William Cooke Taylor, an Irish author, born in Youghal, April 16, 1800, died in Dublin, Sept. 12, 1849. He was educated at the university of Dublin, and went to London, where he resided till two years before his death. His chief works are : " Historical Miscellany " (12mo, 1829); " History of France and Normandy" (1830); "History of the Civil Wars in Ireland " (2 vols., 1831); " History of Mohammedanism and its Sects " (1834); " History of Popery" (1837); "The Bible Illustrated from Egyptian Monuments" (1838); "Manual of Modern History" (8vo, 1838); "Manual of Ancient History" (1839); "Natural History of Society" (2 vols., 1840); Romantic Biography of the Age of Elizabeth " (2 vols., 1842); "History of British India" (1842); "Revolutions, Insurrections, and Conspiracies of Europe" (2 vols., 1843); and "Memoirs of the House of Orleans" (3 vols., 1849). He also edited Bacon's essays and Chapman's translation of Homer. In 1846 he was employed by the British government to inquire into the system of education on the continent.