William Hayley, writer, seated. A tutor and pupil stand.

Caroline Watson

Stipple engraving showing the poet, playwrite and biographer, William Hayley (1745-1820), seated at a table. His right hand rests on a book with running titles 'Laelius', 'Friendship'. Standing at left, a boy holds a statuette of Athena and stares quizzically at his tutor. (Hayley's work was only moderately successful but he was a great patron of the arts and of artists such as William Blake. He was offered the poet laureateship in 1790, an honour which, for reasons unknown, he declined. An advocate of fresh air and a teetotaller, he was intrigued by medicine and eager to use new inventions such as the ‘electrical machine’ and the ‘shower-bath’. Generous with his knowledge, unhesitatingly he would doctor villagers and friends alike.)