d offered them an opportunity to bestow upon him the
reward provided for merit by William of Wykeham; certain it is, that to
an Oxford fellowship our poet did not succeed. By chance, or by choice,
New College cannot claim the honour of numbering among its fellows him
who wrote the "Night Thoughts."

On the 13th of October, 1703, he was entered an independent member
of New College, that he might live at little expense in the warden's
lodgings, who was a particular friend of his father's, till he should
be qualified to stand for a fellowship at All Souls. In a few months
the warden of New College died. He then removed to Corpus College. The
president of this society, from regard also for his father, invited
him thither, in order to lessen his academical expenses. In 1708 he was
nominated to a law-fellowship at All Souls by Archbishop Tenison, into
whose hands it came by devolution. Such repeated patronage, while it
justifies Burnet's praise of the father, reflects credit on the conduct
of the son. The manner in which it was exerted seems to prove that the
father did not leave behind him much wealth.

On the 23rd of April, 1714, Young took his degree of bachelor of civil
laws, and his doctor's degree on the 10th of June, 1719. Soon after he
went to Oxford he discovered, it is said, an inclination for pupils.
Whether he ever commenced tutor is not known. None has hitherto boasted
to have received his academical instruction from the author of "Night
Thoughts." It is probable that his College was proud of him no less as
a scholar than as a poet; for in 1716, when the foundation of the
Codrington Library was laid, two years after he had taken his bachelor's
degree, Young was appointed to speak the Latin oration. This is at
least particular for being dedicated in English "To the Ladies of the
Codrington Family." To these ladies he says "that he was unavoidably
flung into a singularity, by being obliged to write an epistle
dedicatory void of commonplace, and such an one was never published
before by any author whatever; that this practice absolved them from
any obligation of reading what was presented to them; and that the
bookseller approved of it, because it would make people stare, was
absurd enough and perfectly right." Of this oration there is no
appearance in his own edition of his works; and prefixed to an edition
by Curll and Tonson, in 1741, is a letter from Young to Curll, if we may
credit Curll, dated December the 9t