Taylor, John (1)

"the Water Poet," was born at Gloucester, England, in 1580, and was educated at a free school in that town. He went to London, where he was apprenticed to a waterman, and followed this occupation for the most of his life; hence his appellation of "the Water Poet." He was also collector of the wine fees for the lieutenant of the Tower, and keeper of a public-house at Oxford and Westminster. He died in 1654. His productions, in prose and verse, number about 140, among which we notice, Urania, etc., with a Narration of the Thirteen Sieges and Six Sackings of Jerusalem, etc. (1615, 8vo): — Superbice Flagellum, or the Whip of Pride ( 1621, 8vo): — Against Cursing and Swearing, in prose and verse (Works, 1, 39-55): — The Life and Death, of the Most Blessed among Women, the Virgin Mary, etc. (1622, 8vo): — Verbum Sempiternum, an epitome of the Old Test. in verse (Works, pt. 3): — Salvator Mundi, an epitome of the New Test. in verse (with preceding, in 1693, 64mo, called The Thumb Bible ): — Book of Martyrs (1639, 18mo) ( Works, 3, 136-141): — The Church's Deliverances, from the year 1565 to 1630, in verse (Works, 3, 142-146): — A Swarm of Sectaries and Schismatiques (1641, 4to). For full list and description of works, see Allibone, Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Authors, s.v.