Charles Taylor

“ What are forms and ceremonies and long tongues in comparison with a life like Janey’s?” Charles Taylor leaned his head upon his hand, lost in the retrospect. Oh that he had taken her, that he had set at naught what he had then bowed to, the conventionalities of society, she might have been by his side now in health and life to bless him. Doubting words interrupted the train of thoughts. “And yet I don’t know,” the doctor was repeating in a dreamy manner, “what is to be will be ”

“ Charles Miner.—Putnam’s Tourist Guide.—Determination to go to Europe.—Dismal Prospects.
Joseph Taylor was too intelligent and observing not to notice how unfit was his son Bayard for tending sheep, hoeing corn, and weeding beds of vegetables. The intellectual inclination exhibited by the boy in every undertaking, and his frail form, led Mr. and Mrs. Taylor to look about for some occupation for their son more fitting than the hard drudgery of a farm. ”

“ In spite of repeated petitions to Windebank, Taylor remained in the Tower some months. He was probably released before the outbreak of the civil war, and apparently retreated to the continent. His ill-treatment did not prevent his adoption of the royalist cause, and during the Commonwealth and Protectorate he was actively employed in negotiating on Charles II's behalf with foreign courts. On 13 Sept. 1652 he was accredited royalist agent to the electors of Cologne and Mainz. ”

“ Duke of York’s, now Prince Charles’s, and the Lady Elizabeth’s in 1615, and when this terminated in the following year, Taylor became again a member of the Prince’s company. He was still with them between 6 January and 2 February 1619, when he appeared as Dr. Almanac in Middleton and Rowley’s Mask of Heroes, but on 19 May 1619 he appears in a livery warrant issued for the King’s men. As he is not in their patent of the previous 27 March, it is to be supposed that he joined them to replace Burbadge, who had died on 13 March. [1006] The rest of his stage career was spent with the King’s men. ”

“ The Life needs more than ever to be accurately written, since it has been thus chaotically mis-narrated by a prelate of so much undeniable talent. I once began a very elaborate life myself, and in these words: "Jeremy Taylor, the most eloquent and the subtlest of Christian philosophers, was the son of a barber, and the son-in-law of a king,"—alluding to the tradition (imperfectly verified, I believe) that he married an illegitimate daughter of Charles I. But this sketch was begun more than thirty years ago ”

“ Taylor was one of a kind peculiar to the eighteenth century and the first few years of the nineteenth. Low reforming people have so altered the complexion of affairs that his sort are now well-nigh impossible. He was the ideal squarson; with an estate of his own and all manner of pickings from the Church of England, including the rectory of St. Margaret, Westminster, a prebendal stall in the Abbey, and the rectory of Market Bosworth. ”

“ Sutney, suh!" said Walter Taylor, with great enthusiasm, and gave his old nag a prodigious wallop.
So it fell out that, for his first call at the Flowers' since the bridge-party—his party-call, his book-call, and his call about the Kiss—Charles Garrott fared forth in a closed livery hack.
Inside the hack, Charles laughed briefly; and then at once began to react. In the fine afternoon, numbers of people were abroad. Strangers seemed to look with surprise at the apparently able-bodied young man who liked thus to trot around in a hack; chance acquaintances were seen to smile in passing ”

“ We do not hear much of Tom Taylor, who was, indeed, more of a pickpocket [Pg 124] than a highwayman. We do learn, however, that he was the son of a clergyman, and that "he was executed along with Moll Jones." Clearly, Tom Taylor was an undesirable and the companion of undesirables. He was accustomed to dress himself in smart clothes and attend theatres and public entertainments, and there—an unsuspected fine gentleman—to pick pockets. ”

“ The succeeding chapters of Tom Taylor's chequered career do not concern us, but we learn, without surprise, that this ferocious buffeting and bruising—to say nothing of the fish-hooks—determined him to abandon the "diving" trade.
[Pg 126]
JONATHAN WILD To cheat that arch-rogue and cunning friend and betrayer of rogues, Jonathan Wild, out of a place in these pages would be too mean an action. He towers above the ordinary run of bad men as a very giant in wickedness. Although he was himself no highwayman, he was friend of and associate with all of their trade, and as such has a right here. ”

