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III. 2.

Yet born to conquer is her power:

O Hoadly, if that favorite hour
On earth arrive, with thankful awe
We own just heaven's indulgent law,
And proudly thy success behold;
We attend thy reverend length of days
With benediction and with praise,
And hail thee in our public ways
Like some great spirit fam'd in ages old.

III. 3.

While thus our vows prolong

Thy steps on earth, and when by us resign'd,
Thou join'st thy seniors, that heroic throng
Who rescu'd or preserv'd the rights of human kind;
O! not unworthy may thy Albion's tongue
Thee still her friend and benefactor name:
O! never, Hoadly, in thy country's eyes,
May impious gold, or pleasure's gaudy prize,
Make public virtue, public freedom vile:
Nor our own manners tempts us to disclaim

That heritage, our noblest wealth and fame,

Which thou hast kept intire from force and factious guile.

**Authorities. Biographia Britannica. British Biography, 8vo. vol. ix.

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DR. EDWARD YOUNG was born in the year 1681, at Upham, in Hampshire; of which place his father, Dr. Edward Young, dean of Sarum, was then rector. At a proper age he was sent to Winchester-school, where he became a scholar upon that founda

tion. From thence he was removed to Oxford; and according to the statutes of each foundation, admitted of New college in the year 1703; but being superannuated, and there being no fellowship vacant, he removed before the expiration of the year, to Corpus Christi College, where he entered himself a gentleman-commoner. In 1708, he was put into a law-fellowship at All Souls, by archbishop Tennison, into whose hands it came by a devolution. In consequence of this preferment, in 1714, he took the degree of bachelor-of laws. Two years after this, he was prevailed upon by the duke of Wharton, who patronized him, to offer himself a candidate for member of parliament for the borough of Cirence ster; but in this attempt he was unsuccessful.

In the mean, time he had applied himself to the study of poetry with such success, that he produced the same year, a tragedy, called, "Busiris ;" which was acted with great applause,; and in 1721, this play was followed by another, entitled, "The Revenge;" which is esteemed his best dramatic performance, and which met with the reception it deserved. He afterwards brought a third tragedy upon the stage, entitled, "The Brothers;" which was also acted with applause.

About the year 1723, our author published, "A Poem on the Last Day; in three books;" which coming from the pen of a layman, was honored with peculiar applause. This production was soon followed by another, entitled, "The Force of Religion; or, Vanquished Love; a poem, in two books;" which was well received by the public in general, and was particularly pleasing to the noble family who were more immediately interested in the subject of his verse.

As a poet, Dr. Young has other and far better claims upon posterity for reputation, than what arise from these performances; but whatever may be their intrinsic merit, they served to introduce him to the notice of several of the nobility; and the turn of his mind leading him to divinity, he quitted the study of the law, and entering into holy orders, was appointed chaplain in ordinary to king George II. in the year 1728. The same year, he distin guished himself as a prose-writer, by publishing "A Vindication of Providence; or, A true Estimation of Human Life; in which the passions are considered in a new light." The occasion which

first suggested this subject to him was, as he himself informs us, the death of the king (George I.); an event which led him into a variety of reflections, that are in general extremely just and as they are by no means drawn from books, but from the life, they have also an air of originality which renders them the more striking.

In the year 1730, Dr. Young was presented by his college to the valuable rectory of Welwyn, in Hertfordshire; and his fellowship being vacated by this preferment, he entered soon after into a marriage with the lady Betty Lee, widow of colonel Lee, and daughter to the earl of Lichfield; a lady of excellent endowments, and great sweetness of temper. In the mean time, the duties of the clerical profession had not entirely withdrawn his attention from those elegant pursuits to which he was attached by nature and education. Polite literature still attracted his regard; and amidst his severer studies, he continued to cultivate his poetical talent.

His satires, which were entitled, " The Love of Fame; or, the Universal passion," and which were at first separately printed in folio, at different times, were well rected by the public; but his most celebrated performance is his Night Thoughts." Dr. Young's lady had two children by her former husband, a son and a daughter, whose amiable qualities so entirely engaged his affections, that he loved them with all a father's fondness; and as she had also brought him a son, his domestic felicity was complete ; but in the year 1741, it was suddenly and irretrievably interrupted by the death of his wife, her son and daughter, who were all taken from him within a short time of each other. This was an affliction which called for every consolation that reason and religion could inspire; and how deeply he was affected by his loss, and what painful struggles he underwent before he could regain any to rable tranquillity of mind, is evident from the Night Thoughts that celebrated poem, which was occasioned by this calamity.

