54 Biographical Notice of the late Richard Taylor, F.L.S. 



the profession of a printer — a profession to which he became 

 ardently attached. On Sir James Smith's recommendation, he 

 was apprenticed to Mr. Davis of Chancery Lane, Loudon, a 

 printer of eminence, from whose press issued many scien- 

 tific works of importance. During this period of his life, his 

 leisure hours seem to have been employed in the study not only 

 of the classics, but also of the mediaeval Latin and Italian authors, 

 especially the poets, of whose writings he formed a curious 

 collection. From these, his "old dumps" as he was wont to 

 call them, he derived great pleasm'c to the last moments of his life. 

 He also became a proficient scholar in French, Flemish, Anglo- 

 Saxon and several of the kindred Teutonic dialects, — a proficiency 

 which afterwards proved of eminent utility in his professional 

 career, by far the greater number of the Anglo-Saxon works, and 

 works connected with that branch of literature, published in 

 London dm'ing the last forty years, having issued from his press. 

 On the expiration of his apprenticeship, he carried on business 

 for a short time in Chancery Lane, in partnership with a Mr. 

 Wilks ; but on his birthday in the year 1803, at the age [of 

 twenty-two, he established himself, in partnership with his 

 father, in Blackhorse Court, Fleet Street, from whence he soon 

 after removed to Shoe Lane, and subsequently to Red Lion 

 Court. His press speedily became the medium through which 

 nearly all the more important works in scientific natural history 

 were ushered into the world ; and the careful accuracy by which 

 all its productions were distiuguished led to a rapid extension of 

 its use. It was immediately adopted by the Liunsean Society; 

 the Royal Society and many other learned bodies succeeded ; 

 individual members naturally followed the example of the 

 Societies to which they belonged ; and the same valuable qualities 

 which had rendered it so acceptable to men of science were 

 equally appreciated by those engaged in other pursuits. The 

 beautiful editions of the Classics which pi'oceeded from it, soon 

 rendered his favourite device (the lamp receiving oil, with its 

 motto of " Alere flammam ") as familiar to all who had received a 

 classical education in England as it had been from the beginning 

 to the world of science. It would be tedious to enumerate even 

 the more important of these works ; but there is one in all 

 respects so remarkable as to deserve especial mention. This is 

 the facsimile of the Psalms from the Codex Alexandrinus, edited 

 by the Rev. H. H. Baber, "at whose chambers in the British 

 Museum," says Mr. Taylor in his Diary, under date of the 11th 

 Nov. 1811, "I have collated the proofs of the fii'st and second 

 sheets with the Codex letter by letter, and I intend, if possible, 

 to do the same for all the rest." A more striking proof could 

 not be adduced of his strict attention to the accui'acy of his 