“ The Taylor fretted, and his Wife scolded, whereupon this ninth part of a man challenged her out into the street to try the conquest, having provided broom-staves there for that purpose. Being both entered the lists, the woman thought it best policy to begin first, and, catching up a Ram’s Horn, which lay at her foot, she threw it at her husband, which by chance lighted on his forehead at the great end, and stuck there as fast as ever it grew upon the Ram’s head ”

“ Wandering along its gay boulevards, whether in the bright sunshine, or beneath the starry vault of night, with picturesque mansions or gay shops on either side, or amid the bowery paths and bewitching avenues, the gardens, statues, music and laughter, one feels that he is in an enchanted land, where high and low, rich and poor share alike in the universal beauty and happiness. ”

“ Here is a picturesque village with quaint looking houses, and a little gurgling brook in the foreground. An echo from the distant mountain answers the shrill whistle of our engine and we can see the silvery cloud of smoke that follows us wander off to the right, then fade away in misty fragments. ”

“ Through the whole night long upon the curb stones, at the corners, lounging against the windows and doors of closed houses or shops, this lower stratum of life appears with its atmosphere of dusky gloom. When the daylight dawns upon the city, it seems to shrivel up and shrink into the mouths of the yawning black cellars and foul alleys whose very breath is a deadly poison. ”

“ As I sit writing in my room, by the light of a homemade candle, I now and then pause in my occupation to look around with an ever increasing wonder, at the dark old furniture over which the light casts a ghostly gleam. The spirit of the past seems lurking in the corners, with their long forgotten history, and around yonder ancient cupboard and brass trimmed chest of drawers. ”

“ The ocean air is delightful and invigorating, the sky a perfect azure, and the translucent waves with their foamy edges stretch away in long beautiful curves. We feel the heart throbs of old Neptune, as the waters plash softly over the steamer’s sides, and we speed steadily forward, with the rush and swish of the sea sounding in our ears with a wild sweet melody all its own. To fall asleep on deck amid these charming conditions is delightful indeed. But how quickly the scene changes. ”

“ In the garden of the Tuileries, with its old-time atmosphere, its statues, fountains and pillars, its groves and terraces, its historic ruins, its lovely flower-beds, we find a quaint and charming picture of a past age; yet when these groves and paths resound with the hum of human voices, when the many chairs and benches are filled with joyous human beings, the link between the past and present is established, and we are in one of the favorite resorts of the Parisians of to-day. ”

“ The town lies in total darkness. There is not a glimmer of light anywhere, save the dim glow from a lantern dangling carelessly by the side of a pedestrian who moves slowly and quietly along the sidewalk. There is no other evidence of any living thing. Even the frogs and crickets, which enliven a night scene at home, are not heard here. Dead silence prevails, while
Even the stars are slumbering, or their sparkle has been engulfed by this all-devouring darkness. ”

“ Dark clouds above are reflected in gloomy waves below, and heaving billows surround us, uniting with a furious wind that seems bent on the destruction of our noble ship. The sailors in the rigging are swaying to and fro, and the panic-stricken passengers in the cabins are telling each other with pale faces that belie their words that they are not afraid, for there is no danger; yet they listen anxiously for every sound from above, and will not allow their dear ones to move beyond reach of their hands. ”

“ His philology is helpless word-play. The attraction of his discourses was in his jocose manner; they exhibit no real humour, but his taunts are smart. His drollery, though of a low type, is never impure.
Released from gaol in 1833, Taylor retired from public view. He married an elderly lady of property; the marriage was a happy one, but it exposed Taylor to an action for breach of promise on the part of Miss Richards, to whom a jury awarded 250l. To escape paying this, Taylor removed to France, practising as a surgeon at Tours, where he died in September 1844. ”

