Lee, daughter of the Earl of Litchfield. The remainder of his life was spent in seclusion, and though his ambitious temperament frequently led him to seek preferment in the church, he never obtained it. He died in 1765. PRINCIPAL WORKS.-Besides the " Night Thoughts," Dr. Young wrote a series of Satires in verse entitled "The Love of Fame, the Universal Passion," "The Last Day," "The Centaur not Fabulous," a prose satire, and some tragedies, of which "The Revenge" is the finest. CHARACTERISTIC SPIRIT AND STYLE.-" The Night Thoughts contain many splendid and happy conceptions, but their beauty is thickly marred by false wit and overlaboured antithesis: indeed the whole ideas of the author seem to have been in a state of antithesis while he composed the poem. One portion of his fancy appears devoted to aggravate the picture of his desolate feelings; and the other half to contradict that picture by eccentric images and epigrammatic ingenuities. The reader most sensitive to his faults must, however, have felt, that there is in him a spark of originality which is never long extinguished, however far it may be from vivifying the entire mass of his poetry. Many and exquisite are his touches of sublime expression, of profound reflection, and of striking imagery. It is recalling but a few of these to allude to his description, in the eighth book, of the man whose thoughts are not of this world, to his simile of the traveller at the opening of the ninth book, to his spectre of the antediluvian world, and to some parts of his very unequal description of the conflagration; above all, to that noble and familiar image, 'When final Ruin fiercely drives Her ploughshare o'er creation."" 1 "It is true that he seldom, if ever, maintains a flight of poetry long free from oblique associations; but he has individual passages which philosophy might make her texts, and experience select for her mottoes."2 1 This metaphor is borrowed by Burns in the poem "To a Daisy," for which see p. 78. The Scottish bard was a great admirer of Young, 2 Campbell. "Specimens, &c." p. 467. EXTRACTS FROM THE NIGHT THOUGHTS. THE WONDROUS NATURE OF MAN. THE bell strikes one.1 We take no note of time I feel the solemn sound. If heard aright, Where are they? With the years beyond the flood. How much is to be done! My hopes and fears Poor pensioner on the bounties of an hour? How poor, how rich, how abject, how august, 1 The bell strikes one-i. e. one in the morning. This passage is extracted from "Night the First" of the poem, and aptly exemplifies its characteristic beauties and faults-the condensed thought, the poetical turn of phrase, as well as the overlaboured antithesis. 2 Abject, mean-may be thus distinguished; abject—from the Latin abjectus, cast away-refers rather to the circumstances, and mean, to the nature of the individual; hence the former word is correctly employed here, the object of the writer being to show that man's nature is essentially noble. 3 Absorbed-i. e. not reflected, dull and dim. 4 Helpless immortal, &c.-A manifest failure in expression, since there is no real antithesis between the first pair of words, and no distinct meaning in the second. A worm! a god!-I tremble at myself, Triumphantly distressed! what joy! what dread! What can preserve my life, or what destroy? 'Tis past conjecture; all things rise in proof: Unfettered with her gross companion's fall. For human weal Heaven husbands all events; Dull sleep instructs, nor sport vain dreams in vain. Prisoner of earth, and pent beneath the moon, On life's fair tree, fast by the throne of God, Where momentary ages are no more! When Time and Pain, and Chance, and Death expire! To push eternity from human thought, 1 Wondering at her own-What is our own is generally so familiar, as to excite no surprise or wonder, but Thought being conceived of as a "stranger at home," may with consistency be said to be surprised even at her own. And smother souls immortal in the dust? PROCRASTINATION. 1 BE wise to-day; 'tis madness to defer: Of man's miraculous mistakes this bears At least their own-their future selves applauds. And that through every stage. When young, indeed, In full content we sometimes nobly rest, Unanxious for ourselves, and only wish, As duteous sons, our fathers were more wise. 1 Defer, delay, procrastinate-thus differ; to delay is to hold back in general; to defer, to put off for some specific purpose; to procrastinate, to put off till tomorrow, as a habit of the mind, and therefore culpably. 2 Moment-i. e. the moment of death. 3 Their pride, &c,-The construction here is somewhat abrupt and obscure, but the meaning seem to be that their pride, in the expectation of their one day becoming wise, compliments them with being so already-the present being at least their own, whatever the future may be-and thus they applaud their future selves. Pushes his prudent purpose to resolve; Resolves, and re-resolves; then dies the same. The parted wave no furrow from the keel; THE MAN WHOSE THOUGHTS ARE NOT OF THIS WORLD.2 SOME angel guide my pencil, while I draw- Earth's genuine sons, the sceptred and the slave, The present all their care, the future his. 1 Themselves, &c.-They think even themselves mortal when, &c. 2 Young's peculiar style is finely displayed in this extract; the subject required strong contrasts of light and shade, and they are very strikingly introduced, especially in the passage commencing "He sees with other eyes," &c. |