YOUNG. 



Hi* next produftion was " Tlie Force of Religion, or 

 Vanquifhed Love," founded on the ftory of lady Jane 

 Gray ; and in 17 14 he infcribed a poem on the death of 

 the queen and the acceflion of George I. to Addifon, who 

 was then fecretary to the lords juftices. In 1719 he be- 

 came tutor to the eldeft fon of the earl of Exeter ; but 

 foon abandoning that conneftion by the folicitations of 

 the duke of Wharton, he graduated doftor of civil laws in 

 this year, and wrote his tragedy of " Bufiris, King of 

 Egypt," vchich was dedicated to the duke of Newcaftle, 

 and favourably received ; and in the fame year he dedicated 

 in a very complimentary (train to lord chancellor Parker, 

 his poetical " Paraphrafeon Part of the Book of Job." In 

 the year 1721 his tragedy, "The Revenge," was exhibited 

 with great applaufe, and dedicated to the duke of Wliarton, 

 whom he avows at his peculiar patron, and from whom he 

 received fome pecuniary favours. His fatires, entitled 

 "The Love of Fame, or the Univerfal Paffion," were fepa- 

 rately publilhed, from 1725 to 1728, and as they became 

 popular, he derived from them confiderable profit. In 

 1726 he addrelTed his poem, entitled " The Inftalment," to 

 fir Robert Walpole, on his receiving the honour of the 

 Garter ; and he availed himfelf, on the acceflion of king 

 George II., of his recommending an attention to the navy, 

 to compofe two odes, one infcribed " To the King, Pater 

 Patriae," introducing another under the title of " Ocean." 

 Having attained his 44th year, he took orders, and in 1728 

 was nominated one of the royal chaplains ; and this change 

 of his views and purfuits induced him to withdraw from 

 the ftage his tragedy of " The Brothers," which was under 

 rehearfal. His next publications were adapted to his new 

 profeflion ; and among thefe were his " True Eftimate of 

 Human Life," exhibiting the dark fide of the pifture ; and 

 a fermon preached before the houfe of commons on the 30th 

 of January, entitled " An Apology for Princes, or the Re- 

 verence due to Government ;" a fubjeft not unappropriate 

 to his fituation as royal chaplain. In 1730, Dr. Young 

 was prefented by his college to the reflory of Welwyn, 

 in Hertfordfhire ; and in the following year he married 

 lady Ehzabeth Lee, widow of colonel Lee, and daughter 

 of the earl of Lichfield. Before this time he had refumed 

 his poetical pen, and written " Imperium Pelagi, a Naval 

 Lyric ;" " Two Epiftles to Mr. Pope, concerning the 

 Authors of the Age ;" and " The Sea-Piece," in two odes, 

 dedicated to Voltaire. By his wife, who died in 1741, he 

 had one fon ; and this circumftance, together with fome 

 other domeftic loffes that occurred about the fame period, 

 increafed that melancholy and depreflion of mind to which 

 he was conftitutionally inclined. When he married lady Lee, 

 (he had a fon, and alfo two daughters, the eldeft of whom, 

 denominated by him Narciffa, falling into a dechne, went to 

 the fouth of France, and died at Lyons in 1736. Her huf- 

 band, Mr. Temple, fuppofed to be the poet's Philander, 

 died in 1740; and his own lady died in 1741. If he re- 

 ferred to thefe events in the annexed lines, he muft have 

 taken a chronological hcence hardly allowable even to a 

 poet : 



" Infatiate archer ! could not one fuffice ? 

 Thy fhaft flew thrice, and thrice my peace was flain ; 

 And thrice, ere thrice yon moon had filled her horn." 



It is certain that he began to write his " Night 

 Thoughts" in the year 1741 ; and the occafion, as he de- 

 clares, was real, and not fiftitious. The feventh of thefe 

 poems is dated in 1744, and the interval muft have been 

 occupied in the compofition of them. Notwithftanding 



the fublime ftrains jn which the author eXprefles his piotrs 

 feeling, he is not rcgardlefs of the patronage of diftinguifhed 

 perfons, for to fuch he infcribes them. On this work Dr. 

 Young bellowed much attention and labour, and he valued 

 it as the chief of his produftions. Among his other works, 

 we may mention a poem written as an expreflion of his 

 loyalty in 1745, and entitled "Some Thoughts occafioned 

 by the prefent Junfture, infcribed to the Duke of New- 

 caftle ;" " The Centaur not fabulous, in Six Letters to a 

 Friend, on the Life in Vogue," an overcharged pifture of 

 the exifting manners ; and " A Sermon preached before 

 their Majefties," with a dedication to the king, 1758. 

 Dr. Young, notwithftanding his genius and piety, and his 

 folicitude to obtain preferment, feems to have been difre- 

 garded ; and though archbifliop Seeker exprefles his fur- 

 prife that he had been overlooked by perfons in power, 

 he declines any interference in his favour. It ihould be 

 recoUefted, however, that the attention which he paid to 

 Frederick, prince of Wales, during his variance with his 

 father, was not forgotten ; nor indeed would his junflion of 

 the poetical and clerical character be any recommendation 

 to George II. But the reafon of his name's being ftcuck 

 out of the lift of court-chaplains on the acceflfion of his pre- 

 fent majefty is not known ; it is the more unaccountable, 

 as he was foon after appointed clerk of the clofet to the 

 princefs dowager of Wales. 



In his retreat at Welwyn he maintained a refpeftable and 

 dignified charafter ; and though the caft of his mind feems 

 to have been gloomy, he was an agreeable and lively com- 

 panion. The clofe of his hfe, however, was rather difcon- 

 iolate than cheerful. The conduft of his only fon, fup- 

 pofed to be the Lorenzo of the Night Thoughts, who is 

 faid to have been a rake and free-thinker, afforded him re- 

 newed opportunities for reproof and farcafm, amd muft 

 have been the occafion of poignant grief ; though Mr. H. 

 Croft vindicates his charafter, alleging that he was only 

 eight years old when his father began that poem. But 

 others have aflerted that he was alarmed and grieved on his 

 account ; and that, notwithftanding the favourable change 

 which took place in his fentiments and chara6\er, his father 

 would not admit him to any interview in his latter years : 

 and even on his death-bed he refufed to fee him, though he af- 

 fured him of his forgivenefs, and made him his heir. Towards 

 the clofe of his life, he furrendered himfelf to the influence 

 of a houfekeeper, and from fome mifmanagement in liis 

 concerns, and a growing difpofition to avarice, he became irri- 

 table in temper and deprelfed in fpirits. His laft produc- 

 tion was a poem, entitled " Refignation," printed in 1762, 

 which indicated the decline of his mental powers. His life 

 was prolonged to the year 1765, and he then died in his 

 84th year. He was interred in the church of Welwyn, 

 and his fon erefted a monument near the remains of both his 

 parents. 



Dr. Young is known principally, if not wholly, as a 

 poet ; and his compofitions in this department are diftri- 

 buted into fatires, tragedies, and night thoughts. His 

 fatires are founded on the queftionable principle, that the 

 love of fame is the univerfal paffion of mankind ; and as he 

 did not excel in judgment, they are exercifes of wit and 

 invention rather than grave expofures of vice and folly. 

 As a dramatic writer, he is charged with not underftanding 

 or not adhering to nature, and with indulging his imagi- 

 nation and feehng, and running into exaggeration of cha- 

 rafter and bombaft of expreflion. The only tragedy that 

 has kept pofleffion of the ftage it) his " Revenge," the 

 Zanga of which is faid to have no competitor for theatric 



effeft 



