even in our prose translation of the poetic parts of scripture, that I can never bear to see them reduced to rhyme, or modern measures. ૬૬ His next, and one of his best performances, is entitled, THE LOVE OF FAME THE UNIVERSAL PASSION, in Seven characteristic Satires, originally published separately, between the years 1725 and 1728. This, according to Dr. JOHNSON, is a "very great per"formance. It is said to be a series of epigrams, " and if it be, it is what the author intended: His "endeavour was at the production of striking distichs "and pointed sentences; and his distichs have the "weight of solid sentiment, and his points the sharp"ness of resistless truths. His characters are often "selected with discernment, and drawn with nicety; "his illustrations are often happy, and his reflections "often just. His species of satire is between those "of HORACE and JUVENAL; and he has the gaiety " of HORACE without his laxity of numbers; and the "morality of JUVENAL, with greater variety of images."-SWIFT indeed has pronounced of these Satires, that they should have been either "more merry, or more severe:" in that case, they might probably have caught the popular taste more; but this does not prove that they would have been better. The opinion of the Duke of GRAFTON, however, was of more worth than all the opinions of the wits, if it be true as related by Mr. SPENCE, that his grace presented the author with two thousand pounds. "Two thousand pounds for a poem!" said one of the Duke's friends: to whom his grace replied, that he had made an excellent bargain, for he thought them worth four. b On the accession of GEORGE I. YOUNG flattered him with an Ode, called OCEAN, to which was prefixed an introductory ODE TO THE KING, and AN ESSAY ON LYRIC POETRY: of these the most observable thing is, that the poet and the critic could not agree: for the Rules of the Essay condemned the Poetry, and the Poetry set at defiance the maxims of the Essay. The biographer of British poets has truly said," he had least success in his lyric attempts, in "which he seems to have been under some malig"nant influence: he is always labouring to be great, "and at last is only turgid." We now leave a while the works of our author, to contemplate the conduct of the man. About this time his studies took a more serious turn; and, forsaking the law, which he had never practised, when he was almost fifty he entered into orders, and was in 1728, appointed Chaplain to the King. One of POPE's biographers relates, that, on this occasion YOUNG applied to his brother poet for direction in his studies, who jocosely recommended THOMAS AQUINAS, which the former taking seriously, he retired to the suburbs with the angelical doctor, till his friend discovered him, and brought him back. His VINDICATION OF PROVIDENCE, and ESTIMATE OF HUMAN LIFE, were published in this year; they have gone through several editions, and are generally regarded as the best of his prose compositions: But the plan of the latter never was completed. The following year he printed a very loyal sermon on King CHARLES'S Martyrdom, intitled, AN APOLOGY FOR PRINCES. In 1730, he was presented by his college to the rectory of WELWYN in HERTFORDSHIRE, worth about £.300 a year, besides the lordship of the manor annexed to it. This year he relapsed again to poetry, and published a loyal NAVAL ODE, and Two EPISTLES TO POPE, of which nothing particular need be said. He was married, in 1731, to Lady ELIZABETH LEE, widow of Colonel LEE, and daughter to the Earl of LITCHFIELD; and it was not long before she brought him a son and heir. Sometime before his marriage, the Doctor walking in his garden at WELWYN, with this lady and another, a servant came to tell him a gentleman wished to speak to him. "Tell him," says the Doctor, “I am too happily engaged to change my situation." The ladies insisted that he should go, as his visitor was a man of rank, his patron, and his friend; and as persuasion had no effect on him, they took him, one by the right hand, and the other by the left, and led him to the garden-gate. He laid his hand He laid his hand upon his heart, and in that expressive manner, for which he was so remarkable, spoke the following lines: "Thus ADAM look'd when from the garden driv'n, "Like him I go, but yet to go am loth: "Like him I go, for angels drove us both. "Hard was his fate, but mine still more unkind; Another striking inftance of his wit is related in reference to VOLTAIRE: who, while in ENGLAND, (probably at Mr. DODDINGTON's seat in DORSETSHIRE) ridiculed, with some severity, MILTON's allegorical personages, Sin and Death; on which YOUNG, who was one of the company, immediately addressed him in the following extemporaneous distich: "Thou art so witty, profligate, and thin, "Thou seem'st a MILTON with his Death and Sin." Soon after his marriage, our author again indulged his poetical vein in two odes, called THE SEA PIECE, with a Poetical Dedication to VOLTAIRE, in which the above incident seems alluded to in these lines, "On DORSET downs, when MILTON's page In 1734 he printed an ARGUMENT FOR PEACE, which afterward, with several of his smaller pieces, and most of his dedications, was consigned by his own hand to merited oblivion: in which circumstance he deserves both the thanks and imitation of posterity. About the year 1741 he had the unhappiness to lose his wife; her daughter by Colonel LEE, and this daughter's husband, Mr. TEMPLE. What affliction he felt for their loss, may be seen in his NIGHT THOUGHTS, written on this occasion. They are addressed to LORENZO, a man of pleasure, and the world; and who, it is generally supposed, was his own son, then labouring under his father's displeasure. His son-in-law is said to be characterized by PHILANDER, and his Lady's daughter was certainly the person he speaks of under the appellation of NARCISSA-(See Night 111. line 62.) In her last illness, which was a consumption, he accompanied her to MONTPELLIER; or, as Mr. CROFT says, to LYONS, in the South of FRANCE, at which place she died soon after her arrival. Being regarded as a heretic, she was denied christian burial, and her afflicted father was obliged to steal a grave, and inter her privately with his own hands. (See Night 111. line 162, &c.) In this celebrated poem he thus addresses Death: "Insatiate archer! could not one suffice? "Thy shaft flew thrice, and thrice my peace was slain; "And thrice, ere thrice yon moon had fill'd her horn." These lines have been universally understood of the above deaths; but this supposition can no way be reconciled with Mr. CROFT's dates, who says, Mrs. TEMPLE died in 1736, Mr. TEMPLE in 1740, and Lady YOUNG in 1741. Which quite inverts the order of the poet, who makes NARCISSA's death follow PHILANDER'S: "NARCISSA follows e'er his tomb is clos'd." Night 111. line 62. There is no possible way to reconcile these contradictions: either we must reject Mr. CROFT's dates, for which he gives us no authority, or we must suppose the characters and incidents, if not entirely fictitious, as the author assures us that they were not, were accommodated by poetic licence to his purpose. As to the character of LORENZO, whether taken from real life, or moulded purely in the author's imagination, Mr. CROFT has sufficiently proved that it could not intend his Son, who was but eight years old when most part of the NIGHT THOUGHTS were written, for Night the Seventh is dated, in the original edition, July 1744. For the literary merits of this work we shall again refer to the criticism of Dr. JOHNSON, which is seldom exceptionable when he is not warped by political prejudices. "In his NIGHT THOUGHTS," says the Doctor, speaking of our author, "he has exhi"bited a very wide display of original poetry, variegated with deep reflections and striking allusions; " a wilderness of thought, in which the fertility of fancy scatters flowers of every hue, and of every 66 |