Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/359

 A R M I N I U S. 41 tio rfc vero et genuino fcnfu capitis " habita." 7. " Epiftola ad Hippoly- 11 fcptimi Epiftohe a>l KOIU.UKJS." 6., *' turn a collibus." " .Ainu.i collacio cum D. Francifio ARMSTRONG (Dr. JOHN), was born in Caflleton pa-Anccdotei ri(h, Roxbiir^hfliire, where his father and brother were mini- ' Bo *> er flers_; completed his education in the univerfity of Edinburgh, J 1C ' where he took his degree in phyfic, Feb. 4. 1732, with much reputation ; and publifhfd his Thefts, as the forms of that univerfity require; the fubjecT: was ' De Tabe purulenta." Like Akenfide, another poet and phyfician, he never arrived at much pradtice. In 1735 he publifhed a little humorous fugitive pamphlet in 8vo. printed for J. Wilford, intituled, Re pr ; nte(! " An Efiay for abridging the Study of Phyfic ; to which isinDiJly'i <l added, a Dialogue betwixt Hygeia, Mercury, and Plur.o, Re P oficoi 7 c< relating to thePiaclice of Phyfic, as it is managed by a " certain illuftrious Society. As alfo an Epiftle from Ufbck '* the Perfian to Jofhua Ward, efq." The dedication runs thus : " To the Academic Philofophers, to the generous De- " Ward, John Moor, and the reft of the numerous Sel of " Infpired Phyficians, this little Work is humbly infcribed, '* by their moft devoted fervant and zealous Admirer," This piece contains much fun and drollery; in the dialogue be has caught the very fpiric of Lucian. It is not marked with his name, but we can, on the beft authority, afTertthat he was the author of it. In 1737 he publifhed " A Synopfis " of the Hiftory and Cure of Venereal Difeafes," 8vo, infcribed, in an ingenious dedication, to Dr. Alexander Stuart, as to " a perfon who had an indifputable right to judge foon followed by the '* Oeconomy of Love," a poem which has much merit, but is too ftrongly tinctured with the licen- tioufnefs of Ovid. His maturer judgement, however, ex- punged many of the luxuriances of youthful fancy, in an edition " revifed and corrected by the author" in i>68. It appears, by one of the Cafes on Literary Property, that Mr. Miller paid fifty guineas for the copy-right of this poem, which was intended as a burlefque on fome didactic writers. It has been obferved of Dr. Arn>ftrong, that his works h.ive great inequalities, fome of them being poliefled of every re- quifite to be fought after in the molt perfecl coTpofition, whiie others can hardly be confidered as fuperior to the pro- dubious of mediocrity. Jn 1741 he folicited Dr. Birch's re- commendation, that he might be appointed phyfician to the Y 2 forces
 * c noni ad Romanos." 5. " PilTcrt.i- " Junio dc pracrfeflinatione per litrraJ
 * fpifers of the Schools, to the defervedly celebrated Jofhua
 * c feverely of the performance prefented to him." This was