John Taylor the Water Poet

John Taylor was apprenticed to a London waterman, then pressed into naval service (1596-97). He devised a river-pageant for Princess Elizabeth in 1613, afterwards writing lord mayor's pageants and publishing prolifically — sixty pamphlets were collected in the edition of 1630. He was a friend and admirer of George Wither and Ben Jonson.

TEXT RECORDS:

1620The Praise of Hemp-Seed.
1621Taylor's Motto.
1632To Any Body.
1648Drunken Don Quixote, ali-ass Wittypoll.

PUBLICATIONS:

The sculler, rowing from Tiber to Thames. 1612.
Greate Britaine, all in blacke. 1612.
Laugh and be fat: or, a commentary upon the Odcombyan banket. 1612?
Heavens blessing, and earths joy. 1613.
Odcombs complaint. 1613.
The eighth wonder of the world. 1613.
The nipping or snipping of abuses. 1614.
The pennyles pilgrimage, or the money-lesse perambulation, of J. Taylor. 1618.
Mr. Thomas Coriat to his friends in England sendeth greeting. 1618.
A kicksey winsey. 1619.
Taylor his travels; from the citty of London in England, to the Citty of Prague in Bohemia. 1620.
The praise, antiquity, and commodity, of beggery, beggers, and begging. 1621.
Taylor's motto. Et habeo, et careo, et curo. 1621.
A common whore with all these graces grac'd. 1622.
An arrant thiefe. 1622.
Sir Gregory Nonsence his newes from no place. 1622.
The praise and vertue of a jayle, and jaylers. 1623.
Taylors pastorall. 1624.
A bawd. 1624?
The fearefull summer, or Londons calamity. 1625.
A dog of war. 1628?
All the workes of John Taylor. 1630.
The olde, old, very olde man or the age and long life of Thomas Par. 1635.
A swarme of sectaries, and schismatiques. 1641.
A reply as true as steele. 1641.
A pedlar and a Romish priest. 1641.
Mad fashions, old fashions, all out of fashions. 1642.
A full and compleat answer against the writer of a late volume set forth, entitled A tale in a tub. 1642.
A plea for preogative. 1642.
Mad verse, sad verse, glad verse and bad verse. 1644.
Aqua-musae. 1645.
John Taylor's wander to see the wonders of the west. 1649.
A short relation of a long journey. 1652.
A certain traveiles of an uncertaine journey. 1653.
Works. 5 vols, 1870-78.

PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:

English
Anglican

no formal education

laborer
poet

Rev. Robert Anton
Nicholas Breton
John Davies of Hereford
Thomas Dekker
Thomas Heywood
Ben Jonson
Martin Parker
Samuel Rowlands
George Wither

REFERENCE:

DNB; NCBEL; DLB.

[Portrait in Memorial of all the English Monarchs (1622)]; John Aubrey, Brief Lives (1669-1696) ed. Clark (1898) 2:252-54; William Winstanley, Lives of the Most Famous English Poets (1687); Anthony Wood, Athenae Oxonienses (1690-91; 1721); Giles Jacob, An Historical Account of ... English Poets (1720); Alexander Pope, Dunciad (1728; 1743); Cibber-Shiels, Lives of the Poets (1753) 9-11; James Granger, Biographical History (1769; 1824) [portrait]; Biographia Dramatica (1782; 1812); Francis Godolphin Waldron, in Biographical Mirror (1795, 1798) [portrait]; Censura Literaria 2 (1806) 368-73, 6 (1808) 371-81; Restituta 4 (1816) 155-60, 354-57; Alexander Chalmers, General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17); Restituta or ... English Literature Revived (1814-16); John Nichols, Illustrations of the Literary History of the XVIII Century (1817-58) 8:382; Robert Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica (1824); Edward Farr, Select Poetry, chiefly sacred, of the Reign of King James the First (1847); Chambers's Cyclopaedia of English Literature 3rd ed. (1876); Thomas Corser, Collectanea Anglo-Poetica 10 (1880) 286-308; Robert Southey, in Lives of the Uneducated Poets (1831); Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); Moulton, Library of Literary Criticism (1901-05); R. B. Dow "The Life and Times of John Taylor the Water Poet" M.A. Thesis, Harvard University, 1930; Bush, OHEL (1945); Unwin (1954) 21-23; Wallace Notestein, Four Worthies (1956); Saunders, Renaissance Poets (1983); Chadwyck-Healey English Poetry Database (1995).

