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PREFACE

ALL who are interested in the literary and social history of the eighteenth century are to some extent familiar with the name and character of Doctor Arbuthnot; but, generally speaking, knowledge of him is confined to what may be gathered from the correspondence of his friends, Pope and Swift. The letters Arbuthnot sent to and received from those friends must always remain the chief source of information, but there are many other quarters from which further details can be gathered. Writers have, however, followed each other in producing Life after Life of Pope and Swift, and edition after edition of their Works, while no one has made any serious attempt to do a similar service for Arbuthnot, though he was equal to any of his contemporaries in wit and learning, and was possessed of a character which was more loveable than that of any of his better-known acquaintances.

In the present volume an effort has been made to do tardy justice to the reputation of a good and clever man. The story of Arbuthnot's life is here told with such fulness as the materials at our disposal permit of, and considerable additions have been made to what was previously known. The question of his literary work is surrounded with difficulties, for he generally published anonymously, and took no trouble to secure fame through his writings.

With the unselfishness which was a marked characteristic, he was always ready to help any of his friends, and much of his work is therefore merged in the humorous writings of Swift, Pope, Gay and others, and cannot now be distinguished. The matter is, moreover, complicated by the publication in 1750, fifteen years after Arbuthnot's death, of a collection of Miscellaneous Works, which was at once repudiated by his son. Most of the pieces in that collection are obviously not Arbuthnot's, but some are undoubtedly his. We must, therefore, have very distinct corroborative evidence before we accept as genuine any pamphlet thus attributed to him.

With the exception of a few medical and scientific writings, everything that we know with certainty to be Arbuthnot's is here reprinted; and a few tracts of doubtful authenticity, but which are not improbably his, have been added. A detailed Bibliography has also been given.

It remains to thank those to whom I am most indebted for aid in the preparation of this book. Mr. W. H. Baillie gave me access to a number of letters in his possession addressed to Arbuthnot by various friends. Most of these letters are now printed for the first time, and their value will be seen when it is stated that they include new and very interesting letters from Swift, which supplement the letters from Arbuthnot that we already possessed. The letters from Pope, which were published in Elwin and Courthope's edition of that poet's Works, are now printed, after collation with the originals, and with the old spelling restored. The Marquis of Bath kindly examined the Scriblerus papers at Longleat, and sent me copies of the verses in which Arbuthnot had a part; and Mr. S. G. Perceval was good enough to

render me a like service in the case of some letters in his possession.

For help in tracing the story of Arbuthnot's family history I have to thank, in the first place, Mr. George Arbuthnot-Leslie, who lent me valuable papers, and Mrs. James Arbuthnot, of Peterhead, who furnished some interesting particulars. Mr. Robert G. Arbuthnot, Mr. F. F. Arbuthnot, and Colonel and the Misses Allardyce, aided me in various ways; and Sir William Fraser, K.C.B., Deputy Keeper of the Records, Edinburgh, and Mr. David Winter, of the General Registry Office, very courteously answered my enquiries. For most of the information now first given respecting Arbuthnot's father and his own early years I am indebted to the Rev. R. M. Spence, the present minister at Arbuthnott. When I visited Arbuthnot's birthplace, Mr. Spence and his family received me most kindly, and did everything in their power to help me.

The Rev. J. F. Bright, D.D., Master of University College, Oxford, took considerable trouble in answering the questions that arose when I discovered that Arbuthnot entered that College. Mr. Robert Walker, at Aberdeen, and Mr. J. Maitland Anderson, at St. Andrews, were equally kind in the assistance they gave me; and I need hardly say that every facility has been afforded me at the British Museum, the Bodleian Library, the Advocates' Library, and South Kensington, and by Mr. Challenor Smith, of the Probate Registry, Somerset House, and Mr. J. Balfour Paul, Lyon King at Arms. I am much indebted to the Royal College of Physicians, and to the Treasurer, Sir Dyce Duckworth, M.D., for permission to reproduce the portrait of Dr. Arbuthnot which forms the frontispiece to this volume.

Of the published writings which I have consulted, it will suffice here to mention two: Mr. Leslie Stephen's article on Arbuthnot in the Dictionary of National Biography, in which, in a very short space, the main facts of Arbuthnot's life were for the first time set forth in an accurate manner; and the edition of Pope's Works, recently completed by Mr. Courthope, which is invaluable to all students of the period.

November, 1891.

G. A. A.

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