{"admin":{"added":1592997949000,"created":1559580001000,"flag":"Standard Record","id":"object-110005547","indexed":1747159854618,"modified":1691063362000,"processed":1747159409017,"source":"adlib","stream":"fitz-online","uid":"adlib-object-110005547","uri":"https:\/\/data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk\/id\/object\/110005547","uuid":"e5bb9949-c774-308a-91e3-dcbb668a4598","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-207306","uid":"adlib-agent-207306","uuid":"705d497d-27d0-34b8-a257-eecbb4c6f25b"},"summary_title":"Lister, Nathaniel"},{"@link":{"relation":"person","type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-198991","uid":"adlib-agent-198991","uuid":"6704da4c-9ab6-3716-8ebd-8a5d62c1c5ab"},"summary_title":"Saville, John"},{"@link":{"relation":"person","type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-55318","uid":"adlib-agent-55318","uuid":"847c9799-8c31-3919-a001-1960ab1dd810"},"summary_title":"Green, Harriet"},{"@link":{"relation":"person","type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-156789","uid":"adlib-agent-156789","uuid":"9db12765-8d11-3bc3-a6d8-c7bfdb2ea39d"},"summary_title":"Cowper, William"},{"@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-177606","uid":"adlib-agent-177606","uuid":"e08484a0-45f3-3e11-92cc-cae74c87b5cf"},"summary_title":"Smith, Elizabeth"}],"content":{"description":[{"type":"content description","value":"On Seward's epitaph for Saville; Lister's epitaph for his wife Harriet; on publishing Cowper's and Romney's letters; about selling Eartham and settling in Felpham; on wishing for a musical daughter:\n\nHayley writes to Seward saying \"If you have satisfied your own Feelings, & your own, Judgement, dear Muse, in your Epitaph on dear Giovanni, Enjoy that most important Satisfaction, & regard not the suggestions of your old poetical Privy-Counsellor\" and compares his response to the epitaph to that of Polonius \"when criticizing the Love-letter of the Lord Hamlet\".\n\nHe continues: \"I really loved Giovanni & fondly wished that his Epitaph might please every Body. That is impossible -- Be content with the Sanction of Dr Lister...\" Hayley praises Lister as \"a very elegant, & a very pathetic Poet\", and writes that he \"hardly ever read a sweeter Epitaph than the stanzas you have kindly sent me on his Wife.\n\nThere is only one Expression, that I should wish to change -- I will mention it merely to shew my Sincerity.\" He then offers an alternative to Lister's final stanza, and explains why he wished to change the expression \"Go then!\" It is not because \"they are simple and familiar, for Words that are so, may be exquisitely graceful in an Epitaph,\" but because \"a most devoutly beloved Wife ... would think it sounded a little harsh to be her go.\"\n\nHayley then proceeds to inform Seward that she can \"arraign me on any Principles, & at any bar\" she wishes, however, her accusation that he has \"expos'd all Cowper's confidential Letters ... to the whole Nation ... happens to be the Reverse of Truth -- So far from printing all I could collect, I have, with infinite Labour & Care, selected a moderate Portion from an immense Mass submitted to my Choice; & never allowed myself to print a Line without consulting, in the pure Temple of my own Heart, the responsive Spirit of my Friend.-- I knew and sympathized with Him so truly, that I could trust such a Test of his Approbation, had I no other Sanction for my Conduct -- but I have every Sanction I could wish.--\"\n\nHe continues with reference to his own letters, and questions Seward's \"Judgement\" because she prefers his letters to Cowper's.\n\n\"But different as our sentiments are on some literary Topics, Let us mutually wish a serene Evening to our tempestuous Lives!\n\nFor my own part, I feel every day, more & more, that the Sweetest pleasure of Life consists in cherishing a just & tender Remembrance of the dead. -- That you may also enjoy this soothing inestimable delight in its highest degree is the friendly Wish of\nyour Sincere\n& affectionate Hermit\n\nHe concludes the letter by explaining where Felpham is in relation to Eartham, and why he sold the Eartham House \"to a young Friend, with whom I had formed an Intimacy at Paris...\""}]},"identifier":[{"accession_number":"Hayley\/XII\/69b","primary":true,"type":"accession number","value":"Hayley\/XII\/69b"},{"priref":"110005547","type":"priref","value":"110005547"},{"type":"uri","uri":"https:\/\/data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk\/id\/object\/110005547","value":"https:\/\/data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk\/id\/object\/110005547"}],"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":1804,"latest":1804,"value":"1804-04-15"}],"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":"1 sheet, folded"}]},"summary_title":"William Hayley to Anna Seward: letter","title":[{"value":"William Hayley to Anna Seward: letter"}],"type":{"base":"object","type":"OBJECT"}}