“ Among that brave band of men who had the courage to thus proclaim their rights, and dared to maintain them even against the United States, none were more bold or fearless than John Taylor. In speech and action he went as far as he who went farthest. In the council chamber and in the field he was in the front rank; shoulder to shoulder he stood with President Young and his brethren, and his public discourses in those times glow with a soul-stirring eloquence that reminds one of the spirit of the Revolutionary patriots of '76. ”

“ She was buried with her husband, who refers to her in terms of affection. A portrait of Taylor is at Watermen's Hall, which shows him, as Wood remarks, to have been of a ‘quick and smart countenance.’ Another picture of him is in the Bodleian Library, to which it was presented in 1655 by the artist, his nephew, John Taylor, a portrait-painter practising at Oxford; this has been engraved. The nephew's portrait, painted by himself, is also in the Bodleian, and has also been engraved. A whole-length portrait of Taylor is before his ‘Memorial of all the English Monarchs,’ 1622 ”

“ When we think of his birth, training, and surroundings—the child of the plantation and the graduate of the forecastle—and contrast this with his peculiar powers, his strange career, and above all in rarity his wonderful world-wide mission, it is not too much to say that Father Taylor is without a parallel in American history. “An impulsive, untrained, and erratic genius;” there was a fixed purpose and a continuity of effort, such as is seen in few lives. If extravagant in speech and inconsistent in views, his intensity, vividness, and realism, make all sound like plain common-sense. ”

“ In January 1838 Taylor gave his first three lectures, which were published in the same year. He gave frequent lectures with great success in different parts of the country, and one on ‘Madrigals’ which he delivered at Bristol in 1837 resulted in the formation of the Bristol Madrigal Society, which still flourishes. From 1829 to 1843 he was musical critic of the ‘Spectator.’ He died at his house, Gresham Cottage, Cornlands Road, Brentwood, Essex, on 12 March 1863, and was buried in the old dissenting burial-ground, King's Road, Brentwood. ”

“ He was always looking forward, from the moment he embraced the gospel, for a higher platform upon which he could climb, and raise until he could go back, a son of God, and associate as he did here upon the earth, with the prophets of the Most High. There were but very few men that attained the warm, personal relation that he attained to and maintained most successfully with the Prophet Joseph Smith till he died, and the story of that personal affection was consummated by the bullets he received in Carthage jail with the Prophet when he was slain. President Taylor was himself disabled. ”

“ The outrages of England upon our commerce fired every generous spirit in the west, and as early as 1808, about the time when the outrage upon the Chesapeake thrilled through every nerve of the republic, young Taylor determined to wed his fortunes with those of his country. The character and the influence of his family readily secured him a commission as lieutenant in the seventh infantry. He addressed himself with characteristic ardor to his profession, and before the war broke out, had arisen to the rank of captain. ”

“ They settled in an old border-tower at Witton-le-Wear, Durham, remote from all society. Henry Taylor began to make up for the defects of his education, read Latin, a little Greek, and a great deal of Italian, and sat up, indulging in poetical reveries and drinking more tea than was good for him. He wrote Byronic poems and an article upon Moore, which in 1822 was accepted for the ‘Quarterly Review’ by Gifford. Taylor's mind was also stimulated by the warm sympathy and approval of his stepmother and of Isabella Fenwick, the intimate friend of Wordsworth. ”

“ CHAPTER XLVIII. PERSONAL APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER—HIS BROAD VIEWS—FAITH AND CONFIDENCE IN GOD—DEVOTION TO HIS RELIGION—MORAL LIFE ABOVE SUSPICION—LOVE OF LIBERTY—"I WOULD NOT BE A SLAVE TO GOD!"—THE RICHES HE SOUGHT—"I PREFER A FADED COAT TO A FADED REPUTATION"—SKILL AND MAXIMS AS A WORKMAN—POWER AS A WRITER—A POET—A PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS—SOCIAL QUALITIES—A GREAT MAN.
The story of President Taylor's life is before the reader. ”