Hayley, William

(1745-1820)

   Born in Chichester, West Sussex, he was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge, but left in 1767 without graduating. "The Triumphs of Temper" (1781) and "The Triumphs of Music" (1804) though popular, were ridiculed by Lord Byron as being feeble. A friend of William Cowper, he published his biography, Life of Cowper, in 1803. William Blake (see entry) designed and engraved the prints of Ballads by William Hayley (1805). However, the friendship was soured by Hayley's attempts to curb Blake's visionary genius. He was offered the laureateship in 1790 but refused it. He died at Felpham, West Sussex. While at Cambridge, he wrote an "Ode on the Birth of the Prince of Wales," which was published in the Cambridge Collection and reprinted in the Gentleman’s Magazine for January 1763. Some of his publications: Poems and Plays, 1788. The national advocates, a poem, 1795. The Stanzas of an English Friend to the Patriots of Spain, 1808. Song for the Amicable Fraternity of Felpham, 1817. Some of his poems: “An Essay on Epic Poetry,” “Epistle to John Sargent, Esq.,” “Epistle to Mrs. Hannah More,” “Hymn for Christmas Day.”

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. English Poetry, Second Edition Bibliography (http://collections. chadwyck.co.uk/html/ep2/bibliography/g.htm). English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). English Poetry: A Poetic Record, from Chaucer to Yeats. David Hopkins, ed. Routledge, 1990. The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). Poems on Serious and Sacred Subjects by William Hayley (1818), Project Gutenberg. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.