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 of 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 Narcis sa. (See Night III.) 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 arri

val.

Being regarded as an heretic, she was denied christian burial, and her afflicted father was obliged

to steal a grave, and inter her privately with his own (See Night III.) In this celebrated poem

hands*:

he thus addresses Death:

* I take the liberty of inserting here a passage from a letter written by Mr. W. Taylor, from Montpellier, to his sister, Mrs. Mouncher, in the preceding year 1789, which may be considered as curious, and will be interesting and affecting to the admirers of Dr. Young and his Narcissa :

"I know you, as well as myself, are not a little "partial to Dr. Young. Had you been with me in a "solitary walk the other day, you would have shed a "tear over the remains of his dear Narcissa. I was "walking in a place called the King's Garden; and "there I saw the spot where she was interred. Mr. "J, Mrs. H- and myself, had some conver "sation with the gardener respecting it; who told us, that about 45 years ago, Dr. Young was here "with his daughter for her Health; and that he used "constantly to be walking backward and forward in "this garden (no doubt, as he saw her gradually declining, to find the most solitary spot, where he “might shew his last token of affection, by leaving her remains as secure as possible from those savages, who would have denied her a christian burial: for at that time, an Englishman in this coun"try was looked upon as an heretic, infidel, and de❝ vil. They begin now to verge from their bigotry, and allow them at least to be men, though not

แ

"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.

"christians, I believe); and that he bribed the unde gardener, belonging to his father, to let him bur, "his daughter, which he did; pointed out the mos "solitary place, and dug the grave. The man, "through a private door, admitted the Doctor at "midnight, bringing his beloved daughter, wrapped 66 up in a sheet, upon his shoulder: he laid her in the "hole, sat down, and (as the man expressed it) ❝rained tears!' "With pious sacrilege a grave "stole.' The man who was thus bribed is dead, but I "the master is still living. Before the man died, "they were one day going to dig, and set some flow(6 ers, &c. in this spot where she was buried. "man said to his master, 'Don't dig there; for, so The

many years ago, I buried an English lady there.' "The master was much surprized; and as Doctor "Young's book had made much noise in France, it "led him to enquire into the matter; and only two 66 years ago it was known for a certainty that that 66 was the place, and in this way: There was an En66 glish nobleman here, who was acquainted with the 66 governor of this place; and wishing to ascertain "the fact, he obtained permission to dig up the ground, "where he found some bones, which were examined "by a surgeon, and pronounced to be the remains of a "human body: this, therefore, puts the authenticity "of it beyond a doubt."-See Evan. Mag. for 1797, P. 444.

These lines have been universally understood of the bove 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 he order of the poet, who makes Narcissa's death Follow Philander's:

"Narcissa follows e're his tomb is clos'd."

Night III.

There is no possible way to reconcile these contralictions 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 are 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 the greater part of the Night Thoughts was 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 Docter, speaking of our author, "he has exhibited a ve"ry wide display of original poetry, variegated with "deep reflections and striking allusions; a wilder

ness of thought, in which the fertility of fancy scat"ters flowers of every hue, and of every odour. This "is one of the few poems in which blank verse could "not be changed for rhyme, but with disadvantage. "The wild diffusion of the sentiments and the digres"sive sallies of imagination, would have been com"pressed and restrained by confinement to rhyme. "The excellence of this work is not exactness, but "copiousness: particular lines are not to be regard"ed; the power is in the whole; and in the whole "there is a magnificence like that ascribed to Chi66 nese plantations, the magnificence of vast extent "and endless diversity."