XVII. DR. YOUNG AND MR. JONES.

At the time I was printing the Letters of Mr. Jones in vol. I, p. 585, which were communicated by a friend, it had entirely escaped my recollection that I had (thirty years ago) transcribed some of them myself, and printed them in the Magazine,

In the Letter of Jan. 1, 1763, add, "The mismanagement too well known unhappily continues, and, still more unhappily, seems to be increasing, to the grief of friends, and, I need not say, to the ridicule of others, who are not a few. What a pity! what a loss! but no advice will be taken, nor can it well be offered. Penuriousness and obstinacy are two bad things; and a disregard to the general judgement and friendly wishes of the wiser part of mankind, another. There seems to be no hope so long as the ascendancy is so great. Enough to a friend, and to a friend only."-That of April 2, 1765, begins, "As soon as I got home, I enquired after Dr. Young, and found that he had gone through very great pains since I left him, and the pains return pretty frequently. Dr. Cotton of St. Alban's, and Dr. Yates of Hertford, meet at his house every day on consultation. But, whatever they may think of his disorder, and the probable consequences, little or nothing as yet transpires, only all that attend him constantly imagine there is little or no hope of his doing well again. For my own part, I judged so from the beginning. I find that opiates are frequently administered to him, I suppose to render him less sensible of his pain. His intellects, I am told, are still clear; though what effect the frequent use of opiates may by degrees have upon him I know not. I am pretty much of his son's sentiments as to this, viz. that those ingredients, if for some time longer continued, may have an ill effect upon the brain." On the letters of Mr. Jones, which appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. LII. p. 283; it was remarked in vol. LIII. p. 1008, that "they carry something of a contradiction with them. The two or three first, where he thinks the Doctor has slighted him, have something rather severe against the Doctor and the lady who kept his house, who, I thoroughly believe, lived as innocently as if they had been a hundred miles asunder. But view Mr. Jones's last letter. How wonderfully is that gentleman altered by the consideration of the legacy, and the notice taken of him there! From this I conclude, that Mr. Jones had not so many virtues as the Doctor; and that the first was more pettish, jealous, and from his temper more liable to suppose affronts, than the latter was inclined to do an injury."-Another Correspondent says, "Dr. Young's housekeeper was the daughter of a rector of Allhallows, Hertford; and, upon the marriage of Miss Caroline Lee, was invited by the Doctor, who knew her family, to his house. She had some fortune of her own, perhaps very small, as her father left many children. She was advanced in years, was a woman of piety and good sense improved by reading; and was always treated by the Doctor, and by his guests, even those of the highest rank, with the politeness

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and respect due to a gentlewoman. The legacy which he hequeathed her, was not more than might be due to one whom he had never degraded by paying wages. Why she did not strictly comply with his last injunctions to destroy his manuscripts*, I cannot pretend to say; and can only lament that she did not: perhaps as Mr. Young was in the house, she might fancy she had not the power. Dr. Young, after his first sleep, spent the greatest part of the night in meditation, and in the composition of his works; and he had only to transcribe them (if I may use that expression) when he arose, which was at an early hour."

The following Letter of Dr. Young, addressed to the Rev. Thomas Newcomb of Hackney, is printed from the Original. "MY DEAR OLD FRIEND, Welwyn, Nov. 25, 1762. "And now, my only dear old Friend, for your namesake Colburnt is dead; he died last winter of a cold, caught by officiating on the Fast-day: he has left one daughter, I believe in pretty good circumstances; for a friend of his, some time ago, settled upon her twenty pounds a year; and he, no doubt, has left her something considerable himself. I am pleased with the stanzas you sent me; there is nothing in them of eighty-seven; and if you have been as young in your attempt on the Death of Abel, it will do you credit; that work I have read, and think it deserves that reception it has met withal. The Libel you mention, I have not seen; but I have seen numberless papers which shew that our body politic is far from being in perfect health: as for my own health, I do not love to complain; but one particular I must tell you, that my sight is so far gone, as to lay me under the necessity of borrowing a hand to write this. God grant me grace, under this darkness, to see more clearly things invisible and eternal; those great things which you and I must soon be acquainted with! And why not rejoice at it? There is not a day of my long life that I desire to repeat; and at fourscore it is all labour and sorrow. What then have we to do? But one thing remains, and in that one, blessed be God! by his assistance we are sure of success. Let nothing, therefore, lie heavy on your heart; let us rely on Him who has done so great things for us; that lover of souls; that hearer of prayers, whenever they come from the heart; and sure rewarder of all those who love Him, and put their trust in his mercy. Let us not be discontented with this world: that is bad; but it is still worse to be satisfied with it, so satisfied, as not to be very anxious for something more.

