William Hayley

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).

COMMENTARY RECORDS
for William Hayley:

1.	1779  H. M., "To the Author of the Elegy on the ancient Greek Model, addressed to the Right Reverend Robert Lowth. Occasioned by an Epigram which appeared in your Paper of July 24, signed G. W." St. James's Chronicle (12 August 1779).
2.	1780  Anonymous, "The Genius of Painting, to the Author of A Poetical Epistle to an eminent Painter" Whitehall Evening Post (22 August 1780).
3.	1780  Rev. Edmund Cartwright, "To William Hayley, Esq. written on a Blank Leaf of his Essay on History, 1780" Cartwright, Sonnets to Eminent Men (1783) 4.
4.	1780  Eyles Irwin, "Sonnet to William Hayley, Esq. with the Author's Portrait, July 1780" European Magazine 8 (December 1785) 470.
5.	1781  S., "An Epistle to William Hayley, Esq." Town and Country Magazine 12 (May 1781) 271-72.
6.	1781 ca.  Mary Linley, "Impromptu, by the late Mrs. Tickell, after perusing Hayley's Triumphs of Temper" 1781 ca.; The Satirist or Monthly Meteor 15 (July 1814) 76.
7.	1782  William Mason to William Hayley, 1782; Memoirs of William Hayley (1823) 1:274-75.
8.	1782  Anna Seward, in Poem to the Memory of Lady Miller (1782) 12.
9.	1782  Hannah More, in "Sensibility" Sacred Dramas (1782) 288-89.
10.	1782  Anonymous, "Verses addressed to Mr. Hayley on his Poems" Morning Herald and Daily Advertiser (11 February 1782).
11.	1782  W. O., "Impromptu on reading Mr. Hayley's Poetical Epistles" Gentleman's Magazine 52 (December 1782) 591.
12.	1782  Imoinda, "Stanzas occasion'd by reading the Triumphs of Temper, a Poem by Mr. Hayley" Town and Country Magazine 14 (August 1782) 437.
13.	1783  John Scott of Amwell to James Beattie, 30 March 1783; Forbes, Life and Writings of James Beattie (1806) 2:124.
14.	1783  Helen Maria Williams, in An Ode on the Peace (1783) 16-17.
15.	1783  Anonymous, "On seeing Mr. Hayley's Works absurdly criticized in the Whitehall Evening Post for December 3, and Jan. 23" Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser (8 February 1783).
16.	1783  Etoniensis, "Lines to William Hayley, Esq." Morning Herald and Daily Advertiser (3 May 1783).
17.	1783  Anonymous, "To William Hayley, Esq." Gentleman's Magazine 53 (May 1783) 428.
18.	1783  R. B., "To William Hayley, Esq." St. James's Chronicle (7 January 1783).
19.	1784  J. U., "To Mr. Hayley" Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser (16 September 1784).
20.	1785  H. S., in "An Epistle to William Hayley, Esq." European Magazine 8 (November 1785) 385.
21.	1785  Robert Potter to Edward Jerningham, 23 November 1785; Lewis Bettany, Edward Jerningham and his Friends (1919) 352.
22.	1785  Anonymous, "To Mr. Hayley, on reading his Tragedy of Russel" Gentleman's Magazine 55 (March 1785) 214.
23.	1786  Anonymous, "Sonnet Extempore. Written on the Banks of the Arun. Occasion'd by reading Mr. Hayley's late Poem" General Advertiser (28 September 1786).
24.	1786  The Cottage Mouse, "Sonnet, addressed to Mr. Hayley" Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser (3 November 1786).
25.	1786  Anna Seward, "Ode to William Hayley, Esq. imitated from Horace, B. VII. Od. IV." Gentleman's Magazine (May 1786) 426.
26.	1786  Anonymous, "To Mr. Hayley, written in his Essay on Epic Poetry" Hibernian Magazine (July 1786) 383.
27.	1787  Edmond Malone, 1787; Maloniana in Sir James Prior, Life of Edmond Malone (1860) 373.
28.	1787  Elizabeth Sophia Tomlins, Dedication to The Victim of Fancy in Public Advertiser (19 January 1787).
29.	1787  J. B—o, "Verses to William Hayley, Esq." European Magazine 12 (July 1787) 58.
