Although literature bulks large among Arbuthnot's books, English poetry is not very conspicuous. According to some of the dates, Arbuthnot may have developed his interest in English poetry rather late in life. Although he owned a 1611 Spenser (423), he did not buy the listed Chaucer (110) until 1721. Pope may have inspired the urge to acquire Milton (80, 185), but there seems to be no literary reason for wanting a Milton in French (184). Some other member of the family was, however, sufficiently interested in Milton to buy Newton's edition in 1749 (78). The minor poets listed are also late in date (72, 187). The only Dryden is the translation of Virgil (16), which could represent an interest in classical just as much as in English poetry. There are, however, two copies of Prior's Poems in the large paper edition (106, 252). As the compilers of the Catalogue have left many volumes unspecified, there must have been other poetic works, but the listed sample is rather small.
Characteristically uninterested in his personal fame, Arbuthnot kept no copies of his own writings except the reissued Tables of Ancient Coins (84, 193), associated with a favorite son. The reader revealed by this library is the same Arbuthnot whom his contemporaries admired: witty, yet thoughtful and religious; deeply learned, yet modest. His children, although less learned than the father, continued to buy books on current topics, particularly literature, history and travel. Aged over seventy, George Arbuthnot was still ingesting such materials as Laughton's History of Ancient Egypt (168) and Raynal's comprehensive history of colonialism (10). Despite the obscurity of the word "more" under which the compilers listed half of the total volumes, even the sample of the library is a welcome addition to our knowledge about Dr. Arbuthnot.
University of Victoria
NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION
[1] See advertisements in the Evening Post, 19, 21, 26 February, 13 March 1712; and in the Post-Boy, 10 May and 19 July 1712.
The research necessary for the present publication was supported by a grant from the University of Victoria and by a Leave Fellowship from the Canada Council.
[2] The dates given by Professor H. Teerink in The History of John Bull for the first time faithfully re-issued from the original pamphlets (Amsterdam, 1925), pp. 6-7, are drawn from dates in the Examiner, a weekly newspaper. Three of these dates are correct, and the other two are close, but can be corrected by consulting papers published more often. The first pamphlet seems to have appeared on 4 March 1712 (see Post-Boy of that date), and the third may have appeared on 16 April 1712 (see the Daily Courant of 16 and 17 April; the Post-Boy, however, agrees with the Examiner on the date 17 April).
[3] Although no publisher is named on the title page of the Keys, the fifth edition is advertised among "New Pamphlets Printed for E. Curll" on the back of the half-title page to The Tunbridge-Miscellany: Consisting of Poems, &c. Written at Tunbridge-Wells this Summer. By Several Hands (London, 1712).
[4] Wagstaffe died 5 May 1726, Levett 2 July 1726; the Miscellaneous Works were published on about 18 October 1726. Dr. Norman Moore in his account of Wagstaffe has shown that the "life" in the Miscellaneous Works is substantially correct, and has suggested that Dr. Levett wrote it; see Moore, History of St. Bartholomew's Hospital (London, 1918), II, 523-529.