TAYLOR, ISAAC (1787-1865). An English miscellaneous writer, inventor, and artist, born at Lavenham, in Suffolk. He studied engraving under the direction of his father, with whom he executed the plates for Boydell's Illustrations of Holy Writ (1820), commended for their orig inality by Rossetti. Turning to literature, he joined the staff of the Eclectic Review (1818), for which he continued to write for many years. Some time before this he had begun the study of patristic literature and of Lord Bacon. He was known as the great lay preacher of his time. Of his publications we may mention: Time Ele ments of Thought (1823; 11th ed. 1867), which grew out of his early studies of Bacon arid the Church Fathers; a translation of the Characters of Theophrastus (1824) with etchings by him self; Time Natural History of Enthusiasm (1829; 10th ed. 1845) ; Saturday Evening (1832), a de votional volume which had an immense sale in England and the United States; Home Education 183S: 7th ed. 1867) ; a translation of the Jew ish Wars of Josephus (1847 and 1851) ; Ancient Christianity and the Doctrines of the Oxford Tracts (8 parts, 1839-40; 4th ed. 1844) ; and
The Spirit of Hebrew Poetry (1861). His sisters JANE (1783-1824) and ANN (1782-1866), after wards Mrs. Gilbert of Nottingham, became well known for their children's verses. Their Original Poems for Infant Minds (1804-05), which ran through more than fifty editions in England and America, were also translated into German, Dutch, and Russian. Equally popular was Rhymes for the Nursery (1806), containing from Jane the familiar "Twinkle, twinkle, little star." The sisters also produced Hymns for Infant Minds (1810). which has passed through about one hundred editions. Ann wrote the hymn be ginning "I thank the Goodness and the Grace." Consult: the Taylors of Ongar, by Isaac Taylor (London, ]S67) ; the of Mrs. Gil bert, ed. by Josiah Gilbert (ih., 1S74) ; and the Poetical Works of Ann and Jane Taylor (ib., 1877).