seen, felt, and thought. Here began a long correspondence on religious questions with a friend as yet unseen, Mr. G. A. Chadwick. Having returned from a delightful visit to Brittany, he left Jersey reluctantly in midsummer 1861, and spent the warmer months of the year in Ireland. On the approach of winter he again resorted to Jersey, now accompanied by a younger brother, G. F. Armstrong (since professor of English literature. Queen's College, Cork). In April 1862 the brothers started for Normandy, thence visited Paris, and once more returned toJersey, to bid it a final farewell. Armstrong had now sufficiently recovered to accept a tutorship in the north of Ireland. During his vacation (summer of 1862) he walked much among the Wicklow mountains, and wasengaged in writing his poems, 'The Dargle' and 'Glandalough.' In October 1862, now looking forward to the clerical profession, he continued his college course. In April 1863 he read before the Undergraduate Philosophical Society an essay on Shelley, designed partly as a recantation of his earlierantichristian opinions. In May of the same year he was rapidly producing his longest poem, 'The Prisoner of Mount Saint Michael,' a romantic tale of passion and crime in blank verse, the landscape and local colour having been furnished by Armstrong's wanderings in France. This was followed by the idyllic poem 'Ovoca,' partly dramatic, partly narrative in form. In October 1863 he came into residence at Trinity College, Dublin, and attracted much attention by speeches delivered before the Historical Society, and essays read before the Undergraduate Philosophical Society. Of this latter society he was elected president, and in October 1864 delivered his opening address, 'On Essayists and Essay-writing.' In the winter his health broke down, and he went to reside at Kingstown, where, after an illness of several weeks, he died, 24 Feb. 1865. He was buried at Monkstown, co. Dublin. As a memorial of his genius, his college and other friendspublished the volume 'Poems by the late Edmund J. Armstrong' (Moxon, 1865). Itincludes the two longer poems named above, with many lyrical pieces which show much ardour of imagination and mastery of verse. A short memoir by Mr. Chadwick is prefixed. His poems appeared in a new edition, with many added pieces, edited by G. F. Armstrong, in 1877 ('The Poetical Works of Edmund J. Armstrong,' Longmans, Green, and Co.) At the same time, and by the same publishers, were issued a volume of his prose ('Essays and Sketches by Edmund J. Armstrong, edited by G. F. Armstrong'), including essays on Coleridge, Shelley, Goethe's Mephistopheles, E. A. Poe, Essayists and Essay-writing, &c. In the 'Life and Letters of Edmund J. Armstrong, edited by G. F. Armstrong' (1877), a portrait is given. An article on Armstrong, by Sir Henry Taylor, appeared in the 'Edinburgh Review,' July 1878. [Memoir as above; personal knowledge.]
ARMSTRONG, GEORGE, M.D. (fl. 1767), brother of John Armstrong, the poet, after practising pharmacy at Hampstead, qualified himself as a physician, removed to London, and established in 1769 a dispensary, supported by contributions, for the relief of poor children. This beneficentinstitution continued to exist for more than twelve years, and it was calculated that not less than 35,000 children were relieved during that time. But it met with small pecuniary support, and in December 1781 its career of usefulness was closed. In 1767 he published an 'Essay on the Diseases most fatal to Infants;' a second edition appeared in 1771, and a third edition, dedicated to Queen Charlotte, in 1777. An enlarged edition appeared in 1808, edited by A. P. Buchan, M.D. To the third edition was appended 'A General Account of the Dispensary for the Infant Poor,' which had been printed, in a shorter form, in 1772. Armstrong claimed that 'no charitable institution was ever established whereby so much good has been done, or so many lives saved at so small an expense,' as by the dispensary he had founded. He dwells with emphasis on the fact that it was the only institution where children were received 'without any letters of admission, provided the parents are really indigent, the case dangerous, and requiring speedy relief.' The date of his death is unknown. In 'Rees's Cyclopaedia' he is said to have died 'in obscurity.' He left three daughters (to whom their uncle had bequeathed his property) and a widow.
[Rees's Cyclopædia; Works.]
ARMSTRONG, JAMES, D.D. (1780–1839), Irish unitarian minister, born in 1780
at Ballynahinch, county Down, was the son
of John Armstrong, who married a daughter
of Rev. John Strong, for thirty-six years
(1744–1780) presbyterian minister of
Ballynahinch. He was a descendant of John
Livingstone, of Killinchy, one of the
founders of Irish presbyterianism [see
Livingstone, John]. He was first trained at the Rademon Academy, under Moses Neilson, D.D., after which he became classical assist-
