adj. (political).—Found in various CANTING (subs. 2) combinations: Thus, YOUNG ENGLAND = a set of young aristocrats, who tried to revive the courtly manners of the Chesterfield school: they wore white waistcoats, patronised the pet poor, looked down upon shopkeepers, and were imitators of the period of Louis XIV.: Disraeli has immortalised their ways and manners. YOUNG GERMANY = a literary school, headed by Heinrich Heine [Hi-ny], whose aim was to liberate politics, religion, and manners from the old conventional trammels. YOUNG IRELAND = followers of Daniel O’Connell in politics, but wholly opposed to his abstention from war and insurrection in vindication of ‘their country’s rights.’ YOUNG ITALY = certain Italian refugees, who associated themselves with the French republican party, called the Carbonnerie Démocratique: the society was first organised at Marseilles by Mazzini, and its chief object was to diffuse republican principles (BREWER).
