army he owed to the
kindness of Wilkes; and that although he had been rash and hasty, he
still retained a due sense of gratitude. In attacking Wilkes, he
contrived to exasperate Churchill also, who was not to be provoked with
impunity, and who revenged himself in the Journey. In 1771, he published
a Short Ramble through some parts of France and Italy. In the
neighbourhood of Leghorn he passed a fortnight with Smollett, to whom he
was always tenderly attached. Of his book I regret the more that I
cannot speak from my own knowledge, because the journey which it
narrates is said to have been made in the society of Mr. Fuseli, with
whom it is not easy to suppose that any one could have travelled without
profiting by the elegance and learning of his companion. I have no
better means of bringing my reader acquainted with some Medical Essays
which he published in 1773; but from the manner in which they are spoken
of in the Biographical Dictionary [2], it is to be feared that they did
not conduce to his reputation or advancement. He died in September,
1779, in consequence, as it is said, of a contusion which he received
when he was getting into a carriage. His friends were surprised to find
he had laid by three thousand pounds, which had been saved chiefly out
of his half-pay.

Armstrong appears to have been good-natured and indolent, little versed
in what is called the way of the world, and, with an eagerness of
ostentation which looks like the result of mortified vanity, a despiser
of the vulgar, whether found among the little or the great.

His Art of Preserving Health is the only production by which he is
likely to be remembered. The theme which he has chosen is one, in which
no man who lives long does not at some time or other feel an interest;
and he has handled it with considerable skill. In the first Book, on
Air, he has interwoven very pleasing descriptions both of particular
places and of situations in general, with reference to the effects they
may be supposed to have on health. The second, which treats of Diet, is
necessarily less attractive, as the topic is less susceptible of
ornament; yet in speaking of water, he has contrived to embellish it by
some lines, which are, perhaps, the finest in the poem.

Now come, ye Naiads, to the fountains lead;
Now let me wander through your gelid reign.
I burn to view th' enthusiastic wilds
By mortals else untrod. I hear the din
Of waters thund'ring o'er the ruin'd