over a brewer's stable. His first dramatic composition was a rhymed fairy tale or extravaganza, written in conjunction with Albert Smith and Charles Kenny, and performed in 1846. From this time he wrote for the stage continuously till the close of his life, his dramatic compositions or adaptations numbering in all over 100, amongst the best known of which are Still Water Runs Deep, Victims, the Contested Election, the Overland Route, the Ticket of Leave Man, Anne Boleyn, and Joan of Arc. He may perhaps be regarded as the first dramatist of his time, so far as general appreciation goes; and, if his chief concern was the construction of a popular acting play, his dramas possess at the same time considerable literary excellence, while the characters are clearly and consistently drawn, and the dialogue is natural, yet nervous and pointed. In his blank verse historical dramas, such as Anne Boleyn and Joan of Arc, he was not so successful. Taylor was also a very frequent contributor to the light magazine literature of the day. In 1872 he withdrew from public life, and, on the death of Shirley Brooks in 1873, he became editor of Punch, He occasionally appeared with success in amateur theatricals, more especially in the character of Adam in As You Like It and of Jasper in A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing. He had some talent for painting, and for many years was art critic to the Times. He died at Lavender Sweep, Wandsworth, 12th July 1880.
Apart from the drama, his chief contributions to literature are his biographies of painters, viz., Autobiography of B. R. Haydon (1853); Autobiography and Correspondence of C. R. Leslie, R.A, (1859); and Life and Times of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1865), which had been left in a very incomplete state by Mr Leslie. His Historical Dramas appeared in one volume in 1877. He also edited, with a memorial preface, Pen Sketches from a Vanished Hand, selected from Papers of the late Mortimer Collins.
TAYLOR, Zachary (1784–1850), president of the United States, was born in Orange county, Virginia, November 24, 1784. He entered the army as lieutenant in 1808, and rose to the rank of major in the war with Great Britain which followed. At the outbreak of the Mexican War he was in command of the American forces in Louisiana and Texas, and was directed to make the advance into the disputed territory which brought on the war. Beating the Mexicans in two battles, he followed them into Mexico, and there defeated Santa Anna in the crowning battle of his campaign, Buena Vista (1847). Dissatisfied with his treatment by the administration, he resigned and returned to the United States, where the Whig party nominated him and elected him president (1848). The struggle over the question of the admission of slavery to the territory taken from Mexico occupied his term of office, and he died at Washington, July 9, 1850.
TCHERKASY (Polish Czerkasy), a district town of Russia, in the government of Kieff, and 190 miles by rail to the south-east of Kieff, on the right bank of the Dnieper. It is poorly built, mostly of wood; the population has rapidly increased lately, and has doubled since 1846, reaching 15,740 in 1883. There are now two gymnasiums for boys and girls, and several lower schools. The inhabitants (Little Russian) are mostly employed in agriculture and gardening. There is a brisk export trade in corn, refined sugar, tobacco, salt, and timber; raw sugar and manufactured goods are imported, principally by Jewish merchants.
Tcherkasy, formerly Tckerkassk, was an important town of the Ukraine in the 15th century, and remained so, under Polish rule, until the revolt of Hmelnitski, when it became free. When West Ukraine was taken again by Poland, most of its inhabitants migrated to the left bank of the Dnieper. It was annexed by Russia in 1795.
TCHERNIGOFF, a government of Little Russia, on the left bank of the Dnieper, bounded by Moghileff and Smolensk on the N., Orel and Kursk on the E., Poltava on the S., and Kieff and Minsk on the W., has an area of 20,233 square miles. Its surface is an undulating plain, 650 to 750 feet high in the north, and from 370 to 600 feet in the south, deeply grooved by ravines and the valleys of the rivers. In the north, “beyond the Desna,” about one-third of the area is under wood (which is rapidly disappearing), and marshes occur along the courses of the rivers; while to the south of the Desna the soil is dry, sometimes sandy, and assumes the characters of a steppe-land as one proceeds southward. Chalk deposits prevail in the north, and Eocene in the south. The government is watered by the Dnieper (which forms its western boundary for 178 miles) and its tributaries the Soj and the Desna. The latter, which flows through Tchernigoff for nearly 350 miles, is navigable, and timber is brought down its tributaries. Corn, linseed, timber, brandy, hemp, and sugar are shipped on the Dnieper, Soj, and Desna, and salt imported. The climate is much colder in the woody tracts of the north than in the south; the average yearly temperature at the town of Tchernigoff is 44°·4 (January, 23°; July, 68°·5).
The population, which is rapidly increasing, reached 1,996,250 in 1883. It is chiefly Little Russian (85·6 per cent.); Great Russians (6·1 per cent.), mostly Raskolniks, and White Russians (5·6 per cent.) inhabit the northern districts. Jews have spread rapidly since last century, and now number more than 45,000. There are, besides, some 20,000 Germans as well as Greeks at Nyezhin. Agriculture is the principal occupation; in the north, however, many of the inhabitants are engaged in the timber trade and various domestic industries. Cattle-breeding is carried on in the central districts, and there were in 1883 572,200 horses, 515,300 cattle, and 948,000 sheep. Beet is extensively cultivated, and in 1884 2 million cwts. of beet-root were delivered to the thirteen sugar-works within the government. The culture of tobacco is also increasing, upwards of 500,000 cwts. being produced annually. Hemp is widely cultivated in the north, and the milder climate of the south encourages gardening. Bee-keeping is extensively carried on by the Raskolniks. Tar, pitch, and a large variety of wooden manufactures are largely produced in the forest districts, as also are woven fabrics, felts, and leather wares. Limestone, grindstones, china-clay, and building stone are quarried. Manufactures have begun to develop rapidly of late; by 1881 their yearly production reached £1,340,000 (£860,000 from sugar-works and distilleries). Trade is active, especially since the opening of the railway between Kieff and Kursk, which runs through Tchernigoff. The government is divided into fifteen districts, the chief towns (with populations in 1885) being Tchernigoff (19,000), Borzna (13,700), Glukhoff (16,450), Gorodnya (3550), Konotop (16,420), Kozelets (4430), Krolevets (9190), Mglin (10,880), Kovgorod-Syeversk (8020), Novozybkoff (11,920), Nyezhin (43,020), Oster (3550), Sosnitsa (5650), Starodub (23,890 in 1880), and Surazh (3770). A number of unimportant towns (14 posads and 49 myestechki) possess municipal institutions.
TCHERNIGOFF, capital of the above government, stands on the right bank of the Desna, nearly half a mile from the river, 476 miles from Moscow. Far removed from the great channels of trade, its sole importance is as an administrative centre. Its houses are poorly built, and the streets are unpaved. The population (19,000 in 1885, one-third being Jews) is almost stationary. The ruins of its fortress, and the old cathedrals of Preobrazhenie and Borisoglebsk, founded in the 11th and 12th centuries, bear witness to the former importance of the town. Numerous graves scattered about, and now partly explored, speak of the battles which caused its decay.
Tchernigoff is known to have existed before the introduction of Christianity into Russia. In 907 it is mentioned in the treaty of Oleg as next to Kieff, and in the 11th century it became the capital of the principality of Syeversk and an important commercial city. The Mongolian invasion put an end to its growth. Lithuania annexed it in the 14th century, but it was soon seized by Poland, which held it until the 17th century. The great rising in 1648 rendered it independent until 1654, when the Cossacks accepted the protectorate of the czars of Moscow. In 1686 it was definitely annexed to Russia.
