The New Student's Reference Work/Taylor (James) Bayard

Tay′lor (James) Bayard, American author and traveler, was born at Kennett Square, Pa., on Jan. 11, 1825. At 17 he was apprenticed in a printing-office, and soon began to publish poems in newspapers and magazines. In 1844 he made a walking-tour of Europe, an account of which he published as Views Afoot. After writing for several newspapers, he joined the editorial staff of The New York Tribune, in which appeared accounts of travels in California, Mexico, up the Nile, in Asia Minor, India, China and Japan. In 1878 he became minister to Germany. Taylor was a quick worker, throwing off many volumes of verse, fiction, sketches, essays, translations and criticisms, besides his 11 books of travel. As an original poet he stands high in the second rank. Some of his best travesties are in his Echo Club. Among the finest of his poems are Bedouin Song, The Quaker Widow and The

Old Pennsylvania Farmer. His masterpiece is the translation of Goethe's Faust, “one of the glories of American literature” and one of the finest translations in any literature. Perhaps the best of his novels is The Story of Kennett, which largely is his own story. Taylor died at Berlin, Dec. 19, 1878. Consult Life by Conwell.