"My love and best wishes attend you both; and I am, my good old friend, sincerely yours, E. YOUNG.

"P. S. I am persuaded that you are mistaken as to your age; you write yourself eighty-seven, which cannot be the case; for I always thought myself older than you, and I want considerably of that age. If it is worth your while, satisfy me as to this particular."-[See the particulars of Dr. Young's Funeral, Gent. Mag. vol. XXXV. p. 198.]

* See vol. I. p. 633.

+ Ibid. p. 640.

AD

ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.

P 12. The father of Mr. Gibbs the Architect was a Catholic, and was proprietor of Footdees-myre, where he had a house which was long known by the name of the White House in the Links, and afterwards used as a mason-lodge, previous to the building of the New Inn, by the mason society. The sour presbyterians of Mr. Gibbs's time, used to spur on the idle boys of the town to annoy the old gentleman in his premises. He was, it seems, a man of a considerable portion of humour; and having provided two dogs to keep the rabble who occasionally disturbed him at a distance, it is said, he good-naturedly took his revenge, by inscribing on the collar of one, Luther, and on the other, Calvin.-The beautiful West Church in Aberdeen built by Mr. Wyllie, an Architect from Edinburgh, and finished about 1755, was from a plan by Mr. Gibbs. History of Aberdeen, pp. 184. 186. P. 16. See some letters of Mr. Arthur Collins in Gent. Mag. vol. LIII. p. 414.

P. 17. Mr. David Collins died March 24, 1810, aged 54. See a full account of him in Gent. Mag. 1810, Part ii, p. 490.

P. 26. Mr. Buckley (who was Master of the Company of Stationers in 1738 and 1739) obtained an Act of Parliament, in 1733, to prohibit the importation of Thuanus's History in Latin from Foreign Parts; where, as he stated in his Address to the Parliament, "it might have been printed at much less expence than he was at; and, if not prevented by the said Act, have been sold even in his own Country, at a less price than it cost him, who was at 23501. charge in collecting materials, and barely paying the duty on paper imported for his Work; for as the duty now stands, the blank paper to be used by our own printers at home, pays a great deal more than what is already printed by Workmen abroad, the first paying by the ream, the latter by the hundred weight. This," he adds, "is a matter, which, for the encouragement of the natives of Great Britain, who, in the advantages of trade, ought always to have the preference to foreigners, it is to be hoped the Legislature will soon look into." P. 31. Dr. Madden's" Memoirs" are addressed, in an ironical dedication, to Frederick Prince of Wales. There is a later mezzotinto of him, by Richard Purcell, from a painting by Robert Hunter, with his arms, and this inscription:

"Samuel Madden, D. D. ætatis suæ 68, 1755.

Fortior qui se, * quàm qui fortissima vincit moenia." Mons. Grosley, a lively French traveller, speaking of a city in the centre of France, "which at the beginning of the fifteenth century served as a theatre to the grandest scene that England ever acted in that kingdom," mentions several English families as lately extinct, or still subsisting there. "This city," he says, "in return has given the British dominions an illustrious personage, to whom they are indebted for the first prizes which have been their distributed for the encouragement of agriculture * See the Proverbs of Solomon, and a Sermon of Mons. Saurin on the same text: "Better is be who ruleth his spirit," &c.

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and arts. His name was Madain : being thrown upon the coast of Ireland by events of which I could never hear any satisfactory account, he settled in Dublin by the name of Madden, there made a fortune, dedicated part of his estate, which amounted to four or five thousand pounds a year, to the prizes which I have spoken of, and left a rich succession: part of this succession went over to France to the Madains his relations, who commenced a law-suit for the recovery of it, and caused ecclesiastical censures to be published against a merchant, to whom they had sent a letter of attorney to act for them, and whom they accused of having appropriated to himself a share of their inheritance." Tour to London, 1772. vol. II. p. 100.

