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THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY
OF
ARTHUR YOUNG
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration:
_Walker & Boutell, phot._
_From a Miniature in the possession of Alfred Morrison Esq.^r_
London Published by Smith Elder & Co 15 Waterloo Place
]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY
OF
ARTHUR YOUNG
WITH
SELECTIONS FROM HIS CORRESPONDENCE
‘That wise and honest traveller“’—JOHN MORLEY
EDITED BY
M. BETHAM-EDWARDS
WITH PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON
SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE
1898
[All rights reserved]
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
An apology for these Memoirs is surely not needed. Whilst Arthur Young’s
famous ‘Travels in France’ have become a classic, little is known of the
author’s life, a life singularly interesting and singularly sad. Whether
regarded as the untiring experimentalist and dreamer of economic dreams,
as the brilliant man of society and the world, or as the blind, solitary
victim of religious melancholia, the figure before us remains unique and
impressive. We have here, moreover, a strong character portrayed by
himself, an honest piece of autobiography erring, if at all, on the side
of outspokenness. In his desire to be perfectly frank, the writer has
laid upon his editor the obligation of many curtailments, the Memoirs
from beginning to end being already much too long. From seven packets of
MS. and twelve folio volumes of correspondence I have put together all
that a busy public will probably care to know of Arthur Young—his
strength and weakness, his one success and innumerable failures, his
fireside and his friends. One striking and instructive feature in this
man’s history is his cosmopolitanism, his affectionate relations with
Frenchmen, Poles, Russians, Danes, Italians, Scandinavians. Never
Englishman was more truly English; never Englishman was less narrow in
his social sympathies.
The religious melancholia of his later years is explicable on several
grounds: to the influence of his friend, the great Wilberforce; to the
crushing sorrow of his beloved little daughter ‘Bobbin’s’ death; lastly,
perhaps, to exaggerated self-condemnation for foibles of his youth. Few
lives have been more many-sided, more varied; few, indeed, have been
more fortunate and unfortunate at the same time.
The Memoirs, whilst necessarily abridged and arranged, are given
precisely as they were written—that is to say, although it has been
necessary to omit much, not a word has been added or altered. Whenever a
word or sentence needed explanation or correction, the editorial note is
bracketed. The foot-notes, unless when otherwise stated, are all
editorial.
For the use of Memoirs and letters, &c., I am indebted to Mrs. Arthur
Young, widow of the late owner of Bradfield Hall, the last of Arthur
Young’s race and name, a gentleman alike in his public and private life
well worthy of his distinguished ancestry.
Mr. Arthur Young, who died last year, is buried beside the author of the
‘Travels in France,’ in the pretty little churchyard of Bradfield, near
Bury St. Edmunds.
M. B.-E.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH, 1741-1759
PAGE
Ancestry—Anecdotes—Childhood—School life—Inoculation—The 1
paternal character—Mrs. Kennon—Letters to a schoolboy—A
mercantile apprenticeship—A youthful love affair—Family
troubles—A gloomy outlook
CHAPTER II
FARMING AND MARRIAGE, 1759-1766
The gay world—A call on Dr. Johnson—A venture—Offer of a 26
career—Farming decided upon—Garrick—Marriage—Mr.
Harte—Lord Chesterfield on farming—Literary
work—Correspondence—Birth of a daughter
CHAPTER III
IN SEARCH OF A LIVING, 1767-1775
Home travels—A move—Anecdote of a cat—Disillusion—‘A 44
Farmer’s Letters’—Another move—‘In the full blaze of her
beauty’—Hetty Burney and her harpsichord—‘Scant in
servants’—Maternal solicitude—Money difficulties—More
tours—Lord Sheffield—Howard the
philanthropist—Correspondence
CHAPTER IV
IRELAND, 1776-1778
The journey to Ireland—Characteristics—Residence at 66
Mitchelstown—Intrigues—A strange bargain—Departure—Letter
to his wife—A terrible journey
CHAPTER V
FARMING AND EXPERIMENTS, 1779-1782
Corn bounties—A grievance—Reading—Hugh Boyd—Bishop 83
Watson—Howlett on population—Irish Linen
Board—Experiments—Correspondence
CHAPTER VI
FIRST GLIMPSE OF FRANCE, 1783-1785
Birth of Bobbin—Ice baths—‘The Annals of Agriculture’—A 110
group of friends—Lazowski—First glimpse of France—Death of
my mother—The Bishop of Derry—Fishing parties—Rainham
CHAPTER VII
FIRST FRENCH JOURNEY, 1786-1787
Death of my brother—Anecdotes of his character—Dr. Burney on 138
farming—Greenwich _versus_ Eton—Blenheim—Correspondence
with Dr. Priestley—County toasts—French projects—First
French journey
CHAPTER VIII
TRAVEL AND INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIPS, 1788-89-1790
The Wool Bill—Sheridan’s speech—Count 163
Berchtold—Experiments—Second French journey—Potato-fed
sheep—Cost of housekeeping—Chicory—Burnt in
effigy—Correspondence—Third French journey—With Italian
agriculturists—Bishop Watson and Mr.
