Arthur Young. 
9 
“ I invoked Ceres. I hailed her as my goddess. I sacrificed 
at her shrine. She smiled. I succeeded. My ambition now 
mounted aloft, now tore up the earth ; I became the ploughshare 
of Great Britain, and if harrowed by Envy in the end was rolled 
smooth by Fame. The exuberance of my knowledge burst forth 
in annals inscribed to my goddess ; my discoveries gained me 
applause, my experiments admiration and wonder. I dibbled 
wheat. I scalded hogs. I yoked asses. I animated oats, and 
measured counties as other men measure tapes ! 
“ My temper was sweetly mutable, now grave, now gay ; not 
an iota of sans souci about me. Apathy I abhorred. Enthusiasm 
I adored, no matter how she assailed me ; assume what shape 
she would, she was my idol still, and whether I toiled for Church 
and State, whether I was at the feet of my mistress or scraping 
my own at her door, all, all was with enthusiasm ! And now, 
my fair and partial friends, such as I am, behold me. My wild 
oats are sown ; no dibbling here, but dash, to the right and to 
the left, to the east and to the west. Should a few weeds of 
still lurking vanity spring up, out with them ; tear them up by 
the roots, lest they overrun the canvas and destroy the likeness 
of the original.” 
The Annals of Agriculture consisted of articles and papers 
entrusted to Arthur Young as editor for publication, while 
some were from his own pen. Among those contributing was 
his late Majesty King George the Third, who, writing under 
the sobriquet of Ralph Robinson, sent a description of Mr. 
Ducket’s farm at Petersham. The King thanked Arthur Young 
on the terrace at Windsor Castle for the pleasure he received 
in reading the Annals ; upon which the Queen observed that 
her Majesty never travelled without a volume of the Annals 
in the carriage. The first volume was published in 1784. 
In 1787 he received from Mons. Lazouski at Paris, who had 
formerly accompanied the two sons of the Duke de Liancourt to 
England in order to derive the benefit of Arthur Young's 
instruction, a pressing invitation to join the Count de la Roche- 
foucauld in a tour to the Pyrenees. This, Arthur Young says, 
touched a string tremulous to vibrate. He had indeed, for some 
time, been anxious for an opportunity of visiting France. He 
lost no time in making the tour, returning to England in the 
winter in order that on behalf of Suffolk he might oppose the Wool 
Bill, just as Sir Joseph Banks acted for the county of Lincoln. 
Their view was, and no doubt a correct one, that the provisions 
of the Bill were injurious to the interest of the wool-growers, 
and, under the pretence of protecting the revenue, were framed 
for the special benefit of the manufacturers, and were at variance 
with sound principles of political economy. He so far succeeded 
