332 THOMAS YOUNG. 
favourite maxim. And further, never did he personally 
himself recoil before trials of any kind to which he 
wished to subject his system. The first time he mounted 
a horse, in company with the grandson of Mr. Barclay, 
the horseman who preceded them leapt a high fence. 
Young wished to imitate him, but he fell at ten paces. 
He remounted without saying a word, made a second 
attempt, was again unseated, but this time was not 
thrown further than on to the horse’s neck, to which he 
elung. At the third trial the young learner, as his 
favourite motto taught, succeeded in executing what 
another had done before him.* This experiment need _ 
not have been referred to here, but that it had been 
repeated at Edinburgh, and afterwards at Gottingen, and 
carried out to a further extent beyond what might seem 
credible. In one of these two cities Young soon after-- 
wards entered into a trial of skill with a celebrated rope- 
dancer, in the other, (and in each case the result of a 
challenge,) he acquired the art of executing feats on 
horseback with remarkable skill, even in the midst of 
consummate artistes, whose feats of agility attract every 
evening such numerous crowds to the circus of Franconi. 
Thus, those who are fond of drawing contrasts may, on 
the one side, represent to themselves the timid Newton, 
never riding in a carriage, so much did the fear of being 
upset preoccupy him, without holding to both the doors 
with extended arms, and, on the other, his distinguished 
* This anecdote seems at variance with what is stated on the 
authority of a Cambridge contemporary of Young in Dr. Peacock’s 
Life (p. 119), that he only once there attempted to follow the hounds, 
when a severe fall prevented any further exhibitions of the kind.— 
Translator. 
+ This practice has been described as that of Newton, but the 
motive assigned by Arago is novel. 
+ ~ age 
