James Arbuckle
James Arbuckle (1700–c.1742) was an Irish poet and critic with Presbyterian and Whig leanings. He was likely born in Belfast, the son of a Dublin Presbyterian minister, and studied at the University of Glasgow, where he clashed with Calvinist authorities over students’ votes for the rector.
He admired the philosopher Shaftesbury. His first book, Snuff (1717), a mock-epic, won praise from Allan Ramsay. It was followed by Glotta, or, the Clyde (1721), a celebration of Scottish life and scenery in grand language, even when describing simple topics like golf and swimming. His verse style was similar to that of Alexander Pope, whom he also admired.
In 1723 Arbuckle returned to Dublin and edited the Weekly Journal, The Tribune, and Hibernicus’s Letters (which were later republished in two volumes, 1729). In 1735 he published Momus Mistaken, a sharp satirical attack on Jonathan Swift that damaged his own reputation. He planned translations of classical works, but nothing came of them; he became a schoolmaster in northern Ireland, and his later life is poorly documented.
His death date is given variously, between 1734 and 1747. Some of his translations and other manuscript poems survive in the National Library of Wales.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 15:47 (CET).