Luther—Correspondence—Literary work—Illness—The state of
France
CHAPTER IX
PATRIOTIC PROPOSALS, 1791-92
Illness—Correspondence with Washington—The King’s gift of a 189
ram—Anecdotes—Revising MSS.—Patriotic proposals—Death of
the Earl of Orford—Agricultural schemes—Correspondence
CHAPTER X
THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, 1793
The Board of Agriculture—Secretaryship—Residence in 219
London—Twenty-five dinners a month—The King’s bull—The
Marquis de Castries—‘The Example of France’—Encomiums
thereof—Correspondence
CHAPTER XI
THE SECRETARYSHIP, 1794-95-1796
The Secretaryship and its drawbacks—Social 241
compensations—Illness and death of Elizabeth Hoole—Letters
of Jeremy Bentham and others—A visit to Burke—Home
travels—Enclosures
CHAPTER XII
ILLNESS AND DEATH OF BOBBIN, 1797
Illness of Bobbin—Letters of Bobbin and her father’s 263
replies—Dress minutes at the opera—Hoping against
hope—Bobbin’s death—Seeking for
consolation—Retrospection—Beginning of
diary—Correspondence
CHAPTER XIII
DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE, 1798, 1799, 1800
Assessed taxes—Society—Mr. Pitt and the Board of 312
Agriculture—A foolish joke—Dinners to poor
children—Interview with the King—Royal
farming—Correspondence—Bradfield—Incidents of home
travel—Portrait of a great lady—Correspondence
CHAPTER XIV
DIARY CONTINUED, 1801-1803
Public affairs and prophecy—The divining rod—The 347
appropriation of waste lands—The word ‘meanness’
defined—South’s sermons—Projected theological
compendia—Correspondence—Journalising to ‘my
friend’—Anecdote of Dean Milner and Pitt—Death of the Duke
of Bedford—Napoleon and Protestantism
CHAPTER XV
APPROACHING BLINDNESS, 1804-1807
A great preacher—Arthur Young the younger goes to 391
Russia—Cowper’s letters—Mrs. Young’s illness—Dr.
Symonds—Novel reading—Skinner’s ‘State of Peru’—Death of
Pitt—Burke’s publishing accounts—Literary
projects—Approaching blindness
CHAPTER XVI
LAST YEARS, 1808-1820
Gradual loss of sight—Illness and death of Mrs. Oakes—Daily 441
routine—A disappointment—Riots—Death of Mrs.
Young—Anecdotes of Napoleon—A story of the Terror—National
distress—Close of diary—The end
INDEX 475
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PORTRAIT OF ARTHUR YOUNG _Frontispiece_
BRADFIELD HALL AS IN ARTHUR YOUNG’S TIME _to face p._
127
FACSIMILE OF LETTER FROM ARTHUR YOUNG TO MISS YOUNG ” 188
PORTRAIT OF ‘BOBBIN’ (MARTHA YOUNG) ” 265
ARTHUR YOUNG’S TOMB AT BRADFIELD ” 472
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
OF
ARTHUR YOUNG
[Illustration]
CHAPTER I
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH, 1741-1759
Ancestry—Anecdotes—Childhood—School life—Inoculation—The paternal
character—Mrs. Kennon—Letters to a schoolboy—A mercantile
apprenticeship—A youthful love affair—Family troubles—A gloomy
outlook.
I was born at Whitehall, London, on September 11, 1741, many years after
my brother John and my sister Elizabeth Mary. In examining the family
papers from which the following detail is drawn, I should observe that
difficulties often occurred by reason of the ancient hand-writing of
many documents, and from several being written in the Latin language not
easily deciphered; but the circumstances relative to the following dates
were clearly ascertained as far as they are noted. The principal object
is the possession of the Manor of Bradfield Combust, which is traced in
the family of Canham till it came by marriage into that of Young.
Bartholomew Canham the elder had two sons and two daughters. In 1672 he
transferred Bradfield Hall, manor and lands to Arthur Young, married to
Elizabeth, his daughter. The Young shield bears a Field Argent, three
Bends sable and a Lyon rampant; that of Canham a Field Gule, Bend Argent
charged with a cannon ball sable, the Bend cotised with Or. The estate
had been purchased in 1620 by my ancestor of Sir Thomas, afterwards Lord
Jermyn of Rushbrooke, being part of the great possessions of that
family. The steward who acted for Sir Thomas was Martin Folkes, ancestor
of the present Sir Martin Folkes. And here it is curious to observe the
different results affecting the posterity of the private gentleman who
purchases, and of the steward of the great man who sells—I am a poor
little gentleman, and Sir Martin Folkes owner of an estate not far short
of 10,000_l._ a year. My father, Dr. Arthur Young, inherited Bradfield
from my grandfather, Bartholomew Young, Esq., called Captain from a
command in the Militia, and it is remarkable that with only a part of
the present Bradfield estate he lived genteely and drove a coach and
four on a property which in these present times just maintains the
establishment of a wheel-barrow.
