s left his debtor,
I wish it soon may have a better."

We may here mention a minor luminary, which shone in the constellation
in Queen Anne's classic reign. Pope said that of all the men that he had
met Arbuthnot had the most prolific wit, allowing Swift only the second
place. Robinson Crusoe--at first thought to be a true narrative--was
attributed to him, and in the company who formed themselves into the
Scriblerus Club to write critiques or rather satires on the literature,
science and politics of the day, we have the names of Oxford,
Bolingbroke, Swift, Pope, Gay, and Arbuthnot. Of the last, who seems to
have written mostly in prose, a few works survive devoid of all the
coarseness which stains most contemporary productions and also deficient
in point of wit. It is noteworthy that the two authors who endeavoured
to introduce a greater delicacy into the literature of the day, were
both court physicians to Queen Anne. The death of this sovereign caused
the Scriblerus project to be abandoned, but Gulliver's Travels, which
had formed part of it, were afterwards continued, and some of the
introductory papers remain, especially one called "Martinus Scriblerus,"
supposed to have been the work of Arbuthnot. It contains a violent
onslaught principally upon Sir Richard Blackmore's poetry, such as we
should more easily attribute to Pope, or at least to his suggestions. It
resembles "The Dunciad" in containing more bitterness than humour.
Examples are given of the "Pert style," the "Alamode" style, the
"Finical style." The exceptions taken to such hyperbole as the
following, seem to be the best founded--

OF A LION.

"He roared so loud and looked so wondrous grim
His very shadow durst not follow him."

OF A LADY AT DINNER.

"The silver whiteness that adorns thy neck
Sullies the plate, and makes the napkins black."

OF THE SAME.

"The obscureness of her birth
Cannot eclipse the lustre of her eyes
Which make her all one light."

OF A BULL BAITING.

"Up to the stars the sprawling mastiffs fly
And add new monsters to the frighted sky."

There is a certain amount of humour in Arbuthnot's "History of John
Bull," and in his "Harmony in an Uproar." A letter to Frederick Handel,
Esquire, Master of the Opera House in the Haymarket, from Hurlothrumbo
Johnson, Esquire, Composer Extraordinary to all the theatres in Great
Britain, excepting that of the Haymarket, commences--

"Wonderfu