it was

In regard to his connection with this man, and the patronage thus afforded him, we are to remember that the duke did not become a profligate at once, "the scorn and wonder of his day," so that an intimacy with him in early life may not have justly involved Young in reproach; while, as to the debt of patronage, it may be said in extenuation of the act of becoming its recipient, that it was merely a continuation of a favor which the earlier Duke of Wharton had conferred on Young for the sake of his worthy father; natural, therefore, that the present duke, who had probably been Young's schoolmate, and with whose genius and agreeable manners he may have been highly pleased, should continue the favor which his father had so worthily bestowed. Nor has any evidence been produced to show that while our author associated with this nobleman and enjoyed his pecuniary favors, he adopted any of his dishonorable and immoral practices. In 1717, he travelled with him into Ireland, and of this patronage Young afterwards, it is said, took pains to efface the remembrance. It would seem, from the testimony of Tindal, who was a fellow student with Young, and afterwards became a distinguished writer in favor of deism, that Young in that early period was zealously devoted to the defence of Christianity. "The other boys," said Tindal, “I can always answer, because I always know whence they have their arguments, which I have read a hundred times; but that fellow, Young, is continually pestering me with something of his own."

Some of the alleged habits of Young during his collegiate life,

may, for their singularity, be worthy of record. At Oxford, the story was related, that when he engaged in the work of composing, he was accustomed to close his window blinds, even at mid-day, and to light his lamp; and that skulls and other bones, and some instruments of death, were placed around him, as the ornaments of his study. This singular habit may be regarded as being at once the indication and the promoter of that gloominess of imagination for which he became so distinguished, and which fitted him to write so impressively on various topics which are most largely treated in the "Night Thoughts," and in the "Last Day."

The following anecdote, as illustrative of Young's spirit and energy, may be worth relating. In the early part of his life he was fond of music, and touched the German flute with great skill. On one occasion, while sailing upon the Thames with several ladies, he performed a few tunes and then put the flute in his pocket. Just at this moment some officers rowing by insolently asked him why he stopped playing. "For the same reason that I began to play," said Young, "to please myself." One of them immediately ordered him to resume his playing, and threatened to put him into the river should he refuse to do it forthwith. The ladies becoming much alarmed at such rudeness, Young, for their sake, complied with the order, and played till both parties reached Vauxhall, where they passed the evening. Young, having closely examined the officer who issued the order, took an opportunity, in one of the dark walks, to tell him that he expected him to meet him at a certain place in the morning, to render him satisfaction for the insult of the preceding afternoon, and stated that he made choice of swords as the weapons to be used. The officer kept the appointment, but was much surprised to see Young advance towards him with a horse pistol, with which he declared he would instantly shoot the officer through the head if he did not proceed to dance a hornpipe. After some hesitation and remonstrance, the officer, not daring to decline, yielded to the demand, under the conviction, probably, of his own impertinence the day before, and made a satisfactory acknowledgment, and thus the affair ended.

At an early period of life the genius of Young for poetry began to be developed, and gave origin to several productions which gained

him considerable reputation. From his youth he is said to have felt that passion for glory which ordinarily indicates the possession of great talents, and which often counteracts a passion for the acquisition of property. But, with Young, both glory and fortune were simultaneously and eagerly pursued, both early and late in life. In Night VII. he declares:

It is represented to have been to him a great luxury to paint the miseries of the world, because it did not immediately gratify his ambitious aspirations; and the remark has been made, that if he had been honored in his mature years with the name, place, and emoluments of a bishopric, it is quite doubtful whether the "Night Thoughts" would ever have been elaborated and given to the world. If this be so, we certainly have reason to congratulate ourselves and others that his ambitious designs were not crowned with success. That he was not indifferent to distinctions and emoluments of this sort, is plain enough, from his constant habit of dedicating his poetical productions to persons of noble birth and of opulence; to such chiefly as were able to promote, if they saw fit, these upward aims of the poet. The same thing is plainly to be seen in some portions of the "Night Thoughts" themselves.

