Section II Jane Ann Taylor [Janet Taylor]
“We believe that she was as gentle and simple in herself, as she was deeply versed in the abstruse science which she professed. Perhaps some surviving relative or friend may be able to throw light on the life and labours of one who was as extraordinary from her acquirements of knowledge as from her social reticence.”
Y.L.Y., in The Athenæum.
NAVIGATION.
It is remarkable that women have, in a great number of instances, been distinguished by merits the most opposite to their imaginary and conventional character. The first use of ships as distinguished from boats appears to have been by the early Egyptians, who are believed to have reached the western coast of India, besides navigating the Mediterranean. But whatever may have been their prowess upon the waves, they were soon eclipsed by the citizens of Tyre, who, to compensate for the unproductiveness of their small territory, laid the sea under tribute, and made their city the great emporium of Eastern and European trade. The Greek states gradually developed the art of navigation, and at the time of the Peloponnesian war, the Athenians seem to have been skilful conductors of vessels at sea. Rome next manifested maritime daring. Time rolled on and the Saxon, Jutish, and Norse prows began to roam the ocean in every direction. The Norsemen extended their voyages to Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland. The sea had no terrors for these hardy rovers. The introduction of the mariner’s compass made the sailor independent of sun and stars; and the discovery of the variation of the compass rendered navigation more secure. The two first treatises on systematic navigation appeared in Spain, one by Pedro de Medina, the other by Martin Cortes. These were speedily translated into French, Dutch, English, etc., and for many years served as the text-books of practical navigation. It would be tedious to enumerate the successive improvements in the science of navigation; suffice it to say, that for its present high perfection, it is under some obligation to female intellect.
BIOGRAPHY.
Jane Ann Jonn, was born on the 13th of May, 1804, at Wolsingham, a market town and parish in the county of Durham, and about thirteen miles from that ancient and celebrated city. She was the fourth daughter of the Rev. Peter Jonn and Jane Deighton, his wife. Her father was curate of Wolsingham, and head master of the grammar school.
When about ten years of age, she got an appointment to Queen Charlotte’s school, at Ampthill, in Bedfordshire, a small town pleasantly situated, partly upon, and partly between two gentle acclivities, forty miles from London. The establishment being very select, and the other girls much older, she became a great favourite with them, and learned much from them. When the very plain, but rigidly virtuous queen, died at Kew, on the 17th of November, 1818, Miss Jonn, was sent by her father to a boarding-school conducted by Mr. and Mrs. Stables, at Hendon, near the village of Hampstead, Middlesex. Here she assisted in teaching, as well as received lessons from various masters; and whilst a certain amount of seclusion was secured by a suburban residence, London was close at hand: the working London with its inspiring life.
However well this boarding-school was carried on, we have no reason to believe that it made Miss Jonn a learned woman. Female education then, and sometimes even now, is simply a little outside polish. It does not teach to think; it does not develope mind; it does not confer power; it does not form character; it does not do anything to mould girls into the noblest types of womanhood.
After leaving the quiet retreat at Hendon, she was many years a governess in the family of the Rev. Mr. Huntly, of Kimbolton, in Huntingdonshire. This employment no doubt has recommendations, it certainly has serious drawbacks; among those that are inevitable is the effect of a lonely life on the governess. A great effort may be made to treat her as one of the family, but she does not really belong to it; and must spend the greater part of her time with young and immature minds, only varied by unequal association with the parents or grown-up brothers and sisters of her pupils. The society of her equals in age and position is entirely wanting, and the natural tendency of such mental solitude is to produce childishness, angularity, and narrow-mindedness. It must be a strong character indeed which can do without such wholesome trituration and the expansive influence of equal companionship, and this is just what a governess cannot have. She is moreover, always a bird of passage, and in this respect her position is worse than that of a domestic servant, who, besides being better remunerated and having the companionship of fellow-servants, may look forward to remaining in one family for life.
