Author: Taylor, Edward
Biography:
TAYLOR, Edward (fl 1783-4)
The author of the titles in this bibliography reliably attributed to "Edward Taylor" sometimes published his work anonymously or as "by the author of Werter to Charlotte" in Glasgow or in London in 1783 and 1784 but he did put his name to The Departure. The prefaces identify him as a young man; the contents show that he had a gentleman's education in classical and modern languages. Although published anonymously, Cursory Remarks on Tragedy (1774), which ESTC attributes to the same author, was undoubtedly written by Edward Taylor of Steeple Aston, Oxfordshire (1742-97), whose life is outlined in the headnote for his niece Mary Locke (q.v.). Given his literary and linguistic talent, the poems of 1783-4 could have been his work and the ESTC attribution is plausible. However, he would have been in his early forties when those works appeared, no longer a young man. Furthermore his obituary mentions Cursory Remarks and some poetry (including a tragedy) left in manuscript, but not any of the poems of 1783-4. Doubt is cast on the attribution also by another contender. A note in ms in one British Library copy of the translation of Musaeus identifies the translator as "Edward Taylor, Esqre, of Noan"--i.e. as a member of the Protestant landed gentry of Ireland. (Noan is a landed estate near Tipperary, the property of the Taylor family from 1666 to 1853.) Other notes in the same owner's hand indicate that the book had been a gift from the author ("ex Dono Auctoris") to a grandson of Bishop Berkeley, George Monck Berkeley (1763-93), who visited Ireland in 1789. O'Donoghue accepted this identification and treats Taylor as an Irish poet. Edward Taylor of Noan, second son of Godfrey Taylor, is reported to have married Elizabeth Hewetson of Kilkenny, to have had four children, and to have died in 1801 or 1802. If this man is the author of Werter to Charlotte etc., he must have been born to Godfrey Taylor's first wife, Anna Maria Hearn, married in 1756, and not to the second, married in 1778, but no birth date has been found. There is thus considerable positive evidence on the side of the Irish writer and some negative on the side of the English one. Either Edward Taylor of Steeple Aston is the author of all these works or ESTC has confused two authors of the same name. (ESTC; O'Donoghue; "Ballinure," slieveardagh.com 14 Nov. 2020; GM Dec. 1797, 1076; contributions by AA) HJ