YOUNG'S TRAVELS. In 1767 Arthur Young began that series of journeys, or farm ing tours, which were the basis for his graphic sketches of rural England, Ireland and France. His first trip included Southern England and Wales, and an account of his observations appeared in 1768 under the title 'A Six Weeks' Tour through the Southern Counties of Eng land and Wales.' Following this first survey, he traveled through Northern and Eastern England from 1768-70; this resulted in 'A Six Months' Tour through the North of England' (4 vols., 1770), and 'The Farmer's Tour through the East of England' (2 vols., 1771). These books contain a wealth of information relative to the social, economic and political conditions in England during the latter half of the 18th century. Young was a most de termined and indefatigable tourist. He visited practically every county in England, inspected farms, described farm methods and implements used He =et all classes of people, from peasantry to nobility. His information con cerning rural conditions, such as rentals, produce, livestock, and means of transportation and communication in the kingdom, was founded on actual examination. Two features especially roused Young's indignation. In the first place, he saw on every side vast tracts of land uncultivated and in waste; even all the cultivated land, with rare exceptions, was placed under the same unvarying rotation. Everywhere there seemed to be inability to pmt the land to its best use. Then, too Young had no patience with poor roads. in 1770, on the Preston-Wagan turnpike, he measured ruts " four feet deep and floating with mud, only from a wet summer "; and again he says, " I know not in the whole range of language terms sufficiently expressive to describe this infernal road. Let me most seriously caution all travelers who may accidentally propose to travel this terrible country, to avoid it as they would the devil; for a thousand to one, they break their necks or their limbs by overthrows or breakings down." His description of other highways is given in an equally lucid manner. Young's works on England were very favor ably received, being translated into most of the European languages by 1792.
In 1776 he made a tour of Ireland, publish ing his 'Tour in Ireland' in 1780. He re mained in Ireland three years and during part of this time was occupied in managing an es tate in County Cork. The result of his stay, ne%ertheless, was a survey of the country which. for accuracy, fullness of detail, and acuteness of observation, is invaluable to this day. He staled clearly and exposed unspar ingly !he causes which retarded the progress of Ireland He strongly urged the repeal of the penal laws which oppressed the Catholics; he condemned the restrictions imposed by Great Britain on the commerce of Ireland, and also the perpetual interference of the Irish Parla ment with industry. The work abounds a elaborate statistics and tables of prices; as Marie Edgeworth well says, it is •the first faithful portrait of the inhabitants.' 'Travels in France (2 vols.,, 1792) is prob ably the best known of Young's writings. He made his first visit to France in 178J largely as the result of an invitation from the French nobleman, the Duke of Laincottrt. He trav ersed France in every direction just before and during the first movements of the French Revolution, and he paints not only a picture of French agriculture but describes tnsntu tional conditions in France at that critical period. This work, while of great intrinsic merit in itself, has been greatly enhanced and widely circulated because of the fact that it is one of the most valuable sources to which his torians have turned for a comprehensiv e state ment of the actual pre-revolutionary situation its France. He visited one out-of-the-way re gion after another, recording in diary fashion his impressions vividly and candidly. From the first page to the last he sets forth the ab ject wretchedness of the majority of the people and the stagnant conditions of trade and C01311 merce caused by inefficient government His earliest journey took him in a southwesterly direction through the Orleannais and the Bern, where for the first time he met with the twetayage, which be described as •a miserable system that perpetuates poverty and excludes instruction'; and further, he describes the fields as •scenes of pitiable management; and the houses of misery:* Throughout the entire work the mitayage, or farming on half profits.
is condemned in the strongest terms. Poitou is described as •an unimproved, poor and ugly country,* Young said it seemed greatly is need of •communication, demand and activity of all kinds.' Journeying on to Languedoc he found the land in a high state of cultivation and the peasants happy; he concluded his Jour ney by a visit to Landes on his way to Bor deaux. Young's second journey took him through Brittany and Anjou, which he de scribed as a land 'possessing nothing hut privi lege and poverty'— while Maine and Anjou 'have the appearances of deserts.' His third tour of France covered a much greater area He started with Champagne, traveled through Alsace-Lorraine, made his way through to Jura, Burgundy, the Bourbonnais, Auvergne: took a glimpse of the Rhone valley, visited Avignon and Compte de Nice. His impres sions on this journey are not so full, and this fact is probably due to the extent of territory covered and the local disturbances_ Young found that half, if not two-thirds, of the land was already in the hands of small pro prietors. Peasants supplied the industry and carried out what improvements were made. thus illustrating his famous phrase. 'The magic of property turns sand to gold' The great seigneurs did nothing; they received the quit rents and enforced trailer and cerwfts and all the other oppressive incidents of feudal tenure. He drew a severe indictment against the French nobility, and even approved of the forceful seizure of the waste land by the French peasantry. He severely censured the higher classes for their neglect of the soil,— - Oh, if 1 were a Legislator of France for a day," he exclaimed at the sight of estates left waste and only to be used for game purposes, " I would make such great lords skip again." Young saw the commencement of violence in the rural districts and his sympathies were largely on the side of the classes suffering from excesses of the Revolution, although he was never a thorough political follower of the Revolutionists. Tocqueville recognised his work as a first-hand authority on the rural conditions of the country on the eve of the Revolution.
Young was a highly sensitive, enthusiastic, impulsive, affectionate man and a great lover of nature. His (Travels' are deservedly fa mous and have earned a wide reputation and have been of great influence. No better sum mary of the chief characteristics of Young's wnungs can be given than to quote the words of R. E. Prothero in 'English Farming Past and Present.' 'His careless ease of style, his racy, forcible English, his gift of happy phrases, his quick observation, his wealth of miscellaneous material, make him the first of English agricultural writers. . . . His tours, with their fresh word-pictures, their gossip, their personal incidents, and even their irrelevancies, have the charm of private dia ries.' His varied agricultural writings, thus characterized above, were by far the most im portant agency in disseminating the informa tion concerning those advanced methods intro duced into England by Jethro Tull, Lord Town shend and Robert Bakewell and which con stituted the agricultural revolution in 18th century England.
Consult the works mentioned. 'Travels in France' were translated in 1793-94 by Souks (new version by M. Lesage, with an introduc tion by M. De Lavergne, 1836). An interesting review of the latter publication, under the title of 'Arthur Young et la France de 1789,' will be found in M. Baudrillarts"Publicistes mod ernes' (2d ed., 1873). Consult also Bethan Edwards. Matilda B., 'Autobiography of Ar thur Young' (1898) • Prothero, R. E., 'Eng fish Farming. Past and Present' (1912; pp. 1s4, 184, 195-206, 286, 313, 470).