244 Memoir of Dr. Thomas Young. 



person, in trusting his son to a particular preceptor, to look 

 for a companion in study among the young persons of the 

 same age who have already distinguished themselves by their 

 success. Young assumed this title in 1787, and became 

 fellow - pupil of the grandson of Mr. David Barclay of 

 Youngsbury, in Hertfordshire. On the day of his installa- 

 tion, Mr. Barclay gave him some sentences to copy in order 

 to ascertain if he wrote a good hand. Young, perhaps, 

 feeling humbled by this kind of proof, for the purpose of 

 giving satisfaction, requested permission to retire into the 

 adjoining room. His absence having been prolonged be- 

 yond the time that the mere transcribing of the copy re- 

 quired, Mr. Barclay began to joke about the young quaker's 

 want of dexterity, when at last he entered. The copy was 

 remarkably beautiful ; a writing master could not have 

 performed it better. No remark could be made on the 

 time of his absence, for the young quaker, as Mr. Barclay 

 called him, was not content with transcribing the English 

 sentences given him, he had translated them into nine" 

 different languages. 



The preceptor, or as he is called on the other side of the 

 channel, the tutor, who directed the studies of the two 

 scholars of Youngsbury, was a distinguished young man 

 then engaged in perfecting himself in a knowledge of the 

 ancient languages, and was afterwards author of the Calli- 

 graphia Grcsca. He was not long, however, in perceiv- 

 ing the great superiority of one of the two pupils, and ob- 

 served with the most laudable modesty, that in their 

 common studies, the true tutor was not always he who 

 bore the title. 



At this period Young drew up from original sources, a 

 detailed analysis of the numerous systems of philosophy 

 which were professed in the different schools of Greece. 

 His friends speak of this work in very high terms. I am 

 not aware if the public are ever to have it presented to 

 them. It had a decided effect upon the life of its author, 

 for, in making an attentive and minute examination of the 

 fantasies (bizarreries), (I use a polished word) with which 

 the conceptions of the Greek philosophers abound, Young 

 felt the attachment weaken which he had hitherto pre- 

 served for the principles of the sect in which he was born. 

 He did not, however, separate himself entirely from it until 



