William Taylor
Contributions
- The Cabinet. By a Society of Gentlemen author translator
Knows
- Anna Letitia Barbauld poet teacher writer
- Benjamin Flower journalist publisher writer
- Louis-Félix Guinement de Kéralio civil servant historian journalist military teacher translator writer
- François-Alexandre-Frédéric, duc de La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt diplomat economist freemason journalist military politician traveller writer
- James Mackintosh historian journalist jurist philosopher physician politician professor writer
- John Pitchford scientist translator writer
- Richard Price cleric philosopher translator writer
- A Society of Gentlemen political organisation
Notes
Son of a Unitarian merchant, Taylor was a political radical, polyglot scholar and essayist sometimes called William Taylor of Norwich. In 1774 he was sent to the recently opened school at Palgrave, near Diss, run by Rochemont and Anna Letitia Barbauld. The latter made a profound impact on Taylor, who subsequently described her as "the mother of his mind". From 1789 he made important translations of Goethe, Lessing, Wieland and Burger, which he published from 1793–1805 making him England's foremost Germanist.
In November 1789 he helped to found the Norwich Revolution Society and became its correspondence secretary. He also contributed pseudonymous letters on political matters to various papers including the Cambridge Intelligencer. On 9 May 1790, he visited Paris, with letters from Dr Richard Price to the duc de La Rochefoucauld and Monsieur de Kéralio (see Robberds, i: 67ff) and stayed for a month. On his return, he wrote a series of articles for the Cambridge Chronicle under 'A friend to liberty' and translated part of the decree passed by the National Assembly on 22 December 1789, which related to the constitution, adding many notes of his own on its different articles. He intended it for publication but after the indifferent reception to his philosophical commentary from the Norwich Revolution Society, where he read it out, he decided not to. They were eventually published in volume 8 of the Monthly Magazine (1799) (Robberds, i: 74). On being presented with a copy of Mackintosh's 'Vindiciae Gallicae' by the author, he responded with a sonnet which laid out his political sympathies.
From 1793, he worked as a reviewer for the Monthly Review and then the Annual Review before editing the whiggish Norwich paper, The Iris and writing for the Cabinet (as 'G') and the Critical Review. While his literary output was considerable he became more famous amongst his contemporaries for his legendary drunkenness. According to Robberds, he contributed amongst other articles to the Monthly Review, a Plan of a Constitution for a Republic (i: 168),
For more, see J. W. Robberds, 'A memoir of the life and writings of the late William Taylor of Norwich' (1843, 2 volumes).