of friendship I have received from you, which makes me regret it the more that you have for ever deprived me of the pleasure of your conversation. For I cannot with honour or decency associate myself with one who has distinguished himself by abusing my country. I am with all due sincerity, Sir, your most humble servant, John Armstrong.' Had it not been for the publication of the unfortunate 'Day,' he would probably have continued on familiar terms with Wilkes, who (it is supposed) had procured him the post of physician to the army, and to whom he was certainly indebted for much pecuniary help. In some very vigorous lines of Churchill's posthumous satire, 'A Journey,' published in 1764, Armstrong is held up to unsparing ridicule:—
Let them with Armstrong, taking leave of sense,
Read musty lectures on Benevolence,
Or con the pages of his gaping Day,
Where all his former fame was thrown away,
Where all but barren labour was forgot
And the vain stiffness of a letter'd Scot.
One writer after another has asserted that Churchill's attack was provoked by some reflections on himself in 'Day,' but the reader must be extraordinarily lynx-eyed to discover any allusion to Churchill in Armstrong's epistle. It is far more probable that the lines were written at the suggestion of Wilkes, who was on terms of close intimacy with the satirist.
At the recall of the troops from Germany Armstrong returned to London, receiving half-pay for the rest of his life. In 1770 he published, in two volumes of 'Miscellanies,' such works in verse and prose as he wished to preserve. He took this opportunity of printing in his own name the four concluding stanzas of the first canto of the 'Castle of Indolence.' Accompanied by Fuseli, he started in the same year for a tour in France and Italy. At Leghorn he visited Smollett, who was fast sinking into his grave. Under the title of 'A Short Ramble through France and Italy,' 1771, he published some desultory notes taken on the journey. In 1773 he published his last work, 'Medical Essays,' in which he coarsely charges his professional brethren with incompetency and servility.
Armstrong died at his house in Russell Street, Covent Garden, on 7 Sept. 1779, from the effects of a fall. He had been staying in Lincolnshire, and as he was preparing to return home his foot slipped when he was stepping into his carriage. To the surprise of everybody he left the sum of 3,000l. As his pension and his very small practice were his sole means of support, he must have lived somewhat parsimoniously.
There is a mezzotint portrait of him, from a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, inscribed 'John Armstrong, M.D. The suffrage of the wise, the praise that's worth competition is attained by sense alone and dignity of mind.' One who knew him well. Dr. Cuming, of Dorchester, has set down his character briefly as follows:—'He always appeared to me (and I was confirmed in this opinion by that of his most intimate friends) a man of learning and genius, of considerable abilities in his profession, of great benevolence and goodness of heart, fond of associating with men of parts and genius, but indolent and inactive, and therefore totally unqualified to employ the means that usually lead to medical employment, or to elbow his way through a crowd of competitors.'
[The original editions of his works; Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, ii. 275, &c.; Public Advertiser, 23 and 24 March and 1 April 1773; Gentleman's Magazine, January 1792; Add. MSS. 30867 and 30875.]
ARMSTRONG, JOHN (1771–1797), journalist and writer of verses, was born of humble parents, at Leith, in June 1771. After attending the Grammar School of that town and the High School of Edinburgh, he entered Edinburgh University, where he graduated M.A. In 1789 he published 'Juvenile Poems, with remarks on Poetry, and a Dissertation on the best means of punishing and preventing Crimes.' These poems, if stilted in style and hackneyed in sentiment, are characterised by general good taste and some artistic finish. Their publication obtained for him the honour of being invited to compose the words of the songs used in connection with the ceremony of laying the foundation-stone of the Edinburgh University buildings. While tutor in a family in Edinburgh, Armstrong pursued the theological studies necessary to qualify him to become a preacher in the church of Scotland, but in 1790 he removed to London, where he obtained employment on one of the daily papers at a small weekly salary. In 1791 he published a collection of poems, under the title 'Sonnets from Shakspeare.' His literary prospects continued gradually to improve, and he was in receipt of a considerable income, when his health began suddenly to give way. He retired to Leith, where he died of a rapid decline, July 21, 1797.
[Memoir in Edinburgh Magazine, new series, vol. x. pp. 254-5, which contains some additional details to those given in Monthly Magazine, vol. iv. pp. 153-4, and Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxvii. part 2, pp. 731-2.]
