YOUNG, EDWARD (1683-1765), English poet, author of Night Thoughts, son of Edward Young, afterwards dean of Salis bury, was born at his father's rectory at Upham, near Win chester, and was baptized on July 3, 1683. He was educated at Winchester College and New College, and Corpus Christi, Ox ford. His first publication was an Epistle to . . . Lord Lans doune It was followed by a Poem on the Last Day (1713), dedicated to Queen Anne; The Force of Religion: or Vanquish'd Love (1714), a poem on the execution of Lady Jane Grey and her husband, dedicated to the countess of Salisbury; and an epistle to Addison, On the late Queen's Death and His IVIajesty's Accession to the Throne (1714), in which he made indecent haste to praise the new king. About this time began his connection with Philip, duke of Wharton, whom he accompanied to Dublin in 1717, and with whom he had a lawsuit in 1740; the upshot was that Young was awarded an annuity of Liao, but failed to secure a sum of 160o which he claimed. Meanwhile, his plays, Busiris and Revenge, were produced at Drury Lane in 1719 and 1721. Between 1725 and 1728 Young published a series of seven satires on Love of Fame, the Universal Passion.
Young was nearly fifty when he decided to take holy orders. In 1728 he was made one of the royal chaplains, and in 173o was presented to the college living of Welwyn, Hertfordshire. He married in 1731 Lady Elizabeth Lee, daughter of the 1st earl of Lichfield. The Complaint, or Night Thoughts on Life, Death and Immortality, was published in 1742, and was followed by other "Nights." He died at Welwyn on April 5,1765.