Dr. Arthur Young, my father, was educated at Eton and admitted to
Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, in 1710, afterwards settling at Thames Ditton,
Surrey. He was so much liked by the inhabitants that they elected him,
against a violent opposition of the inferior classes, minister of that
parish. Whether the ladies of the place had a particular influence I
know not, but he was a remarkably handsome man and six feet high. It was
here he became acquainted with Miss Anne Lucretia de Cousmaker, to whom
he was afterwards married. She was the daughter of John de Cousmaker,
Esq., who came to England with King William III., bringing with him a
fortune of 80,000_l._, the greater part of which he was deprived of by
the imprudence of one or two of his sons. If ever there existed in human
form an Israelite without guile, it was this worthy man; and it gives me
great pleasure to reflect on the extreme respect and affection which
were always felt for him and my dear mother. Mr. de Cousmaker, my
maternal grandfather, was executor and residuary legatee to a Mrs.
Keene, on which account he could have legally possessed himself of an
estate left by her. With an honesty unexampled he would not take one
penny of it, but exerted himself with incredible industry to discover
some distant relation to whom he might transfer the property. He did
find one who had no legal claim, and he gave him the estate. This Mr.
Keene dying without issue, his widow told my grandfather that out of
gratitude she would provide for two of his children. To a daughter she
left an annuity of 300_l._ a year, to a son an estate which passed on to
his descendants.
My mother brought a fortune to my father, the amount I know not, but it
was sufficient to demand the settlement of the Bradfield estate upon her
for life. She was of a very amiable, cheerful disposition, loved
conversation, for which she had a talent, and read a great deal on
various subjects. The residence at Thames Ditton resulted in a
friendship with the Onslow family, which proved highly advantageous to
my father. General, then Colonel Onslow, appointed him chaplain to his
own regiment, and the General’s brother, Speaker of the House of
Commons, also named him chaplain, a step which afterwards led to the
prebendaryship of Canterbury. Mr. Speaker Onslow and the Bishop of
Rochester were my godfathers. Colonel, afterwards General Onslow, was in
the estimation of the world a highly respectable character, in the
formation of which it may easily be supposed that religion formed no
part from the following anecdote. One Sunday morning his wife obtained
his permission to read a chapter of the Bible, but he first bolted the
door lest the servants should witness the performance. He was afraid
that the matter might reach the ears of his Commander-in-Chief, the Duke
of Cumberland, who to much brutality of character added the abhorrence
of a soldier troubling his head about religion.
In 1734 my father published his ‘Historical Dissertations on Idolatrous
Corruptions in Religion,’ a very learned work which is quoted by
Voltaire. In 1742 he was in Flanders acting as chaplain to Colonel
Onslow’s regiment, and I have found among his papers the journal of a
tour made through Brabant, Flanders, and a part of Picardy; on the
whole, it is interesting, and the cheapness of living therein described
is remarkable. The following letter is from my father to his relation,
his Excellency Governor Vassy, relating to the conduct of General
Ingoldsby (who married my mother’s sister) at the battle of Fontenoy,
and which throws a little additional light upon that transaction, though
at the expense of the Commander-in-Chief.
‘Bradfield Hall: July 22, 1745 (O.S.).
‘Dear Sir,—My last, which I wrote some time before our Parliament
broke up, was of such a length as I suppose has tired you of my
correspondence, since which I, having been here in the country, have
had nothing of news worth troubling you with. I make little doubt but
that our friend Ingoldsby’s behaviour has made much the same figure in
your publick papers as your Appius’s has done in ours. But I can
assure you, Sir, that, notwithstanding the account published in our
Gazette, he behaved like a good and a brave officer. A court-martial
has set upon him, but what the result of it is we know not as yet. But
fear the worst, since the clearing of him must reflect upon a King’s
son who has the command of an Army. I have enclosed his case, which
contains as much of the truth as he could have leave to print, at the
bottom of which you will find something wrote which his Royal Highness
commanded particularly to be left out. But if you, Sir, who are nearer
to the Army than we are, desire a more particular account of this
affair, your nephew Everet, who will continue here with us for more
than a month longer, shall give you the full detail of it.
‘If, dear Sir, the gentleman who is the bearer of this shall want your
protection, I recommend him to it; he is going to the Army as my
substitute. His name is Gough, and is nephew to Captain Gough, who is
a member of the House of Commons and director of, and the great
manager in, our East India Company. All that I particularly ask in
behalf of him is that you will give him your directions how to find
our Army, and, if it be necessary, to halt in your garrison.
‘I am, dear Sir,
‘Your Excellency’s kinsman and servant,
‘T. YOUNG.’
Ingoldsby was cruelly used at the battle of Fontenoy by the Duke of
Cumberland, who had sent him orders to put himself at the head of a
detachment to attack a temporary redoubt which the French had thrown up,
but gave him no directions to take cannon; and when Ingoldsby arrived at
the spot he saw the necessity. He instantly dispatched his Aide-de-camp
to demand cannon, but before they came the position of the troops
changed, and an order came to draw off. No consequences attended this
business, nor had it any effect on the loss of the battle; but an
opportunity was taken to throw the whole blame on Ingoldsby, and to
attach to him all the consequences of that defeat. Ingoldsby complained
of this, and Ligonier himself came to him from the Duke to assure him
that the D. knew his bravery, and highly valued him, but advised him by
all means to be quiet, and everything would blow over, and the business
be forgotten. Nothing had been said on the affair, but to save the
reputation of the Duke. Mrs. Ingoldsby, losing all patience at his not
being promoted according to promise, never let him rest till he
published his case, which put an end to all hope of promotion in the
Army, and he was obliged to retire. He was in all the Duke of
Marlborough’s campaigns, and served with great reputation to the moment
of the battle of Fontenoy.
