Authors

Scottish · 1667–1735

John Arbuthnot

John Arbuthnot was a Scottish physician, satirist, and friend of Swift, Pope, and Gay — a member of the Scriblerus Club whose satirical works helped shape the literary culture of Augustan England. He invented the character John Bull as the personification of the English national character in his political pamphlets. His contributions to the comic memoir The Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus, co-written with the Scriblerus Club, were central to the project.