Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 02.djvu/103

 Armstrong on the archbishop. ln 1641, on Laud's arrest by the order of the commons, he published a small pamphlet entitled 'Archy's Dreams, sometimes Jester to his Majestie; but exiled the Court by Canterburies malice. With a relation for whom an odde chaire stood wide in Hell.' Many instances of Laud's tyrannical cruelty are here adduced, and Armstrong confidently consigns him to hell, to join 'blind Bonner and Woolsey,' whom he introduces 'dancing a galliard.' Almost immediately afterwards Armstrong apparently retired to Arthuret in Cumberland, where, according to a reference to him in a poem on a local topic published in 1656, he became a considerable landowner (Fatal Nuptials, or the Mournful Marriage; London Magazine, x. 287, 408). In the parish register of Arthuret there are entries of the baptism of 'a base son' of Archibald Armstrong on 17 Dec. 1643; of his marriage, probably for the second time, with Sybella Bell on 4 June 1646; and of his burial 1 April 1672; but no memorial of him in the churchyard survives.

Besides the pamphlet ascribed to him above, he is credited with the authorship of 'A Banquet of Iests: a Change of Cheare. Being a collection of modern Iests, Witty Ieeres, Pleasaunt Taunts, Merry Tales,' the first edition of which was published in 1630. A portrait of Armstrong forms the frontispiece, with the verses inscribed below:

Archee, by kings and princes graced of late, Jested himself into a fair estate.

After the book had passed through three editions, a second part was added in 1633, and a fifth edition of the whole work appeared in 1639. Only a few of the jokes have any claim to originality; the majority are to be found in previous collections. In 1660 there was published in London, 'A choice Banquet of Witty Jests, Rare Fancies, and Pleasant Novels. Fitted for all the Lovers of Wit, Mirth, and Eloquence. Being an addition to Archee's Jests, taken out of his Closet; but never published in his Lifetime.' But the appearance of Armstrong's name on the title-page was probably a bookseller's device; the fact that he was still alive in Cumberland is a certain proof that he was in no way connected with the publication of the work.

[Lysons's Magna Britannia, iv. 13; Calendars of State Papers from 1611 to 1639; Strafford Papers, ii. 133; Osborne, Memorialls of King James in his Works (1682), p. 474; Rushworth, Historical Collections, part 2, vol. i. pp. 470–1; House of Lords Journal, v. 372 b, 433 a; Doran's History of Court Fools, pp. 196 et seq. (with the supplementary chapter in Chambers's Book of Days, i. pp. 181–5); Gent. Mag. xci. part ii., ciii. part ii.; Thoms's Anecdotes and Traditions (Camden Soc.), p. 67; Nares's Glossary (ed. Halliwell and Wright), i. 31.] 

ARMSTRONG, COSMO (fl. 1800–1836), line-engraver, was a pupil of Thomas Milton, the landscape-engraver. He was a governor of the Society of Engravers, and he exhibited with the Associated Engravers in 1821. He engraved some plates for Cooke's edition of the British Poets, Sharpe's edition of the British Classics, Kearsley's edition of Shakespeare, Suttaby's edition of the British Classics, Allason's 'Picturesque Views of the Antiquities of Pola,' 1819, and the 'Ancient Marbles in the British Museum.' Among his other works may be noticed 'Camaralzaman and Badoura' and 'The Sleeper awakened,' after Robert Smirke, for Miller's edition of the 'Arabian Nights,' published in 1802; 'Don Quixote's Combat with the Giant Malumbruno,' also after Smirke, for Cadell's edition of 'Don Quixote,' issued in 1818; and small portraits of Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Charles I., after Van Dyck, Lord Byron, after Thomas Phillips, and George IV, after Sir Thomas Lawrence. Cosmo Armstrong possessed much power of execution, but was too irregular in his application and too eccentric in character to take the rank in his profession that he might otherwise have done. He was still living in 1836.

[Raimbach's Memoirs and Recollections, 1843, p. 36; Redgrave's Dictionary of Artists of the English School, 1878.] 

ARMSTRONG, EDMUND JOHN (1841–1865), a poet who died in early manhood, was born in Dublin 23 July 1841. As a boy he was distinguished by his adventurous spirit, romantic temper united with humour and love of frolic, and his passionate delight in music and literature. Long rambles among the Dublin and Wicklow mountains gave inspiration and colour to his verse. At the age of 17–18 his religious faith yielded before turbulent moods of scepticism; a disappointment in love added to the gloom of this period. In 1859 he entered Trinity College, Dublin, distinguishing himself highly by his compositions in Greek and Latin verse. Immoderate work and intellectual excitement in the spring of 1860 were followed by severe illness; a blood-vessel in the lung was burst, and the lung seriously injured. A summer of convalescence was passed in Wicklow, and then he found it possible to trace back his way towards christian beliefs. He wintered, 1860–61, in Jersey—a joyous and fruitful season for him, during which much was