30.	1788  James Hurdis, in The Village Curate (1788) 5.
31.	1788  Henry Francis Cary, "Sonnet to Mr. Hayley" Gentleman's Magazine 58 (March 1788) 250.
32.	1788  Edward Pye-Waters, "To William Hayley Esq." Gentleman's Magazine 58 (April 1788) 347.
33.	1789  John Wolcot, in "Deserted in my utmost need by fate" Morning Post and Daily Advertiser (2 September 1789).
34.	1789  Q. P. R., "Sonnet to Mr. Hayley" Gentleman's Magazine 59 (July 1789) 650.
35.	1789  John Williams, in "Children of Thespis" Poems by Anthony Pasquin (1789) 2:32 &n.
36.	1790  Catherine Stephens, "Sonnet to William Hayley Esq. on his adjudging Poetry properly the Female Province" Gentleman's Magazine 60 (May 1790) 450.
37.	1790  Anonymous, "Bas-Bleu Intelligence" The Argus (10 March 1790).
38.	1790  Andrew Macdonald, "New Probationary Odes for the Laureatship. By William Hayley" Macdonald, Miscellaneous Works (1791) 97-99.
39.	1792  William Cowper to John Johnson, 20 May 1792; Southey, Life and Works of Cowper (1835-37) 7:113.
40.	1795  Joseph Warton to William Hayley, 29 December 1795; Wooll, Biographical Memoirs of Joseph Warton (1806) 405-06.
41.	1796  A Lady, "Addressed to William Hayley, Esq." Walker's Hibernian Magazine (October 1796) 377.
42.	1797  Thomas Park, "To Mr. Hayley" Park, Sonnets, and other small Poems (1797) 12.
43.	1797  Henry Francis Cary; Literary Journal for 1797; in Memoir of the Rev. Henry Francis Cary (1847) 1:102-03.
44.	1798  Thomas James Mathias, in Pursuits of Literature (1798) 17-18n.
45.	1800  Nathan Drake, in Literary Hours (1800) 2:198-99.
46.	1801  Alexander Thomson, in The British Parnassus, at the Close of the Eighteenth Century (1801) 57-58 & n.
47.	1802  Robert Southey to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 4 August 1802; Life and Correspondence (1849-50) 2:190.
48.	1804  Robert Southey, in Annual Review (1804) 4:675-76.
49.	1805  Anonymous, in "Character of Hayley, and his last Poem" Literary Magazine and American Register [Philadelphia] 4 (August 1805) 89.
50.	1805  Francis Jeffrey?, Review of Hayley, Triumph of Music; Edinburgh Review 6 (April 1805) 56-57.
51.	1807  John Taylor Esq., "To William Hayley, Esq. on his Poem, entitled The Triumphs of Temper" The Sun (3 October 1807).
52.	1809  Lord Byron, in English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809); Poetical Works, ed. E. H. Coleridge (1898-1904) 1:321-22 & n.
53.	1812  Anonymous, in Biographia Dramatica (1812) 319.
54.	1812  Bernard Barton, "On Reading Hayley's Life of Cowper" Barton, Metrical Effusions (1812) 212-15.
55.	1812  Charles Caleb Colton, in Hypocrisy, a Satire (1812) 45-46 &n.
56.	1814  Leigh Hunt, in Feast of the Poets (1814) 48-51n.
57.	1818  Melesina Chenevix Trench to Mary Leadbeater, 11 September 1818; in Remains of Mrs. Richard Trench (1862).
58.	1820  Anonymous, "On seeing a Motto from Pindar prefixed to some Verses of Mr. H." New Monthly Magazine 14 (September 1820) 276.
59.	1823  Q., Review of Hayley, Memoirs, in Literary Examiner (5 July 1823) 13-15.
60.	1823  Anonymous, "Hayley's Memoirs" Blackwood's Magazine 14 (September 1823) 303-08.
61.	1824  Robert Southey, in Review Hayley's Memoirs; Quarterly Review 31 (1824-25) 311.
62.	1825 ca.  Henry Mackenzie, Anecdotes and Egotisms, 1825 ca.; ed. Thompson (1927) 167.