COMMENTARY RECORDS
for John Taylor the Water Poet:

1.	1612  Nicholas Breton, "In laudem Authoris" Taylor, The Sculler, rowing from Tiber to Thames (1612) sig. A3v.
2.	1612  Samuel Rowlands, "To my loving Friend John Taylor" Taylor, The Sculler, rowing from Tiber to Thames (1612) sig. A4.
3.	1614  Robert Anton, in Taylor, The Nipping or Snipping of Abuses (1614) sig. ¶3v.
4.	1615  John Davies of Hereford, "In laudem Authoris" John Taylor, Taylor's Urania (1615) sig. A3.
5.	1615  Thomas Dekker, "To my Friend John Taylor" John Taylor, Taylor's Urania (1615) sig. A5-A5v.
6.	1616  Robert Anton, in "Sixth Satyr of Mercurie" Philosophers Satyrs (1616) 64.
7.	1622  Richard Hatton, in Taylor, An Arrant Thiefe, whom every Man may trust (1622) sig. A2.
8.	1633  Martin Parker, "To that mighty Neptune of the Thames, great Master of the ancient and renowned Fraternity of Oares and Scullers, his ever honored and worthily admired Friend, Master John Taylor, the Water-Poet: M. P. wisheth all the Content that Land and Water can affoord him" Parker, The Legend of Leonard Lackwit (1633) sig. A3-A3v.
9.	1640  Ben Jonson, in Timber, or Discoveries (1640) 97.
10.	1645  Samuel Sheppard, in The Times Displayed in Six Sestyads (1646) 21.
11.	1645  George Wither, in Great Assises holden in Parnassus (1645) 9.
12.	1651  Samuel Sheppard, "To John Taylor (commonly called) the Water-Poet" Sheppard, Epigrams (1651) 148-49.
13.	1655  William Winstanley, in The Muses Cabinet (1655); Censura Literaria 5 (1807) 130.
14.	1743  Alexander Pope, in The Dunciad (1743); Works, ed. Warton (1796-97) 5:179-80 & n.
15.	1758  Anonymous, "Epistle to Mr. Dodsley" in Newcastle General Magazine 11 (October 1758) 528.
16.	1797  George Dyer, in The Poet's Fate, a Poetical Dialogue (1797) 36-37 &n.
17.	1808  Anonymous, "Taylor the Water Poet" The Monthly Magazine 25 (May 1808) 332.
18.	1824  Thomas Frognall Dibdin, in Library Companion (1824; 1825) 2:728n.
19.	1824  Bryan Waller Procter, in Effigies Poeticae, or, the Portraits of the British Poets (1824) 38-39.
20.	1834  Robert Aris Willmott, in Lives of Sacred Poets (1834) 153-54.
21.	1847  Edward Farr, in Select Poetry, chiefly sacred, of the Reign of King James the First (1847) xxxvi.
22.	1859  David Masson, in Life of John Milton (1859-94; 1965) 1:482-84.
23.	1866  John Payne Collier, "Praise of Hemp-Seed" in Bibliographical and Critical Account of the Rarest Books (1866) 4:135-37.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for John Taylor the Water Poet:

1.	1680 ca.  John Aubrey, in Brief Lives, 1669-1696; ed. Clark (1898) 2:252-54.
2.	1687  William Winstanley, Lives of the Most Famous English Poets (1687) 167-69.
3.	1690  Anthony Wood, Athenae Oxonienses (1690-91; 1721) 2:393.
4.	1720  Giles Jacob, in Historical Account of the Lives and Writings of our most considerable English Poets (1720) 210-11.
5.	1753  Anonymous, in Cibber-Shiels, Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) 2:9-11.
6.	1769  James Granger, in Biographical History of England (1769; 1824) 2:135.
7.	1812  Alexander Chalmers, in General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17) 29:175-77.
8.	1831  Robert Southey, "Taylor the Water Poet" in Attempts in Verse by John Jones ... and an Introductory Essay on the Lives and Works of our uneducated Poets (1831) 14-87.
9.	1876  Robert Carruthers, in Chambers's Cyclopaedia of English Literature, 3rd ed. (1876; 1879) 2:68.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)

1.	1612  Thomas Heywood:   John Taylor the Water Poet, "To my approved good Friend M. Thomas Heywood" Heywood, An Apology for Actors (1612) sigs a3v-a4.
2.	1612  Ben Jonson:   John Taylor the Water Poet, "To my deere respected Friend Mr. Benjamin Johnson" Taylor, The Sculler, rowing from Tiber to Thames (1612) sig. A2v.
3.	1614  Samuel Daniel:   John Taylor the Water Poet, "Anagram: "To the worthy Gentleman Master Samuel Daniel" Taylor, The Nipping or Snipping of Abuses (1614) sig. E4.
4.	1614  Joshua Sylvester:   John Taylor the Water Poet, in "the Description of naturall English Poetry" Taylor, The Nipping or Snipping of Abuses (1614) sigs B2v-B3.
5.	1614  George Wither:   John Taylor the Water Poet, in "the Description of naturall English Poetry" Taylor, The Nipping or Snipping of Abuses (1614) sig. B2.
6.	1645  George Wither:   John Taylor the Water Poet, in Aquae-Musae: or, Cacafogo, Cacadaemon, Captain George Wither wrung in the Withers (1645) 2.