Dr. John Armstrong, littérateur, and associate of Smollett, Thomson, Wilkes, and other celebrities / Lewis M. Knapp.
- Knapp, Lewis M. (Lewis Mansfield)
- Date:
- [1944?]
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Dr. John Armstrong, littérateur, and associate of Smollett, Thomson, Wilkes, and other celebrities / Lewis M. Knapp. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![vanced student at Edinburgh had known him there. At any rate, the above appointment was a relatively minor matter for Pringle.30 Arm¬ strong’s other associate, Dr. Baker, is hard to identify, but was possibly Dr. Henry Baker, F.R.S., known as “Microscope” Baker, whom Alex¬ ander Carlyle met in London in 1746,31 at which time he also met Arm¬ strong and Thomson. Carlyle’s account of Armstrong in the spring of 1746 is invaluable for revealing him at that period. Of the literary people I met with at this time in London [wrote Carlyle] I must not forget Thomson the poet and Dr. Armstrong. Dickson32 had come to London from Leyden with his degree of M.D., and had been introduced to Armstrong, who was his countryman. A party was formed at the Ducie Tavern at Temple Bar, where the company were Armstrong, Dickson, and Andrew Millar, with Murdoch his friend. Thomson came at last, and disappointed me both by his appearance and conversation. Armstrong bore him down, having got into his sarcastical vein by the wine he had drunk before Thomson joined us.33 Armstrong’s sarcasm was, as we shall see, one of the salient features of his character. The indolent Thomson was probably later than usual in ar¬ riving at the party. However, he knew Armstrong’s kindly as well as his satirical side. Some time after 1746, the Rev. Joseph Spence, who, as we have seen, knew Armstrong in 1742, received a letter from one N. Herbert, answer¬ ing a request from “Dr. Armstrong” on the technique of resuscitating drowned persons.34 Perhaps Armstrong was trying to read up on that subject. Possibly some other doctor named Armstrong was making the inquiry. Little is known, indeed, as to the precise nature and extent of Armstrong’s private practice. It looks as though Armstrong, along with his medical work, always 30 Pringle had been physician to the Earl of Stair in the Dettingen campaign. In 1746 he accompanied the Duke of Cumberland to Culloden. In 1747 and 1748 he was abroad again with the army. The standard accounts of Pringle do not refer to this appointment to the hospital for incapacitated soldiers. 31 See The Autobiography of Dr. Alexander Carlyle, ed. John Hill Burton (London and Edinburgh, 1910), p. 204. 32 This Dickson referred to was Thomas Dickson, M.D. and F.R.S., (ca. 1727-1784). In Leyden Dickson was a student with Charles Townshend and John Wilkes. In 1758 he married Carlyle’s eldest sister, Margaret, in London. For the best account of Dickson, see his obituary, Gent. Mag., liv (June, 1784), 476. See also R. W. Innes Smith, English- Speaking Students of Medicine at the University of Leyden (Edinburgh, 1932), p. 67, where it is stated that Dickson obtained his M.D. on April 8,1746. 33 Carlyle, op. cit., pp. 205-206. 34 See the Rev. Joseph Spence, Anecdotes, Observations, and Characters, of Books and Men (London, 1858), pp. 316-317.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30632018_0007.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