63.	1829  John Clare to Henry Francis Cary, 3 January 1829; R. W. King, The Translator of Dante (1925) 227.
64.	1829  Robert Southey to Samuel Egerton Brydges, 14 November 1829; Brydges, Autobiography (1834) 2:164-65.
65.	1833  Allan Cunningham, in "Biographical and Critical History of the Literature of the last Fifty Years" The Athenaeum (14 December 1833) 851.
66.	1834  Samuel Egerton Brydges, in Autobiography (1834) 1:132-33.
67.	1842  Mary Russell Mitford to Miss Barrett, 24 March 1842; L'Estrange, Life of Mary Russell Mitford (1870) 2:242-43.
68.	1850  Leigh Hunt, in Autobiography of Leigh Hunt (1850) 1:266.
69.	1851  David Macbeth Moir, in Sketches of the Poetical Literature of the Past Half-Century (1851; 1852) 11-12.
70.	1856  Samuel Rogers, in Table Talk (1856) 57-58.
71.	1882  Epes Sargent, in Harper's Cyclopaedia of British and American Poetry (1882) 230.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for William Hayley:

1.	1782  Anonymous, "Anecdotes of the Author" European Magazine 2 (December 1782) 447-48.
2.	1786  Anonymous, "Account of the Writings of William Hayley, Esq." European Magazine 9 (June 1786) 385-87.
3.	1788  Anonymous, in Catalogue of five hundred Celebrated Authors (1788).
4.	1792  Anonymous, "Biographical List of Living English Poets" Gentleman's Magazine 62 (June 1792) 505.
5.	1798  David Rivers, in Literary Memoirs of Living Authors (1798) 1:246-48.
6.	1805  Francis William Blagdon, "Biographical Sketch of Mr. Hayley" Flowers of Literature for 1804 (1805) 21-27.
7.	1807  Anonymous, "William Hayley, Esq." Universal Magazine 8 (August 1807) 97-99.
8.	1816  Anonymous, in Biographical Dictionary of Living Authors (1816) 150.
9.	1820  John Hodgson, Obituary in Gentleman's Magazine 90 (November 1820) 469-70.
10.	1824  Henry Francis Cary, "Lives of the Poets: William Hayley" London Magazine 10 (November 1824) 502-12.
11.	1832  William Clarke and Robert Shelton Mackenzie, in The Georgian Era: Memoirs of the most eminent Persons who have flourished in Great Britain (1832-34) 3:563-64.
12.	1844  Robert Chambers, in Cyclopaedia of English Literature (1844; 1850) 2:269.
13.	1865  Mark Anthony Lower, in The Worthies of Sussex: Biographical Sketches (1865) 258-67.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)

1.	1778  Sir Philip Sidney:   William Hayley, in A Poetical Epistle to an Eminent Painter (1778) 41-42.
2.	1779  Dr. Nathaniel Cotton:   William Hayley to Thornton, 1779; Memoirs of William Hayley (1823) 1:182.
3.	1779  Bp. Robert Lowth:   William Hayley, An Elegy on the Ancient Greek Model. Addressed to The Right Reverend Robert Lowth, Lord Bishop of London (1779) 3-17.
4.	1779  Bp. Robert Lowth:   William Hayley to Thornton, 1779, Memoirs of William Hayley (1823) 1:182-83.
5.	1780  Eyles Irwin:   William Hayley, "To Eyles Irwin, on receiving his Portrait in Mezzotinto, July 1780" European Magazine 8 (December 1785) 470-71.
6.	1781  Anna Seward:   William Hayley, "To Miss Seward" Whitehall Evening Post (16 June 1781).
7.	1782  Sir Richard Blackmore:   William Hayley, in Essay on Epic Poetry (1782) 66.
8.	1782  Samuel Butler:   William Hayley, in Essay on Epic Poetry (1782) 64.
9.	1782  Abraham Cowley:   William Hayley, in Essay on Epic Poetry (1782) 64.
10.	1782  Sir William Davenant:   William Hayley, in Essay on Epic Poetry (1782) 66.
11.	1782  John Dryden:   William Hayley, in Essay on Epic Poetry (1782) 65-66.
12.	1782  Dr. Henry Harington:   William Hayley, "Sonnet to Dr. Harington, on his adding Music to a Song of the Author's" Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser (10 May 1782).
