Early Prose and Poetical Works of John Taylor, the Water Poet

compelled by stress of weather to land at Cromer, the whole town became alarmed. He and his men were mistaken for pirates, and were put under custody, and guards set over the wherry. In the following year he made a somewhat similar voyage, "A New Discovery by sea with a wherry from London to Salisbury," and which he describes as the worst, or the best, for toil, travel, or danger, that he had yet made. A number of other such journeys were made to various parts, each one resulting in a book with an odd title. And notwithstanding all these peregrinations, there was over and above a continual flow of other literary productions coming from his pen on all sorts of subjects, some of them in verse, others again being in prose.

The year 1630 must have been a notable and rather an anxious time for the poet. As in that year was published in one very large folio volume, a collected edition of all his writings up to that period. The whole representing over six hundred closely printed, double column pages, and including no fewer than sixty-three separate works. Such being the number, that the writings of The Water Poet had accumulated to, in the course of the eighteen years since he first took up the pen. The undertaking was so great that in order to get finished without delay, it had to be divided among four different printers, this resulting naturally in a good deal of confusion and mismanagement, of which the volume bears abundant traces. It was certainly a bold venture to publish such an immense volume, and must have cost a very large sum of money. This volume is now extremely scarce, and fetches from fifteen to twenty pounds according to condition. About one-third of the volume is prose and the other two-thirds consist of verse.

Having published a collected edition of his works, one might have supposed that possibly The Water Poet contemplated the cessation of such work, all the more so that in total volume or amount, they exceeded the writings of any of his four contemporaries already named. But it would appear that he had no idea of thus closing this, to him, delightful outlet for his mental activity and energy. The stream of new works from his pen continued as great as ever. He also continued to indulge in sundry journeyings both by sea and land.

Long prior to his decease, Taylor abandoned the calling of waterman, and, instead, settled down to the trade of licenced victualler. His tavern he christened by the name of the Poet's Head, it was

situated in Phoenix Alley, Long Acre, Covent Garden.

This change, no doubt, suited a person of the mature years that he had now arrived at, much better. And it afforded to him the additional advantage of a convenient publishing office for his now very numerous books and pamphlets. All the later literary productions have, as publisher, his own name at the foregoing address. John Taylor, The Water Poet, died in 1653, and was buried on the 5th of December in the churchyard of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields-the parish in which his combined dwelling-house, tavern, and publishing depot, was situated.

come.

In the volume published in 1630 we of course find the complete writings up to that year, and these, as already mentioned, amounted to sixty-three in number. The exact number of Taylor's writings after that date will probably never be fully known. That they at least exceed seventy additional there can be no doubt, as printed lists of the titles of more than that number have been given by bibliographers. But since the time at which the latest of these lists was compiled, a number of fresh discoveries have been made, and which of course are not included. And in the circumstances, we cannot doubt that fresh discoveries will continue to be made for many years to The reason of the extreme rarity is, that most of the works were simply pamphlets without any protecting boards; and pamphlets, as a rule, get tossed aside and destroyed pretty much as in the case of newspapers. Concerning these various pamphlets, they are so much prized and competed for, by book collectors, that when they do turn up, they can seldom be had for less than several pounds each. Thus entirely putting them out of the reach of the ordinary reader. Many years ago a reprint in three volumes folio, of the 1630 collection was brought out by one of the literary societies. But extremely few copies seem to have been printed, and it appears to be as scarce, or even more so, than the original brought out by the author. Whether an attempt will ever be made to publish as complete an edition, as present knowledge and circumstances will permit of, remains to be seen. The undertaking, though highly desirable, would certainly prove one of stupendous magnitude and expense.

Boeken