306 Mie/wojV o/" Artliur Young, Esq. 



decline : this was an event that produced in him a greater 

 shock, and a more remarkable change in his habits and reflec- 

 tions, than any circumstance that had erver occurred. Death, 

 under any shape, is a terrible monitor ; but when he selects his 

 victim from the ranks of youth and beauty, how awful and 

 terrific is his image ! From this period Mr. Young began to 

 direct his thoughts to those subjects of religion, the contem- 

 plation of which had hitherto been incompatible with the ob- 

 jects of his busy and laborious life : he was now perplexed 

 with many doubts and difficulties respecting the condition of 

 the soul in a future state of existence, and, as it was contrary 

 to his active habits of research to remain, quietly, in doubt 

 upon any subject, until he had applied to every source likely to 

 afford information, he immediately commenced an interesting 

 correspondence with some of our more eminent divines and 

 scholars, amongst whom the naine of the venerable Bryant 

 frequently appears. The publication, however, of Mr. Wilber- 

 force's work on Practical Christianity seems to have produced 

 a greater effect in settling his conflicting opinions than any 

 other assistance which he had received, and it established in 

 his mind that true reliance upon divine mercy, which gilded 

 the evening of his life, and cheered him in his latter days of 

 darkness and infirmity. But the change thus produced in the 

 habits and opinions of Mr. Young, did not repress his ardoUr 

 for his favourite pursuits, and in the year 1798 he printed a 

 a letter, addressed to Mr. Wilberforce, " On the State of the 

 PubUc Mind;" and, in 1800, a pamphlet, " On the Question of 

 Scarcity." In the same year he made several tours to ascer'- 

 tain the effects of enclosures, the results of which he published 

 in his Annals of Agricultiire. In 1804, the Bath and West of 

 England Society adjudged their Bedfordian medal to him, for 

 an essay " On the Nature and Properties of Manures," a me- 

 moir which contains a vast store of new and valuable facts 

 Tjpon this important subject of agricultural economy. It ought 

 also to be noticed, that in this year he received the present of 

 a snuff-box, from Count Rostopchin, the celebrated Governor 

 of Moscow, which was turned by himself out of a block of oak. 



