Page:The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, Volume 4.djvu/334

330 the young Marquis set out upon his travels, from which he returned in about a twelve month. The beginning of 1717 carried him to Ireland; where, says the Biographia, "on the score of his extraordinary qualities, he had the honour done him of being admitted, though under age, to take his seat in the House of Lords."

With this unhappy character, it is not unlikely that Young went to Ireland. From his Letter to Richardson on "Original Composition," it is clear he was, at some period of his life, in that country. "I remember," says he, in that letter, speaking of Swift, "as I and others were taking with him an evening walk, about a mile out of Dublin, he stopt short; we passed on; but perceiving he did not follow us, I went back, and found him fixed as a statue, and earnestly gazing upward at a noble elm, which in its uppermost branches was much withered and decayed. Pointing at it, he said, " [sic]I shall be like that tree, I shall die at top." Is it not probable, that this visit to Ireland was paid when he had an opportunity of going thither with his avowed friend and patron? Rh