this
distance of time, far from easy. The parties themselves know not often,
at the instant, why they are neglected, or why they are preferred. The
neglect of Young is by some ascribed to his having attached himself to
the Prince of Wales, and to his having preached an offensive sermon at
St. James's. It has been told me that he had two hundred a year in the
late reign, by the patronage of Walpole; and that, whenever any one
reminded the king of Young, the only answer was, "he has a pension." All
the light thrown on this inquiry, by the following letter from Secker,
only serves to show at what a late period of life the author of the
"Night Thoughts" solicited preferment:--

"Deanery of St. Paul's, July 8, 1758.

"GOOD DR. YOUNG,--I have long wondered that more suitable notice of your
great merit hath not been taken by persons in power. But how to remedy
the omission I see not. No encouragement hath ever been given me to
mention things of this nature to his majesty. And therefore, in all
likelihood, the only consequence of doing it would be weakening the
little influence which else I may possibly have on some other occasions.
Your fortune and your reputation set you above the need of advancement;
and your sentiments, above that concern for it, on your own account,
which, on that of the public, is sincerely felt by

"Your loving Brother, THO. CANT."

At last, at the age of fourscore, he was appointed, in 1761, Clerk of
the Closet to the Princess Dowager. One obstacle must have stood not a
little in the way of that preferment after which his whole life seems
to have panted. Though he took orders, he never entirely shook off
politics. He was always the lion of his master Milton, "pawing to get
free his hinder parts." By this conduct, if he gained some friends, he
made many enemies. Again: Young was a poet; and again, with reverence be
it spoken, poets by profession do not always make the best clergymen.
If the author of the "Night Thoughts" composed many sermons, he did not
oblige the public with many. Besides, in the latter part of his life,
Young was fond of holding himself out for a man retired from the world.
But he seemed to have forgotten that the same verse which contains
"oblitus meorum," contains also "obliviscendus et illis." The brittle
chain of worldly friendship and patronage is broken as effectually, when
one goes beyond the length of it, as when the other does. To the ve