"Liberty of Prophesying," an admirable book, although composed under very disadvantageous circumstances. "I had," says he, in his dedication to Lord Hatton, “ no books of my own here, nor any in the voisinage, and but that I remembered the result of some of those excellent discourses which I had heard your lordship make, when I was so happy as in private to gather up what your temperance and modesty forbids to be public, I had come in prælia inermis, and like enough might have fared accordingly."

Taylor's first wife being dead, he had married for his second wife Mrs. Joanna Bridges, who was possessed of an estate at Mandinam, in Carmarthenshire. By this lady, who is said to have been an illegitimate daughter of Charles I. he had several children. As he had engaged in the office of a teacher for a subsistence, it is probable he relinquished it about this period, when it was no longer necessary.

In 1648, he published "The Life of Christ, or the great Exemplar," which soon became more popular than any of his preceding compositions. This was succeeded by the well-known and useful work to which this Life is prefixed —his "Holy Living and Holy Dying," composed at the desire of Lady Carbery, the wife of Richard Vaughan, earl of Carbery, a great friend and patron of the author, who resided at Golden Grove, in the same parish in which Taylor lived. He also composed a short Catechism for Children, and twenty-seven Sermons for the summer halfyear. In addition to a controversial tract, on the differences between the Roman Catholic and English churches, he, in 1654, extended his Catechism for Children into the manual, which he called "Golden Grove," in honour of the mansion of Lord Carbery. Some expressions in the Preface to this little work, gave offence to the government, and, as we learn from a letter of John Evelyn (who afterward became a valuable friend of Taylor,) caused his committal to prison. There is considerable obscurity about this event in Taylor's Life. Mr. Heber conjectures, that he was a second time imprisoned for the same cause; a supposition founded partly on a letter of Evelyn, and on the much stronger evidence of a letter of Taylor, published with his "Deus Justificatus," alluding to his then being a prisoner in Chepstow-castle. Of this second imprisonment no more is known than of the first, although it is apparent from his letter, that he was at his wife's house at Mandinam

in November, 1655. Taylor, however, was not idle; he completed his series of Sermons for the whole year, by the addition of twenty-five Discourses, and also produced his "Unum Necessarium, or the Doctrine and Practice of Repentance, describing the Necessity of a strict, a holy, and a Christian Life, and rescued from popular Errors.” In this discourse, Taylor's explication of the doctrine of original sin, gave offence to his brethren of the church of England, as well as to the Calvinists; and produced a controversy with a Calvinistic preacher of the name of Jeanes. An answer to this essay of Taylor was also published by John Gaule.

Taylor, in a letter dated Feb. 22, 1656-7, and probably addressed to Evelyn, communicates the death of two of his sons, and his intention to be in London before Easter. Thither he accordingly went, and, according to Wood, officiated in a private congregation of Episcopalians. His poverty, to which he so frequently alludes before this time, was now alleviated by a yearly pension settled upon him by his kind friend Evelyn-a proof of his friendship and generosity, which Taylor acknowledges in a letter of "most eloquent gratitude," dated 15th May, 1657.

"A stranger came two nights since from you with a letter and a token, full of humanity and sweetness that was, and this of charity. I know it is more blessed to give than to receive, so neither can I envy that felicity of yours, not only that you can, but that you do give; and as I rejoice in that mercy which daily makes decrees in heaven for my support and comfort, so I do most thankfully adore the goodness of God to you, whom he consigns to greater glories by the ministeries of these graces. But, Sir, what am I, or what can I do, or what have I done, that you think I have, or can oblige you? Sir, you are too kind to me, and oblige me not only beyond my merit, but beyond my modesty. I only can love you, and honour you, and pray you; and in all this I cannot say but that I am behindhand with you; for I have found so great effluxes of all your worthiness and charities, that I am a debtor for your prayers, for the comfort of your letters, for the charity of your hand,

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and the affections of your heart. Sir, though you are beyond the reach of my returns, and my services are very short of touching you, yet if it were possible for me to receive any commands, the obeying of which might signify my great regards of you, I could with some more confidence converse with a person so obliging; but I am obliged, and ashamed, and unable to say so much as I would do, to represent myself to be,

"Honoured and dear Sir, "Your most affectionate, and obliged Friend and Servant, "JER. TAYLOR."

At the commencement of the ensuing year Taylor was confined in the Tower, on account of the indiscretion of his publisher, who had prefixed to his "Collection of Offices," a print of Christ in the attitude of prayer, a species of representation at that time considered as tending to idolatry, and prohibited by statute, under the pain of fine and imprisonment. We find him, however, at Says Court on the 25th February following, so that his restraint was but of short duration.

