568 Professor Tyndall [Jan. 22, 



cameos. Dr. Darwin stated that he had borrowed much of the 

 imagery of his poetry from the graceful expression and vigorous 

 conception which these cameos breathe. His opinion of his visitor is 

 pithily expressed in a letter of introduction to a friend in Edinburgh : 

 " He unites the scholar with the philosopher, and the cultivation 

 of modern arts with the simplicity of ancient manners." 



Young went to Edinburgh to pursue his medical studies. His 

 reputation had gone before him, and he was welcomed in the best 

 society of the northern capital. Here he met Bostock, Bancroft, 

 Turner, Gibbs, Gregory, Duncan, Black, and Munroe. He dwells 

 specially upon the lectures of John Bell, whose demonstrations in 

 anatomy appeared to him to be of first-rate excellence. 



There is nothing that I have met in Dean Peacock's 'Life of 

 Young,' to denote that he was fervently religious. The Ciceronian 

 "virtue," rather than religious emotion, seemed to belong to his 

 character. The hold which mere habit long exercised over him, 

 and which his loyalty had caused him to maintain at a period 

 of temptation, became more and more relaxed. He gradually 

 gave up the formal practices of Quakerism, in regard to dress 

 and other matters. He took lessons in dancing, and appeared to 

 delight in that graceful art. I remember the late Mr. Babbage 

 telling me that once, upon a Londoji stage, by the untimely raising 

 of a drop-scene. Young was revealed in the attitude of a dancer. He 

 assiduously attended the theatre. So, it may be remarked, did the 

 profoundly religious Faraday. On leaving Edinburgh he paid a 

 farewell visit to his friend Cruikshanks, who took him aside, and after 

 much preamble, " told me," says Young, " that he had heard that I 

 had been at the play, and hoped that I should be able to contradict 

 it. I told him that 1 had been several times, and that I thought 

 it right to go. I know," he added, " you are determined to discourage 

 my dancing and singing, and I am determined to pay no regard 

 whatever to what you say." 



After completing his studies at Edinburgh, Young went to the 

 Highlands, and the houses in which he was received show the con- 

 sideration in which he was held. He visited the chief seats of learn- 

 ing, and the principal libraries, as a matter of course; but he had 

 also occasion to enjoy and admire "the good sense, frankness, 

 cordiality of manners, personal beauty, and accomplishments " of the 

 Scottish aristocracy. So greatly was he delighted with his visit to 

 Gordon Castle, that before quitting it, he wrote thus : " I could 

 almost have wished to break or dislocate a limb by chance, that I 

 might be detained against my will. I do not recollect that I have 

 ever passed my time more agreeably, or with a party whom I thought 

 more congenial to my own disposition." He visited Stafia, but 

 appears to have taken more pleasure in Pennant's plates and descrip- 

 tions, than in Fingal's Cave, or the scenery of the island. From the 

 Duchess of Gordon he carried a letter of introduction to the Duke of 

 Argyll, and spent some time at Inverary. In riding out he was given 



