EDWARD YOUNG.

Autograph Letter, signed "EYoung". Two pages, octavo.

No place, August 7, 1751. Apparently to Dr. Bartlett.

$ 90.00

A VERY FINE, LONG AUTOGRAPH LETTER RELATING TO THE
COMPOSITION AND PRINTING OF A PRAYER. The letter
appears to have been written from Welwyn, his home,
but this is from inference only.

The letter reads in part as follows:

"I beg you to burn y? Prayr I sent you; I
showd it but to Few, & repent y. I showd to
them. For what I now send you is better. I
would print it. If you would be so good to
determine y? Manner, Letter &c.

"...

"But y? same Pen is ready to do D^ Bartlet
what service You please; provided I see Him
& MRS Richardson soon at Wellwyn. MRS Hal-
lows Joyns in the Request, & Respects to you
Both.

"Qu.second thoughts I will not print it, un-
less you & some other [one?] of your Friends
most Judicious in these Matters, are Sincere-
ly of opinion that it will do good. ...

"... Pray let me be y? better Pastor for being
acquainted with You. I fear I am not enough
Popularly plain. ..."

[; ;]

## Introduction

Part [ ] Young's Correspondents and Members of His Circle

Mary Hallows 1710 (??)-1790

Mrs. (or rather Miss) Mary Hallows was the daughter of the Reverend Daniel Hallows of Allhallows, Hertfordshire. She was Young's housekeeper from 1748 until his death. Of their life together, much gossip has survived. The Reverend John Kidgell, Young's curate, published in 1755 a novel called *The Card*, in which he ridiculed Young and his housekeeper under the names of Dr. Elwes and Mrs. Fusby. Dr. Johnson blamed her for the quarrel between Young and his son, but was able to assure Boswell that the poet's relations with his servant were at least respectable:

> I asked him if there was any improper connexion between them. "No sir, no more than between two statues. He was past fourscore, and she, a very coarse woman, I suppose made his coffee and frothed his chocolate, and did such things as an old man wishes to have done for 1. him."

1. Boswell's *Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides* with Samuel Johnson, Ll.D. Ed. F. A. Pottle and C. H. Bennett. New York, 1936. Page 235.

[iii]

Other sources give a more favorable picture. Mrs. Montagu described Mrs. Hallows as a "sober gentlewoman," affable and discreet, and "fit to have been High Priestess in the temple of the Great Apollo, if he had wanted a domestic establishment." Young always spoke of her with respect, and remembered her in his will; and, after all, he was the one to judge.

Samuel Richardson 1689-1761

There is no need to retell the life of Richardson; he and Young were friends of long standing as early as 1744. There is a comfortable, middle-class air about their correspondence. Invitations, visits, compliments, regards to and from the ladies of the family, sickness, charity, toothache, piety, the piles, tar-water and other medicines, all turn up at one time or another. There is talk, too, of literary matters. Richardson was Young's printer, and his literary adviser as well. It is possible to trace the progress of the composition and revision of Young's *Conjectures on Original Composition* from his letters to Richardson. Young, likewise, was one of the friends to whom Richardson submitted his novels for approval, and Young's letters contain some intelligent

1. Shelley, Henry. *The Life and Letters of Edward Young*. Boston, 1914. Pages 224-225.

2. McKillop, A. D. "Richardson, Young, and the Conjectures," in *MP*. 22(1924-1925): 391-404.

[v]

Introduction

Part [ ] The Text,

One hundred and forty-two letters between Young
and Richardson have already been published in <u>The
Monthly Magazine</u> 1.
In introducing the letters, the
editor gave the following account of the text:

It may deserve explanation that these letters are
printed from the originals in the handwriting of the
parties, as preserved by Mr. Richardson, and now in the
possession of the editor of the Monthly Magazine; and
that 126 of them were arranged and numbered by himself
for posthumous publication. 2.

At least one of the originals I have seen is actually so
numbered. 3. Twenty-seven letters had already been
published by Mrs. Barbauld, most of them corresponding
to those in <u>The Monthly Magazine</u>. Her text is very
unreliable; at least one of the "letters" she prints
has 4. been put together from two of the originals.

The text of this collection follows the originals
as closely as possible, Young's punctuation, spelling,
and capitalization being retained. Whatever deviations
were necessary in the interests of clearness, have been
set down in the notes.

