William Hayley, the son of a gentleman of Chichester, Sussex, was educated at Eton (1757-61) Trinity College Cambridge (1762) and the Middle Temple (1766). Hayley was the friend of William Cowper and the would-be patron of William Blake; he knew Joseph Warton, the painter Romney, and Robert Southey (who commented that "everything about the man is good except his poetry"). In his lifetime Hayley a highly regarded poet; in 1790 he turned down the laureateship when it was offered to him upon the death of Thomas Warton. His life was written in brief by Henry Francis Cary, who knew the poet and his circle.
TEXT RECORDS:
1778A Poetical Epistle to an Eminent Painter.
1780Ode, inscribed to John Howard, Esq.
1781The Triumphs of Temper; a Poem.
1781Triumphs of Temper. Canto II.
1781Triumphs of Temper. Canto III.
1781Triumphs of Temper. Canto IV.
1781Triumphs of Temper. Canto V.
1781Triumphs of Temper. Canto VI.
1782An Essay on Epic Poetry; in five Epistles.
1783Ode to Mr. Wright of Derby.
1788Occasional Stanzas, written at the Request of the Revolution Society.
1808The Stanzas of an English Friend to the Patriots of Spain.
PUBLICATIONS:
A poetical epistle to an eminent painter. 1778.
An elegy on the ancient Greek model. 1779.
Epistle to Admiral Keppel. 1779.
Epistle to a friend on the death of John Thornton. 1780.
An essay on history in three epistles to Gibbon. 1780.
Ode, inscribed to John Howard. 1780.
Poems. 1781.
The triumphs of temper: a poem in six cantos. 1781.
An essay on epic poetry in five epistles to Mason. 1782.
Ode to Mr. Wright of Derby. 1783.
Plays of three acts written for a private theatre. 1784.
The happy prescription. 1785.
A philosophical, historical, and moral essay on old maids. 3 vols, 1785.
The two connoisseurs: a comedy in rhyme. 1785.
Poems and plays. 6 vols, 1785, 1788.
Poetical works. 1785, 1786.
Two dialogues: containing a comparative view of the Earl of Chesterfield and Dr Johnson. 1787.
Occasional stanzas written at the request of the Revolution society. 1788.
The young widow: or a history of Cornelia Sedley. 4 vols, 1789.
The eulogies of Howard. 1791.
The life of Milton. 1794, 1796.
An elegy on the death of Sir William Jones. 1795.
The national advocate. 1795.
An essay on sculpture in a series of letters to Flaxman. 1800.
Little Tom the sailor. 1800.
The life and posthumous writings of Cowper. 3 vols, 1803-04.
The Triumph of music. 1804.
Ballads founded on Anecdotes of Animals. 1805.
Stanzas to the patriots in Spain. 1808.
The life of George Romney. 1809.
Three plays, with a preface. 1811.
A patriotic song for the amicable club. 1814.
Song for the amicable fraternity of Felpham. 1817.
Poems on serious and sacred subjects. 1818.
Memoirs, ed. John Johnson. 2 vols, 1823.
PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:
English
Anglican
Kingston-on-Thames School
Eton College
Trinity College Cambridge
Middle Temple
Inns of Court
editor
poet
dramatist
European Magazine
William Blake
Sir Samuel Egerton Brydges
Gen. John Burgoyne
Rev. Henry Francis Cary
Rev. William Clarke
Dr. Nathaniel Cotton
William Cowper
Dr. Erasmus Darwin
Edward Gibbon
Dr. Henry Harington
Rev. James Hurdis
Eyles Irwin
Capel Lofft
Bp. Robert Lowth
Rev. William Mason
William Melmoth
Lady Miller
Francis Noel Clarke Mundy
Amelia Opie
Thomas Park
Rev. Richard Polwhele
Isaac Reed
Rev. William Hayward Roberts
George Romney
William Roscoe
John Sargent
Anna Seward
Charlotte Smith
Robert Southey
George Steevens
Joseph Cooper Walker
Rev. Joseph Warton
REFERENCE:
DNB; NCBEL; DLB.