When I was of a proper age to be placed at school, a choice had to be
made between those of Bury St. Edmunds and Lavenham[1]; no possible
motive could induce any one to think of the latter, except the
circumstance of my father having been there himself. The master of the
former school, Mr. Kinsman, was one of the finest scholars of his age,
and is mentioned with much respect by Cumberland in his memoirs.[2]
Whilst the matter was in abeyance the Rev. M. Coulter, Master of
Lavenham School, came to Bradfield, and my mother, unfortunately for me,
was so much pleased with the extreme good temper manifested in his
countenance that she persuaded my father to entrust me to his care. I
was accordingly sent to that wretched place. I was to learn Latin and
Greek, with arithmetic, but whether from being a favourite or from the
diversion of frequent visits home, I afterwards found myself so
ill-grounded in the above languages that for some time before I left the
school I found it necessary to give much attention to them in order to
recover the lost time. It is easy to suppose how much I was indulged
from one instance among many others. At dinner the first dish the boys
were helped to was pudding, which I disliked, and was excused from
eating—the case of no other pupil. As to correction, I have no
recollection of receiving any thing of the sort.[3] I had, however, a
sufficient awe of the Master. During the last years of my stay I had a
pointer and gun, and often went out with Mr. Coulter, he with a
partridge net and I with my gun. I had a room to myself and a neat
collection of books. I remember beginning to write a history of England,
thinking that I could make a good one out of several others. How early
began my literary follies! I seemed to have a natural propensity for
writing books. The following bill for a year’s schooling and board must
in the present period (about 1816) be considered a curiosity:—‘The Rev.
Dr. Young to John Coulter, Xmas 1750, to Xmas 1751. A year’s board, &c.
15_l._ Sundries 2_l._ 4_s._ 4_d._ Total 17_l._ 4_s._ 4_d._’ I find from
a memorandum book of my mother’s that in 1746 beef was 3_d._, veal
3_d._, and mutton 3½_d._ per pound at Bury.
About the year 1753 I was inoculated. This was a scheme of my mother’s
which she had more than once proposed, but my father would not consent
to it. Taking, however, the opportunity of his visit to Cambridge, she
ventured on the experiment. At this period inoculation was so little
understood that it is utterly astonishing how anyone could escape;
instead of the cool regimen afterwards prescribed by Sutton,[4] the
practice was to keep the patient’s chamber as close and hot as possible,
the shutters were kept up, and the door never opened without being shut
speedily. I suffered much, and Dr. Kerrich, the physician at Bury, for
some time attended every day. It pleased the Almighty that I should
recover, one of many instances in which His providence preserved a
wretch who was to sin against Him by a multitude of offences. When my
father returned and I ran out to meet him, my mother exclaimed in a
triumphant tone, ‘There! I have had Arthur inoculated, and you enjoy the
comfort of knowing that your boy has had that terrible disorder.’ My
father looked at me, but neither spoke a word on the subject then nor
ever after. This was his way—resolute in rejecting all proposals
touching upon novelty, and cool after their accomplishment. In an
inferior circumstance he showed the same temper, as I will relate. The
family pew at church was a wretched hole, lined with ragged cloth and
covered with dust; the pulpit also was tumbling with age and rottenness.
On my father’s going to London and leaving my brother at Bradfield, he
begged permission to have a new pew and pulpit. This was refused. ‘Good
enough, Jack!’ said my father. But Jack attacked his mother, and set the
carpenter to work, who made a spacious pew, with one for the servants,
new pulpit and reading desk. The first Sunday my father went to church,
on approaching the place, he stopped short, surveyed all three with
great attention, said nothing, and on joining the family party home
never opened his lips, nor ever after mentioned the subject. He was
inwardly pleased, but not gracious enough to confess it. There was in
Dr. Young a strong mixture of obstinacy and _sang-froid_, as the
preceding anecdotes prove.
In 1753 I went to London, and find by an old pocket-book that I saw Mr.
Garrick in ‘Archer,’[5] heard the Oratorio, ‘The Messiah,’ spent an
evening at Ranelagh, and viewed the Tower and St. Paul’s. I also
remember visiting the widow of General Ingoldsby, who opened her house
every evening to all comers, nor was the number of fashionable people
inconsiderable. John Wilkes, afterwards so well known, I met there more
than once; he was then considered a wit. Mrs. Ingoldsby made a point of
going to Court at least twice a year, but I never heard her repeat any
other conversation with the King than complaining to him how much she
was afflicted with rheumatism.
