Arbuthnot, John (ärbŭth`nət, är`bəthnŏt), 1667–1735, Scottish author and scientist, court physician (1705–14) to Queen Anne. He is best remembered for his five "John Bull" pamphlets (1712), political satires on the Whig war policy, which introduced the character John Bull, the typical Englishman. With his friends, Swift, Pope, and Gay, Arbuthnot was a member of the Scriblerus Club Scriblerus Club, English literary group formed about 1713 to satirize "all the false tastes in learning." Among its chief members were Arbuthnot, Gay, Thomas Parnell, Pope, and Swift. Meetings of the club were discontinued after 1714.
..... Click the link for more information. , organized to ridicule false tastes in learning, and was the principal author of the "Memoirs of … Martinus Scriblerus," first published in the quarto edition of Pope's works (1741). He was also the author of several progressive medical works. Greatly admired in his time, Arbuthnot was called an unusual genius by Samuel Johnson, and Pope addressed to him the famous "Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot."
(born April 1667, Inverbervie, Scot.—died Feb. 27, 1735, London, Eng.) Scottish mathematician, physician, and satirist. His satirical writings include a political allegory, The History of John Bull (1712), that established John Bull as a personification of England. He was a founding member of the famous Scriblerus Club, which aimed to ridicule bad literature and false learning. He was also chief contributor to and guiding spirit of the Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus (written 1713–14), a mocking exposure of pedantry that was written by club members.
..... Click the link for more information. , organized to ridicule false tastes in learning, and was the principal author of the "Memoirs of … Martinus Scriblerus," first published in the quarto edition of Pope's works (1741). He was also the author of several progressive medical works. Greatly admired in his time, Arbuthnot was called an unusual genius by Samuel Johnson, and Pope addressed to him the famous "Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot."
Bibliography
See edition of his works by G. A. Aitken (1892); study by L. M. Beattie (1935).
Arbuthnot, John
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Arbuthnot, detail of an oil painting by W. Robinson; in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, …
(credit: Courtesy of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh)
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