280 Memoir of Arthur Young, Esq. 



during a long life, all the energies of a most vigorous intellect 

 upon this one grand object, and whose writings will amply 

 justify me in asserting, that no individual ever existed, in any 

 age, or country, who so widely extended the boundaries, and 

 so profitably multiplied the resources of rural economy. " To 

 the labours of Mr. Arthur Young," says Kirwan*, " the world 

 is more indebted, for the diffusion of agricultural knowledge, 

 than to any writer that has yet appeared." 



Arthur Young was the descendant of a respectable family, 

 who had resided on their estate at Bradfield Combust, near 

 Bury St. Edmonds, in the county of Suffolk, for more than two 

 centuries ; he was born in the house of Mrs. Kennon, the cele- 

 brated midwife to Queen Caroline, in Clifford-street, London, 

 on the 7th of September, 1741. His father, the Reverend Arthur 

 Young, Doctor in Divinity, was a Prebendary of Canterbury, 

 Rector of Bradfield Combust, Bradfield Saint Clair, and of 

 Exning, near Newmarket, and Chaplain to Arthur Onslow, 

 Speaker of the house of Commons : he was an extremely active 

 magistrate, and an intelligent scholar, and is known in the 

 annals of theological literature as the author of a work, en- 

 titled, " An Historical Dissertation on Idolatrous Corruptions 

 in Religion^;" it was published in 1734; the first volume of the 

 work was dedicated to Arthur Onslow, the Speaker ; the 

 second, to the Bishop of Bristol, both of whom stood god- 

 father to his son, Arthur. Dr. Young married Anna Lucretia, 

 daughter of John Crousmaker, Esq., iu 1725, by whom he 

 had three children,— John, Doctor in Divinity, Prebendary of 

 Worcester, and Fellow of Eton, who broke his neck, when 

 hunting with his late Majesty, in 1786; the second child was 

 a daughter, Elizabeth Mary, who died soon after her marriage 

 with John Tomlinson, Esq., of East Barnet, in Hertfordshire ; 

 the third was Arthur, the celebrated subject of the present 



* Irish Transactions, Vol. V. 



t This work is quoted by Voltaire ; and, amongst the documents of Mr. 

 Young, is a complimentary letter, addressed to his father, upon the subject 

 of.this publication, from Sir Benjamia Keene, British Ambassador at Madrid. 



