his contemporaries. By the strength or delicacy of his touch he kept the attention awake; and the natural gracefulness of his person added also something of its own beauty to the fervour and richness of his discourse. He impressed his audience with such commanding superiority, that he seemed like the messenger of a purer clime.

It has been well observed by an anonymous author that" in writing on subjects strictly "moral, Taylor is seen to fullest advantage. "It is in these as in his native element, that "he soars far above his fellows. Taylor's "genius is not that alone which supports him "here. Love of the supreme good is the

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wing on which he rises, and his bright "talents are but the decoration of that wing

By some writers Taylor is denominated "the Homer,” and by others "the Shakespear of Divines." See Granger's English Heads and Mr. Thirlwall's preface to "the "Rule and Exercises of Holy Living."

Bp. Rust, speaking of Taylor at an early age, says, "he preached to the admiration and astonishment of his "auditory; and by his florid and youthful beauty, and "sweet and pleasant air, and sublime and raised dishe made his hearers take him for some young "angel, newly descended from the visions of glory." y Review of Taylor's Sermons, Ecl.

courses,

"like the feathered gold with which Milton "beautifies his Raphael. As Taylor's thought

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expands, he, as it were, leaves this earth "and sings as he soars. He rejoices in his

flight; and he makes us partake of his joy. "It is a human seraph which moves before "us, and gives us the living semblance of "what is most truly great and noble, and pure and beatific."

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APPENDIX.

The following is copied from a MS. entitled " Annales Collegii de Gonvile et Caius," preserved in the Archives of the Society of Caius College, Cambridge: But as the statement of facts in this Extract is inaccurate, the Author did not deem it proper to insert it in the body of the Work.

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Нос

OC anno" (forsan 1635) "1° Februarii Jeremias Taylor Cantabrigiæ natus Artium Mag et hujus Collegii Socius ex fundatione Per"siana, sponte resignavit jus suum omne ad dictum "sodalitium. Huic erat summum ingenii acumen, "quod industria non vulgari instruxit, et polivit "adeo ut supra ætatem sapuit, et magnis in Ecclesia "muneribus subeundis par erat. Anno enim uno aut "altero a gradu Magisterii suscepto, ad fungendum "concionatoris sive prælectoris munere in Ecclesia "Cathedrali Dvi Pauli Londini vocatus est per eos quorum fidei illius Prælecturæ (a Colleto institutæ)

cura commissa erat; quod quidem officium non "nisi viris ætate maturis, et eruditione eminenti❝oribus mandari solitum erat; Taylerus vero hic "noster talem hîc se præstitit virum ut admirationem "sui apud auditores doctissimos quamvis, excitavit, "hinc famâ illum undiquaque celebrante, ad no"titiam Reverendissimi Archipræsulis Cantuariensis

"Gu: Laud pervenit, qui viri merita non minori «famâ deprehendens, suum esse voluit ac protinus "eum a Collegio nostro amotum; socium Collegio "Dvi Johannis Oxonii eligi curavit, ubi inter viros "claros constitutus famæ detrimentum nunquam

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passus, sed Doctoratus in S. S. Theologiæ gradu "insignitus splenduit magis. Is uxore ducta ad "Rectoriam de Uppingham in Comitatu Rutlandiæ "promotus est, ubi vigilantissimi Pastoris munere "functus est, quamdiu tumultus militares non ob"streperent, sed civili flagrante bello Taylerus tan"dem in Walliam compulsus est, ubi ut poterat "habuit non tamen Ecclesiæ inutilis vixit sed libris "editis Episcopatum strenue asseruit, Orthodoxæ "fidei patronum se præbuit et ad pietatem aspirantes "tum scriptis tum exemplo (ut fidi Pastoris est)

præivit, libros ab eo scriptos non facile est re

censere plures tamen quos vir pius et doctus me"ditatus, speramus lucem visuros ad Ecclesiæ com" modum et Dei gloriam."

દર

To this is added, in a different hand," Multa

quæ de Taylero nostro hic referuntur in se"quentibus annis gesta sunt, sed hic simul con"gessimus, et dignissimi viri Elegiam melius uno "intuitu spectandum proponatur."