In 1754 died Mrs. Sidney Kennon, a lady highly respected and well known
as the midwife to the Princess of Wales; she also brought into the world
my brother, sister and myself, and was a very old friend of my father’s,
and him she left executor and residuary legatee. That her professional
emoluments were of some consideration was proved by the fact of a
gentleman after her decease presenting her executor with fifty guineas
as her fee for having delivered his wife. By her will all her furniture
and a great collection of medals, bronzes, shells, curiosities, books on
natural history, &c. with money in the funds, came into his possession,
to the amount of nearly five thousand pounds. By a codicil she had
ordered that her servants should be retained and the house kept for six
months after her death, in consequence of which our family moved into
her residence in Clifford Street. It was, of course, to be expected that
my father would sell all the curiosities, but that a clergyman, a man of
learning, having a son of my brother’s attainments should dispose of
such a collection, was not looked for; my maternal Uncle, de Cousmaker,
dining one day at the house enquired as to my father’s intentions. On
being informed that everything would go to an auction, he asked the
price. My father replied that the articles had not been valued, but he
supposed that they would fetch fifty or sixty pounds. Mr. de C. at once
offered sixty guineas, the bargain was struck, and the books departed
next day, to our great mortification; the price was preposterous, as the
collection contained many curious and scarce publications, and my Uncle
afterwards sold many of the duplicates for a greater amount than he had
given for the whole, yet retaining a most valuable number. As a proof of
the worth of what might be called Mrs. Kennon’s Museum, I insert a
letter to her from Sir Martin Folkes, President of the Royal Society.
‘Madame,—I am sorry I had not the happiness of seeing you when I was
last to wait on you, but will take another opportunity of paying my
respects. The worms you were pleased to send seem to me the very same
I received from Holland, and which I was in the utmost distress for,
being quite out, and my Polypes in great want, so that a word of
instruction, how I may get at some of these worms, will be a great
obligation. When I had the honour of leaving you a Polype, I had never
a one by me with a young one fairly put out, so here was one
beginning. I now beg leave to send you such a one; and when you are
disposed to cut one will wait on you, and show it you in a microscope,
if you have not yet seen it. I beg leave to return very many thanks
for the favour of seeing your noble collection of rarities, and have
hardly talked of anything else since.
‘I am, Madam, with the sincerest respect,
‘Your ladyship’s most obedient humble servant,
‘M. FOLKES.
‘May 6, 1743.
Doddington, in his diary, under the date of June 28, 1750, mentions
supping at this lady’s house, in company with Lady Middlesex, Lord
Bathurst, and Lady Torrington; and in the ‘World’ (No. 114) there is a
humorous paper on the distinctions between noble birth, great birth, and
no birth, in which the writer says, ‘I never suspected that it could
possibly mean the shrivelled tasteless fruit of an old genealogical
tree. I communicated my doubts, and applied for information to my late,
worthy, and curious friend, Mrs. Kennon, whose valuable collection of
fossils and minerals, lately sold, sufficiently prove her skill and
researches in the most recondite parts of nature. She, with that
frankness and humanity which were natural to her, assured me that it was
all a vulgar error, in which, however, the nobility and gentry prided
themselves; but that, in truth, she had never observed the children of
the quality to be wholesomer and stronger than others, but rather the
contrary, which difference she imputed to certain causes which I shall
not here specify.’ I possess several letters written to this lady by the
Governor of Bermuda, Mr. Popple, in 1739 and 1740, in which he considers
her of sufficient importance to request that she would speak a good word
for him in behalf of his being removed to a better Government, or some
other employment at home, and concludes a letter with saying, ‘I believe
your present power to assist your absent friends is now as great as I
have always thought your inclination was.’
When my father returned to Bradfield, after passing the winter in
London, he pulled down the old part of the house, a wretched lath and
plaster ill-contrived building; then, to the astonishment of every one,
he employed a hedge carpenter to rebuild exactly on the old foundations.
Thereby was constructed a mansion which had not a single room free from
every fault that could be found, whether as to chimney, doors, windows,
or connecting passages, and this at a larger expense than need have cost
an excellent house. The new stables, with coach-house, brew-house and
offices, were built of brick, and cost 500_l._ It was rather whimsical
to give his horses, carriage, and brewery[6] the warmth of solid walls,
and to house himself in lath and plaster; but in fixing his new
farmery,[7] a sad error was committed. The whole interposed between the
dwelling, and four acres of turf dotted with beautiful oaks. My poor
father, however, did not live to enjoy his improvements, for he was very
soon seized with a dropsy, and which—as will be seen—terminated his
life. During one of his journeys to London in order to consult a doctor,
occurred a circumstance so whimsical that I must mention it. Several
sleepless nights made him take it into his head that anything would be
better than a bed; as an experiment at one inn he ordered that a hole
should be cut in a haystack, in which he passed the night. But it is
time to return to myself. During all these years I was at Lavenham
School reading Cæsar, Sallust, Homer and the Greek Testament, when a
sudden whim seized my father, and he ordered Latin and Greek to be
discarded and algebra to take their place. I thus became absorbed in
Saunderson.[8] But what commanded more of my attention at this time was
a very different branch of learning, namely, the lessons of a dancing
master; he came once a week from Colchester to teach the boys, also some
young ladies of the neighbourhood, two of whom made terrible havoc with
my heart. The first was Miss Betsy Harrington, a grocer’s daughter,
admitted by all to be truly beautiful; the second of my youthful flames
was Miss Molly Fiske, a clergyman’s sister. For one or two years we
corresponded, but afterwards I went away, and she married the Rev. M.
