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 reéntered 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 thisand 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. 
+ This seems improbable, as Mr. Barclay’s family were of the same 
sect.— Translator. 