1. "One Hundred and fifty Original Letters between Dr. Edward Young, Author of Night Thoughts, and Mr. Samuel Richardson, Author of Clarissa, Grandison, &c." *The Monthly Magazine*, December 1813-August 1818.

2. *The Monthly Magazine*, December 1813.

3. The letter here edited. The number appears to be 15g. On the back of the letter is written "Dr. Young. Aug. 7, 1751," in a hand that may be Richardson's.

4. Hughes, H. S. "A Letter from Young to Richardson," in *MLN*. 37 (1922): 316f.

Letter [ ]

1.
[To Samuel Richardson]

[Welwyn]

Aug-7-1751

Dear S[R]R

I beg You to burn y[e] Prayr I sent You; I showd it
but to Few, & repent y[t] I showd to them. For what I
now send You is better. I would print it. If You would
be so good to determine y[e] Manner, Letter &c.

As for S[R] Charles, if I mistake not, He is not
enough a Profligate, to make this Prayr in Character
for Him.

1. Reproduced here from the original in the possession of Professor Chauncey B. Tinker of New Haven, Connecticut. Previously printed in _The Monthly Magazine_ for April 1, 1715, page 231. On July 30, 1751, Young had sent Richardson an original prayer for the novelist's approval. (See _Monthly Magazine_, April 1, 1815, page 230.) Richardson replied at once, asking permission to use the prayer in his new novel, _Sir Charles Grandison_ (published 1754). His letter reads, in part:

Aug. 1, 1751.

Can I have appetite to read such a prayer as that
you have sent me?. How can my good Dr. Young ask me
such a question?...

But let me ask you, sir, What did you intend I
should do with it?

I have a character, Dr. Bartlett, whom my Sir
Charles reveres for his piety, good sense, grey hairs,
sweetness of manners; who might be desired by Sir
Charles, on the very occasion, to compose such a prayer
for him....

(*Monthly Magazine*, April 1, 1815, pp. 230-31)

2.

But y e Same Pen is ready to do D R Bartlet what
service You please; provided I see Him & M RS Richardson
1. Ms 2. 3.
soon at Wellwyn. M RS Hallows joyns in the Resqu[lt
[for Request] ,, & Respects to You Both.

On second thoughts I will not print it, unless You
& some one of your Friends most Judicious in these Matters,
are Sincerely of opinion that it will do good. And do
not see any objection, of other Kind, against it. And
Unless you give Proof of your Sincerity, by Some Correction
in it.

It is in answer to this that Young's letter is written.
Dissatisfied with the first prayer, Young asks Richardson
to burn it. At the same time, he sends another prayer,
a "satire on the present age". This he intends to print,
if Richardson approves, and is willing to correct the
composition and decide on the manner of printing. As for
"Dr. Bartlett," Young's pen is at his service; that is,
Young is always willing to write another prayer for Sir
Charles Grandison.

Neither of the prayers mentioned in the letter has been
identified. The first one, doubtless, was burned. Certainly
it is not the "Solemn Address to the Almighty" which appears
in Volume VII, Letter xiii of Sir Charles Grandison (ed.
W. L. Phelps, New York, 1901, pp.68-71). Young, in his
letter of July 30 called it long; Richardson described
it as "against self". The prayer in the novel is short
and self-satisfied. Young might have written it, as he
offered to do, but there is no proof. The second prayer
may be the "piece of prose" which Young was correcting
for the press in September, 1751. If so, no copy has
been found. Or it may be the "Devout Thoughts of the
Retired Penitent" which appears in Letter IV of The
Centaur not Fabulous (1755). See Appendix I.

1. In Hertfordshire, twenty-two miles from London. Young was rector of Welwyn from 1730 until his death.

2. For Mrs. Hallows, see Introduction, page 11.

3. Apparently Young began to write "Respect," and tried to write "Request" over it.

3.

