EULOGY OX THOMAS YOUNG. 113 



Toimg was ouly eiglit years of age when cliaiice, wliose influence in 

 the events of man's life is more considerable than our vanity often allows 

 us to admit, tookliim from studies exclusively literary and revealed his 

 real vocation. A surveyor of mucli merit in the neighborhood took a 

 great fancy for him; he took him out into the country sometimes on 

 holidays, and permitted him to amuse himself with his instruments of 

 surveying and natural philosophy. The operations by vrhose aid the 

 young scholar saw the distances andelevations of inaccessible objects de- 

 termined i)owerfully struck his imagination ; but soon several chap- 

 ters of a mathematical dictionary made all that seemed mysterious in 

 the matter disappear. From this moment, in his Holyday excursions, 

 the quadrant took the place of the kite. In the evening, by way of 

 amusement, the engineering novice calculated the heights measured 

 in the morning. 



From the age of nine to fourteen Young went to a school at Compton, 

 in Dorsetshire, kept by Mr. Thomson, whose memory he always cher- 

 ished. During these live years all the pujuls of the school were occupied 

 exclusively, according to the practice of English schools, in a minute 

 study of the principal writers of Greece and liome.* Young continually 

 maintained his place at the head of his class, and yet he learned at the 

 same time French, Italian, Hebrew, Persian, and Arabic ; French and 

 Italian, from the chance object of satisfying the curiosity of a school- 

 fellow, who posses-sed some vxorks printed at Paris, of Avhich he was 

 desirous to know the contents ; Hebrew, in order to read tlu; Old Testa- 

 ment in the original ; Persian and Arabic, with the view of deciding a 

 question started at table, Avhetlier there were as marked difterences 

 between the Oriental languages as betv.een those of Europe. 



I perceive the necessity of mentioning that I write from authentic 

 documents before I add that, during what might appear so fabulous a. 

 progress in languages, Young, during his walks at Compton, was seized 

 with a violent passion for botany; and that being destitute of the 

 means of magnifying objects of which naturalists make use when they 

 wish to examine the delicate parts of plants, he undertook to construct 

 a microscope himself, without any other guide than a description of the 

 instrument in a work by Benjamin Maxtin; that to arrive at this difiS- 

 cult result it was necessary to accpiire some skill in the art of turning; 

 that the algebraic formulas of the optician having presented to him 

 symbols of which he had no idea, (those of Jiuxions.) he was for a mo- 

 ment in great perplexity ; but not being willing at last to give up the 

 enlargement of his pistils and stamens, he found it more simple to learn 

 the differential calculus, in order to comprehend the unlucky formula, 

 than to send to the neighboring town to buy a microscoiie. The ardent 

 activity of the juvenile Young had led hiui to exertions beyond the 

 strength of his constitution. At the age of fourteen his health was 

 sadly altered. Various indications excited fears of a disease of the 

 lungs; but these menacing symi^toms at length yielded to the pre-scrip- 

 tions of art, and the anxious cares of which this maladj' made him the 

 object on the part of all his relations. 



It is rare among our neighbors on the other side of the Chaunelt that 



* It would appear from Yoiuig's o^Yn accouut that a far more liberal system was 

 really pursued iu this school. Also, the praises of the usher, Josiah Jeffery, should 

 never be omitted, who initiated I'oung at leisure hours into a variety of experimental 

 and practical subjects, which contributed materially to his future success. (See Pea- 

 cock's Life, p. 6.) — Translator. 



t The reader will of course make due allowance in this and many other passages for 

 the ideas of a foreigner as to English habits. The anecdote of Y'ouug's iieumanship 

 which follows is differently given by Dr. Peacock, p. 12. — Translator. 



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