of Thur- Walpole's conduct states that in the years caston in Leicestershire, and was afterwards 1731-41 a sum of 50,077/. 18s. was paid to made prebendary of Lincoln. He published the authors of newspapers from the secret in 1746 a sermon on 2 Kings xiv. 8: 'The service money, and from a schedule appended Parable of the Cedar and the Thistle exem- it seems that Arnall received in four years plified in the g^-eat Victory at Culloden;' and 10,997/. 6*. 8d. of this sum. It does not in 1760, a ' Sermon on Deuteronomy xxxiii. appear whether he received any part of this 8.' The work by which he is remembered is on behalf of others or for printing expenses. his critical commentary on the Apocryphal Arnall is also said to have received a pension books. This learned and judicious work of 400/. a year. He is said to have died at was published as a continuation of Patrick the age of twenty-six in 1741, though 'other and Lowth's commentaries. It embraces a accounts ' say 1736. Pope attacked him in commentary on the Book of Wisdom, 1744 the ' Dunciad ' (Bk. ii. 315), where his name on Ecclesiasticus, 1748 ; on Tobit, Judith, was substituted for Welsted's in 1735, and ' Baruch, History of Susannah, and Bel and in the epilogue to the Satires ' (Dialogue ii. ! ' the Dragon, with dissertations on the two 129) : Spirit of Arnall, aid me whilst I lie books of Esdras and Maccabees, with a trans- [Chalmers's Biog. Diet. ; Pope's Dunciad lation of Calmet's treatise the on Daemon Maty's Miscellaneous Works of Chesterfield, p. 5.] Asmodeus, 1752. An edition was published in 1822 under the care of M. Pitman. Arnald ARNE, CECILIA (1711-1789), the eldest died on 4 Sept. 1756, and was buried in Thur- daughter of Charles Young, organist of All- caston church. His widow died in 1782. hallows, Barking, was a pupil of Geminiani. William Arnald, his son, was fellow of Her first appearance at Drury Lane took St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1767, and place in 1730, and in 1736 she married Dr. head-tutor in 1768. He became chaplain to Arne. She took the part of Sabrina at the Bishop Hurd in 1775, and precentor of Lich- first performance of her husband's setting of field Cathedral. By Kurd's influence he was * Comus' at Drury Lane, 4 March 1738, and appointed in 1776 preceptor to the Prince she also sang at Clieveden 1 Aug. 1740, of Wales and the Duke of York, and was when * Alfred ' and the ' Judgment of Paris made canon of Windsor. In January 1782 were produced before the Prince and Prin- signs of insanity appeared, and he continued cess of Wales. In 1742 Mrs. Arne accom- insane till his death on 5 Aug. 1802. It was, panied her husband to Dublin, where she sang indeed, an unfortunate family. ' One of his with great success both in operas and concerts. brothers,' * * says Cole, was drowned, and his On her return, Alfred ' was performed sisters ill married or worse.' By the direc- for her benefit at Dniry Lane, 20 March tions in his will, a sermon that he had 1745. In the same year she was engaged at