1809 he married Mary Welford, from whom he separated three years later. His ‘Life of Romney’ was published at Chichester in 1809, but was coldly received, and severely attacked by John Romney in his ‘Memoirs of Romney,’ 1830. During his later years he withdrew to Felpham, near Eartham, where he lived in great seclusion, though he was visited by many distinguished friends. From 1812 till his death he was paid an annuity as the price of his memoirs, which he undertook to leave in a condition fit to be printed at his death. He died at Felpham on 12 Nov. 1820. Dr. J. Johnson, editor of the ‘Memoirs’ (1823), describes Hayley as cheerful and sympathetic, and possessed of great conversational ability. His friend Southey wrote: ‘Everything about that man is good except his poetry.’ But his verse was popularly successful, and on the death of Warton he was offered and declined the laureateship. Gifford long delayed inserting in the ‘Quarterly’ an article by Southey on Hayley, on the ground that he (Gifford) ‘could not bear to see Hayley spoken of with decent respect.’
His other works are:
- ‘Epistle to a Friend on the Death of John Thornton,’ 1780.
- ‘Plays of three Acts and in Verse, written for a Private Theatre,’ London, 1784.
- ‘Poetical Works of W. Hayley,’ Dublin, 3 vols. 1785.
- ‘The Happy Prescription, or the Lady relieved from her Lovers,’ 1785.
- ‘The Two Connoisseurs: a Comedy,’ 1785, 8vo.
- ‘Occasional Stanzas, written at the request of the Revolution Society,’ &c., 1788.
- ‘The Young Widow, or a History of Cornelia Sudley,’ 1789.
- ‘An Elegy on the Death of Sir W. Jones,’ 1795.
- ‘An Essay on Sculpture, in a series of Poetical Epistles to John Flaxman,’ 1800.
- ‘Three Plays with a Preface,’ Chichester, 1811, 8vo.
Hayley wrote also much verse and prose for various collections; some unpublished pieces are given in his ‘Memoirs,’ and others remained in manuscript.
[Memoirs of Hayley, ed. J. Johnson, LL.D., 1823; Quarterly Review, xxxi. 263–311 (article by Southey); Gilchrist's Life of Blake, pp. 75, 142–3, 156–7, 165, 167–9, 170, 174–5, 193, 196, 203; Swinburne's Life of Blake, 1865, p. 28; Gibbon, by John, Lord Sheffield, 1796, i. 138, 173, 556–8.]
HAYLS or HALES, JOHN (d. 1679), portrait-painter, was a contemporary and rival in portrait-painting of Sir Peter Lely and in miniature-painting of S. Cooper [q. v.] Vertue (Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 23069) records that ‘Samuel Cooper, limner, tryd at oylpainting; Mr. Hayles seeing that, turned to limning, and told Cooper that if he quitted limning, he would imploy himself that way; for which reason Cooper kept to limning.’ Hayls had considerable merit as a portrait-painter. Pepys records in his diary for 15 Feb. 1665–6: ‘Mr. Hales begun my wife's portrait in the posture we saw one of my Lady Peters, like a St. Katharine.’ Pepys was so pleased with this picture, for which he paid 14l., that he sat to Hayls himself, and also induced his father, Thomas Pepys, to sit. Pepys's own portrait, in an Indian gown with a scroll of music, is now in the National Portrait Gallery. Pepys also says that Hayls painted the actor Joseph Harris as Henry V. At Woburn Abbey there are portraits of Colonel John Russell and of Lady Diana Russell by Hayls. His portrait of Thomas Flatman the poet has been engraved. He is stated to have been a skilful copyist of Vandyck. Hayls lived for some years in Southampton Street, Bloomsbury, but subsequently moved to a house in Long Acre, where he died suddenly in 1679. A limning of Hayls by J. Hoskins was in Colonel Seymour's collection, a drawing from which by Vertue is now in the print room at the British Museum.
[Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting; Vertue's manuscripts, Brit. Mus. Addit. MSS. 23068–70; Buckeridge's Supplement to De Piles's Lives of the Painters; Pepys's Diary.]
HAYMAN, FRANCIS (1708–1776), painter, born at Exeter in 1708 of a respectable family, received his first education in art under Robert Brown, a portrait-painter of Exeter. Coming to London when young, he worked with success as scene-painter for Fleetwood, the proprietor of Drury Lane Theatre, and gained a general acquaintance with the theatrical world. He also obtained reputation as a designer by his illustrations to Sir Thomas Hanmer's edition of Shakespeare's plays, published in 1744–6. These were engraved by Gravelot [q. v.], between whose style and Hayman's there was some resemblance. Hayman also designed illustrations for Congreve's poems; for Smollett's edition of ‘Don Quixote’ (the original drawings for which are in the print room at the British Museum); for Bishop Newton's edition of Milton's poems, published in 1749–52; for E. Moore's ‘Fables for the Female Sex,’ 1744; and for the ‘Spectator,’ 1747. In 1751–1752 Hayman was employed, with N. Blakey [q. v.], by Messrs. Knapton & Dodsley to execute the first series of historical prints designed by Englishmen. Hayman's works were ‘Caractacus,’ ‘The Conversion of the Britons to Christianity,’ and ‘The Battle of Hastings;’ they were engraved by C. Grignion [q. v.], S. F. Ravenet, and others, and a set of smaller engravings was inserted in Smollett's ‘History of England.’ Hayman is best known for the series of pictures which
