"
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.
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