that the young gentleman, who bears a fair character and behaves well, as far as I can hear or see, will, I hope, soon enjoy and make a prudent use of a very handsome fortune. The father on his death-bed, and since my return from London, was applied to in the tenderest manner by one of the physicians, and by another person, to admit the son into his presence, to make submission, intreat forgiveness, and obtain his blessing. As for an interview with his son, he intimated that he chose to decline it, as his spirits were then low and his nerves weak. With regard to the next particular, he said, 'I heartily forgive him;' and upon mention of the last, he gently lifted up his hand, and letting it gently fall, pronounced these words,' God bless him.' After about a fortnight's illness, and enduring excessive pains,* he expired, a little before eleven of the clock, on the night of Good Friday last, the 5th instant; and was decently buried yesterday, about six in the afternoon, in the chancel of this church, close by the remains of his lady, under the communion table. The clergy, who are the trustees for his charity school, and one or two more, attending the fune * I find, says Mr. Jones, that opiates are frequently administered to him, I suppose to render him less susceptible of 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. ral: the last office at interment being performed by me, &c." * The following inscription was placed over the grave of Young,† by the direction of his son, but whether it was his composition, I am unable to say: M. S. Et Elizabethæ Fœm: prænob: Conjugi ejus præstantissimæ Filius superstes. *For the particulars of Young's funeral, see Gent. Mag. vol. xxxv. p. 198. Highmore painted the only portrait of Young known to exist. See Gent. Mag. Sept. 1817, p. 209; and Meme's Hist. of Sculpture, p. 216. NIGHT THOUGHTS. THE COMPLAINT. PREFACE. As the occasion of this poem was real, not fictitious, so the method pursued in it was rather imposed, by what spontaneously arose in the author's mind on that occasion, than meditated or designed; which will appear very probable from the nature of it: for it differs from the common mode of poetry, which is, from long narrations to draw short morals. Here, on the contrary, the narrative is short, and the morality arising from it makes the bulk of the poem. The reason of it is, that the facts mentioned did naturally pour these moral reflections on the thought of the writer. NIGHT I. ON LIFE, DEATH, AND IMMORTALITY. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE ARTHUR ONSLOW, ESQ. SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. TIR'D Nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep! He, like the world, his ready visit pays And lights on lids unsullied with a tear. From short (as usual) and disturb'd repose, |