I shall, Dear Sir, look on your manner of _Lettering_,
_of Stopping_ &c: as Half y^e Composition; for I know it
will have half y^e Good Effect; at least on y^e Many. As
to those Arcana of y^r Art my copy is scarce any Direction.
It is Written by M^rs Hallows, & partly her Composition,
(for She is really a good Divine) & You know excellently
well how to correct Ladys. But men too. And I beg Sr
in y^e most serious manner, y^r Honest Critic on w^t I send.
For I write to y^e Heart, & You are Master of y^e Heart;
& therefore properest Judge in England on this Occasion.
Pray let me be y^e better Pastor for being acquainted with
You. I fear I am not enough Popularly plain. Pray
speak out, & ever oblige D^r S^r y^r most Affectionate

Humble Ser^t

EYoung

1. Young may have written "Sloping", but "Stopping" (punctuation) makes better sense.

2. "_Critick._ A critical examination; critical remarks; animadversions." Johnson. "Early in the 18th c. this began to be spelt as in Fr. _critique...._" N.E.D.

4.

one thing I w^d^ leave unmentiond as a Test of y^r^
Integrity; but I must mention it; Im too long. Tell
me when to shorten. I know y^r^ Foible, you love to
commend. Be Just, Rectitude is Better than Benevolence
itself.

Aug. y^e^ 7. 1751

A Prayr for S^r^ Charles must have less of severe
Selfcondemnation, & more of Gratitude in it. This is not
a Prayr for a Good man, if it was, it w^d^ not Suit my
Design. W^h^, in Effect, is a Satyr on y^e^ present Age.

5.

Appendix I

The "satire on the present age" which Young sent to Richardson on August 7, 1751 cannot for certain be identified. From Young's letter we learn a few facts about it; it is long, it is perhaps not "popularly plain" enough, it is written for the heart, and since it is intended to be the prayer of a profligate, it has much severe self-dondennation in it. There is none of Young's prose works published after 1751 which could properly be called a prayer. We might assume that the piece was never printed at all, were it not for a letter which Young sent to the Duchess of Portland in September, 1751, 1751, refusing an invitation to visit her:

In order to give the reason for not waiting on your Grace according to your and my Lord Duke's very kind desire, I find myself obliged to let you into a secret, which I desire you not to communicate. I am, Madam, printing a piece of prose, and am obliged to correct the press myself, which forces me to be in town till that affair is over; and if I can so hasten it as to have it done in time, the piece and its author shall wait on you together; if not, I shall send your Grace the piece as soon as finished. I shall send to no one else, not putting my name to it, and for some reasons desiring the writer may be concealed; which reasons your Grace may possibly guess at, if you do the thing the honour of a perusal. As for the performande, let that be as it will, I am sure the subject is such as 1. will meet with your approbation.

1. Shelley, *Life and Letters*, page 230.

Shelley, who prints the letter, says the "piece of prose" mentioned here was *The Centaur not Fabulous*, published in March, 1755. Shelley believes that Young printed the work in 1751, but refrained from publishing it for fear that it would injure his chances for preferment in the Church. It is plain, however, that the *Centaur* was not sent to press till the summer of 1754. On July 14, 1754 Young wrote to Richardson as follows:

> I have a thing I would send immediately to press; 1.
> its about the length of five sermons.....

Another letter, dated July 28, makes proves the identity
of the work and the fact that it had not yet been printed:

> What I propose is, after the thing is printed, to
> let some bookseller have it....

> In the dedication, instead of-- *your centaurs into men*-- I would (if you approve it) have it-- *your monsters into men*.

An examination of the first edition of the *Centaur* shows
that it was printed all at once; the pagination, signatures,
and text are continuous and without breaks. The book is
divided into five letters, and in no case does the
beginning of a letter correspond to the beginning of a
signature. Obviously the "piece of prose" which Young
printed in 1751 was not the *Centaur*. It may have been
the prayer mentioned in the letter to Richardson. The
work was to have been issued anonymously; and it is
possible that a copy may still be found and identified.

1. *The Monthly Magazine*, September 1, 1815, page 135

2. The Monthly Magazine, September 1, 1815, page 136.

87.

There is one more possibility. Whether the prayer
was printed in 1715 or not, it may still have been
inserted into the text of the Centaur before the latter
was sent to press. In Letter IV of the Dentaur there
is a passage, set off from the rest of the text and
entitled "Devout Thoughts of the Retired Penitent."
Like the prayer Young sent to Richardson, it is long,
and contains much of self-condemnation. Whether the
two are one and the same, cannot be settled unless a
copy of the original prayer is found. Whatever the
truth of the matter is, the evidence seems to indicate
that there is a prose work of Young's, published
anonymously, which is yet to be identified.

1. Young, Edward. *Complete Works*, ed. John Doran. London, 1854. Volume II, pages 477-486.