Herald accomplished, in fixing public attention upon the sanguinary character of our criminal code, and the monstrous disproportion between crime and punishment, is well known. That great journal took and kept the lead in the warfare which was waged against the Moloch of the statute-book, during many eventful years in which the struggle was going on between the advocates of exterminating laws, and those by whom they were felt as a blot upon our common humanity. And Sydney Taylor it was whose spirit breathed in the glowing appeals, and the cogent reasonings, by which the daily press— the great engine of opinion and improvement-co-operated with the distinguished public men whose efforts in the House of Commons, great as they were, would otherwise have been comparatively powerless. That such was the case, may be seen from the following resolution passed unanimously by a Committee of the Society for diffusing information on the subject of capital punishments, at a meeting held on Monday, November 30, 1835:

"Resolved-That the articles upon the criminal law, which have appeared from time to time, for several years past, in the columns of the Morning Herald, are of a character to especially call for the grateful acknowledgment of this Committee, as having materially contributed to promote the recent amelioration of the penal code; and that this Committee do forthwith cause a selection of those articles, to be published in a permanent form, in testimony of their value, and in furtherance of the great object of rendering the criminal law more efficient, by obtaining for it the support of reason, and of enlightened public opinion."+

+ The articles referred to were afterwards printed for this Society, by Mr. Samuel M'Dowall, in two volumes - the first in 1836, the second in 1837. One of the reviewers, describing the first volume, says:-'A noble monument of the general good 'which may be wrought, even in the humble columns of a newspaper, when perseverance, talent, and manly philanthropy seriously engage in the work. This monument ⚫ stands before us' (he continues) 'in a small volume upon "The Punishment of Death," a series of essays, upon this morally and politically most important subject-in possession ' of which we could well afford to lose all that has been written by Beccaria, Romilly, Mon⚫ tagu, and Bentham. It is no disparagement to the writers named, to say that the literary ⚫ merit of the Morning Herald's essays is not inferior to their best compositions; while our contemporary has had the advantage of abundant practical illustration, of which he has most judiciously availed himseli.'

This society, it is true, enjoyed the especial patronage of his Royal Highness, the Duke of Sussex, and had the advantage of such names as the late excellent Lord Suffield, Thomas Clarkson, the reverend Daniel Wilson (at present Bishop of Calcutta), Archdeacon Wrangham, Dr. Lushington, Mr. (now Sir) Fowell Buxton, Dr. Pye Smith, William Allen, with others alike eminent :-and, it is also true, the society was numerous, its ramifications extending through the three kingdoms. But it is equally true that the origin of this extensive association is to be traced to the appearance, in the columns of the daily press, of those admirable articles from the pen of one, eventually discovered to have been a stranger to them all the lamented subject of this memoir. In the ensuing selection from his writings upon many questions, will be found (at p. 210,) an article especially referring to his labours in this cause.

But it was not alone to the reform of the most sanguinary penal code in Europe†-a code which would have disgraced the most barbarous nation upon earth-that Sydney Taylor directed his arduous labours :-he endeavoured to bring the attention of our statesmen to the necessity of adopting preventive measures, and especially of not promoting crime and misery by acts of vicious legislation. Look at his opposition to the enactment of that nuisance, called the Beer Bill, which deluged the country with thousands of new tippling-houses, "dens of dissipation" that realized his prediction of the consequent increase of crime. Look at his opinions, as they came from time to time before the public, upon many other subjects of domestic interest :

:

+ The limits of this volume have prevented the Editors from inserting any part of a very able pamphlet, written by Mr. Sydney Taylor, and entitled, "Anti-Draco: or reasons for abolishing the punishment of death in cases of forgery. By a Barrister of the Middle Temple." It was published, in 1830, by Ridgway.

"Our readers will bear us witness" (he writes upon one occasion) "that we have long laboured in the great work of social reformation—the improvement of our civil and criminal jurisprudence the abolition of negro slavery-the extirpation, from our laws and customs, of the cruel, unjust, and impolitic imprisonment for debt-the emancipation of the white slaves of the factory system from the grinding bondage of a merciless cupiditythe amelioration of the condition of the labouring population-the extirpation of that great fraud, the slave-apprenticeship system-the abolition of the revolting cruelty of military flogging-the suppression of the disgusting barbarity of prize-fights, and the prevention of all abuses of power to the torment of man, or those animals which the CREATOR has given him to use, not to torture—the promotion of the religious and moral education of the people, in contradistinction to the infidel schemes for planting the land with a godless population :-these are some of the many questions connected with the moral and social well-being of society which, sometimes amid the din and uproar of contending factions, sometimes in the intervals of political contention, we have made the subjects of discussion-not wholly without advantage to the community."

