624 DAY 
having fo well fucceeded in it, devolved to his mother, 
who, principally for the fake of her (on’s health, removed 
to Stoke-Newington. When of proper age, he was fent 
to the Charter houfe, where he received the rudiments 
of his education under a mafter well known for ability 
and difeipiine, Dr. Crufuis. Having remained eight or 
nine years at this fchool, he was removed at the age of 
fixteen to Oxford, and entered as a gentleman-commoner 
at Corpus Chrifti college. Of what progrefs he made 
in his ftudie's the bed teflimonies are to be found in his 
works. Not intending to advance himfelf in any pro- 
feflion, he thought it unnecefTary to take any of the ufual 
degrees of the univerfity ; and, for the fame reafon, he 
was lefs folicitous to qualify liimfrlf for the difplay of 
talents, ufually the principal (cope of education, than to 
attain moral truths and exemplary fafts, by which he was 
to enlighten his mind and guide his future life. Accord¬ 
ingly a gentleman who had been a fchool-fellow of his 
relates, that his themes and verfes were lefs confpicuous 
for elegance of language than for ingenuity and folidity 
of matter. And although his works fufficiently (hew 
that lie afterwards added the graces to the force of com- 
polition, it is probable that he might have been led 
thereto, not only by his improving tafte, but alfo by the 
confideration, that in order to produce the greateft effeft 
in any literary conflict, even in the bed caufe, in this faf- 
tidious age, it is necelfary to life arms which are not only 
pointed and ftrong, but alfo polifhed and fplendid. It 
is certain however that ornament was but a fecondary 
confideration, and that the main object of his academical 
purfuits was the difeovery of moral truths, which he in- 
veftigated with the feverity of logical induction, and the 
depth of metaphysical refearch. The refult of all his 
enquiries was, that virtue was the true intereff of man, 
and he therefore determined to purfue it as his mod fub- 
fhntial good. It mud certainly feem a very lingular 
phenomenon, that a youth, juft entered into the age of 
padions, in the vigour of health and fpirits, in the af¬ 
fluence of fortune, and in this age, fhould dedicate his 
time, thoughts, and dudies, to form in his mind the 
principles of aftion, by which he was ever afterwards to 
regulate his conduft. And it will appear dill more ex¬ 
traordinary, when it is known, that during his whole fu¬ 
ture life, the principles and refolutions, which he had 
adopted at this early age, were the invariable rule by 
which all his aftions were governed, with an uniformity 
and confidency feldom maintained through different pe¬ 
riods of life, and from.which he was not diverted by the 
dread of ridicule, fo powerful over young minds, by the 
impulfe of padions, by the falfe glare of ambition, by 
the allurements of pleafure, nor by the adimilating man¬ 
ners of the age. 
Mr. Day’s fil'd literary produdtion was, The Dying 
Negro. In the compofition of this poem, he was joined 
by a very ingenious friend and fchool-fellow, the late 
John Bicknell, efq. afterwards counfellor at law ; fo that 
it has been fometimes attributed to one of thefe gentle¬ 
men, and fometimes to the other. In this poem we may 
difeern not only the fervid fancy of a youthful poet, and 
the tender drains of a fenfible heart, but alfo the glowing 
padion of philanthropy, and the indignation of humanity 
at the praftice of fubjefting one unfortunate part of our 
l’pecies to the dominion, avarice, and cruelty, of another. 
After his marriage with a lady of principles and tafte 
perfectly in unifon with his own, mifs Edher Milnes, of 
Wakefield in York (hire, Mr. Day, in 1779, fixed his re- 
fidence at his eftate at Stapleford, in Elfex ; and about 
three years afterwards, he removed to another edate 
which he had in Surry, at Anningdey near Chertfey, 
where he continued during the remainder of his life. 
