THE INSPIRATION OF THE MOVEMENT 197 



himself originally suggested the establishment of the Board and 

 the compilation of the surveys. But, with all their faults, the 

 reporters collected a mass of valuable information on the state of 

 farming from 1793 to 1813. Six of the surveys were by Young 

 himself, 1 and his Report on Oxfordshire was almost his last literary 

 work. 



Young was a man of strong prejudices. He was also wanting in 

 power of generalisation. But he worked untiringly for what he 

 believed to be the progress of good farming. On this object were 

 concentrated the chief labours of his life his enquiries, experi- 

 ments, researches, his collections of statistics, his notes of useful 

 practices, his observations on new methods. His eager face, with 

 its keen eyes and aquiline features, expressed the vivacity of his 

 temperament, just as his tall slender figure indicated the restless 

 activity of his body. A gay and charming companion, his enthusi- 

 asms were infectious. He was the soul and inspiration of the 

 progressive movement. To him, more than to any other individual, 

 were due the dissemination of new ideas on farming, the diffusion 

 of the latest results of observation and experiment, the creation 

 of new agencies for the interchange of experiences, the establish- 

 ment of farmers' clubs, ploughing matches, and agricultural societies 

 and shows. His married life was not happy ; but his wife was not 

 entirely to blame. An affectionate father, his whole heart was 

 given to his youngest daughter (Martha Ann, born 1783, died 1797) 

 nicknamed " Bobbin." Versailles did not afford him so much 

 pleasure as giving to the child a French doll. Her death broke 

 down his health and spirits. Grief deepened into religious melan- 

 choly. His gloom was intensified by failing eyesight. In 1811 he 

 became totally blind. Nine years later (1820), he died in London. 



When Young began to write on agriculture, vast districts, which 

 might have been profitably cultivated, still lay waste. Of the 

 area already under tillage, a large proportion lay in open-fields. 



But his system is better ; his generalisations are more conclusive, and less 

 contradictory ; his facts are better arranged ; he was, also, a better farmer. A 

 zealous collector of " provincialisms " of speech, he gives lists of the local 

 words which he found in use in the Northern, Midland, and West Central 

 departments, and appends them, with a glossary, to the volumes to which they 

 relate. Besides the Rural Economy, he published numerous other works, 

 chiefly on agriculture. 



1 Young wrote the General View of the Agriculture of the County of Suffolk 

 (1797), County of Lincoln (1799), of Hertfordshire (1804), of Norfolk (1804), 

 of Essex, 2 vols. (1807) ; of Oxfordshire (1809). 



