The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-05 00:00:00

Death of Isaac Taylor.

On Wednesday last, after many weeks of great
suffering, borne with Christian resignation, the author
of the " Natural History of Enthusiasm" closed a
long career of usefulness at the advanced age of 77.
Originally trained as an artist, Isaac Taylor, at an
early age, abandoned his profession for that literary
career in which so many members of his family had
attained distinction. His father, the Rev. I. Taylor,
of Ungar ; his uncle, Charles Taylor, the learned
editor of " Calmet ;" his sisters, Ann and Jane Tay-
lor, the joint authors of " Original Poems" and
" Hymns for Infant Minds;" his mother, Ann
Taylor, and his brother, Jeffreys Taylor, have all
written works which have attained a wide popularity.
In 1818 Mr. Isaac Taylor first, became a contribu-
tor to the " Eclectic Review," in conjunction with
Robert Hall, John Foster, and Josiah Conder. His
first independent literary venture was a small volume
entitled " Elements of Thought," published in 1822.
This was succeeded by a translation of the " Cha-
racters of Theophrastus," with clever original illus-
trations, etched by the author ; by the " History of
the Transmission of Ancient Books to Modern
Times," the "Process of Historical Proof," the
" Memoirs and Correspondence of Jane Taylor,"
and by a new translation of " Herodotus." None of
these early literary ventures had achieved any very
eminent success. Mr Taylor at last discovered the true
vein in which his genius lay. In 1829 the " Natural
History of Enthusiasm" was published anonymously.
Coming out at a time of great political and religious
ferment, and offering a philosophy of the problems
of the day, the book was received with extraordinary
favour by the public, and rapidly ran through eight
or nine editions. With the object of giving con-
tinuity to the philosophical and religious theories
which he has advanced in the " History of Enthu-
siasm," Mr. Taylor in the course of the next seven
years published that series of works on which his
fame must rest, " Fanaticism," " Spiritual Despot-
ism," " Saturlay Evening," and the " Physical
Theory of Another Life," works which have all had
and continue to command an extensive sale.

The publication of the last of these works led to
the surrender of the author's incognito. The un-
known writer received an urgent request from the
late Dr. Chalmers to stand for the chair of Logic in
the University of Edinburgh in opposition to the
late Sir Wm. Hamilton, who was elected by a small
majority.
In 1838 Mr. Taylor gave to the world the thoughts
which had suggested themselves while a large family
was growing up around him in his country seclusion
et Stanford Rivers. This work, "Home Education,"
has had an extensive popularity, and has induced
many parents to endeavour to promote the enjoy-
ments of children—to educate rather than to instruct.

In the following year Mr. Taylor was induced to
take part with the Rev. R. Train in bringing out a
new translation of " Josephus." This costly and
magnificent work was accompanied with numerous
illustrations engraved by some most ingenious and
elaborate machinery, the invention of which had
been the amusement of Mr. Taylor's leisure hours.
The inopportune death of Dr. Traill at the eve of
the publication of this work brought upon Mr. Tay-
lor ruinous pecuniary responsibilities, from which
for many years he was unable to extricate himself.
The engraving machine was patented in England,
Scotland, and America, and, though productive of
small benefit to the inventor, has realised large re-
turns in the hands of others.
About this period the " Tracts for the Times"
were creating an unexampled excitement in the re-
ligious world. Mr. Taylor had long made himself
familiar with the whole range of patristic literature ;
he felt that the writers of the "Tracts" were giving
an essentially perverted view of the tendencies, doc-
trinal and ritual, of the early Church. As a layman,
standing clear of any secular embarrassments of an
ecclesiastical kind, Mr. Taylor felt himself impelled
to come forward and state the results to which his
independent and unbiassed study of the Fathers had
led him. This he did in a work entitled " Ancient
Christianity," a work which virulently attacked, and
as warmly defended, by the respective partisans in
the great controversy which was then shaking the
English Church. Some of the leaders of the seces-
sion which ensued have acknowledged that the facts
and reasonings of this work did more than -anything
else to drive them over to Rome.

After an interval of seven years, Mr. Taylor pub-
lished essays, partly philosophical, partly historical,
on the lives of Loyola and Wesley. Shortly after-
wards a volume on the Christian argument was pub-
lished anonymously at Cambridge, entitled the " Re-
storation of Belief." Two volumes of essays—" Logic
and Theology," and " Ultimate Civilisation"—a
series of lectures, originally delivered in Edinburgh,
on " The Spirit of the Hebrew Poetry," and a Belies
of autobiographical papers published last year in
Good Words were the last occupations of his declin-
ing years. To the end his mind retained all its
power. He leaves, we believe, a large family.