This latter edate, being much uncultivated, gave him an 
opportunity of pradtifing agriculture to a confiderable 
extent. To this occupation he was drongly attached by 
feyeral motives. As it is of all arts the mod beneficial 
so mankind, he thought it deferved the mod encourage- 
z 
DAY 
ment. He confidered the people employed in it as the 
damina, if the expredion may be allowed, of the human 
fpecies ; or as the fource which fupplies the wade of 
mankind in tire other degenerating claffes of men. The 
improvement of his land gave him an opportunity of 
employing a number of labourers, and confequently of 
doing them mod good, by relieving their wants while he 
encouraged their indudry. And as there are times of 
the year, fuch as the diort days of winter, when the co¬ 
vetous farmers di I charge many of their labourers, fo 
that the indudrious poor are often diftreffed, Mr. Day 
never failed to employ as many as fhould apply to him 
for work at thefe feafons. On thefe truly laudable prin¬ 
ciples, Mr. Day continued to aft as long as he lived; - at 
the fame time devoting his private life to the exercife of 
humanity and frienddiip, and the punftual difeharge of 
every duty. To enumerate the indances of his bounty, 
and the pains he took in fupplying the wants, and relieving 
the diftreffes, of his fellow-creatures, were to write the 
minutes of his life. It is enough to fay, that the larger 
portion of his income was dedicated to thefe purpofes ; 
and that he confined his own expences within the drifted 
bounds of moderation and economy ; both that he might 
be enabled to be more liberal to others, and that he 
might, as far as his example could influence, redd the 
oppolite excefs of prodigality and vanity which too ge¬ 
nerally prevails. He had contemplated much on the 
manners of different ages; and lie thought that the pre- 
fent was didinguifhed by vanity, luxury, and effeminacy. 
He had often occafion to obferve, in the numerous ap¬ 
plications made to him for pecuniary relief, the frequent 
didrels produced in different ranks by the affeftation of 
gentility, and reprefentation of a ftation fuperior to what 
they in truth polfeffed. In his Own conduft, therefore, 
he gave an example confonant with his principles; for he 
lived in a (tile inferior, indeed in appearance to his for¬ 
tune, but with an hofpitality and plenty that were not 
confined, as in fome more fplendid manfions, to thofe who 
redded within the walls. A friend of his obferving lfis 
mode of living, and judging of him by general rules, a 
method perfeftly fallacious when applied to thofe who 
think and aft for themfelves, wrote to him a letter feri- 
oufly bidding him beware of avarice; not conceiving 
that whatever, was faved from oftentation and luxury, 
was given to want and mifery. He died by a fall from 
his horfe, on the 28th of September, 1789, at the age of 
forty-one. The political works of Mr. Day are publi(lied 
in one volume, octavo, under the title of Day’s Traits. 
Ilis excellent novel, entitled The iliffory of Sandford 
and Merton, is in three volumes, 121110. 
TO-DAY. O11 this day.— To-day, if ye will hear his 
voice, harden not your hearts. Pfalms. 
The pad is all by death poffeff, 
And frugal fate, that guards the reft. 
By giving, bids us live to-day. Fenton. 
“ To-day a man, to-morrow a moufe.” The French 
fay : Aujourd’hui roi, domain rien: To-day a king, to-mor¬ 
row nothing. How awfully have we feen this French 
proverb verified ! Fortune is fickle, and the change we 
fee in the world very unaccountable. 
“ To-day me, to-mprrow thee.” Lat. Hodie mihi, eras 
tibi. This Latin infeription is often placed under (kele- 
tons, or the representations of them, to fignify what all 
muff come to. But the Englifh proverb is more ufed 
when any one in power infults or does us v/ron?, to give 
him thereby to underhand that another’s turn will come.. 
As we fay in the vulgar adage : Every dog has his day. It 
is alfo ufed when perfons or parties get authority by 
turns. The Latins iikewile fay: Nunc mihi, nunc ti'oi be¬ 
nign a. The Germans, as we : Heute mir, m'argen dir. 
DA'YA, a town on the weft coaft of the illand of Su¬ 
matra, on a river of the fame name : thirty miles fouth 
of Acheen. 
DAYBED ; yi A bed ufed for idlenefs and luxury in 
the 
