William Arnall (died May 1736) was an English political writer.

Life

He was trained as an attorney, but took to political writing before he was twenty. He was one of the authors in Prime Minister

Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader ...

's pay who replied to the ''Craftsman'' and the various attacks of Bolingbroke and Pulteney. He wrote the ''Free Briton'' under the signature of "Francis Walsingham", and succeeded

Matthew Concanen Matthew Concanen (1701 – 22 January 1749) was a writer, poet and lawyer born in Ireland. Life Concanen studied law in Ireland but travelled to London as a young man, and began writing political pamphlets in support of the Whig government. ...

in the '' British Journal''. The report of the committee of inquiry into Walpole's conduct indicates that in the years 1731-41 over £50,000 for his writing circle, with over £10,997 allocated to Arnall for distribution to other journalists or to meet printing costs. Arnall himself received an annual pension of about £400, making him the best paid government journalist in London.

Works

Besides his writing for Walpole, Arnall also published a number of pamphlets on political and ecclesiastical themes, including Publius Clodius Pulcher and

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

(1727), One of his tracts, in which he disputes certain claims of the clergy in regard to tithes ''Animadversions on Bishop Sherlock's Remarks on the Tythe Bill'', is reprinted in ''The Pillars of Priestcraft and Orthodoxy Shaken'' (2nd edn, 1768). ''A letter to Dr. Codex r. Gibsonon His Modest Instructions to the Crown'' (1733), ''Opposition No Proof of Patriotism'' (1735) on Thomas Rundle's appointment to the see of Londonderry, and ''The Complaint of the Children of Israel'' (1736, under the name Solomon Abrabanel) are attributed to him. ''A Letter to the Revd Dr Codex dmund Gibson' (1733), ''Opposition No Proof of Patriotism'' (1735), ''The Complaint of the Children of Israel'' (1736, under the name Solomon Abrabanel), and ''Animadversions on Bishop Sherlock's Remarks on the Tythe Bill'', reprinted in ''The Pillars of Priestcraft and Orthodoxy Shaken'' (2nd edn, 1768). In the '' London Evening Post'' for 3 June 1736, Arnall's death in May that year is reported. Arnall's work for Walpole made him a popular target for the Whig opposition ''Craftsman'' and '' Fog's Journal''. He was also satirised in verse,

Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...

for example attacked him in the '' Dunciad'' (Bk. ii. 315), where his name was substituted for Leonard Welsted's in 1735, and in the epilogue to the ''Satires'' (Dialogue ii. 129): 'Spirit of Arnall, aid me whilst I lie!'

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnall, William English political writers 18th-century English people 1736 deaths Year of birth unknown