533 



TAY TAYLOR. 



indemnification being provided for those who suffer 

 by the measure. Tln-r UMUptiOM had their 

 origin in a time of limited views. As to the 

 exemption from taxes of particular kinds of pro- 

 pi rty. the mo-t remarkable is that which is granted 

 to certain landed estates. This privilege is usually 

 justified by the following reasons: 1. that one 

 estate has undertaken to pay the tax of another. 

 In this way the nobility have often endeavoured to 

 defend the exemption of their estates, by pretending 

 that their ancestors had ceded part of their land- 

 to the peasants, on condition that the latter, in ad- 

 dition to some labour on the lord's estate, should 

 I ay the taxes of the same, from the produce of 

 their farms. Such a contract might have been 

 legally made, and might stand good, if it had been 

 concluded for a fixed proportion of taxes, and the 

 agreement could be clearly proved ; but no com- 

 pact can be acknowledged as binding, by which one 

 side undertakes to relieve the other from the 

 burden of all future taxes, since no one can know 

 wliHt their amount may become, and whether the 

 land granted would be a proper equivalent ; for, in 

 every contract, the nature of the obligation should 

 be definite. But in addition to the fact, that such 

 contracts are mere fictions, the state should allow 

 them no validity, because they give to taxes the 

 appearance of an ignominious burden an idea 

 which no government should favour. 2. Govern- 

 ments have sometimes allowed individuals, and even 

 whole nations, to redeem themselves from a certain 

 tax, for a gross sum ; as, for instance, in England, 

 in the case of the land tax. Such contracts must be 

 kept ; but no individual, still less a whole class, or 

 nation, can purchase an entire exemption from taxes, 

 because the amount of future taxes cannot be esti- 

 mated, and, consequently, their value cannot be set- 

 tled. This would be to sell the very means of the 

 state's existence. To sell an improper tax, in order 

 to establish a better, as was done with the land tax 

 in England, may be advisable, and certain objects 

 may thus, for a time, be exempted from taxes ; 

 but this is no reason for releasing the income which 

 they afford, for all future times, from taxes. 3. 

 Finally, the privilege of exemption never can be 

 considered as absolutely irrevocable, but is subject 

 to be judged on the general principle of utility, 

 like all other positive laws and institutions; and 

 if found inapplicable, injurious, and oppressive to 

 other classes of citizens, such laws must be amended 

 or abolished. As the state ought never to persist 

 in old errors at the expense of its citizens, so, on 

 the other hand, those who are to lose the privilege 

 of exemption from taxes should be indemnified for 

 it according to equitable principles. 



TAY, a river of Scotland, which rises in the 

 west part of Perthshire, passes through Loch Tay, 

 and runs into the German sea, forming a large bay 

 at its mouth, called the Frith of Tay. It is navi- 

 gable for vessels of five hundred tons to Newburgh, 

 in Fife, and for vessels of considerable size as far 

 as Perth. The salmon fishery on the Tay is ex- 

 tensive. 



TAYLOR, JANE; an amiable and accomplished 

 female writer, was born Sept. 23, 1783, in London. 

 Her father was a highly respectable artist. While 

 quite young, she gave evident indications of poetic 

 talent. Mr Taylor became, in 1792, pastor of a 

 dissenting congregation at Colchester, whither he 

 carried his daughters, and taught them his own art 

 of engraving. In the intervals between these pur- 

 suits, Miss Taylor committed the effusions of her 



genius to writing, and contributed to the Minor'* 

 Poeket Book, a small publication, in which her 

 first work, the Beggar Boy, appeared in 1804. 

 From this period, until LSI 8, she continued to 

 publish occasionally miscellaneous pieces in verse, 

 of which the principal are Original Pocii>s fur In- 

 fant Minds (in two volumes); Rhymes for the 

 Nursery (in one); and some verses in the Associate 

 .Minstrels. A prose composition of higher preten- 

 sion, which appeared in 1815, under the name of 

 Display, met with much success. Her last and 

 principal work consists of Essays in I thyme on 

 Morals and Manners, didactic poems, written with 

 much elegance and feeling. This amiable and in- 

 tellectual female died of a pulmonary complaint, in 

 April, 1823. 



TAYLOR, JEREMY, an eminent divine and 

 prelate of the Irish church, was born in the year 

 1613, at Cambridge, where his father was a barber. 

 He was educated at Perse's free school in his native 

 place, and entered, in 162G, a sizar in Caius college, 

 where he continued until he had graduated master 

 of arts. Entering into orders, he occasionally lec- 

 tured for a friend at St Paul's cathedral, where he 

 attracted the attention of archbishop Laud, who 

 procured him a fellowship of All Souls college, 

 Oxford, and, in 1640, obtained for him the rectory 

 of Uppingham. In 1642, he was created doctor of 

 divinity at Oxford, at which time he was chaplain 

 in ordinary to Charles I., whom he attended in 

 some of his campaigns, and aided by several writ- 

 ings in defence of the church of England. After 

 the parliament proved victorious, his living being 

 sequestrated, he retired into Wales, where he \v:is 

 kindly received by the earl of Carbery, under whose 

 protection he was allowed to exercise his ministry, 

 and keep a school. In this obscure situation he 

 wrote those copious and fervent discourses, whose 

 fertility of composition, eloquence of expression, 

 and comprehensiveness of thought, have rendered 

 him one of the first writers in the English language. 

 The death of three sons within a short period, 

 rendered a change of place necessary for the resto- 

 ration of his tranquillity, and he removed to Lon- 

 don, and officiated, not without danger, to privale 

 congregations of royalists. At length he accepted 

 an invitation from lord Conway to reside at his 

 seat in Ireland, where he remained until the resto- 

 ration, when he was elevated to the Irish see of 

 Down and Connor, with the administration of that 

 of Dromore. He was also made a privy counsellor 

 for Ireland, and chosen vice-chancellor of the uni- 

 versity of Dublin. He conducted himself, on his 

 advancement, with all the attention to his duties, 

 public and private, which had ever distinguished 

 him in humble situations. Piety, humility, and 

 charity were his leading characteristics; and, on 

 his death, at Lisburne, August 13, 1667, he left 

 but very moderate fortunes to his three daughters. 

 Taylor possessed the advantages of a comely per- 

 son and a melodious voice, which were further set 

 off by the most urbane manners and agreeable con- 

 versation. His works have been printed in four, 

 and also in six volumes folio, a great part of which 

 consists in sermons and devotional pieces. There 

 are likewise several treatises, one of the most re- 

 markable of which is entitled, A Discourse ot the 

 Liberty of Prophesying (Preaching), (4to., 1647), 

 which pleads eloquently and strenuously for liberty 

 of conscience. Of the other writings of this pre- 

 late, the most generally known are his Golden 

 Grove, or Manual of daily Prayers; his treatises 



