t after publishing "A True
Estimate of Human Life," with a dedication to the Queen, as one of the
"most shining representatives" of God on earth, and a sermon, entitled
"An Apology for Princes; or, the Reverence due to Government," preached
before the House of Commons, his Pindaric ambition again seized him, and
he matched his former ode by another, called "Imperium Pelagi, a Naval
Lyric; written in imitation of Pindar's spirit, occasioned by his
Majesty's return from Hanover, 1729, and the succeeding Peace." Since he
afterward suppressed this second ode, we must suppose that it was rather
worse than the first. Next came his two "Epistles to Pope, concerning
the Authors of the Age," remarkable for nothing but the audacity of
affectation with which the most servile of poets professes to despise
servility.

In 1730 Young was presented by his college with the rectory of Welwyn, in
Hertfordshire, and, in the following year, when he was just fifty, he
married Lady Elizabeth Lee, a widow with two children, who seems to have
been in favor with Queen Caroline, and who probably had an income--two
attractions which doubtless enhanced the power of her other charms.
Pastoral duties and domesticity probably cured Young of some bad habits;
but, unhappily, they did not cure him either of flattery or of fustian.
Three more odes followed, quite as bad as those of his bachelorhood,
except that in the third he announced the wise resolution of never
writing another. It must have been about this time, since Young was now
"turned of fifty," that he wrote the letter to Mrs. Howard (afterward
Lady Suffolk), George the Second's mistress, which proves that he used
other engines, besides Pindaric ones, in "besieging Court favor." The
letter is too characteristic to be omitted:

"Monday Morning.

"MADAM: I know his Majesty's goodness to his servants, and his love
of justice in general, so well, that I am confident, if his Majesty
knew my case, I should not have any cause to despair of his gracious
favor to me.

"Abilities. Want.

Good Manners. Sufferings }

Service. and } for his
Majesty.

Age. Zeal }

_These_, madam, are the proper points of consideration in the person
that humbly hopes his Majesty's favor.

"As to _Abili