Chevalier, of Aspall. Long after her marriage she told me that she had
accepted that gentleman on finding that I did not come forward with the
proposal. Her fortune was 4,000_l._
_Arthur Young, from his Sister Elisa Maria_
‘1755.
‘Dear Brother,—I acknowledge it’s very long since I last wrote to you,
but I enclose you my excuses, and what was I assure you the occasion
of my delay. I designed making you a present of lace for a pair of
ruffles, and the weather had been so bad that it was too dirty for me
to go out and get them. I hope they will engage your approbation,
which is all I desire, and you’ll do me honor in wearing them. I’ve
not yet seen Miss Aspin, and believe I shall not till Monday, when we
propose going to Gen^l Onslow’s, and calling upon her in our way. We
have had so much rain lately that there has been no stirring, or I
would have made her a visit long ago.
‘I believe I told my Mother my Uncle was disappointed of his company
which were to be here on Saturday last by Miss Turner being ill, but
she recovering we are to have the same party next week, and a very
grand concert it is to be, because we are musical people.
‘Ranelagh is to be opened on the 8th with a rural carnival. I vastly
wished for you at Mrs. Cibber’s benefit. The play was “Tancred and
Sigismunda,” the plan of which you and I have often weep’d over
together in “Gil Blas.” It was most inimitably acted by Garrick and
Mrs. Cibber; you would have been vastly entertained. The play I was at
before, but went purposely to see the Princess of Wales and her
family. The Prince and Prince Edward were in one box, and the
Princess, Lady Augusta, Elizabeth, and Louisa in the other. Upon my
word, they are a fine parcel of children; only poor Elizabeth is,
unhappily, almost a dwarf, but the rest make very good figures.
‘Monday your Aunt and I were in the House of Commons from one o’clock
at noon till nine at night; it was the Mitchell Election,[9] when the
great ones were setting themselves in combat against each other; it
was a most hard-fought battle. _The_[10] Duke espousing our party
against the Duke of Newcastle in support of the other, but the Tories
most of them going with the D. of N. gave him the majority. Though he
lost it at the Committee. There was much speaking, which was very
entertaining; Mr. Fox talked a great deal with great vehemence, for
this loss frustrates his schemes, as he finds the strength of the D.
of N.’s party though he had all the Army and the Duke’s Court people
with him. And now, Mr. Arthur, you being a very good polititian, I
shall proceed to entertain you with some more Parliamentary affairs.
Tuesday last the Message was brought from the King to the House. It
imparted little; nothing to be collected from it of either peace or
war. Only desiring the Parliament would support him in the armaments
he might have occasion for by sea and land, &c. &c. General Onslow
says during the eight and twenty years he has sat in that house he
never saw, or could have conceived it to be so unanimous in the
acclamations of the King. Every one striving who should in the
strongest terms express their confidence in him, Tories and all. Even
Sir John Phillips declared he would vote the King twenty shillings in
the pound, for that their lives and _whole_ fortunes were not too much
for him, and the House rung with their _confidence_ in the King,
without any one of the Ministers saying a syllable. They were the
silentest people. The General says he would have given any money
Miripoix[11] had been in the House to have heard the Parliament of
England’s hearty affection for their King. I should have much liked to
have been there, but the ladies’ privilege extends no farther than
elections. Lady Crosse sent to us on Monday morning at ten o’clock to
let us know she would call on us at eleven, and we had to dress in
gowns and petticoats and eat our breakfasts, which last was not to be
omitted, for it was certain we were to have no dinner. And by much
hurry we did get ready for her ladyship, but waited at her house for
Sir John till near one, frighted to excess, fearing we should not get
in. This Mitchell Election so famous an affair that all the town
wanted to hear it, and evidently the gallery would hold a small part
of them. However, we had the luck to get excellent places, having a
chair for one of us brought out of the Speaker’s chamber. The
elections for this year are now all over except the Oxfordshire, and
whether they will be able to finish that no one can tell. In answer to
this long letter I shall hope to hear very soon from you, and am,
‘Your most affectionate
‘E. M. YOUNG.
‘Friday Good (_sic_).’
‘August 26, 1755 (from Bristol Hot Wells).
