Death date 1670 in some records. Sometimes referred to as "The Latin Poet."

JOHNSTON, (DR) ARTHUR, a poet and physician, was born in the year 1587, at Caskieben, the seat of his family, a few miles from Aberdeen. He was the fifth son of George Johnston of that ilk and of Caskieben, the chief of the family of Johnston, by Christian Forbes, daughter of William, seventh baron Forbes. He appears to have been named after his uncle the honourable William Forbes of Logie, who was killed at Paris in the year 1574.[Johnston’s History of the Family of Johnston, 36.] This poet, whose chief characteristic was the elegance with which he expressed his own simple feelings as a poet, in the language appropriate to the customs and feelings of a past nation, has left in his Epigrammata an address to his native spot; and, although Caskieben is a piece of very ordinary Scottish scenery, it is surprising how much he has made of it, by the mere force of his own early associations. With the minuteness of an enthusiast, he does not omit the circumstance, that the hill of Benochie, a conical elevation about eight miles distant, casts its shadow over Caskieben at the periods of the equinox ...

links

• http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/johnstone_arthur.htm
• http://oursoutherncousins.com/THE%20SCOTTISH%20JOHNSTON'S.pdf