Taylor, BAYARD

Taylor, BAYARD, an American author and traveller, was born, of Quaker and German ancestry, at Kennett Square, Chester county, Pennsylvania, January 11, 1825. Having received a common school education, he was apprenticed at seventeen in a printing-office, in 1844 published Ximena, a volume of poems, and started on a pedestrian tour of Europe, and in 1846 published Views Afoot, or Europe seen with Knapsack and Staff. After his return he edited a country newspaper, then went to New York, and obtained a post on the Tribune. As its correspondent he made extensive travels in California and Mexico, recorded in El Dorado (1850), and up the Nile, and in Asia Minor, Syria, across Asia to India, China, and Japan—recorded in his Journey to Central Africa and Land of the Saracen (1854), and Visit to India, China, and Japan (1855). Later explorations are recorded in Northern Travel (1858), and Travels in Greece and Russia (1859). In 1862–63 he was secretary of legation at St Petersburg; in 1874 he visited Iceland. In May 1878 he became ambassador at Berlin, where he died 19th December of the same year. His principal reputation, however, was as a poet. His works include Rhymes of Travel (1848); Book of Romances, Lyrics, and Songs (1851); Poems of the Orient (1854); Poems of Home and Travel (1855); The Poet's Journal (1862); Poems (1865); The Masque of the Gods (1872); Lars (1873); The Prophet, a Tragedy (1874); Home Pastorals (1875); The National Ode which he was chosen to deliver at the Centennial Exhibition (1876); Prince Deukalion, a drama (1878); and an admirable translation of Faust (1870–71). He also wrote several novels, the best Hannah Thurston (1863) and The Story of Kenneth (1866). See his Life and Letters (2 vols. 1884).