So careless of his literary reputation that he permitted his children to make paper kites of his manuscripts, Dr. John Arbuthnot nevertheless achieved renown as a member of the Scriblerus club and as creator of the British national character, John Bull. A distinguished physician, Arbuthnot was highly regarded as a mathematician and philosopher by his contemporaries. Convivial, a lover of food, wine, cards, and music, he attracted friends among the most distinguished men and women of his era. His conservative principles and keen wit inspired, in Alexander Pope's words, "raillery / on every learned sot" and on many Whigs, while he shared his scientific interests in essays on ancient coins, on diet, and on the effects of air. Yet Arbuthnot often published anonymously, and his association with Jonathan Swift, Pope, and John Gay led to misattributions of his work by early readers and editors. As a result, his canon...