he proceeded in regular course the following year to the President's chair. His name thus occupies one of the earliest places on a register, in which most of those who have been eminent in Norwich for talents, wealth or station, have considered it an honour to be enrolled.

In the year 1790 two societies were established in that city, for the private and amicable discussion of miscellaneous questions. One of these, called the Tusculan, seems to have devoted the attention of its members exclusively to political topics; while the Speculative, although it imposed no restrictions on the range of inquiry, was of a more philosophical character. William Taylor was a member of both, and it is difficult to say whether he distinguished himself most by his ingenuity in debate, by the novelty of the information which he brought to bear on every point, or by the lively sallies of imagination, which at once amused and excited his hearers. The papers read by himself embraced an infinite variety of subjects, from the theory of the earth, then unillumined by the disclosures of modern geologists, to the most elaborate and refined productions of its rational tenants; and he was seldom at a loss to place on new ground or in a fresh light the matter of discussion introduced by others. Writers of every tongue, studied by him with observant curiosity, stored

his retentive memory with materials, ready to be applied on every occasion, moulded by his Promethean talent into the most animated and alluring forms. As a speaker and as a converser, he was eminently characterized by a constant flow of brilliant ideas, by a rapid succession of striking images, and by a never-failing copiousness of words, often quaint, but always correct. His German studies made him an early advocate for preferring the Gothic division of our vocabulary; but precision was invariably his object; to obtain which he never scrupled to have recourse to words of Greek or Latin origin, to revive the obsolete, or coin the new, if he held them to be more etymologically and powerfully expressive than any which our current dialect supplied. Thus prepared, he would always take up whatever question was proposed at these meetings. Connecting with it some fact gathered from his recent reading, he would pour around it the stores of a learning almost peculiarly his own; then soaring into the highest and brightest regions of fancy, he would sport in them as if they were his native realms, still retaining his hold on things below by a delicate thread of most exquisite sophistry, which lengthened as he rose, and by means of which he drew himself down again to earth, amidst the plaudits, if not always to the conviction, of his

delighted hearers *. The connections, circumstances and habits in which William Taylor was thus placed, confirmed day after day the bias which his mind had early acquired towards literary pursuits; and they tended more particularly to give him a decided distaste for that mercantile employment, for which it had been the object of his education to prepare him. About this time the troubles of the French Revolution threatened to disturb the commercial relations of the Continent. The consequent decline of the Norwich trade furnished a powerful argument of which he availed himself to persuade his father to concur with him in withdrawing their capital from operations that appeared likely to become both irksome and hazardous. Nor is it improbable that his mother's loss of sight, which affliction befell her about this pe

A similar society was formed at Yarmouth, under the auspices of Dr. Aikin, at which William Taylor also occasionally attended. The Rev. Thomas Compton has given the following description of these visits. We were, moreover, sometimes gratified by the presence of our literary friends from Norwich. I have there repeatedly listened to the mild and persuasive eloquence of the late Dr. Enfield. A gentleman too, still living, who has lately added to his literary fame by a biographical work of high repute (I scarcely need add that I allude to Mr. W. Taylor), would sometimes instruct us by his various and profound knowledge, or amuse us with his ingenious paradoxes."-Notes on Lord Chedworth's Letters, No. Ixix. p. 142.

riod, enabled him to urge an additional reason for relinquishing engagements, the termination of which would allow him full leisure to pay the filial attentions due to an affectionate parent under so distressing a bereavement. The course which he recommended was pursued. In the year 1791 they dissolved their partnership with Mr. Casenave. Their joint property appeared adequate to afford them the comforts and even the elegances of private life, and they retired from the cares of business to possess and secure to themselves these enjoyments. Still the father was unwilling to abandon altogether his cherished project of making his son an active mercantile man, and endeavoured to prevail upon him to enter into a London bank. To this scheme the young man felt the strongest repugnance, and in a letter which he addressed at this time to his cousin, Mr. Dyson, to whom he was always warmly and confidentially attached, he regretted "that parents should be so willing to sacrifice their children's inclinations to the vanity of launching them into the world with a splendid establishment." This idea, being regarded by him with so much aversion, was therefore no longer entertained; and being thus set at liberty to follow the bent of his own inclinations, William Taylor devoted himself thenceforth exclusively to literature.

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CHAPTER III.

1791 to 1796.

MR. TAYLOR'S FIRST LITERARY PRODUCTIONS.

To a cultivated mind, a life of learned leisure affords the highest of all enjoyments; but it is its misfortune to be exempt from those motives to systematically directed exertion, without which we so rarely accomplish any work that confers reputation on ourselves or benefit on others; and hence it is, that in so many instances talents the most brilliant, that were "meant for mankind," are expended for little more than the amusement of their possessors. To this it may be attributed that William Taylor acquired so much less distinction than, with his capabilities of usefulness, he might have achieved. Like his friend, Dr. Sayers, he passed a life of celibacy; and although diminished affluence cast a shade of anxiety over his latter years, still he always enjoyed an independent income adequate to his wants. But the habits of self-complacent occupation, thus induced, were in some measure counteracted by his natural benevolence. He was always ready to impart to others the treasures of his own mind, and stimulate them to