The  prevailing  defects  of  Young's  mind  were  an  irresistible  tendency
to  antithesis  and  epigrammatic  contrast,  and  a  want  of  discrimination
that  often  leaves  him  utterly  unable  to  distinguish  between  an  idea
really  just  and  striking,  and  one  which  is  only  superficially  so :  and
this  want  of  taste  frequently  leads  him  into  illustrations  and  compar-
isons rather  puerile  than  ingenious,  as  when  he  compares  the  stars  to
diamonds  in  a  seal-ring  upon  the  finger  of  the  Almighty.  He  is  also
remarkable  for  a  deficiency  in  continuous  elevation,  advancing,  so  to
say,  by  jerks  and  starts  of  pathos  and  sublimity.  The  march  of  his
verse  is  generally  solemn  and  majestic,  though  it  possesses  little  of  the
rolling,  thunderous  melody  Of  Milton ;  and  Young  is  fond  of  introdu-
cing familiar  images  and  expressions,  often  with  great  effect,  amid  his
most  lofty  bursts  of  declamation.  The  epigrammatic  nature  of  some  of  his
most  striking  images  is  best  testified  by  the  large  number  of  expres-
sions which  have  passed  from  his  writings  into  the  colloquial  language
of  society,  such  as  "  procrastination  is  the  thief  of  time,"  "  all  men
think  all  men  mortal  but  themselves,"  and  a  multitude  of  others.  A
sort  of  quaint  solemnity,  like  the  ornamentation  upon  a  Gothic  tomb,
is  the  impression  which  the  Night  Thoughts  are  calculated  to  make
upon  the  reader  in  the  present  time ;  and  it  is  a  strong  proof  of  the
essential  greatness  of  his  genius,  that  the  quaintness  is  not  able  to
extinguish  the  solemnity.
