{"admin":{"added":1592997946000,"created":1555601697000,"flag":"Standard Record","id":"object-110005512","indexed":1747159851985,"modified":1681742491000,"processed":1747159409017,"source":"adlib","stream":"fitz-online","uid":"adlib-object-110005512","uri":"https:\/\/data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk\/id\/object\/110005512","uuid":"80f65a7a-229e-3acc-86ec-862fe666f61a","version":5},"agents":[{"@link":{"relation":"person","type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-192551","uid":"adlib-agent-192551","uuid":"b494e74a-20ec-3ce9-be5f-3267eaba4253"},"summary_title":"Seward, Anna"},{"@link":{"relation":"person","type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-198990","uid":"adlib-agent-198990","uuid":"e43a994a-ae1e-3cdc-8405-f72838d0eae9"},"summary_title":"Whalley, Thomas Sedgwick"},{"@link":{"relation":"person","type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-199104","uid":"adlib-agent-199104","uuid":"f51109c2-99a2-365f-8b1d-e9d302037daa"},"summary_title":"Knowles, Mary"},{"@link":{"relation":"person","type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-198683","uid":"adlib-agent-198683","uuid":"7e8947bd-8aa7-3fbc-8d50-d176e429f260"},"summary_title":"Long, William FRS, FSA"},{"@link":{"relation":"person","type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-116992","uid":"adlib-agent-116992","uuid":"ef3205d8-6794-3a6e-aae6-922ee555a7fb"},"summary_title":"Romney, George"},{"@link":{"relation":"person","type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-199111","uid":"adlib-agent-199111","uuid":"8df40fd6-9b1b-3c23-9ecd-6d9678c4d00d"},"summary_title":"Bates, Sarah (nee Harrop)"},{"@link":{"relation":"person","type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-199112","uid":"adlib-agent-199112","uuid":"6e594f6a-d920-3b6e-8771-a50b8b8a3b1b"},"summary_title":"Montagu, Elizabeth"},{"@link":{"relation":"person","type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-199110","uid":"adlib-agent-199110","uuid":"5e02116a-341f-3bbc-b956-3fef718d5556"},"summary_title":"Siddons, Sarah"},{"@link":{"relation":"person","type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-86586","uid":"adlib-agent-86586","uuid":"eae34ef4-640f-3ce2-9cc1-854088075a68"},"summary_title":"Mason, Rev. William"},{"@link":{"relation":"person","type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-114271","uid":"adlib-agent-114271","uuid":"caff4b6f-c91d-36a3-b2ab-38cf4c81da19"},"summary_title":"Reynolds, Joshua"},{"@link":{"relation":"person","type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-198502","uid":"adlib-agent-198502","uuid":"b67bd5fa-4f2a-302b-afaa-81f4c4f45ec8"},"summary_title":"Hayley, Eliza"},{"@link":{"relation":"person","type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-60281","uid":"adlib-agent-60281","uuid":"eb950ea2-c7cf-31ca-86c5-6e18f0e39f92"},"summary_title":"Hayley, Thomas Alphonso"},{"@link":{"relation":"person","type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-199113","uid":"adlib-agent-199113","uuid":"1a60dd71-1e58-36ad-8671-68757aa0bbd4"},"summary_title":"Williams, Helen Maria"}],"content":{"description":[{"type":"content description","value":"Hayley admonishes Seward for taking his \"foolish Raillery in so serious a Light\" asking whether she really thinks \"I had so mean an opinion of you as to suspect\" [sic] --- What?... that you had asked Mr Whalley to flatter you --- In truth, my dear Sister, I did not mean to insinuate any such thing; But if you really had done so, I should be more inclined to defend than to reproach the Vanity of your Request...\" He then explains his perspective with reference to Cicero and his own vanity.\n\nHayley writes that he hopes Mary Knowles has told Seward that they met at Long's, and that \"the Heat & Bustle of the Metropolis had a very painful Influence on his Eyes & Head -- Indeed I had some perverse & unpleasant Business to transact [no details provided], which clouded my highest Enjoyments, & would have affected my Spirits much more than it did, had I not been enlivened by the magic of the Romneyan Circe, [see https:\/\/www.tate.org.uk\/art\/artworks\/romney-emma-hart-as-circe-n05591] & the more potent spells of Hospitality & Friendship.\"\n\nHe continues \"I was enlivened also by the enchantment of Music, & had the delight of hearing Mrs Bates sing in a little private room... My younger sister of Parnassus [Helen Maria Williams] who has long been acquainted with the Bates's procured us the pleasure of hearing her delightful friend --\n\nApropos of the little Muse, you must visit yr sister when you are in Town\". Hayley explains that she has \"most cheerfully consented to suppress\" her long historical poem \"in compliance with the advice of some rigid critics, who think it deficient in plan, tho certainly replete with poetical Beauties --- I had a long tete-tete Conference with Aristotle in Petticoats on the Subject -- I mean the great Mrs Montague, who is the Patroness of the little Muse...\"\n\nHe tells Seward that her \"admirable Portrait returned very safely to Town\" and that Romney \"is now engaged in delineating the Pathetic Queen of the Theatre\" [Sarah Siddons] and Hayley regrets \"not a little that various Incidents prevented her sitting to Him while I was his Guest\".\n\nHayley asks Seward if she has seen Mason's recent poem on the subject of painting, translated from a Latin work by du Fresnoy, and which includes notes by Sir Joshua Reynolds, which he praises. Mason has sent him a copy, and Hayley writes that \"it may amuse you to see the little squib that I have sent Him in Return --- so Here it is for yr Ldyship - but pray keep it to yrself!\" 16 lines of rhyming couplets praising Mason's work follow.\n\nHe concludes \" I must now throw down my pen & a vile one it is, with a Farewell Benediction God Help you! -- write very soon & give me a long History of yrself--- Eliza is well & salutes you affectionately -- Alphonso who is already one of the Literati & reads an infantine Page to Papa every day adds his devotions to the Moose--\""}]},"identifier":[{"accession_number":"Hayley\/XII\/27","primary":true,"type":"accession number","value":"Hayley\/XII\/27"},{"priref":"110005512","type":"priref","value":"110005512"},{"type":"uri","uri":"https:\/\/data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk\/id\/object\/110005512","value":"https:\/\/data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk\/id\/object\/110005512"}],"institutions":[{"@link":{"type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-149638","uid":"adlib-agent-149638","uuid":"7376d833-d0a7-3be0-916e-9c892b7a24d8"},"summary_title":"The Fitzwilliam Museum"}],"lifecycle":{"creation":[{"date":[{"earliest":1783,"latest":1783,"value":"1783-02-23"}],"maker":[{"@link":{"type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-198487","uid":"adlib-agent-198487","uuid":"4dbae6db-a725-3bfd-b34e-5d215b1a85e6"},"summary_title":"Hayley, William"}]}]},"measurements":{"dimensions":[{"value":"2 sheets, folded."}]},"summary_title":"William Hayley to Anna Seward: letter","title":[{"value":"William Hayley to Anna Seward: letter"}],"type":{"base":"object","type":"OBJECT"}}