Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 55.djvu/416

  1873; Cole's manuscript Athenæ Cantabr.; information from the Revs. Canon Fraser (South Weald), W. J. Smith (Crawley), E. P. Grant (Portsmouth), F. Borradaile (Spridlington), and E. Buckle (Banstead).] 

TAYLOR, HENRY (1800–1886), author of ‘Philip Van Artevelde,’ born on 18 Oct. 1800 at Bishop-Middleham, Durham, was the third son of George Taylor (1772–1851). George Taylor was the younger son of a squire who had an estate of some seven hundred acres at Swinhoe-Bromford in the parish of Bamborough, Northumberland. The squire was under a cloud and the property encumbered, and George was brought up by an uncle, without definite prospects. On 23 April 1797 he married Eleanor Ashworth, daughter of an ironmonger at Durham, and settled on a farm at Bishop-Middleham. His wife died when Henry, her third son, was an infant in arms. George Taylor and his wife had literary tastes, and were ardent admirers of Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. He is described by Southey (Correspondence with Caroline Bowles, p. 93) as having the ‘better part of an antique Roman about him.’ He became a recluse after his wife's death, and divided his time between his books and the management of a farm at St. Helen's Auckland, Durham. He educated his boys himself. The two elder showed much promise and wrote poetry. Henry was languid and apparently dull. In April 1814 he was entered as a midshipman in the navy. He made one voyage, but his health was feeble, and in December he was discharged and returned to his father's house. There he spent two years without regular education, but with the run of a good library, and in an harmonious and studious family. After the peace George Taylor gave up farming. His friend [q. v.], then secretary to the treasury, obtained small appointments for the eldest son, George, and for Henry. They went to London in 1817 with the second brother, William, a medical student, and soon afterwards they all caught typhus fever. William and George died in a fortnight; Henry's place was abolished in 1820, and he returned to his father's house. The father had in 1818 married Miss J. Mills, a lady of great intelligence and sweetness of character, though of rather melancholy temperament. 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. In 1823, on a visit to the lakes, he made an acquaintance with Southey, which soon afterwards ripened into a warm friendship. Meanwhile Taylor had resolved to go to London to start ‘as a literary adventurer.’ On reaching town in October 1823, he found that Gifford had put in type another article, upon Lord John Russell, ‘clever and malapert’ like the former. Taylor had also contributed to the ‘London Magazine,’ and had an offer of the editorship. He had meanwhile been introduced to Dr. (afterwards Sir) [q. v.] In January 1824 Holland was authorised to offer him a clerkship in the colonial department, beginning with 350l. a year, soon to be increased to 600l. and to rise ultimately to 900l. Taylor's ‘Quarterly’ articles and a letter of approval from Gifford helped to justify an appointment which Holland, though related to friends of the elder Taylor, apparently advised on account of the impression made by the son's personal merits. The colonial office was in a state of confusion, and much occupied by business arising out of the slavery question. Taylor was at once in a position of responsibility, and in March wrote a confidential paper highly approved by his chief, Lord Bathurst. He not only had much influence at the office, but became known to many young men of promise. He was specially intimate with his colleague Thomas Hyde Villiers, brother of George (afterwards Earl of Clarendon), and with all the Villiers family. Through Villiers he became acquainted with Charles Austin, J. S. Mill, and the Benthamites, and made carefully prepared speeches in opposition to their views in the debating society described by J. S. Mill. He enlightened their minds too by inviting them to personal meetings with Wordsworth and Southey. Besides writing in the ‘Quarterly,’ he finished his tragedy, ‘Isaac Comnenus,’ in 1828. It was reviewed by Southey in the ‘Quarterly,’ but ‘the public would have nothing to say to it.’ He at once set to work upon dramatising the story of Philip Van Artevelde. A proposal that he should accept a better position, which would have absorbed him in politics, came to nothing, and he fell back without regret upon literature. Meanwhile the slavery question was finding employment for him in the office. The policy of the government was that of ‘melioration,’ that is, of reforming