He was a close friend of Swift, Pope and Gay, fellow-members of the ‘Scriblerus Club’ (which met in his house), and is thought to have directly inspired some of Swift and Pope’s work. He met Newton and Pepys in Oxford, where a private pupil of his was studying; later he found himself caught in a row between Newton and Flamsteed over Flamsteed’s star catalogue. Sloane was a correspondent, and Handel a friend — Arbuthnot officially managed his opera productions within the U.K. Swift and he were fond of perpetrating practical jokes, as well as making mischief with political pamphlets they published.