Note 199 — BOSWELLIANA.

John Armstrong, M.D., physician and poet, was son of the minister of Castleton, Roxburghshire. Having studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, he became physician in 1732, and commenced practice in the metropolis. His “Art of Preserving Health,” an ingenious poem, appeared in 1744. He was appointed physician to a military hospital in London, and afterwards to the army in Germany. He subsequently resumed medical practice in the metropolis. He became notorious for his indolence; spending his time lounging in a coffee-house, where he received his letters. He died on the 7th September, 1779, about his seventieth year.