Among his first poetical adventures was an epistle to the Right Honorable George, Lord Lansdowne, published in 1712. In this poem, it has been truly observed, he began the siege of patronage, in which we find him still engaged, and still unsuccessfully, in the very decline of life,

"Twice told the period spent on stubborn Troy,
Court favor, yet untaken, I besiege."

His poem on the "Last Day" is prefaced by an inscription to no humbler personage than the queen. It is said, however, in explanation of this, that he had been employed as a writer to the Court, and to have received for this service a regular salary. To this fact Dean Swift is supposed to refer in his Rhapsody on Poetry. Speaking of the Court, he says:

"Whence Gay was banished in disgrace,
Where Pope will never show his face,
Where Y- must torture his invention

To flatter knaves, or lose his pension."

The conclusion that Young was intended is plainly sustained by the following lines from the same poem :

"Attend ye Popes, and Youngs, and Gays,
And tune your harps, and strew your bays,
You panegyrics here provide,

You cannot err on flattery's side."

For the purpose of illustrating the character and aims of the author at the period referred to, when he was about thirty years of age, the substance of the dedication to the queen is here adduced :— It awards great praise to the queen for the victories achieved under her reign and direction, but proceeds to say, that the author is more pleased to see her rise from this lower world, soaring above the clouds, passing the first and second heavens, and leaving the fixed stars behind her; nor will he lose her there, he adds, but keep her still in view through the boundless space on the other side of creation, in her journey towards eternal bliss, till he beholds the heaven of heavens open, and angels receiving and conveying her still onward from the stretch of his imagination, which tires in her pursuit. and falls back again to earth!

Another graphic illustration of the character and aims of the author about this period, is found in the history of his next publication, "The Force of Religion," which is founded on the incidents connected with the execution of Lady Jane Gray, and her husband Lord Guilford Dudley, 1554. In the dedication of it to the countess of Salisbury, he expresses the hope that it may be some excuse

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for the author's presumption, that the story could not have been read without the thoughts of the countess of Salisbury, though it had been dedicated to another. "To behold," he adds, a person only virtuous stirs in us a prudent regret; to behold a person only amiable to the sight, warms us with a religious indignation; but to turn our eyes to a countess of Salisbury, gives us pleasure and improvement; it works a sort of miracle; occasions the bias of our nature to fall off from sin, and makes our very senses and affections converts to our religion, and promoters of our duty." Such a complimentary effusion was probably not without its pecuniary reward.

reign, that his

After queen Anne's death, in 1714, he prepares a poem on the sad event, inscribed to Addison, in which he takes good care to introduce a flattering panegyric on the accession of George I. to the throne, and this, doubtless, was the chief design. Among other things, he declares, though at the very outset of his new subjects bless the gods for such a king and asked no more. This poem was not introduced, however, by the author into his edition of his complete works. Perhaps he became ashamed of its flatteries and selfish designs.

His famous tragedy, "The Revenge," appeared in 1721, and, as a matter of course, was dedicated to some individual of noble rank and ample means. The duke of Wharton was selected for the distinction. "Your grace," says the dedication, "has been pleased to make yourself accessary to the following scenes, not only by suggesting the most beautiful incident in them, but by making all possible provision for the success of the whole." He further speaks in this document of his patron in the following courtly terms: "My present fortune is his bounty, and my future his care; which, I will venture to say, will be always remembered to his honor; since he, I know, intended his generosity as an encouragement to merit; though, through his very pardonable partiality to one who bears him so sincere a duty and respect, I suppose to receive the benefit of it." This dedication, having answered its purpose, was, like the others referred to, excluded from the author's own edition of his complete works. To the duke he appears to have been indebted for two annuities, one bearing date of March 24, 1719; the other was dated July 10, 1722 he also received a bond for a large amount in 1721.