It is a solemn yet pleasant duty to compile in comprehensive order the records of a life so eventful and influential as that of Bayard Taylor. It is solemn, because the sad tears which began to flow at his death, are coursing freely still. Pleasant, because there is no task more satisfactory than that of recounting the deeds of a virtuous, industrious, heroic life. No test-book of morals, or of general history, is so effective in educating the young as the annals of well-spent years, gathered for that purpose. There is more or less influence in fables and mythological tales; and there is considerable power in a well written, skilfully plotted work of fiction; but the direct and unavoidable appeal of a noble life, which has closed with honor and deserved renown, is far more potent and permanent in the culture and reformation of the world, than all other forms of intellectual and moral quickening. No apology is needed for writing such a biography. It would be inexcusable to leave the world in need of it. When the time comes for a book more complete in its arrangement and details, and more select in its diction, this will find its proper place in library and reading-room. Until that time it may be at work renewing the memories of a friend, refreshing the recollection of his sweet words, and calling the attention of the stranger to the American who[6] has paid to Europe some of the literary debt we have owed so long. The writer does not expect that this book will occupy the permanent place in literature, which he sincerely hopes will reward those authors who may follow him on this same topic. Written amid the pressing calls of a busy profession, and in the season when lyceum lecture engagements, which he could not postpone, have kept him continually away from his home; he has attempted nothing more than to give an outline of a remarkable life, for the purpose of satisfying the present demand. Errors may be found by critics, such as all hastily written volumes are liable to contain; but should this work, as a whole, incline the reader to honor the manhood, love the poetry, and revere the memory of one whom the writer for many years has admired and loved, it will answer the purpose for which it has been written.
The author cannot do less than acknowledge, in this place, his great obligations to the father and mother of Mr. Taylor, to Mrs. Annie Carey, his sister, and to Dr. Franklin Taylor, his cousin, for their generous courtesy and most important assistance in gathering the facts for this volume.
All the poetical quotations in this book are from Taylor’s poetical works.
The account of the funeral found in this volume was written subsequent to the other portions of the work, as the obsequies and burial took place after the first edition was printed and sold.