CAMPBELL UNIVERSITY
ANALYSIS OF ARTHUR YOUNG’S TRAVELS IN FRANCE
BY
DANIELLE KING
Submitted to Professor Ocana
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
Western Civilization 112
November 3, 2010
Arthur Young was born on September 11, 1741 in Bradfield, a village in Suffolk, England. After he dropped out of school and acquired a job in a mercantile house, for which he was not suited for, Young began his writing career at the age of seventeen. He was much more inclined to write than work in a more commercial capacity as he later became a great English agriculture writer. Although Young was such a fantastic agriculture writer he is most known for his social and political writings. Young was not very successful with the land from the start; however, after inheriting the land around his home after the death of his mother and through a series of failed farming attempts elsewhere in England, he began to learn quite a lot about agriculture. From this point Young began to write several books and journals about agriculture in and around England and his popularity grew tremendously.
After having made quite a name for himself in the world of agriculture, Young began to travel outside of England. Young first went to Ireland in 1776 and published his findings there four years later with Tour in Ireland. Young’s most popular excursion was to France, which he first visited in 1787. Young explored the country in great detail learning a good deal from the people and the land. Young meticulously documented the condition of the soil and other agricultural data as well as his opinions as to the political and social reasons for Frances’ agricultural failure. This information was published in 1792 split into two volumes titled Travels in France. The reason this work was so important then and still important today is because Young gives a remarkable account of the social, economic, and political
Bibliography: Stead, David. Arthur Young. EH.Net Encyclopedia 2003. http://eh.net /encyclopedia/article/stead.young Young, Arthur. Arthur Young’s Travels in France During the Years 1787, 1788, 1789. London: George Bell and Sons, 1909.