About the year 1829, Miss Jonn left Kimbolton and went to London to keep the house of one of her brothers. Soon after she went on a visit to a sister at Antwerp. Without attempting to detail her impressions concerning the numerous churches, convents, magnificent public buildings, elaborate and extensive fortifications, and stately antique-looking houses which line the older thoroughfares of that exceedingly picturesque city; we may say that during that journey Mr. George Taylor met her, and on the 1st of Feb., 1830, they were married at the British Ambassador’s chapel, at the Hague. On their return to London, Mrs. Taylor commenced teaching navigation, at 104, Minories. In consequence of her singular abilities in that branch of science, she gained the confidence and approval of the Board of Admiralty and the Trinity Brethren, as well as several foreign powers. Her husband meanwhile, was a manager for Sir Henry Meux, the well-known brewer, which situation he held till his death in 1859. Instead of being a burden to her five sons and one daughter, by means of her establishment in the Minories she more than provided for her own wants.
The English nation may be slow in perceiving merit, but when perceived, none appreciate it more highly. There is not an honour which we have to bestow, which is not designed to be awarded to those who have proved their title to it by steady worth. Mrs. Taylor began life with no wealth and with no patronage from powerful friends. She was dependent on her own efforts. When she enlarged her acquaintance beyond the limits of her girlhood and youth, she did not encounter a cold and unfriendly world, or find that those who had not before known her were disposed to impede her progress, or to throw embarrassments in her path. She came to London with but little experience, and with no such reputation as to make success certain. But by a diligent and irreproachable use of fine natural talents, she constructed her own greatness, and manufactured her own fortune. It is a good thing that even a woman may find many fields of usefulness, before which there is not the tiniest wicket-gate; and we rejoice to know that many women pursue in peace those paths to glory and gain that are already open to them.
Mrs. Taylor had the honour of being presented to King William and Queen Adelaide, whose amiable disposition and habitual beneficence made her a great favourite with the British nation. She had also the offer of a situation as reader to our present queen. But as the salary was small, and the attendance on her majesty was likely to interfere with her family and scientific arrangements, it was declined. In this decision, Edward Maltby, D.D., then Bishop of Durham concurred, and at the first meeting of the British Association held in Newcastle-on-Tyne, in 1838, made honourable mention of her. At the world’s great assembly in 1851, she exhibited an ingeniously contrived little instrument—a quadrant and sextant—which the queen graciously accepted for the Prince of Wales. Mrs. Taylor received a medal from the King of the Netherlands, also in 1860 a very complimentary letter from the present pope, Pius IX., with a medal.
On the accession of Queen Victoria, £1200 was intrusted to her Majesty for the payment of pensions to persons who have just claims on the royal beneficence, or who, by their personal services to the crown, by the performance of duties to the public, or by their useful discoveries in science, and attainments in literature and the arts, have merited the gracious consideration of their sovereign and the gratitude of their country. In consequence of her valuable services in the fields of science, Mrs. Taylor’s name was added to the civil list, and in 1862, she disposed of her business at 104, Minories, and retired to Camberwell Grove, on a pension of £50 per annum. Those who desolate nations, stay the progress of arts, manufactures, knowledge, civilization, benevolence, and religion; and sweep myriads of their fellow-creatures, unprepared, into eternity, we load with titles and treasures; and those who by their self-denying devotedness to the investigation of truth, have conferred benefits upon mankind, and thus deserved imperishable monuments, we reward with a pension of £50!
Though life with Mrs. Taylor was real and earnest, it was still in the review like a dream, and she was brought somewhat suddenly to the point where things seen lose all their importance, and things unseen become the only realities. She spent the evening of life—an evening worthy of the day, and beaming with the mild radiance that gave promise of a glorious morning of immortality—in visiting her relatives and friends. On the 15th of January, 1870, she went to Bishop-Aukland, a small town in the middle of her native county of Durham, pleasantly situated on an eminence, nearly 140 feet above the level of the plain; to spend a few days with her brother-in-law, the Rev. T. Chester, at the vicarage of St. Helen’s. The following week she was seized with bronchitis, and gradually sank until she died on Wednesday morning, January the 26th, in the sixty-sixth year of her age.