In June, 1658, Taylor left London, and removed to Ireland, an alternate lectureship having been procured him in the town of Lisburn, by Edward, Earl of Conway, who possessed large estates in the neighbourhood. He obtained letters of recommendation to several persons of rank and influence in that kingdom, and a passport and protection under the sign manual of Cromwell himself. Thus the scene of Taylor's usefulness was again changed. He fixed his residence near Portmore, the mansion of his new patron, a delightful neighbourhood, to which he was extremely partial. But his situation was insufficient to raise him to independence, since Evelyn still continued to pay him his yearly pension. Notwithstanding his secluded abode, articles were exhibited against him, by a person named Tandy, to the Irish privy-council, as a dangerous and disaffected person. That he had baptized a child with the sign of the cross, was the most important part of the charge; but this occasioned the renewal of a report that he was inclined to Popery. A warrant was accordingly issued, and he was conveyed to Dublin in the midst of winter: a severe illness was the consequence. Whether any punishment was inflicted upon him does not

appear. After a residence of about two years in Ireland, our author made a journey to London, probably for the purpose of seeing his Ductor Dubitantium through the press. On this work he had been long employed, its progress he had regarded with much solicitude, and on its completion he had founded his brightest hopes of renown and usefulness. But his expectations were not realized at the time of publication, nor has it become popular since. Compilations of this kind, in the Roman Catholic church, no doubt suggested the usefulness of such a work; but times had altered too much to render it necessary to Protestants, and Roman Catholics would have no recourse to the work of a heretic. Besides, with all its learning and acuteness, it does not possess that fervid eloquence and beauty of composition, which form the charm of his more popular works.

This year (1660) also produced "The Worthy Communicant," accompanied by his Sermon on the death of Sir George Dalstone. Taylor's journey to London was at a fortunate juncture; his name appeared subscribed to the declaration of the loyalists, in London and its vicinity, on the 24th April, and his merit was not overlooked on the restoration; for he was appointed to the bishopric of Down and Connor, on the 6th of August; and shortly afterward was elected chancellor of the university of Dublin. He preached in the January following, on the consecration of the two archbishops and ten bishops,—before the two houses of parliament, on the 8th May, and again before the primate at his metropolitan visitation of Down and Connor. In February, in that year, he was made a member of the Irish privy-council; and in addition to his former diocess, was intrusted with the administration of the small adjacent one of Dromore, in April. Taylor discharged the duties of his episcopal function with great zeal, mingled with charity, frequently inviting the puritanical clergy to friendly conferences, and endeavouring to soften down their prejudices against the established church by kindness and attention.

"In answer to these advances," says Heber, "the pulpits resounded with exhortations to stand by the covenant even unto blood: with bitter invectives against the episcopal order, and against Taylor more particularly; while the preachers entered into a new engagement among them

selves, to speak with no bishop, and to endure neither their government nor their persons! The virtues and eloquence of Taylor, however, were not without effect on the laity, who were at the same time offended by the refusal of their pastors to attend a public conference. The nobility and gentry of the three dioceses, with one single exception, came over by degrees to the bishop's side: and we are even assured by Carte, that during the two years which intervened before the enforcement of the Act of Uniformity, the great majority of the ministers themselves had yielded, if not to his argument, to his persevering kindness and Christian example."

Besides the sermons above alluded to, he published, in 1661,-a small manual of rules for his clergy-in 1662, his Via Intelligencia-in 1663, “A Defence and Introduction to the rite of Confirmation," and three sermons—and in the succeeding year, his "Dissuasive from Popery," which was undertaken by the desire of the collective body of Irish bishops, and was the last of his publications; but he had written a "Discourse on Christian Consolation," and "Contemplations on the State of Man," which were both published after his death. This event took place on the 13th August, 1667, after ten days' sickness, in the fifty-fifth year of his age, and the seventh of his episcopacy; he was buried at Dromore where his friend Dr. Rust preached his funeral sermon. Taylor's sons died during his lifetime, but his widow and three daughters survived him: the eldest died unmarried; the second, Mary, married Dr. Francis Marsh, afterward archbishop of Dublin, whose descendants are numerous and wealthy; and the third, Joanna, married Edward Harrison, of Maralave, Esq. several of whose descendants are still living.

Jeremy Taylor, presents as fine a pattern of a Christian bishop as the annals of the church of England afford. His fine, though ardent temper, his bland and gentle manners, his deep humility, and unbounded charity, were united with extensive learning, an acute and vigorous mind, and a free and excursive spirit of inquiry in the pursuit of truth. "Nature," says his friend Dr. Rust, "had befriended him much in his constitution; for he was a person of a most sweet and obliging humour, of great candour and ingenuity; and there was so much of salt and fineness of wit, and prettiness of address in his familiar discourses,