Dr John, an eminent physician, poet, and miscellaneous writer, was born in Cafferton parish, Roxburghshire, where his father and brother were ministers; completed his education in the university of Edinburgh, where he took his degree in physic, Feb. 4, 1732, with much reputation; and published his thesis, as the forms of that university require; the subject was De tabe purulenta. In 1735 he published a little humorous fugitive pamphlet in 8vo, entitled, "An Essay for abridging the Study of Physic;" to which is added a Dialogue betwixt Hygeia, Mercury, and Pluto, relating to the practice of physic, as it is managed by a certain illustrious Society. As also an Epistle from Ulbek the Persian to Joshua Ward, Esq." This piece contains much fun and drollery; in the dialogue, he has caught the very spirit of Lucian. In 1737 he published a Synopsis of the History and Cure of the Venereal Disease, 8vo. This was soon followed by the Economy of Love; a poem which has much merit, but, it must be confessed, is too strongly tinctured with the licentiousness of Ovid. It is said, however, that his maturer judgment expunged many of the luxuries of youthful fancy, in an edition "revised and corrected by the author" in 1768. It appears by one of the cases on literary property, that Mr Millar paid 50 guineas for the copy-right of this poem, which was intended as a burlesque on some didactic writers. It has been observed of Dr Armstrong, that his works have great inequalities, some of them being possessed of every requisite to be sought after in the most perfect composition, while others can hardly be considered as superior to the productions of mediocrity.

The Art of preserving Health, his best performance, which was published in 1744, will transmit his name to posterity as one of the first English writers, and has been honoured with the following testimony of a respectable critic. On this work we shall also transcribe a beautiful eulogium from an eminent physician*:

* Dr MacLenzie's History of Health.

Of all the poetical performances on this subject that have come to my hands, Dr Armstrong's Art of preserving Health is by far the best. To quote every charming description and beautiful passage of this poem, one must transcribe the whole. We cannot, however, expect new rules, where the principal design was to raise and warm the heart into a compliance with the solid precepts of the ancients, which he has enforced with great strength and elegance. And, upon the whole, he has convinced us, by his own example, that we ought not to blame antiquity for acknowledging

One power of physic, melody, and song."

In 1746 Dr Armstrong was appointed one of the physicians to the Hospital for Lame and Sick Soldiers behind Buckingham house. In 1751 he published his poem on Benevolence, in folio; and in 1753, "Tate, an Epistle to a young Critic." In 1758 appeared, "Sketches or Essays on various subjects, by Launcelot Temple, Esq. in two parts." In this production, which possesses much humour and knowledge of the world, and which had a remarkably rapid sale, he is supposed to have been assisted by Mr Wilkes. In 1760 he had the honour of being appointed physician to the army in Germany, where in 1761 he wrote a poem called "Day, an Epistle to John Wilkes of Aylesbury, Esq." In this poem, which is not collected in his works, he wantonly hazarded a reflection on Churchill, which drew on him the serpent-toothed vengeance of that severest of satirists, whose embalming or corrosive pen could defly or lampoon any man, according as he acquiesced with, or differed from his political principles. In 1770 Dr Armstrong published a collection of "Miscellanies, in 2 vols.; containing, 1. The Art of preserving Health. 2. Of Benevolence, an Epistle to Eumenes. 3. Tate, an Epistle to a young Critic, 1753. 4. Imitations of Shakespeare and Spencer. 5. The Universal Almanack, by Noureddin Ali. 6. The Forced Marriage, a tragedy. 7. Sketches." In 1771 he published "A short Ramble through some parts of France and Italy, by Launcelot Temple;" and in 1773, in his own name, a quarto pamphlet, under the title of "Medical Essays;" towards the conclusion of which, he accounts for his not having such extensive practice as some of his brethren, from his not being qualified to employ the usual means, from a ticklish state of spirits, and a distempered excess of sensibility. He complains much of the behaviour of some of his brethren, of the herd of critics, and particularly of the reviewers. He died in Sept. 1779; and to the no small surprise of his friends, left behind him more than 300l. saved out of a very moderate income, arising principally from his half-pay.