with a degree of pleasure which her whole infantile pursuits most significantly expressed. Even at the tender age of four, the lively fancy and intellectual superiority of Jane Taylor began to evince themselves. "I can remember," says her sister, (now Mrs. Gilbert of Nottingham) "that Jane was always the saucy, lively, entertaining little thing the amusement and the favourite of all who knew her. Her plays, from [This volume has been lately published in America, and it ought to find a place in the libraries of all our Young Ladies, who have a taste for refined literature, and unaffected piety and religion. To bespeak their * attention to this volume, we have been induced to extract the following Methe earliest that I can recollect, were moir of Miss Jane Taylor, from the deeply imaginative. But I think I London Evangelical Magazine for may say that the retiring character of February.] her mind a morbid sensibility to"This truly pious and eminently gif-wards things and persons without, as ted lady was born in London, Sep- well as much refined feeling--operatember 23, 1783. She was the sec-ted to prevent a due estimate being ond daughter of the Rev. I. Taylor, formed of her talents. I need not Pastor of the Independent Church at tell you, that they never were made a Ongar, in Essex. Her early infancy show of to any body." But, though was marked by considerable delicacy her education was not conducted upon of constitution, which rendered the the mistaken principle of display, she prospect of life very precarious during was exposed, when but a child, to a the three first years of her existence. measure of flattery, from injudicious The removal, however, of her parents friends, which, to a mind less charac from the confinement of a great me- terized by intellectual, and moral tropolis, to the pure air of Lavenham, strength, must have proved, in the in Suffolk, was the means of com- highest degree, pernicious. Her na pletely establising her health, and tive and habitual diffidence, however, sparing, at least for a season, a never forsook her; so that with truth life of unusual promise. Country it may be said, that a playful innoscenes, and country occupations seem-cence and simplicity of character shed ed, in a high degree, congenial an imperishable lustre upon the opento the mind of this remarkable child. Accustomed, for more than three years, to the restraints peculiar to a residence in London, her retirement into the country was associated VOL. I.-50 ings of her genius, and rendered the watchful fears of parental solicitude comparatively unnecessary. Much, doubtless, of the early and subsequent proficiency of Jane Tay for, must be traced to the judicious | at present. For within this period the education which she received from course of controversy has deprived her excellent parents, who instructed its professors of an advantage-so her under their own roof, and taught important to the success of infidel her not only to obey them as parents, insinuations-that of having itself no but also to confide in them as friends. defined or avowed principles to deThe conduct of Mrs. Taylor, as a fend." This interesting female had mother, is beyond all praise; and it is learned to boast of having vanquished needless to state, that the char- the "errors of her education," and acter of a daughter must be prodi- in the eagerness of thinking for hergiously influenced by the habits aud self, had trained herself to look with intercourses of a mother. great contempt upon all her early religious opinions. Her health became so indifferent as to render a removal to Devonshire highly expedient.-Never, however, was she permitted to reach it. Her disorder advanced with such rapidity, that she was from which she was never removed till after death. Happily she was taught, in her last days, to mourn, and to renounce the awful errors by which she had been bewildered;-and her dying words were-"My hope is in Christ,-in Christ crucified :-and I would not give up that hope for all the world." One delightful trait in the youthful history of Jane Taylor was the warmth and stability of her friendships. When she was but ten years of age, she wrote a most tender little poem, expressive of her pungent grief at parting with a friend, who left this compelled to stop at an inn by the way, country for New-England. When she had reached her thirteenth year, her father received an invitation to become the Pastor of an Independent congregation at Colchester, which, after due deliberation, he deemed it his duty to accept. In this new sphere, having recovered from a long indisposition, he addressed himself, with renewed vigour, to the education The constant aim of Miss Taylor's of his children, and here it was that parents was to impress the minds of Jane Taylor formed some of the their children with the powers of the choicest friendships of her existence; world to come; and there is reason friendships which nothing but the to believe, notwithstanding her timid grave could interrupt. Of one of and distrustful disposition, that at a the objects of these early friendships, very early period she was brought to the biographer of Miss Taylor thus the saving knowledge of the truth.— writes: "Those who may still re- "Her imagination," says her bromember Mira S. will allow that they ther, "susceptible as it was in the have rarely seen united so much in- highest degree to impressions of fear, telligence and sweetness of disposi- rendered her liable, at times, to those tion and loveliness of manners and deep and painful emotions which beperson. Her charm was that of long to a conscience that is enlightblended dignity and gentleness."