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PREFACE.

SHORTLY after the death of the late Mr. J. Sydney Taylor, a public meeting † was convened to deliberate on any measures to be proposed in regard to his memory. This meeting having been called by advertisement, was numerously as well as most respectably attended; and it was unanimously resolved, first,—to provide a public monument, with a suitable inscription: secondly,—to preserve to society a selection of his writings.

In order to carry into effect these resclutions a committee was then appointed, at the head of which was his Grace the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, with whose private friendship the deceased had for many years been honoured. Sir John Chetwode, Bart. M.P., (chairman of this meeting)-magistrate of a county in which Mr. Sydney Taylor's professional talents and private virtues were well known, was also of the number; together with Admiral Mangin (another personal friend), William Ewart, Esq., M.P., several members of the bar, both of the Norfolk and other circuits, and various gentlemen-differing in their political or religious sentiments, but-all agreeing in the opinion contained in a letter of the venerable Clarkson, then read, that "Sydney Taylor ought to be placed among the most valuable benefactors of mankind :”—all agreeing in the opinion expressed at this meeting, that "Sydney Taylor's writings were the best testimonial to his character."

+ See p. li.

iv

PREFACE.

Under the superintendence of a committee so constituted,
this volume has been compiled. The sources from which
the materials have been derived, are, the private papers,
including some letters, of Mr. Sydney Taylor; and publica-
tions to which he-anonymously for the greater part-was a
contributor. These were mostly periodicals, and they include,
in particular, the file of the Morning Herald. As the articles
he furnished to that journal were generally penned "on the
spur of the occasion," and dispatched to the editor just
upon the eve of their going to press,-consequently without
his own revision,-it might have been expected that many
corrections would be needful. This, however, has not been
found to be the case; and except in a few verbal instances
too unimportant to require.further notice, the text appears
as originally printed-tite asterisks denoting parts omitted.

As to the arrangement.of the subjects, it has been thought
best to leave it rather poisonous.-But the Table of Contents
will aid in making references where required.

London, June 30, 1843.

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