capture the Kirwee treasure, subsequently the object of so much litigation, and out of which Taylor himself never received a rupee. In the same year (1858) he was appointed commissioner of his old district of Shorapore, which his former pupil, the raja, had forfeited by rebellion against the British government. The narrative of the raja's tragic death, in strange fulfilment of a prediction, makes one of the most stirring chapters in Taylor's autobiography. In 1860 his health failed, and he returned to England amid the liveliest demonstrations of regret from all quarters of India. After an interval of enforced rest from a temporary impairment of brain power, he resumed the pen, and wrote five more novels, ‘Tara, a Mahratta Tale’ (London, 1863 and 1874), ‘Ralph Darnell’ (1865 and 1879), ‘Seeta’ (1872 and 1880), ‘Tippoo Sultaun, a Tale of the Mysore War’ (1840 and 1880), and ‘A Noble Queen,’ published in the ‘Indian Mail’ and posthumously in book form (London, 1878 and 1880), all descriptive of eventful periods in Indian history. He also, besides the autobiography published after his death, wrote the letterpress for illustrated descriptions of the temples of Beejapore, Mysore, and Dharwar (1866), and for ‘The People of India’ (1868), as well as ‘A Student's Manual of the History of India’ (London, 1870, 1871, and 1896), and delivered many addresses and lectures on Indian topics. He was made a companion of the Star of India in 1869. In 1875 his sight failed, and by advice of physicians he determined to spend the winter in India, where he was further debilitated by an attack of jungle fever. He died at Mentone, on his way home, on 13 May 1876.
The only important authority for Meadows Taylor's life is his autobiography, one of the most transparently truthful documents ever penned. It was published in two volumes under the title ‘The Story of my Life,’ edited by his daughter, Miss A. M. Taylor, and with a preface by his old friend and kinsman Henry Reeve [q. v.] (London, 1877, 8vo; 1878 and 1882). With perfect simplicity and sincerity, and only because he could not help it, the author has drawn in his own person a portrait of the chivalrous officer, the laborious and philanthropic magistrate, and the man of versatile accomplishment, able on an emergency to turn his hand to anything. Had he been in the employment of the crown or the company, whether as soldier or civilian, he must have left a name second to few; but his situation in the employment of a native prince, even though at the same time responsible to the British resident, impaired his chances of promotion, and cramped his opportunities of distinction. He was, however, able to demonstrate in this narrow sphere the lesson he chiefly wished to enforce, ‘that ability, happiness, and success in the great work of ruling India depend very much upon the estimate formed of the native character, and on respect and regard shown to the natives in the several ranks of society.’ As a man of letters, Taylor occupies a unique position among Anglo-Indian writers. Many excellent pictures of Indian life have been given in fiction, but no one else has essayed to delineate the most critical epochs of Indian history in a series of romances: ‘Tara’ treats of the establishment of the Mahratta power, 1657; ‘Ralph Darnell’ of the conquests of Clive; ‘Tippoo Sultaun’ of the conquest of Mysore; and ‘Seeta’ of the mutiny. They are one and all brilliant books, rich in striking character and picturesque incident, and displaying the most intimate acquaintance with native life and habits of thought. ‘Confessions of a Thug,’ the most entertaining of Taylor's fictions, owes everything to his observation, being literal fact in the garb of imaginative narrative.
[Meadows Taylor's Story of my Life, 1877.]
TAYLOR, MICHAEL ANGELO (1757–1834), politician, son and heir of Sir Robert Taylor [q. v.], was born in 1757. He matriculated from Corpus Christi College, Oxford, as gentleman-commoner on 21 Oct. 1774, and graduated B.A. from that body in 1778, but proceeded M.A. from St. John's College in 1781. When only twelve years old he was admitted to the Inner Temple (19 Jan. 1769), but changed to Lincoln's Inn on 30 Nov. 1770. He was called to the bar at the latter inn on 12 Nov. 1774.
At the general election of 1784 Taylor embarked on politics, and contested as a tory the boroughs of Preston in Lancashire and Poole in Dorset. He was at the bottom of the poll at the former place, where he relied upon the support, and had a majority, of the ‘in-burgesses’ of the borough. His opponents contended that the right of voting was not limited to that section, but comprised all the inhabitants, and on a petition it was so settled (Dobson, Preston Parl. Representation, 2nd edit. p. 46). He became recorder of Poole in 1784, and was member of parliament for that borough from 1784 to 1790. He contested Poole again in 1790, but was not returned, and came in for Heytesbury at a by-election on 22 Dec. 1790. The return for Poole was
