Edward Young

In 1731, he married Lady Elizabeth Lee, daughter of the Earl of Lichfield. She was the widow of Colonel Francis Lee, also her cousin, and had a daughter by him who married Henry Temple.

He had a son named Frederick who was rather ill-mannered. Edward Young refused to see him until before his death when he forgave his son, and bequeath everything he had to him.

Mrs. Temple and Lady Elizabeth Young died within a few years of each other. These successive deaths are supposed to be the events referred to in “Night Thoughts”.

Edward Young was born in 1683 to Edward Young, and was baptized on 3 July1683. He attended the Winchester College and later matriculated from New College, Oxford.

After shifting to Corpus Christi, at the behest of Archbishop Tenison, he was awarded a law fellowship at ‘All Souls’. He earned his Doctor of Civil Law degree in 1719.

Edward Young’s first publication was an ‘Epistle to… Lord Lansdoune’ written in 1713, followed by a ‘Poem on the Last Day’, dedicated to Queen Anne.

In 1714, he published ‘The Force of Religion: or Vanquished Love’ which was dedicated to the Countess of Salisbury. It was about the execution of Lady Jane Grey and her husband.

He wrote an epistle to Joseph Addison, ‘On the late Queen’s Death and His Majesty’s Accession to the Throne’ in 1714, in which he hurried to shower praise on the new king.

He met Philip, Duke of Wharton, whom he accompanied to Dublin in 1717. In the following years, he produced the play, ‘Busiris’. His play ‘Revenge’ was dedicated to Wharton.

Wharton had promised him two annuities of £100 each and £600 as expenditure. After Wharton failed to pay, Young pleaded his case before Lord Chancellor Hardwicke in 1740, but gained only the annuity.

Young’s “The Complaint: or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality”, famously known as “Night-Thoughts”, is a long poem written in blank verse published in nine parts in the years starting from 1742 to 1745.

In 1759, he published the critical prose, “Conjectures on Original Composition”. In which he emphasized the importance of originality being more valuable than classic indoctrination or imitation.