13.	1782  Rev. William Mason:   William Hayley, in Essay on Epic Poetry (1782) 89-90.
14.	1782  William Julius Mickle:   William Hayley, in Essay on Epic Poetry (1782); Mickle, Poetical Works (1806) xlii.
15.	1782  John Milton:   William Hayley, in Essay on Epic Poetry (1782) 64-65.
16.	1782  Alexander Pope:   William Hayley, in Essay on Epic Poetry (1782) 67.
17.	1783  Helen Maria Williams:   William Hayley, "From Mr. H—y—y, to Miss W—ll—ms, upon her wishing to see his House" Public Advertiser (18 July 1783).
18.	1784  Anna Seward:   William Hayley, "On Miss Seward's Louisa. Impromptu" Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser (5 October 1784).
19.	1784  Charlotte Smith:   William Hayley to Eliza Hayley, 29 September 1784; Memoirs of William Hayley (1823) 1:330-31.
20.	1785  William Melmoth:   William Hayley, "Sonnet to William Melmoth, Esq." Poems and Plays (1785) 1:164.
21.	1786  Anna Seward:   William Hayley, "Lines on an embroidered Letter-Case" Bath Chronicle (5 October 1786).
22.	1787  Gen. John Burgoyne:   William Hayley, 1787; Memoirs of William Hayley (1823) 1:358.
23.	1788  George Colman:   William Hayley, 1788; in Memoirs of William Hayley (1823) 1:363.
24.	1789  Rev. Thomas Warton:   William Hayley [or Isaac D'Israeli?], in "On the Abuse of Satire" Morning Post and Daily Advertiser (5 August 1789).
25.	1789  Dr. John Wolcot:   William Hayley, in "On the Abuse of Satire" Morning Post and Daily Advertiser (5 August 1789).
26.	1790 ca.  William Cowper:   William Hayley, "To our most kind and most dear Cowper" 1790 ca.; Southey, Life and Works of Cowper (1835-37) 3:227.
27.	1792  Dr. Erasmus Darwin:   William Hayley, "To Dr. Darwin" 1792; Darwin, The Botanic Garden (1799) x-xi.
28.	1792  Rev. Richard Polwhele:   William Hayley to Richard Polwhele, 11 June 1792; Polwhele, Traditions and Recollections (1826) 1:297-98.
29.	1795  William Collins:   William Hayley, Collins's Epitaph; The Courier (1 September 1795).
30.	1796  James Beattie:   William Hayley, "To Dr. Beattie" 1796; Poetical Works of James Beattie, ed. Alexander Dyce (1831; 1894) lxii n.
31.	1796 ca.  William Collins:   William Hayley to William Roscoe, 1796 ca.; Life of William Roscoe (1833) 1:225n.
32.	1802  Rev. James Hurdis:   William Hayley, Hurdis's Epitaph, 1802; Gentleman's Magazine 79 (January 1809) 43-44.
33.	1802  George Steevens:   William Hayley, "Epitaph in Poplar Chapel" Gentleman's Magazine 72 (January 1802) 62.
34.	1803  Dr. Nathaniel Cotton:   William Hayley, in Life of Cowper (1803-04, 1806) 1:36-37.
35.	1803  William Duncombe:   William Hayley, in Life of Cowper (1803-04; 1806) 1:23-24.
36.	1803  Judith Cowper Madan:   William Hayley, in Life of Cowper (1803-04, 1806) 1:4.
37.	1805 ca.  William Roscoe:   William Hayley, 1805 ca.; Life of William Roscoe (1833) 1:244.
38.	1806  Rev. William Mason:   William Hayley to Samuel Egerton Brydges, 25 October 1806; Brydges, Autobiography (1834) 2:287-88.
39.	1810  Joseph Cooper Walker:   William Hayley, "Epitaph on Joseph Cooper Walker" 1810; Walker, Memoirs of Tassoni (1815) lxxii.
40.	1823  Francis Noel Clarke Mundy:   William Hayley, in Memoirs of William Hayley (1823) 1:339-40.
41.	1823  Sir Philip Sidney:   William Hayley, ca. 1820; in Memoirs of William Hayley (1823) 1:23.