EARLY LIFE AND STUDIES. 257 



in regard to dress and other matters. He took lessons 

 in dancing, and appeared to delight in that graceful 

 art. I remember the late Mr. Babbage telling me that 

 once, upon a London stage, by the untimely raising of 

 a drop-scene. Young was revealed in the attitude of a 

 dancer. He assiduously attended the theatre. So, it 

 may be remarked, did the profoundly religious Faraday. 

 On leaving Edinburgh he paid a farewell visit to his 

 friend Cruikshanks, who took him aside, and after much 

 preamble, ' told me,' says Young, ' that he had heard 

 that I had been at the play, and hoped that I should be 

 able to contradict it. I told him that I had been seve- 

 ral times, and that I thought it right to go. I know 

 you are determined to discourage my dancing and sing- 

 ing, and I am determined to pay no regard whatever to 

 what you say.' 



After completing his studies at Edinburgh, Young 

 went to the Highlands. The houses in which he was 

 received show the consideration in which he was held. 

 He visited the chief seats of learning, and the principal 

 libraries, as a matter of course ; but he had also occasion 

 to enjoy and admire ' the good sense, frankness, cordial- 

 ity of manners, personal beauty, and accomplishments ' 

 of the Scottish aristocracy. So greatly was he delighted 

 with his visit to Gordon Castle, that before quitting it 

 he wrote thus : ' I could almost have wished to break 

 or dislocate a limb by chance, that I might be detained 

 against my will. I do not recollect that I have ever 

 passed my time more agreeably, or with a party whom I 

 thought more congenial to my own disposition.' He 

 visited Staffa, but took more pleasure in Pennant's 

 plates and descriptions than in Fingal's Cave, or the 

 scenery of the island. From the Duchess of Gordon he 

 carried a letter of introduction to the Duke of Argyll, 

 and spent some time at Inverary. In riding out he 