‘Dear Arthur,—I was in hopes you would have given me the pleasure of
hearing from you. I should have wrote to you before now, but have so
many letters perpetually upon my hands that no clerk to an attorney
has more pen exercise. I want much to have a particular account of the
Bury Assizes; I suppose you will go to an Assembly, and therefore pray
you to send me intelligence of who and who are together, who dresses
smartest, looks best, and seems most pleased with themselves and those
about them. The balls here are vastly disagreeable. I dance French
dances constantly, but none of the people of fashion dance country
dances; there are such numbers of Bristol people that do, and they are
such an ordinary set that it prevents the fine folks. The rooms of
another night are much cleverer; there is a lottery table which we
play at from eight till half an hour after nine most nights. My Aunt
and I have both hitherto played with great success. The principal
support of our table we lose to-day, Mr. Brudenell, member for
Rutlandshire, an extreem good-natured, pretty kind of man; the company
is going off so fast and the place is so thin, that I fear we shall
miss him very much. My Aunt sends her love to you. She says she made
you a promise of giving you a pair of lace ruffles or a guinea, which
ever you chose, and desires you will consult with your mother which
you will have, and if the lace, let her know it; for it’s sold here as
well as at Bath. I should advise the money; for you have two pair of
lace ruffles which I am sure is as much as you can possibly have
occasion for; those you have must be taken off the footings, for the
fine men weer them extreemly shallow; they should not be near a nail
of a yard deep.
‘Pray make my compliments to everybody that enquires after me, and let
me have a very long letter from you very soon. I have nothing to add
to your entertainment, heartily wish I was at Bradfield, and beg you
to tell me all you can that is doing there; and
‘Believe me with great sincerity,
‘Your most affectionate
‘ELISA MARIA.
‘Be sure don’t speak before my father of my playing at lottery.’
_Extracts from further letters_
‘My Uncle Ingoldsby I think looks very well. He asked after you, and
so did my Aunt. He goes out of town for a fortnight next Monday, and
Mr. and Miss go then. Dr. In. has made a new coach. Yesterday was the
second day of using it, cost him 82_l._; it’s very handsome, all but
being painted in a mosaic, which all the smart equipages are. Miss
Joy’s mother has made one this spring, cost 147_l._ There is hardly
such a thing seen as a two-wheeled post-chaise; nobody uses anything
but four-wheeled ones, and numbers of them with boxes put on and run
for chariots, and vastly pretty they are.
‘Now I must give you some account of the masquerade at Mrs. Onslow’s;
Lady Onslow was there, Mr. and Mrs. Onslow, the Mr. Shelley we met at
the Speaker’s, and Miss Freeman. Lady Onslow was in a Venetian domino
white lustring trimmed with scarlet and silver blonde. Mrs. Onslow’s
dress we thought not at all pretty nor becoming; she had no jewels on,
but was ornamented with mock pearl. Mr. Onslow was in a domino, as was
Mr. Shelley; the first was very genteel and handsome, white lustring
trimmed with an open shining gold lace and little roses of purple with
gold in the middle of them. I never saw anything prettier. Miss
Freeman was the sweetest figure I ever saw. Her dress, a dancer, blue
satin trimmed with silver in the richest genteelest taste and very
fine jewels. They say Fenton Harvey was the best figure there amongst
the gentlemen, with his masque; on his dress was a domino which was
reckoned the genteelest dresses.
‘Lady Coventry, amongst the ladies, was the best figure; Lady Peterson
another much admired. The Town said beforehand that she was to be Eve
and wear a fig leaf of diamonds; however, this was not true.’
_Mrs. Tomlinson (née Elisa Maria Young) to her Father_
‘Honoured Sir,—Mr. Tomlinson and myself are your urgent petitioners
for a favour which, if granted, will give us very great pleasure. It
is that you will give my brother Arthur leave to make us a short
visit; my mother (who we found safe and well at Chelmsford and have
conducted hither) rejoins in the request; she desires you to determine
in what manner is best for him to come hither on horseback, the joiner
with him or in the stage coach, but either way, we beg to see him
Tuesday at farthest, but on Monday if he comes on horseback. Be
pleased to direct him to have his linnen washed, stocking (_sic_)
mended, &c., and in case he comes on horseback, it may not be amiss to
hint to him that he is not to reach London on one gallop, for his
impatience may outrun his prudence. It was a great pleasure to hear a
pretty good account of your health, and hope we shall hear often from
Bradfield during my mother’s stay here.
‘Beg my love with Mr. T.’s to my brother. He desires to present his
duty to you.
‘And I am, honoured Sir,
‘Your most affectionate and most dutifull daughter,
‘E. M. TOMLINSON.
‘Bucklersbury: Tuesday night, 10 o’clock (1757).’
Whilst at school I made in the playground a famous fortification, and
then besieged it with mines of gun-powder, nearly blowing up two boys
and an old woman selling pies. A better example was my habit of reading,
which became a sort of fashion. I was thought to be of an uncommon
stamp, and when the pupils returned home their parents became desirous
of seeing the lad to whom they thought themselves indebted. My own
acquisitions received a mortal shock on the marriage of my sister with
Mr. Tomlinson, of the firm of Tomlinson & Co. The opportunity of
introducing me into their counting-house was thought advantageous by my
father, and in consequence orders came that I should receive immediate
instruction in mercantile accounts; as a further preparation the sum of
400_l._ was paid to Messrs. Robertson, of Lynn, Norfolk, for a three
years’ apprenticeship.
