The reader may not need to be again reminded of Mr. Taylor’s double view of the scenes he visited, or of the fact that he tried to give faithful pictures of the present in his prose and left the ideal and fanciful to his books of poetry. But to understand his disposition, and correctly estimate his ability, they need to be read together; and hence, before taking leave of Asia Minor, we venture to quote a verse from a dedication to his friend Richard H. Stoddard, which we have seen in a volume of Mr. Taylor’s poems. “O Friend, were you but couched on Tmolus’ side, In the warm myrtles, in the golden air Of the declining day, which half lays bare, Half drapes, the silent mountains and the wide Embosomed vale, that wanders to the sea; And the far sea, with doubtful specks of sail, And farthest isles, that slumber tranquilly Beneath the Ionian autumn’s violet veil;— Were you but with me, little were the need Of this imperfect artifice of rhyme, Where the strong Fancy peals a broken chime And the ripe brain but sheds abortive seed. But I am solitary, and the curse, Or blessing, which has clung to me from birth— The torment and the ecstasy of verse— Comes up to me from the illustrious earth Of ancient Tmolus; and the very stones, Reverberant, din the mellow air with tones Winch the sweet air remembers; and they blend With fainter echoes, which the mountains fling From far oracular caverns: so, my Friend, I cannot choose but sing.” At Constantinople Mr. Taylor heard of the action which had been taken by the United States, looking to the opening of the ports of Japan to the commerce of America. He heard that a squadron was to leave the United States in November, under the command of Commodore Perry, and he formed the resolution to connect himself with the expedition, if possible. To that end he wrote to his friends and employers in New York, asking them to obtain permission for him to join the fleet. Not knowing just when the expedition would sail, nor at what ports it would stop on its way to Japan, he anxiously watched for information, and inquired at every place where information was likely to be found. He was determined to visit Spain before he went to China and Japan, and was equally resolved to visit the home of his German travelling companion who ascended the Nile with him, and who had sent pressing invitations to him to come to Gotha.