YOUNG, Edward, English poet: b. Upham, Hampshire, 3 July 1683; d. Welwyn, Hertford shire, 5 April 1765. He was educated at Ox ford and in 1708 was nominated to a law fel lowship in All Souls College. Befriended by the Duke of Wharton, an annuity of f100 was granted him by the duke. In 1719 and 1821. re spectively, appeared his tragedies of 'Busiris' and 'Revenge,' both produced at Drury Lane. In 1725 he began the publication of a series of satires, 'The Universal Passion.' He now took holy orders and in 1728 was nominated one of the royal chaplains. In 1730 the College of All Souls presented him with the rectory of Wel wyn, in Hertfordshire, to which the lordship of the manor was attached. In 1731 he married Lady Elizabeth Lee, daughter of the Earl of Lichfield, and after his marriage the poet lived much in retirement at Welwyn, sadly disap pointed that church preferment, which he so eagerly desired and so unscrupulously belauded those in power to obtain, was refused him. The work by which he is best known is 'The Com plaint, or Night Thoughts on Life, Death and Immortality' (1742-45), a series of argumenta tive poems in blank verse, intended to prove the immortality of the soul and the truth of the Christian religion — a work displaying great force of pious and somewhat gloomy reflection, and containing many lofty passages, but marred by a straining after antithesis and ornament. The 'Night 'Thoughts' were translated into French and German and were as popular on the Continent as at home. Of Young's three trage dies, 'Busiris' (1719); 'The Revenge' (1721); and 'The Brothers' (1753), only the second has kept a place on the stage. His 'Night
Thoughts' has never since ceased to be popular and many of its sententious lines have become proverbial. The poem is not destitute of real excellence, but a note of insincerity runs through it and the poet too often substitutes pomposity for dignity. Consult Mitford edition of Young's 'Poetical Works' with 'Life' (1854); Thomas, 'Le poete Edward Young' (1901); 'Worldli ness and Other-Worldliness,' by George Eliot, in Westminster Review for 1857, repnnted in her 'Essays and Leaves from a Notebook' (1884).
Ella Flagg, American educator: b. Buffalo, N. Y., 15 Jan. 1845; d. Washington, D. C.. 26 Oct. 1918. She was educated at the Chicago Normal School, and took the degree of Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 1900. She engaged in teaching in 1862, and was mar ried to William Young in 1868. She was ap pointed superintendent of schools in Chicago in 1887. and in 1899 she became professor of education at the University of Chicago. She served as principal of the Chicago Normal School in 1905-09, and in 1909 she again be came superintendent of Chicago schools. resign ing in 1915. She was actively connected with various educational associations, and was in 1910-11 the first woman president of the National Education Association. In 1906-09 she edited the Educational Bi-3fonthly. She published 'Isolation in the School' (1901); 'Ethics in the School' (1902) ; 'Some Types of Modern Educational Theory' (1902), etc. Consult Niclidatiis, John T., 'Ella Flagg Young' (Chicago 1916)