The death of Mrs. Taylor excited a degree of sympathy throughout the north of England, in London, and indeed in many other parts of the kingdom, that indicated how high and general was the esteem in which she was held. The funeral took place on the Saturday. A select body of relatives and friends assembled at the vicarage, St. Helen’s. As they approached the vault of her brother-in-law, the company bared their heads, while the body was committed to the ground, in the beautiful language of the English ritual; and then bade reluctantly a long adieu to one of the most distinguished of women.
“For who to dumb forgetfulness a prey
This pleasing anxious being e’er resigned?
Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,
Nor cast one longing, lingering look behind?”
PUBLICATIONS ON NAVIGATION.
The question cui bono? to what practical end and advantage do your researches tend? is one which the truly scientific mind can seldom hear without a sense of humiliation. There is a lofty and disinterested pleasure in such pursuits which ought to exempt them from such questioning. Endowed with great capacity and relish for intellectual pursuits, Mrs. Taylor never made such an inquiry.
In 1846, her first work—“Directions for using the Planisphere of the Stars, with Illustrative, and Explanatory Problems”—appeared, accompanied by “A Planisphere of the Fixed Stars.” The Morning Post said, “Though this work only professes to guide the learner to the positions of the fixed stars, it is calculated to impart a good deal of knowledge of astronomy, in a very simple and intelligible manner, and in a very short time.” A second edition was published in 1847. “Diurnal Register for Barometer, Sympresometer, Thermometer and Hygrometer; with a few brief Remarks on the Instruments,” was issued about this time, and dedicated by permission to Col. Sir William Reid, K.C.B., F.R.S., governor of Malta; a name that must ever be revered by those whose “path is in the sea,” and whose associations and wanderings lead them to cross the bosom of the mighty waters. This volume enables mariners and others to mark the exact derivation and variation of the barometer, etc., at any hour, by a single dot, and contains a brief description of the different instruments, and the principles on which they are constructed. It was characterised by the Athenæum, as “A useful work with excellent directions,” and reached seven editions, or more. In 1851, the ninth edition of “An Epitome of Navigation and Nautical Astronomy, with improved Lunar Tables,” was presented to the world. This work is dedicated with heartfelt gratitude to the Hon. the Elder Brethren of the Corporation of Trinity House, London. In this book the tables familiar to the mariner are presented in a very much improved shape; and the rules by which the young sailor is directed in the attainment of that knowledge, which is indispensable to success in his future career, are clearly laid down, and under each rule examples are given. The organs of the day expressed their opinions in terms of the highest eulogy. The Liverpool Mail said, “Mrs. Taylor indeed merits high praise, and we add national gratitude; she has removed the chief difficulties which obscured the science of navigation. We have no hesitation in saying, that here is the most complete treatise on navigation which has ever been published.” In 1854, the seventh edition of “Lunar and Horary Tables: with the shortest method of finding the Longitude and the Time,” appeared. This work was highly recommended by gentlemen well qualified to test its merits, and who could not be affected by mere partialities. It gives a very simple, easy, and accurate method of working the lunar problem. These learned and laudable volumes were deposited in the library of the Vatican, in 1860.
The above are not all the writings of Mrs. Taylor, but they are amply sufficient to prove that she was a mathematician of the first class. Her logarithmic tables are correct and complete in no ordinary degree. Such rare knowledge she did not gain from merely attending lectures on the various subjects which her own taste led her to cultivate, or which fell within her reach. Neither did she furnish her mind by the mere reading of books. In both ways, or in either, it is true, much information may be acquired; but still it may be knowledge only imposed upon the mind, not received within it. Knowledge, to be useful, must be attained by young and old, through an exercise of the reasoning power which very quickly leads to a conviction that the learner is treading upon firm ground. Between a woman who tests and tries every opinion and principle subjected to her notice, and one who does not, there are no points of comparison; the one may adopt false sentiments, but the other cannot be said to have any sentiments at all, only a collection of prejudices and predilections in their place.
