He has subscribed to Hodgkin's work," and thinks it likely to succeed. If Hodgkin should call, pray tell him that he has long promised me a letter." On a subsequent occasion, he says:-- "I meet with very few Grecians here: many well-informed men, but hardly any deep scholars; however, they respect learning where they believe it to exist." Dr. Gregory and Dalzel were among the exceptions to this observation. The last-mentioned was professor of Greek and a correct and elegant scholar, who fully appreciated Young's attainments and showed him the most flattering attentions during the whole time of his residence in the University. He was at that time engaged in the preparation of the second volume of his ΑΝΑΛΕΚΤΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ, or Collections from the Greek Poets, from Homer downwards, with annotations, partly original and partly selected: an extremely useful publication which was for many years very extensively used in our classical schools, and which has hardly yet been superseded. The task of making the selections from the Greek epigrammatists was undertaken by Young, and he added many learned notes, with the suggestion of many judicious and some happy emendations. The assistance thus rendered was very gratefully and gracefully acknowledged." a Calligraphia Græca. Supra, p. 46. Quæ autem hic exhibentur decerpta sunt ex Brunkii analectis a Thomâ Young, viro planè egregio et qui juvenis adhuc dignus habitus fuit, qui in Societatem Regiam Londinensem cooptaretur. Quum is nuper in hâc Academia Studiis operam daret, omnibus qui consuetudine ejus utebantur, propter ingenii acumen, et variam doctrinam, mihi imprimis ob vitæ integritatem et insignem Literarum Græcarum peritiam maximi habitus ; Ego variis laboribus Academicis implicitus otioque minus abundans, eum rogavi ut ex emensâ Brunkii collectione ea seligaret epigrammata, quæ ad propositum hujus poetici nostri Delectus maxime conferrent. Neque meo desiderio (quæ fuit ejus erga me voluntas) defecit juvenis eruditus, The epigram, which is subjoined, originated in an occurrence which the journal, which records it, assures us was not unreal; and Dalzel, who printed it at the end of the notes on the selections which Young had made for him, pronounced it to be conceived in the true spirit of the Greek epigrammatists. ΦΙΛΗΜΑ. Χθες μελὶ μοὶ προφέρεσκε Καληδονις ἡ χαρίεσσα, Young made very few contributions to the Muses, though generally very prompt, especially in later life, to answer by trifles in verse the sudden calls which the importunities of female society make upon men of celebrity, whether they be poets or not. His ear was not attuned to the easy flow of good versification: the song which we subjoin is of very slight texture, and is given in his journal, with the music adapted to it. et in poetis Græcis apprimè versatus. Quæ hic recepimus, eorum pleraque ille humanissime indicavit, quin et propriâ manu nitidissime descripsit, mihique tradidit Corollam variis flosculis pulcherrimè a se contextam. "But wealth, nor I can hope to share And nought is left but blank despair,- "Nor distant scenes, nor length of days He had resolved, before quitting London for Edinburgh, to give up some of the external characteristics of the Quakers, though, in corresponding with his family and members of the Society, he continued the usual form of addressing them. He feared the tears of his mother, to whom he was tenderly attached, and who clung-as is very commonly the case with females of her sect-to the outward marks of membership as possessing all the sanction of religion. It rarely happens, in fact, that the garb and phraseology of Quakers can long survive extensive intercourse with literary and refined society; but in passing the conventional boundaries which separate them from other sects, they sometimes abandon the peculiar religious doctrines in which they have been brought up, without adopting those of the Established Church, or of the sect with which they afterwards appear to communicate. Such changes, therefore, are apt to give rise to charges of hypocrisy when they are not fully carried out, or of infidelity and relaxation of morals when they are so, and which are unhappily not always without foundation. From the first of these charges Young did not altogether escape when he joined in the innocent pleasures of society; though he still retained his predilection for the other great and distinctive prin ciples of the Quakers;-their steady humanity and love of peace and order, and the general purity of their moral conduct. Such principles continued to make them, in his judgment-in spite of much that was absurd and unreasonable the most respectable of all sects and the best suited for a man of truly dignified and philosophical turn of mind; but he speedily found that the total change of habits and associations which followed the abandonment of external communion with them, leads almost inevitably to a total and permanent separation from them. So necessary in fact, as all experience shows, are forms and discipline to protect the integrity of special religious and other communities from the disturbing effects of the fashions and opinions of the world. This result would appear to have followed in Young's case even more rapidly and to a greater extent than he probably had ever ventured to anticipate. He mixed largely in society, not merely amongst his fellow students, but amongst the professors of the University and the principal inhabitants of a city and neighbourhood proverbial for hospitality. He began the study of music and took lessons on the flute, and thoroughly mastered the theory of the one, and to some extent the practice of the other, though he was not naturally gifted with a musical organization. He took private lessons in dancing, and what constituted a not less serious offence against the principles of his sect, he repeatedly attended performances at the theatre. In writing, soon after he left Edinburgh, to his friend and fellow student Dr. Bostock, he says: "I have seen Mrs. Siddons in Douglas, The Grecian Daughter, The Mourning Bride, The Provoked Husband, The Fatal Marriage, Macbeth, and Venice Preserved. She was neither below, nor much above, my expectation. I can form an idea of something more perfect. My friend Cruikshanks, when I went to take my leave of him, took me aside; and, after much preamble, told me he heard I had been at the play, and hoped that I should be able to contradict it. I told him I had been several times, and thought it right to go, &c. &c., as civilly as I could. I know you are determined to discourage my dancing and singing, and I am determined to pay no regard whatever to what you say. You think I shall never be able to play the flute well, and I am pretty sure that I may if I choose; as to dancing, the die is cast." Young, as might very naturally be expected, was as much exposed to the ridicule and witticisms of his new friends, as he was to the suspicions and reproaches of his old: but no relaxation of morals followed, such as was imputed or anticipated; the purity of his conduct, according to the uniform testimony of those who knew him best, was unimpeachable. Though passionately fond of female society, it was in a marriage of affection that he looked for happiness, and not in those irregular indulgences which are only very generally overlooked because they are so common. Whatever he thought to be right he resolutely practised. "What greater instance," says he, in quoting the Spectator, "can there be of a pusillanimous temper, than to pass his whole life in opposition to his own sentiments, or not to dare to do what he thinks he ought to do!" His time, during the Edinburgh session, was so much occupied, by the medical lectures, by the study of German, Spanish and Italian, by the acquisition of personal accomplishments, by the claims of a very extended society and a very large correspondence with his friends, as to leave little opening for the reading of many works whether of professional or general literature. The only medical book of importance which we |