"Anecdotes of Hayley" European Magazine 2 (December 1782) 447-48; "Account of the Writings of William Hayley" in European Magazine 9 (June 1786) 385-87 [portrait]; Catalogue of five hundred Celebrated Authors (1788); "William Hayley" Biographical and Imperial Magazine 2 (1789) 355-58, 3 (1790) 31-35, 158-60; Bell's Fugitive Poetry (1789-97); Lounger's Common-Place Book (1792; 1796) 1:222-24; "Memoirs of William Hayley" Carlton-House Magazine 2 (1793) 217-19; "Genius of Hayley" Monthly Mirror 1 (April 1796) 326-28; "William Hayley" Monthly Mirror 5 (April 1798) 195-96 [portrait]; David Rivers, Literary Memoirs of Living Authors (1798); "Memoirs of William Hayley" Monthly Magazine and American Review [New York] 3 (October 1800) 288-93; "William Hayley Esq." Lady's Monthly Museum 8 (February 1802) 73-75 [portrait]; Poetical Register for 1801 (1802), 1804 (1805), 1808-09 (1812); "Biographical Sketch of Mr. Hayley" Flowers of Literature for 1804 (1805) 21-27 [portrait]; "Mr. Hayley's Life of Cowper" Companion and Weekly Miscellany [Baltimore] 2 (24 May 1806) 235-37; "Character of Hayley" Literary Magazine and American Register 4 (August 1805) 89-90; "William Hayley, Esq." Universal Magazine 8 (August 1807) 97-99 [portrait]; "William Hayley" The Cabinet 2 (September 1807) 65-67 [portrait]; "Original Papers" [unpublished letter and sonnet] in The Pastime [Schenectady] (27 October 1807) 145-47; Biographia Dramatica (1812); John Nichols, Literary Anecdotes (1812-15); Biographical Dictionary of Living Authors (1816); John Hodgson, obituary in Gentleman's Magazine 90 (November 1820) 469-70; "Memoir of William Hayley" Weekly Entertainer [Sherborne] NS 2 (11 December 1820) 461-62; obituary in New Monthly Magazine 14 (December 1820) 704; A Tribute of Gratitude to the late William Hayley (1821); obituary in Atheneum [Boston] 8 (15 February 1821) 450-53; William Hayley, Memoirs (1823); obituary in Edinburgh Annual Register for 1821 (1823) 319-20; "The Poet Hayley" New European Magazine 3 (1823) 60-61; "Hayley's Memoirs" Blackwood's Magazine 14 (September 1823) 303-08; "Hayley's Memoirs" Port Folio S4 16 (November 1823) 446-45; Henry Francis Cary, "William Hayley" London Magazine 10 (1824) 502-12; Robert Southey, review of Hayley's Memoirs, Quarterly Review 31 (1824-25) 263-311; Robert Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica (1824); "Four Original Letters by Hayley" Monthly Magazine NS 2 (September 1826) 310-12; "Memoirs of the the Hayley Family" Gentleman's Magazine 97 (March 1827) 204-07; The Georgian Era: Memoirs of the most Eminent Persons (1832-34); Allan Cunningham, "Literature of the last Fifty Years" The Athenaeum No. 320 (14 December 1833) 851; Robert Chambers, Cyclopaedia of English Literature (1844); Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); Mark Anthony Lower, The Worthies of Sussex: Biographical Sketches (1865); Moulton, Library of Literary Criticism (1901-05); Edward Dowden, "Cowper and William Hayley" in Essays Modern and Elizabethan (1910) 151-90; Eton College Register, 1753-1790 (1921); Venn and Venn, Alum. Cant. (1940-54) 2.3.301; E. A. Sadler, "Joseph Warton to Hayley" Notes and Queries 4 (April 1942); William T. Le Viness, The Life and Work of Hayley (1945); Morchard Bishop, Blake's Hayley: the Life, Works, and Friendships of William Hayley (1951); Renwick, OHEL (1963); A. N. L. Munby, Sale Catalogues of Libraries of Eminent Persons (1971-75); Donald H. Reiman, introduction to A Poetical Epistle to an Eminent Painter (1978); Chadwyck-Healey English Poetry Database (1995).
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