--ened, but not fully pacified. And This interesting lady and her sisters these feelings when blended with the were cut off by fell disease, in the pensiveness of her tender heart, gave course of a few years; and the death a character of mournfulness and disof one of them, in particular, from the tress to her religious feelings during interest attaching to it, left a powerful several years. Some unfinished verimpression on the mind of Miss Tay-ses, written about this time, were evilor. She had become the victim of Socinianism, which "only twenty years ago," as Mr. Taylor observes, was much more specious than it is 66 dently composed under the influence of feelings too strong to allow the exercise of her poetic talents." The following extracts from letters written by her about this time, will show how much personal religion was an object of her devout concern: “Oh it is hard fighting in our own strength against the evil bias of the heart, and external enemies. Their united forces are, I am daily more convinced, far too much for any thing but grace to overcome. even supposes you to be an enemy to religious principles. If then you consider the pleasure it would afford her to find you seriously inquiring on such subjects, I think you will feel it to be an additional argument for the disclosure. Two or three years ago, my mind was in a state of extreme No good depression. For months I had been conflicting with the most distressing fear, and longing to disburden myself to my father. At last I could no longer support myself, and breaking through, what I had thought insurmountable difficulties, I opened my mind to him completely. It was a struggle; but the immediate relief I experienced fully repaid me; and the unspeakable benefit I have derived from the conversations I have since, from time to time, held with him, encourages me to pursue."-Memoirs, vol. i. p. 41. resolutions, no efforts of reason, no desire to please, can alone succeed: -they may varnish the character; but O! how insufficient are such motives for the trying occasions of common life. I would shine most at home; yet I would not be good for the sake of shining. And when thus I trace the subject to its principles, I find a change of heart can alone effect what I desire: "that new heart and right spirit,' which is the gift of God." Memoirs, vol. i. p. 41. On a subsequent occasion she writes in the following terms to the same friend. "I am grieved, my dear E, to hear from you so melancholy an account of the state of your mind. I wish I were a more able counsellor; or rather I wish you would overcome your feelings, and apply to those whose consolations and advice might be useful to you. I can sincerely sympathize with you in all your grief; I rejoice in having obtained your confidence; and I cannot make a better use of it than to urge you to seek some abler adviser. I speak from experience when I say, how much benefit you might derive from an open communication of your feelings to your dear mother. Well do I know how difficult it is is; yet the good to be gained is worthy the effort. You say she is so total a stranger to your feelings, that she When in my attic, with untold delight But it ought to be recorded, to the honour of the deceased, that the growth of her intellectual character was associated with no relaxation of those minutely domestic habits, which she acquired under the judicious instruction of her invaluable mother.— She dreaded nothing more than to acquire the reputation of a merely "literary lady,"-a phrase which too generally imports a high contempt for at the same time weighty duties of life. the common and unostentatious, but Of her manifold attainments, what she has written about this time, will show that she was happily, never puffed up. In a letter to her mother she says: "If, in comparison with some of my friends, others of them may appear less pleasing, or less intelligent; believe me, whenever I compare any with myself, the result is always humiliating. My dear mother, do me the justice to believe that, at whatever crevice my vanity may endeavour to creep out, it will ever fly from the literary corner of my character. I am not indifferent to the opinion of any one; though I never expect to acquire the philosophic serenity which shall enable me to regard the whole circle of my acquaintance with the same glow of affection, or smile of complacency.-Memoirs, p. 55. Miss T.'s relative character, as a child, a sister, and a friend, was of the most engaging description. At all times obliging and affectionate, in seasons of sickness she put forth the whole energy of her sympathies, and often became a sufferer herself, by what she endured on behalf of others. Her literary career, however, seemed in no way to interfere with her advancement in vital piety. Had her of the joys of faith, and the pleasures religion partaken, in a larger degree, of hope, it would have been worthy of universal imitation. Yet, even in these particulars her "path was like the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day." She seemed to cherish a deep jealousy of the deceitfulness of her heart, and often declined the expression of her religious feelings, for fear of sinking into a common-place hypocrisy. To a friend she thus writes, who endeavoured to console her under her spiritual depression:— "I dread, much more than total silence, the falling into a common-place, technical style of expression, without real meaning and feeling; and thereby, deceiving both myself and others. I well know how ready my friends are to give me encouragement; and how willing to hope the best concerning me. And as I cannot open to them the secret recesses of The first production of Miss T's my heart, they put a favourable conpen, which was given to the public, struction on every expression. You appeared in the Minor's Pocket Book, will not impute it to a want of confifor the year 1804, under the titledence, though I cannot speak gene"The Beggar Boy ;" and no one who marked the pathos, simplicity, and rally on this subject. **** Yet, sprightliness, of this juvenile effort, I do hope that I have of late seen could fail to predict the future cele- something of the vanity of the world; brity of its amiable author. The and increasingly feel that it cannot be publication of "Original Poems," to my rest. The companions of my which she had largely contributed; youth are no more :-our own doof "Rhymes for the Nursery"-mestic circle is breaking up: -time (some of which were written by Mrs. Gilbert,) of" The Associate Min- seems every day to fly with increased strels ;" (in which she wrote the "Remonstrance to Time," and "The Birth-day Retrospect ;") of Hymns for Infant Minds;" of "Display" of "Essays in Rhyme;" and finally, of "Contributions to the Youth's Magazine," more than realized the expectation of her most sanguine friends. rapidity; and must I not say, 'the world recedes?' Under these impressions, I would seek consolation where alone I know it is to be found. I long to make heaven and eternity the home of my thoughts, to which, though they must often wander abroad on other concerns, they may regularly |