286 THOMAS YOUNG. 



the Channel * that a rich person, entrusting his son to 

 the care of a private instructor, does not seek for him a 

 fellow-pupil of the same age among those who have been 

 remarkable for their success. It was in this capacity that 

 Young became, in 1787, the fellow-pupil of the grandson 

 of Mr. David Barclay, of Youngsbury, in Hertfordshire. 

 On the day of his first appearance there, Mr. Barclay, 

 who doubtless felt the right of showing himself some- 

 what exacting with a scholar of fourteen years of age, 

 gave him several phrases to copy, with the view of as- 

 certaining his skill in penmanship. Young, perhaps 

 somewhat humiliated by this kind of trial, demanded, in 

 order to satisfy him, permission to retire to another 

 room ; this absence being prolonged beyond the time 

 which the transcription would have required, Mr. Bar- 

 clay began to joke on the want of dexterity he must 

 evince, when at length he reentered the room. The 

 copy was remarkably beautiful ; no writing-master could 

 have executed it better : as to the delay, there was no 

 longer any need to speak of it, for " the little quaker," f 

 as Mr. Barclay called him, had not been content to tran- 

 scribe the English phrases set him ; he had also trans- 

 lated them into nine different languages. 



The preceptor, or as they call him on the other side of 

 the Channel, the tutor, who had to direct the two scholars 

 at Youngsbury was a young man of much distinction, at 

 that time entirely occupied in perfecting himself in the 

 knowledge of the ancient languages ; he was the future 



* The reader will of course make due allowance in this and many 

 other passages for the ideas of a foreigner as to English habits. The 

 anecdote of Young's penmanship which follows, is differently given 

 by Dr. Peacock, p. 12. Translator. 



t This seems improbable, as Mr. Barclay's family were of the same 

 sect. Translator. 



