The New York herald., 1878-12-20
SKETCH OF ME-. TAYLOR.

SKETCH OF MIR. TAYLOR
James Bayard Taylor. the most versatile of Ameri
can authors was born upon country farm at
Kennett Square, Chester county. Pa. January IL.
1926. His parents. who both living and re-
Gently celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of their
marriage descended from the earliest settlers Of
Pennsylvania and persons OF note in the quiet
township where they have always lived. The future
traveller received the usual advantages Of common
school education and. like so many other men of
emnence, obtained his first impulse to literary
career through his connection with the press At the
age Of seventeen years he regularly apprentced
in a newspaper printing Office in West Chester
and employed his leisure in the study of Latin
and French. His first published compositions were
verses which he wrote for the columns OF the news
paper in question and were probably 'set up by
his hand. The approval of his friends soon in
duced him to send specimens of his poetic skill to
the two recognized autocrats Of American criticism.
Nathaniel p. Willis and Rufus Wilmot Griswold.
then respectively conducting the New York Mirror
and Gyahams Magazine. They well received,
both by those gentlemen and by the reading public in
the columns of those periodicals. and others of his
compositions were accepted by than
of the metropolitan newspapers. In 1874 he
collected his scattered into o smalI
volume entitled ''Ximena; or The Battle of the
Sierra Morena, and Other Poems" philadelphia 1914,
12mo., PIP. S4), which is of the scarcest OF
modern American books. One Of his objects in this
early appearance author to gain q sufficient
status in literature to procure him engagement
correspondent for some prominent journal during q
tour in Europe which he eagerly planning, al
though the expenses had yet to be provided. This
was u bold project for youth of nineteen. but it
succeeded in every respect. His local fame in Chcs-
ter county easily reached the city Of Philadelphia.
where his book had been printed, and he obtained
from Mr.. Joseph r. Chandler. Of tho United
States cd-ette. and Mr. Patterson. of the Sdtay-
day Ercniag Post advance of 500 for
letters to be written from Europe. This sum- with
the addition OF $40 received from Grdhams Magazine
for some accepted poems. enough to pay his
passage and his expenses for few weeks abroad
and he was encouraged by Horace Greeley. who
promised to pay for such letters should prove
readable. He took steerage passage for England.
travelled on foot through England. Scotland. Ger
many. Switzerland Italy and France for nearly two
years at expense Of only $780, portion Of which
was sent by his parents but the larger part was
exrned by his cminently fresh and vivacious news
paper correspondence. On his return to America
he had little trouble in arranging his materials
into a volume which published in December
1s46 at New York, under the title "views-a- Foot;
or Europe Seen with Knapsack and Staff; with q
Preface by N. p. Willis" The volume had an immc-
ate success receiving the heartest praise not only
fsom r. W. Griswold. but from that sterner censor,
the London AMeaoum. 1t passed through dozen
editions. and may even at the present day be read
with pleasure and profit For year after his return
Mr Tay Tor edited and published a country paper ut
Phnnxvil,e, Pa, with unsatisfactory pccuniary
result In 1S47 he to New York to seek his for
tune by literature. and number of his sketches and
poems were accepted by the Literary World, which,
under the management of the late Evert A. Duyck-
inck then the leading critical journal OF the me
tropolis His ambition still chiefly directed to
poetic fame, and at the Christmas season of 1SI7
he issued with the date Of 1s4s) new volume
of ..Rhymes Of Travel Ballads and other
Poems" which did not meet the commcndation
of the Literary World but was warmly praised by
Edgar Allan Poe. In February 1873. Mr, Taylor Sc
cured employment upon the New York Tribune. with
which paper he has ever since been connected in
some capacity. Early in 1sa9 he became owner of
one share of the Tribune stock and was advanced in
rank upon its editorial staff Just ut that time how
ever the Eastern States agog with the California
excitement. and thither young Taylor proceeded by
way of Panama returning few months later through
Mexico. His letters to the Tribune collected under
the title ..E Dorado; or Adventures in the Path of
Empire q vols, 1850. had within a few weeks
circulation OF 10000 copies and of the English
print 80 900 were sold. More than twenty editions
since been issued OF this the most profitable OF
all Mr. Taylor's works.
The chief incentive his longest series Of journeys
those begun in 1s51-was the death. from consunp-
fion OF a beautiful and amiabe young lady to whom
he was long engaged, and who had inspired many
pathetic lyrics in his earlier verse. The marriage
ceremony performed almost on her dcathbcd.
and after her burial nc iet the cea OF protractcu
change Of scene.
tour in Eastern lands. leaving in the hands OF his
publisher third volume OF poems, a Book OF
Rcxnanccs. Lyrics and Songs" Boston, 1851 which
inclnded "Thc American Legend, poem delivered
the previous year before tho Phi Beta Kappa Society
of Harvard University, and separately printed. Mr..
Taylors Journey conducted him by, way OF
England. the Rhine. Vienna, Trieste and smyrna
10 Egypt, reaching Cairo early in November.
He spent the whole winter in voyage
the Nile Penetratins tn, through son Nnb,a and the
the White Nile, and when he reached Cairo in April,
1852 he had travelled 1000 miles in Central Africa.
and syria, visited Antioch and Meppo and crossed
Asia Minor diagonally from Iarsus. through the
passes of the Taurus range the forests OF ancient
noplc visiting also the Troad. lie then spent several
months in southern Europe. especially. Malta and
Sicily where he witnessed the eruption Of Etna, and
returned to England by way of the Tyrol and Ger
many. After brief sojourn in England he
took new departure for the extreme East
I'm October 1852: tarricd month in Southern
SPAIN proceeded to Bombay by the overland" route
air made journey of 1900 miles, chiefly on horse
~ 1858. He proceeded to Hong Kong. by way
of Penang and Singaporc resided some time at Shang
hal MS an attache of the American Legation. then in
charge OF Colonel Marshall and on May II embarked
for japan board the squadron of Commodore
Perry He was thus n witness of one OF the most
memorable events of modern tinlcs-thc opening OF
Japan to intercourse with civilized cotntrcs-but his
diary not allowed to be separately published IL
being used in preparing the official narrative of the
expedition. Returning 10 Canton in August Mr.. Jay-
lor sailed in September for New York and reached
this port December 10 1853 after an absence of two
years and four months, during which he had travelled
above fifty thousand miles, His letters TO the Tribune
furnished the materials Of several volumes "a
Journey to Central Africa; or, Life and Land
scapc from Egypt to the Negro Kingdoms of
the White Nile New York. 1s5D' "The Lands
Of the saraccn; Pictures Of Palestine, Asia Minor,
Sicily and Spain 1854 and "a Visit to India China
and japan In the Year 1883 (1s55)-all of which
widely popular both in America and England and
ran through numerous editions Mr.. Taylor had
scarcely rested from issuing these volumes OF travels