This, however, is a very imperfect enumeration of the topics which obtained Sydney Taylor's attention. His mind was one of no ordinary calibre-it was capable of grasping great constitutional questions. The reader will find abundant proof of this in the following pages. And all was done without the éclat of that distinction which attends the exertions of public men conspicuous in the cause of humanity, and which are their own very sufficient reward; done, too, at an expense of toil that often encroached upon the hours which should have been given to needful repose, after the harassing and exhausting labours of the day. It was this, we believe, which laid the foundation of the complaint, that but too soon put a period to his most useful life.

Having said so much of his connexion with the public press, we must now return to an earlier part of his career. In 1823, Mr. Taylor interested himself in conjunction with Lord Brougham, Dr. Birkbeck, Mr. J. Robinson, and other gentlemen, as a committee, for the formation of the London Mechanics' Institution, the earliest establishment of that kind, we believe,

in England. His speech at the first public meeting, held for that object at the Crown and Anchor, November 11, 1823, is extracted from a periodical, and given in another part of this volume (p. 487).

He joined the Aylesbury sessions and Norfolk circuit in 1824, having been called to the English bar in 1822. His friends, the Rev. Edward Owen, of St. Leonard's, and Robert Sutton, Esq., of Ross Way, took a warm interest in his welfare. Mr. Owen then introduced him to the Marquis of Chandos, now Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, by whom Mr. Sydney Taylor had subsequently the honour of being consulted as a professional adviser and friend; he also became a frequent visitor, both at Stowe and Wotton. In the beautiful parsonage of St. Leonard's, situated in the most picturesque part of the far-famed Chiltern Hills, many of Mr. Taylor's happiest hours of relaxation were spent during his professional career. The friendship which subsisted between him and the family of Mr. Owen, suffered no change or diminution during many years of their social intercourse; and it was from the hands of this friend, that at the close of life, he received the last solemn rites of our holy religion.

Of Charles Wolfe we have already spoken:-alas! alas! could death be associated in our young minds, with a temperament so joyous-a countenance so purely simple and benign—manners so gentle, and yet so ardent, and

"A heart that every hour ran wild,

Yet never went astray"?

It was for him that Sydney Taylor was the first to claim the authorship (so much disputed) of the "Ode on the Burial of Sir John Moore." The letter in which that claim is made, was dated Oct. 27, 1824, and addressed to the Editor of the Morning Chronicle. It will be read with interest;-long as it is, no apology is required for its insertion here. Though

written in reference to Wolfe, it is a document which will be found to belong also to the biography of Sydney Taylor. Subjoined is the letter:

'To the Editor of the Morning Chronicle.

'SIR,- If the fame of men of genius be worth any thing in a public point of view, it is of some consequence that it should be rightly appropriated. A character bold and splendid enough to command the admiration of men, often absorbs the just claims of more retiring merit. Anonymous poetry of a high order is ever attributed to one of the popular bards of the day, as every smart saying, however humble its origin, is readily ascribed to some celebrated wit. In the Chronicle of the 25th instant, copious extracts appeared from Captain Medwin's Conversations of Lord Byron. Through that medium I became acquainted with the existence of an important error, which I feel it an act of justice to rectify as extensively as it has been circulated. The mistake into which Captain Medwin falls respecting the Author of the Ode on Sir John Moore, affords a striking instance of the fallibility of literary inferences. In correcting that mistake, I discharge a duty to the memory of an individual, who, had his life been spared, would have been one of the ornaments of the age, which now does not know him; and at the same time, I think it of moment that public opinion should be set right on a subject which was important enough to interest the poetic sympathies of Byron.

'The extract from Captain Medwin's work, to which I allude, is as follows:

"The conversation turned after dinner on the lyrical poetry of the day, and the question arose as to which was the most perfect ode that had been produced. Shelley contended for Coleridge's on Switzerland, beginning, 'Ye clouds,' &c.; others named some of Moore's Irish Melodies, and Campbell's Hohenlinden; and, had Lord Byron not been present, his own Invocation to Manfred, or Ode to Napoleon, or on Prometheus, might have been cited.

"Like Gray,' said Lord Byron, 'Campbell smells too much of the oil; he is never satisfied with what he does; his finest things have been spoiled by over polish-the sharpness of the outline is worn off. Like paintings, poems may be too highly finished. The great art is effect, no matter how produced. I will show you an ode you have never seen, that I consider little inferior to the best which the present prolific age has brought forth.' With this he left the table, almost before the cloth was removed, and returned with a magazine, from which he read the following lines on Sir John Moore's burial, which perhaps [Captain Medwin adds,] require no apology for finding a place here:

[t As given in the text, the Ode is restored to its original state, by correcting the errors which Mr. Sydney Taylor's communication, at p. xl. et seq., points out. ED.]