1592997946000 1551364248000 Standard Record object-110005490 1747159852097 1681740819000 1747159409017 adlib fitz-online adlib-object-110005490 https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/110005490 1a538258-1501-3b39-8119-6567b7125221 5 person reference agent-192551 adlib-agent-192551 b494e74a-20ec-3ce9-be5f-3267eaba4253 Seward, Anna person reference agent-198959 adlib-agent-198959 0388d6bc-0ff6-3562-b995-14f623ad0664 Jenny - Anna Seward's maid person reference agent-116992 adlib-agent-116992 ef3205d8-6794-3a6e-aae6-922ee555a7fb Romney, George person reference agent-198502 adlib-agent-198502 b67bd5fa-4f2a-302b-afaa-81f4c4f45ec8 Hayley, Eliza person reference agent-192537 adlib-agent-192537 d5687729-51f9-3b8b-a80c-fcaefd5b4dfe Darwin, Erasmus person reference agent-164374 adlib-agent-164374 6dc6d8ee-f986-30b1-a547-036e43de6644 Gibbon, Edward content description Hayley writes that "a most dear and intimate Friend" has asked him to tell Seward that he is "not such a severe cross-looking mortal" as he appears in "the little Portrait [identified by Alex Kidson as a 6" by 5" watercolour in the Courtauld Institute: see pp. 299 & 846 of "George Romney: A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings"] that has just passed thro his Hands in its way from Eartham to Lichfield:". Hayley then imagines the response of "my Friend Jenny, (your fair Fille de Chambre)" ... on her first peep at the Head: Lord help me ! is this the fine Posy-writer they talk about? Mercy! What a sour Face He has! poor Gentleman! I suppose He is a little crac-brained, as they say all your great Verse Makers go out of their wits - Well. Heaven preserve my poor Mistress for I am sure, at the rate she goes on, she is like to be crazy as the best of them." He thanks Seward for her recent letter, writing that "your remarks on music delight me" and suggesting that she author "a Poem on that Science" as "I want to see in our Language a little poetical Encyclopaedia or collection of Poems on such arts and sciences, as may be happily treated in Verse - I have some Hopes of completing four separate Compositions of this nature myself, including my imperfect Essays on Painting and History, & I shall be most happy to see my Work concluded (like a well-directed Concert) with a superior Performance from the Hand of my dear Parnassian Sister on the most enchanting of all the find Arts." He tells her that he is currently working on an "Essay on Epic Poetry in five Epistles, to be attended with a Train of Notes as long as a funeral Procession, & perhaps as dull", and that, because "my eagerness to see you is so great, that as I wish to finish the Poem at least, before I quit our Hermitage, I shall scribble with all the Haste & impatience of a Grubstreet Garrateer". He writes that he plans to visit Seward soon after Eliza leaves their home in Eartham "for her Winter Quarters at Bath in the first week of November", and that he will work on the notes to the Essay on Epic Poetry while he is visiting her. Hayley makes some remarks on Seward's reponse to his critiques of aspects of her Poem to the Memory of Lady Miller and then relates that Gibbon has visited and they talked about Seward: Gibbon approved both the edited version of Seward's poem "Verses Written in Dr. Darwin's Botanic Garden" and "the parts of yr Elelgy which I allowed Him to hear, for I suppressed the opening & other unfinished parts. He concludes by advising Seward "to let your Elegy come forth quite alone, with all the simplicity of a graceful Mourner". Hayley/XII/6 1 accession number Hayley/XII/6 110005490 priref 110005490 uri https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/110005490 https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/110005490 reference agent-149638 adlib-agent-149638 7376d833-d0a7-3be0-916e-9c892b7a24d8 The Fitzwilliam Museum 1781 1781 1781-10-20 reference agent-198487 adlib-agent-198487 4dbae6db-a725-3bfd-b34e-5d215b1a85e6 Hayley, William 2 sheets, folded. William Hayley to Anna Seward: letter object OBJECT