154 
Ja% in his arms. This refpe€table old man— 
refpeCtable, not for rank and opulence, but for 
piety, honefty, information and independence, 
foftered the drawing genius of his only fon, 
and gave him as liberal an edscation as his cir- 
eumftances could afford. He firft received the 
rudiments of claffical knowledge at the grammar- 
{chool.cf Leith, his native place, and aiter- 
wards purfued his ftudies, with unremitting at- 
tention, at the high {chool and college of Edin- 
burgh, where he received marks of . particular 
atteation from the mafters and profeflors he 
attended, and -was Ronguted with a Mafter of 
Ajxts degree. He wa S partic ularly fond of the 
belles lettres, and belts he had completed his 
twentieth year, had perufed every author of this 
abieeiabon whofe merits were pointed ort to 
him, or which -he himfelf difcovered to be 
worthy of ‘attention. From his earfie% years, 
poct:y was his chief enjoyment, and what he fo 
ardently a ES ed he did not failto imitate. At 
the age of eighteen, he publfhed a volume, at 
Edinburgh, VE Ale the title of <* fuventle Poems,” 
many of “which met wip very confiderable ap- 
probation. . Fn this publication he alfo inferted 
an ‘ Efiay en the bef means of punifhing and 
preventing Crimes,” for: which, .in January 
2739, a tew months fa. he a received the 
gold prize meal, given by the Edinburgh 
Pantheon Society, for the beit feecimen of profe 
see Abcut the end of the fame year, 
he, at the requef oi feveral gentlemen, com- 
pofed the woids of the fongs which were in- 
troduced during the proceflion which took 
place when Lord } Napier. as grand maite:-mafon 
of Scotland, laid the ent ea ffone of the 
New College. Some time previcus to this,- he 
had entered himfelf at the divinitv-hall, and 
had gone through the greatefl p part of the 
xer- 
cifes rece flary io qual) fy a ftudent to become a 
pene? in the church of Sco land, and Was at 
the fame time employed in the capacity. of tutor 
in one of the moft refpeCtable families in Edin- 
burgh. ~The ardourot his mind, however, car- 
ried him beyond the fphete in which he thea 
satted, and in 17¢0, he determined, young as he 
was, to purfue the career of literature in the ex- 
tenfive field of the metropolis. On his arrival 
in London, he pief-nted one or two of the 
numerous recommendations he had received to 
the condu€tors of the Bence publications, 
but meeting with the reception waich fuch a 
ftripling might natural tly have expeGed, he 
committed the 
‘Procure a fubiifence, he then engaged as a 
Writer in one of the daily papers, at a {mall 
weekly falary ; but, no fooner had he an PES 
portunity of ee his talents, than their 
true value was difcovered. His reputation gia- 
dually increafed; he was folicited toaccept newf- 
paper engagements, on move liberal terms than 
had before been cfered ; and it is but juftice to 
fay, that in this line, either as a reperter of the 
debates. as a tranflator, or an original writer, -if 
equalled by any, S, was excelled by none. He 
{tll retained his t for poetry, and, exclufive 
of a variety of Veils, which were occafionally 
3 

Deaths.—Rev. 
remainder to the flames. To 
Te Armftrings : 
inferted in the daily prints, he, in 1791, pub- 
lifhed a colleétion of ‘* Sonnets from Shak{peare,”” 
many of which had previoufly appeared and been 
highly approved in a feparate form, under the fig- 
nature of Albert.—Amicft his different occupa- 
tions, however forced upon him at firft, by the 
neceflity oi procuring. a maintenance, the with 
always neareft his ‘heart was to purfue his 
ftudies, and to procure {ome permanent Situation 
asa preacher. In this he had to ftruggle with 
a natural awkwardnels of manner, and an un= 
fortunate deiect in his fpeech, obftacles which 
might haye rendered his fucceis impoffible, had 
not the attention of the hearer been irrefftibly 
drawn from the manner of the preacher to 
liberal and elevated fentiments conveyed in 
‘bold and energetic, yet corre&t. and hyshly- 
finithed language. He occafionally oceupied 
the pulpits of fome of the moft refpeétable 
diffenting clergymen in London, and for a con- 
fiderable time preached regularly every Sunday 
afternocn to the congregation in Monkweil- 
treet, which in the morniag attended .the 
minifry of the rev. Mr. Lindiay.. From the 
want of a fuificient fund, how ever, to offer Mr, 
Armftrong an adequate compentation, the after 
nocn. fervice was diicontinued. He has left 
behind him above forty manufcript iermonsy 
fomie 
induce his furviving friends to prefent them to 
the'.public. Some time previous to his death, 
his different engagements produced him an in- 
come of above eee per ann 3 and he was 
oon ing a plan of Jife more adapted to the im- 
sired ftate of ‘He heaith, when a decline, 
anally arifing from exceflive fatigue eae of 

day a judy tee oe out a month after he 
had completed the 26th year of his age. In 
the difcharge of the relative duties which a 
i ie to his neighbour, and te 
Armiirong was at any time 
found deficient, it was chiefly in paying too 
little attenticn to his own health and comfort. 
He was fer pulous, even to a fault, in the ful- 
fiiment of every engagement he entered into 5 
the was an accompliihed icholar, conftant and 
ardent in his friend! LPS; honourable and inde- 
pendent in his general principles and conduct, of 
a liberal and benevolent difpofiticn, the firm 
friend of rational freedom, thé enemy of faction 
and violence, a dutiful fon, an affeétionate 
brother, a good citizen, and a fincere Chriftian. 
—With fingular propriety may two ftanzas ef 
one of his own poems be applied to himfelf: 
His failings lean’d to virtue’s fide, 
Of independence, honef pride, 
Contempt of fordid gain, 
Of follies of the rich and great, 
Th’ unmeaning pomp of idie ftate, 
And fopp’ry of the vain. 
Though humble, honeft was his name, 
He feared not poverty, but fhame ; 
~ To a&a worthy part 
Was itill his aim; unknown to prize 
The little arts by which nsen rife, 
He jived to his own heart. 
PROVINCIA 
[ Aug, 
of which are of fuily fufficient merit to 