Notwithstanding the blemishes and defects of this performance, which are numerous and striking, there was something so peculiarly noble and august, that at its first appearance, it was received with unbounded applause; and without doubt, its various and transcen

VOL. IV.

dent beauties will be contemplated with admiration and delight by a very remote posterity.

In 1755, he published, in 8vo. "The Centaur not Fabulous; in Six Letters to a Friend, on the Life in Vogue." An explanation of this singular title, will throw some light on the nature of the work; and the author himself has thus given it to his readers;

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The men of pleasure," says he, the licentious and profligate are the subject of these letters, and in such, as in the fabled Centaur, the brute runs away with the man; therefore I call them Centaurs. And further I call them Centaurs not fabulous, because by their scarcely half-human conduct and character, that enigmatical and purely ideal figure of the ancients is not unriddled only, but realized." In the first four letters, he attempts to make the infidel and the voluptuary sensible of their error, and to recommend belief and virtue, in the room of doubt and dissoluteness. In the fifth and sixth he treats of these five points ; "Life's Review; The general Cause of Security in Sin, Thoughts for Age; The Dignity of Man; The Centaur's Restoration to Humanity." The three first of these points, he tells his correspondent, were naturally suggested to him by the world's wickedness, and their own; and by their advanced time of life. The fourth, viz. The Dignity of man, says he, is naturally suggested by the notoriety of its reverse, in those for whose sake these letters are principally written. And the fifth point, viz. The Centaur's Restoration to Humanity, is forcibly imposed on, me by the transporting thought that such an event is possible.

The general strain of these letters is strongly characteristic of the author of the Night Thoughts," notwithstanding an air of gaiety, and even levity, which is occasionally assumed; and they are in many instances, distinguished by a striking originality of sentiment, and peculiar brilliancy of expression.

As Dr. Young possessed so much merit, and had been appointed chaplain to king George II. so early as the year 1728, it has justly been thought extraordinary, that he never obtained any preferment in the church, but ended his days upon a living, which came to him from his college without any favor. "To satisfy curiosity of this kind," says Mr. Herbert Croft, "is at this distance of time, far from easy. The parties themselves know not

often, at the instant, why they are neglected. The neglect of Young is by some ascribed to his having attached himself to the prince of Wales, and to his having preached an offensive sermon at St. James's. It has been told me, that he had £200 a year in the latereign, by the patronage of Walpole; and that whenever the king was reminded of Young, the only answer was, He has a pension." All the light thrown on this inquiry, by the following letter from Secker, only serves to shew us at what a late period of life, the author of the "Nights Thoughts" solicited preferment:

"Good Dr. YOUNG,

Deanery of St. Paul's, July 8, 1758

"I have long wondered, that more suitable notice of your great merit hath not been taken by persons in power. But how to remedy the omission, I see not. No encouragement hath ever been given me to mention things of this nature to his m jesty. And therefore in all likelihood, the only consequence of doing it would be weakening the little influence which else I may possibly have on some other occasions. Your fortune and your reputation set you above the need of advancement; and your sentiments above that concern for it, on your own account, which on that of the public, is sincerely felt by

Your loving brother,

“ THO. CANT.”"

About two years before this, he published a prose piece of great merit, entitled, Conjectures on Original Composition; in a Letter to the Author of sir Charles Grandison." In this performance, speaking of the pleasures of composition, Dr. Young says, "To men of letters and leisure, it is not only a noble amusement, but a sweet refuge; it improves their parts, and promotes their peace; it opens a back-door out of the bustle of this busy and idle world, into a delicious garden of moral and intellectual fruits and flowers; the key of which is denied to the rest of mankind. When stung with idle anxieties, or teazed with fruitless impertinence, or yawning over insipid diversions, then we see the blessings of a lettered recess. With what a gust do we retire to our disinterested and immortal friends in our closet, and

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