Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, Hayley was admitted to the bar at Middle Temple, London in 1766. Of independent means, he spent little time with the law and concentrated on his passion for poetry. After living for a few years in London, he returned to Sussex and settled at his Felpham estate. He met and befriended William Blake and gave him the use of a cottage on the estate. Blake would go on to engrave and print illustrations for a number of Hayley's works. A prolific writer, Hayley also produced numerous essays in addition to his poetry. He became close friends with the poet William Cowper and, after the latter's death, became his biographer, publishing 3 volumes in 1803-04 which were also illustrated by Blake. Hayley's best-known works include The Triumphs of Temper (1781), The Triumphs of Music and Ballads Founded on Anecdotes of Animals (1805). |