NAUTICAL AND MATHEMATICAL ACADEMY.
In comparing the achievements of the sexes, we must not forget that the mind which has most dazzled or benefited the nations has received its first instructions from a mother’s, and probably its last from a wife’s lips. “Though the sinewy sex achieves enterprises on public theatres, it is the nerve and sensibility of the other that arm the mind and inflame the soul in secret. Everywhere man executes the performance, but woman trains the man.” Mrs. Taylor exercised not only the influence of a wife and a mother, but also that of a very efficient professional teacher of male pupils. The conduct of a large academy for sailors may seem to many an unsuitable employment for a woman; likely to injure, and to a great extent destroy her beautiful nature. But it is certain that Mrs. Taylor’s mind lost none of its refinement by the rude associations with which it was brought into contact, while her great administrative power enabled her to manage the establishment in an admirable manner. There is a certain chivalry amongst the most uncultivated men, when they know that they cannot be compelled to do a thing by force, which will often make them yield. We have known a class of unruly lads in a ragged school, utterly unamenable to the discipline of a man, yield implicit obedience to a young woman, as a bad-tempered horse is sometimes most easily guided by a female hand that is both skilful and light.
Mrs. Taylor’s Nautical and Mathematical Academy, was under the patronage of the Admiralty, Trinity House, East India House, and Kings of Holland and Prussia. The upper schoolrooms were under the direction of a highly qualified master, and devoted to the preparation of masters and mates in the navy and merchant service; and the lower schoolrooms were superintended by a mathematical master, and every care was taken that the junior pupils should be progressively fitted for the highest grade of examinations. She also undertook to place those pupils who had no relations in town, under the care and superintendence of families, where they received every domestic comfort and attention, when not engaged in the academy. Terms, to be paid on entrance. A complete course of navigation, including trigonometry, and its application to navigation, £6 6s.; a general course of navigation, £4 4s.; algebra, £2 2s.; geometry, £2 2s.; a course of algebra and geometry, £3 3s.; a practical course of astronomy, specially in relation to navigation, £2 2s.; physical geography, etc., £2 2s.; mechanics, etc., £2 2s. Also a general course, including the whole of the above, on moderate terms. Nor was this all. Lectures illustrative of these subjects were delivered in the upper schoolroom to those studying in the academy, each of whom was at liberty to introduce a friend.
CHARACTER OF MRS. TAYLOR.
The fall, in a physiological sense, whatever may be said of the theological dogma so termed, is no myth. The general lack of vigour, especially in the female sex, might be quoted in evidence of its truth. Miss Catherine E. Beecher, in her “Letters to the People,” says: “I am not able to recall, in my immense circle of friends and acquaintances all over the Union, so many as ten married ladies, born in this century and in this country, who are perfectly sound, healthy, and vigorous.” Mrs. Taylor was rather tall, somewhat slender, and a little defective in muscular development. For many years she was subject to a disease of very common occurrence in Great Britain. Her head was large, and in perfect harmony with all its component parts. The brow broad, smooth, and high, gave the face a pyriform appearance, which diminished gradually as it descended, till it terminated in the delicate outline of the chin.
Intellect was the constitutional guide of her entire being. An active temperament and strong and evenly-balanced mental powers enabled her to awaken the minds of her pupils, and to write what was worth perusal and re-perusal. She spent much time and money and care on science. Her quick perceptive faculties ranged the heavens, explored the earth, and fathomed the sea, in search of facts, which her prominent reflective powers enabled her to explain and apply, so as to accomplish innumerable ends otherwise unattainable. A more quiet and singular union of rare powers in a woman, than hers, does not occur to us.
Mrs. Taylor had not only a well-cultivated head, but what was better, a healthy, affectionate, and loving heart. She had a lively moral sense for perceiving right and wrong. Perhaps the greatest of her moral attributes was charity. Enjoying only a moderate competence, and obliged to make a decent appearance in life, she nevertheless gave large sums to those from whom lover and friend were put far away, whose harp was turned into mourning, and their organ into the voice of them that weep.