In February 1758 I took my last farewell of Lavenham, and paid a visit
to my married sister in London. I remember nothing more of this visit
than several performances of Mr. Garrick. When I took leave of my
sister, who was far advanced in her pregnancy, she wept and said she
might never see me more. This proved to be the case, as she died during
her lying-in. She was a remarkably clever woman, with much beauty and
vivacity of conversation, combined with much solidity of judgment. My
mother grieved so much for her loss that she could never be persuaded to
go out of mourning, but mourned till her own death, nor did she ever
recover her cheerfulness. This had one good effect, and that a very
important one for me; she never afterwards looked into any book but on
the subject of religion, and her only constant companion was her Bible,
herein copying the example of her father.
Every circumstance attending this new situation at Lynn was most
detestable to me till I effected an improvement. This was done by hiring
a lodging, surrounding myself with books, and making the acquaintance of
Miss Robertson, daughter of my employer’s partner. She was of a pleasing
figure, with fine black expressive eyes, danced well, and also sang and
performed well on the harpsichord; no wonder, as she received
instructions from Mr. Burney.[12] He was a person held in the highest
estimation for his powers of conversation and agreeable manners, which
made his company much sought after by all the principal nobility and
gentry of the neighbourhood. Here I must reflect, as I have done many
times before, on the unfortunate idea of making me a merchant. The
immediate expense absolutely thrown away differently invested would have
kept me four years at the University, enabling my father to make me a
clergyman and Rector of Bradfield. This living he actually gave to my
Lavenham schoolmaster. The whole course of my life would in such a case
have been changed. I should have known nothing of Lynn, and have taken a
wife from a different quarter. I should probably have been free from all
attraction to agriculture, and that circumstance alone would have
changed the whole colour of my existence. I might never have been of any
use to the public, but my years would have passed in a far more tranquil
current, escaping so many storms and vicissitudes which blew me into a
tempest of activity and involved me in great errors, great vice, and
perpetual anxiety. This was not to be the case, and what I thought an
evil star sent me to Lynn. In this place monthly assemblies were held, a
mayor’s feast and ball in the evening, a dancing master’s ball and
assemblies at the Mart. It was not common, I was told, for merchants’
clerks to frequent these, a suggestion I spurned, and attended them,
dancing with the principal belles. I was complimented by the dancing
master, who assured me that he pointed out my minuet as an example to
his scholars. But pleasure alone would not satisfy me; I was by nature
studious, and from my earliest years discovered a thirst for learning
and books. These, the smallness of my allowance (I think not more than
30_l._ per annum), with my great foppery in dress for the balls, would
not permit me to purchase and supply me with what I so much needed.
Accordingly in 1758 I compiled a political pamphlet named ‘The Theatre
of the Present War in North America,’ for which a bookseller allowed me
ten pounds’ worth of books; as he urged me to another undertaking I
wrote three or four more political tracts, each of which procured me an
addition to my little library. My first year’s apprenticeship had not
expired before the death of my sister overthrew the whole plan which had
sent me to Lynn. As 400_l._ had been paid for the agreed period of three
years, I was kept there from no other motive. Under such circumstances
it may be supposed that the counting-house and the business received not
an atom more of attention than could be dispensed with. I was twenty
years old on leaving Lynn, which I did without education, profession or
employment. In June of this year (1759) my father died, and as he left
debts, my mother thought it necessary to take an exact account of his
effects. The following is the result:—
£ _s._
Household goods 674 1
Farming stock 226 4
Plate 149 13
Books 57 0
—-— ——
Total £1,106 18
I am sorry to add that money or money due to him made no part of the
estimate. The fact was that my father died much in debt, and it was two
years before my mother found herself tolerably free.
-----
Footnote 1:
Lavenham is a very pretty village, with splendid church, lying between
Sudbury and Whelnethan, whilst Bury St. Edmunds is the second town in
Suffolk.
Footnote 2:
_Memoirs of Richard Cumberland_, 1806.
Footnote 3:
Elsewhere Arthur Young mentions a severe flogging ‘very properly’
administered by his father for an act of cruelty, adding, ‘It was the
only time that I ever received any correction at his hands, yet he was
a remarkably passionate man.’
Footnote 4:
Robert Sutton, physician and inoculist, 1757, _Dict. of Biography_,
Sampson Low. Dr. Guy’s _Public Health_ has the following: ‘The Suttons
were noted for their success in inoculation, but Dr. Gregory gives
more credit to diet and exposure to air than to the antimonial and
mercurial medicines they extolled.’
Footnote 5:
Hero of _The Beaux’ Stratagem_, G. Farquhar.
Footnote 6:
Till the last generation it was the fashion to brew one’s own beer in
Suffolk.
Footnote 7:
‘The buildings and yards necessary for the business of a
farm.’—_Webster._
Footnote 8:
Nicholas Saunderson, D.D., author of the _Elements of Algebra_, in ten
books, 1740.
Footnote 9:
The Mitchell Election, a petition brought by Lord Orwell and Colonel
Wedderburn against undue election and return for borough of Mitchell,
in Cornwall. See _Commons’ Journals_, xxii., xxiv. and xxxii.
Footnote 10:
The Duke of Cumberland.
Footnote 11:
M. de Miripoix, then French Ambassador at St. James’s.
Footnote 12:
Dr. Charles Burney, author of the _History of Music_, father of Madame
d’Arblay.
-----