2ft2 Memoir of Arthur Young, Esq. 



unabated avidity every work which he could procure, and as 

 his allowance for pocket-money was but scanty, he determined 

 to augment his resources by the emoluments of authorship, and 

 accordingly, at the age of seventeen, he commenced his literary 

 career by writing a political pamphlet, entitled, " The Theatre 

 of the present War in North America," for which his London 

 bookseller allowed him a number of books, to the amount of 

 ten pounds : encouraged by this compensation, he sent him 

 several other manuscripts, among which were four novels*, and 

 he received for each a further supply of books. His father 

 died in 1759; and in the year 1761 he was attacked with a 

 hemorrhage from the lungs, in consequence of which he was 

 ordered by his medical advisers to the hot wells at Bristol ; 

 here his skill in the game of chess brought him in contact with 

 Sir Charles Howard, K. B., with whom he formed an intimate 

 acquaintance, and was offered by him a pair of colours in his 

 own regiment of cavalry, but, fortunately, his mother, his 

 constant guardian angel upon these occasions, would not hear 

 of his going into the army, and the favourite scheme was there- 

 fore abandoned. In January, 17(i2, he started a periodical 

 publication, under the comprehensive title of " The Universal 

 Museum," but upon his soliciting Dr. Johnson to contribute 

 his powerful assistance in its support, he received from the 

 Doctor so strong a persuasion to abandon his intention, that, 

 after the publication of six numbers, he disposed of it to the 

 booksellers. In 1763 he returned from the residence of his 

 uncle in London to his mother at Bradfield Hall, without any 

 prospect of a pursuit, profession, or employment : his whole 

 income, during the life of his mother, arising from a copyhold 

 farm of twenty acres, and producing only as many pounds. 

 She was anxious that he should reside with her, and, as the 

 lease of her farm of eighty acres would shortly expire, she 

 urged him in the most affectionate manner, to undertake its 

 cultivation, a scheme so much in unison with his taste and 

 wishes, that he did not long hesitate in accepting her propo- 



• The Fair Amoiatn ; Sii Charles Beavfort ; Lucy Watson; and Julia Benson, 

 or, ihe Innocent Sufferer. 



i 



