EW writers have rendered fuch effential fervices to their country as the Gentleman now under our confideration, whofe life has been devoted to the moft ufeful purfuits, but whofe reward has not been equal to what might have been expected from the liberality of an opulent nation, and the advantages derived from his labours.

From an account published by himfelf in a moment of depreffion, in a very ufeful work, entitled, "Annals of Agriculture," we learn, that he was born at Bradfield, and defcended from a good family, which had refided on that fpet very near two hundred years, none of whom, except his father, had any thing to depend on but his land. He was a younger brother. About the year 1761 he began his farming purfuits upon the lands he at prefent occupies. Young, eager, and totally ignorant," he fays, trufting to a bailiff, who, I conceive now, merited no confidence, either for honefty or fkill, it was not furprifing that I fquandered much money under golden dreams of improvements; efpecially as I contracted a thirst for experiment, without the knowledge of what an experiment demands, and which a series of proofs alone can give. In a few years a declining purfe, with fome domeftic difputes, from the mixture of families and the prudent caution of one of the best of mothers, to whofe memory my heart would be dead were it not to beat with a more than grateful remembrance, all together induced me to remove from Bradfield."

He then hired Sampford Hall, in Effex, but before he had taken poffeffion, was obliged to relinquish his agreement, from a difappointment in the loan of fome money he had expected. Failing

in this plan, he travelled about in fearch of a proper farm, and in the course of his journies laid the foundations of fome of his Tours. He at length fixed in Hertfordshire, where he refided nine years, making a great number of experiments, which have fince been publifhed.

Mr. Young then returned to Brad. field, and his mother died foon after. By her death he came into poffeffion of the eftate he at prefent holds; and his lofs of fo excellent a parent he has regretted in very pathetic terms, fuch as do honour to his feelings as a man.

The writings of our author were at first extremely fucceísful, which induced him, as he candidly acknowledges, to write and print a great deal too much, and too faft; being however in a good meafure led to this by numerous applications from various perfons; requeiting him to give that attention to certain fubjects, which ought to have been more coolly confidered. When we confider the number and variety of Mr. Young's works at the time he refers to, his obfervation will excite but little furprize. Many of these works, however, are intitled to praife in fome refpects, and he himself excepts from his own cenfure his Tours, which have ftood, and he trufts will remain, on a founder foundation. "To them," he fays, "I may, with a vanity perhaps fomewhat excufeable, affert, that the agriculture of this kingdom owes much; and that many of the improvements now practifed with the greatest fuccefs, may be dated from the publication of those journies, fo often plundered rather than quoted, without a mark or atom of acknowledgement."

In the years 1776, 1777, 1778, and Aaa 2

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1779, he went bis journies to Ireland, and refided at one time more than a year in the county of Cork, arranging and letting part of the eftate of Lord Viscount Kingborough. Of the account of thefe journies he fays, "I have not much apprehenfion; though the fuccefs in relation to profit was nothing, yet it will ftand its ground, and, I truft, merit, in fome fmall degree, the most flattering encomiums it has received in many parts of Europe." In confequence of that work 40,ocol. a year was faved to the public in the bounty on the inland carriage of corn, as Parliament immediately adopted his ideas.

In 1784 he began the "Annas of Agriculture," a work of great merit as a repofitory of authentic and valuable information on the agriculture of this and other kingdoms. This work is ftill continued, and we cannot but agree with the author, that it may be cited as a proof of culpable inattention in country gentlemen, in clergy who farm, and in opulent tenantry,that they do not give better encouragement to

fuch a work.

On an invitation from Monf. Lazowski to accompany him and Count de la Rochefoucauld to the Pyrenees, Mr. Young was induced to make his first journey into France in the year 1787. He returned to England in the winter, and continued fome time in London, attending to the Wool Bill, then before the Parliament. He then made his fecond tour, and in 1789 finished his travels. In the courfe of this journey, to ufe his own words, "I was greatly tempted to lettle in France. In a fine part of the Bourbonnois, which poffefTes a climate equal to any in that king. dom, I met with a compact enclosed eftate, of near 4000 acres, fituated on the great road from Paris to Lyons, and near Moulines, the capital of the province; the chateau and offices complete and well-built; the garden excellent; twenty acres of vineyard, the wine, both red and white, fo good, that I wished for them in my cellar at Bradfield; fih-ponds formed by freams banked in the vales, fo confiderable as to yield the chateau a conftant fupply, and a revenue of forty guincas a year, by fale to Paris; but above all the reft the whole eftate, confifting of turnipland adapted to a profitable Norfolk courfe for theep; though yielding at prefent to the proprietor for his half hare of the produce no more than 2s. 6d. per acre, notwithstanding he is at

the expence of providing all the live ftock. I could have made the purchase without money, by a rent charge for ever of 500l. a year; timber to a confiderable value (very fine oak), the furniture of the chateau, and the cattle of the whole eftate, 900 fheep, feventy cows, and eighty oxen, &c. all given into the bargain. I have not a doubt but that I fhould in five years have quadrupled the annual value; but the Revolution and the ftate of the kingdom were too much in my head; my family would have been alarmed, and probably unwilling to go to France. I left the province, therefore, but convinced that I was turning my back on one of thofe opportunities that rarely prefent themfelves. Living in eafe and even affluence in a hue climate could not but in my mind form an agreeable profpect, when contrafted with the narrow, cramped, and anxious fituation to which I was doomed on my return to England."

The next year we find Mr. Young oppreffed with illness, acquired in a farming expedition, and writing the account from which the foregoing par ticulars are extracted, and in a frame of mind not well difpofed to view his fituation with any degree of fatisfaction. Since that period he has published an account of his "Journies through France," a work uniting usefulness and entertainment, and which we believe has fucceeded better than he apprehended in his defponding moments. He has alfo been appointed Secretary to the Board of Agriculture, and has published fome very feafenable and fatisfactory pamphlets on the French Revolution, which, we truft, have been attended with great advantage to the public In confequence of thefe exertions he has, as might be expected, been very liberally abufed by the abettors of faction. If no other benefit had refulted from his "Example of France a Warning to Britain," than being un questionably the origin of the Yeomanry Cavalry at prefent eftablished in the kingdom, it would by this alone be entitled to refpe&t.

It will afford but little encourage. ment to public fpirit to hear from Mr. Young the following complaint, which we hope he will not have caufe to perfevere in, and with which we conclude this account. "When I adopted agriculture as the purfuit of my life, and as a mean of effecting better things than the culture of a little farm would allow, I fhould have been inftructed, for I was too youngt know it, that it being a

merely