Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 55.djvu/411

 close of his life, entitled ‘Contemplatio Philosophica,’ was printed by his grandson, Sir [q. v.], with a sketch of his life prefixed. ‘A Treatise on Logarithms,’ addressed to his friend James Hamilton (afterwards seventh Earl of Abercorn), exists in manuscript. His portrait, engraved in 1714 by Richard Earlom from an original painting in the possession of his daughter, was prefixed to his ‘New Principles of Linear Perspective,’ ed. 1811, and to ‘Contemplatio Philosophica.’



TAYLOR, CHARLES (1756–1823), scholar and engraver, born in the parish of Shenfield in Essex on 1 Feb. 1756, was the son of (1730–1807) [q. v.], engraver, by his wife, Sarah Hackshaw, daughter of Josiah Jefferys of Shenfield. Charles was educated at a grammar school at Brentwood in Essex, and on completing his fifteenth year was articled to his father as an engraver, and studied under Bartolozzi. In 1777 he visited Paris, the principal school of engraving in Europe. After his return he adopted the course, then usual with engravers, of executing ornamental proofs on his own account. These engravings were for the most part after pictures by Robert Smirke and Angelica Kauffmann. In 1780 Taylor's house was burnt down during the Gordon riots, and he removed to Holborn, and afterwards to 108 Hatton Garden. In later life he devoted himself almost entirely to the revision of Calmet's ‘Dictionary of the Bible,’ which he began to publish anonymously in 1797. It immediately attracted great attention and commanded a considerable sale. Numerous inquiries were made as to the editor, but Taylor acknowledged himself only the publisher and the engraver of some of the plates. The large demand for the work occasioned the issue of a fourth edition by 1824, and the work of revision occupied Taylor during the remainder of his life. After his death he was acknowledged to be the editor. He died at Hatton Garden on 13 Nov. 1823, and was buried in the Bunhill Fields burial-ground. In 1777 he married Mary Forrest, niece of Cornelius Humphreys, chaplain of the Tower, by whom he had a son, Charles (1780–1856), and two daughters, Mary and Sarah. His portrait, painted by himself about 1774, is at present at Braeside, Tunbridge Wells.

As an engraver Taylor possessed some ability. His brother Isaac credited him with ‘artistic feeling but no delicacy of tool.’ His chief artistic publications were:
 * 1) ‘Picturesque Beauties of Shakespeare,’ London, 1783, &c., 4to; the illustrations are by  [q. v.] and  [q. v.], engraved by Charles and Isaac Taylor.
 * 2) ‘Picturesque Miscellanies,’ 1785.
 * 3) ‘The Cabinet of Genius,’ London, 1787, 4to.
 * 4) ‘The Artist's Repository or Drawing Magazine,’ London, 1788, &c., 8vo.
 * 5) ‘The Elegant Repository and New Print Magazine,’ London, 1791, &c., 8vo.
 * 6) ‘Elegant Historical Engravings,’ London, 1791.
 * 7) ‘The Landscape Magazine,’ London, 1791–3, 4to.
 * 8) ‘The Shakespeare Gallery,’ London, 1792.

He was the author of:
 * 1) ‘The General Genteel Preceptor,’ London, 2nd edit., 1797, 8vo.
 * 2) ‘A Familiar Treatise on Drawing for Youth,’ London, 1815, 8vo.
 * 3) ‘Facts and Evidences on the Subject of Baptism,’ London, 1815, 8vo.
 * 4) ‘A Familiar Treatise on Perspective,’ London, 1816, 8vo.
 * 5) ‘The Baptist Self-convicted,’ London, 1819, 8vo. He also edited the ‘Literary Annual Register,’ London, 1808, 8vo, afterwards merged in the ‘Literary Panorama,’ and translated the ‘Adventures of Telemachus’ from the French of Fénelon, London, 1792, 8vo.



TAYLOR, DAN (1738–1816), founder of the new connexion of general baptists, son of Azor Taylor, a pitman, by his second wife, Mary (Willey), was born at Sourmilk Hall, Northowram, West Riding of Yorkshire, on 21 Dec. 1738. In his fifth year he worked in a coal-mine with his father. He had no schooling till he was twenty, but early developed a taste for reading, taking his book with him into the mine. He came under methodist influence at the age of fifteen, joined the Wesleyan body in 1759, and first preached for them in a dwelling-house at Hipperholme, West Riding, in September 1761. Dissatisfied with the methodist organisation, he withdrew from membership by midsummer