The extraordinary circumstances attending the printing and suppression of these Memoirs have been already mentioned in p. 31; but the reasons for it are not very evident. The whole of the business was transacted by Mr. Bowyer, without either of the other Printers (Roberts and Woodfall) ever seeing the author. The book was finished at the press, March 24, 1732-3; and 100 copies were that day delivered to the Author. On the 28th a number of them were delivered to the several Booksellers mentioned in the title-page; and in four days after, all that were unsold were recalled, and 800 of them given up to Dr. Madden to be destroyed. I have never heard of more than two copies of it; one of which was Mr. Tutet's; the other, Mr. Tickell's, is now in Mr. Bindley's Library. See p. 32.

P. 51. Mr. Stephens was one of the early members of the Society of Antiquaries. He published "Lives of North, &c." See the Introduction to the Archæologia, p. xxxvii.

P. 57, note, 1. 14. read "p. 153."

P. 71. "Dr. John Law, son of the Bishop, was appointed to the vicarage of Newcastle in 1782; but was never inducted, as he was then in Ireland as Chaplain to the Duke of Portland; where having been promoted to the see of Clonfert, Stephen Lushington, M. A. (his brother-in-law) was nominated to the vicarage." Brand's Newcastle, vol. I. p. 390.

P. 105, 1.9 from bottom For" he," read " his father purchased Barton Segrave." There were four gentlemen named John Bridges successively. 1. Colonel John Bridges, of Alcester. 2. John, his son, who purchased Barton, and died 1712. 3. John, his son, the collector, died in 1723-4. 4. John, his nephew, died 1741.

P. 106. Mr. William Bridges, by the following circular letter, in vain endeavoured to get patronage for his Brother's History. Barton Segrave, July 1, 1735.

"SIR,

Having been solicited by several of the Nobility and Gentlemen of this and the neighbouring Counties to send abroad The History of Northamptonshire, collected by my brother the late Mr. John Bridges with great pains and expence, I have at last determined to make it publick. To this end, I have some time since put my brother's papers into the hands of a gentleman recommended to me as well qualified for the undertaking, who is preparing them for the press with all the

expedition that the nature of such a Work will admit of. But as the carrying it on with due care will still require a more than ordinary charge, I have thought proper to apply to my friends for their assistance; and to this purpose, I have ordered the bearer to wait upon you with the proposals, to which I refer you for a more particular information. I only beg leave here to assure you, that whatever is promised shall be faithfully executed; and that your encouragement will very much oblige, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, WM. BRIDGES."

In Ballard's Collection of MS Letters in the Bodleian Library are several relating to Mr. Bridges's History, and of its being placed in the hands of Dr. Jebb, to be digested and published, ii. 1. 3. 22; that it was got into the press, 24; stopt, 30; and the expences of it, 32. 39. 179.-In 1783, the History was in an unpromising situation. Aug. 3, Mr. D. Prince says, "I cannot think of running any further risque with the Northamptonshire gentlemen, in continuing their History, which is one of the most perfect things of the kind. It is really, besides a Civil History, an excellent Topographical Account, and a modern Domesday Book. No one Nobleman or Gentleman in that great County will take the least notice. The time may come when they will find the want of so exact a survey. The Bishop of Peterborough has the History of Peterborough, which is very large. I think it would amount to 25, if not 30 sheets. If such a thing could be done, I would sue the Executors of the Board who employed me. Bodies of men don't blush, and are not suable as private men are."-In 1789 the prospect of its appearance began to revive. July 2, Mr. Prince says, "I believe now the Northamptonshire History will soon be finished; it will be set about as soon as Sir W. Dolben is released from the slavery of being Chairman to the Committee on the African Trade business." Feb. 14, 1790, "Northamptonshire goes on, slow, but sure."- Again, in July, "I know you will like to hear how the Northamptonshire History goes on, which now draws towards a conclusion. Two months will finish the body of the Work, which is under the care of an able hand. Have you any thing to communicate *, or to give to the Work? If you have, send to Sir William Dolben in Abingdon-street, Westminster. I had a letter two days ago from the Earl of Upper Ossory, with a plate of his Seat, and a description of it, which is sent to Sir William." Aug. 17, "The Northamptonshire History is ended from Bridges. Mr. Nares + and Mr. Ayscough †, I expect, will soon put the finish to it; by preface, index, &c. but no continuation. This is not the working age, except a very few, such as cannot let the Sepulchral Monuments crumble to dust." Were I to suggest again, as I have ten times already, to bring the Northamptonshire to the present timè, no one would regard me. . . . . . . . . I must *The Editor of these Anecdotes communicated three plates to the embellishment of the History of Northamptonshire.

† Mr. Nares wrote the Preface; and Mr. Ayscough compiled the Index.

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