{"admin":{"added":1592997951000,"created":1564570215000,"flag":"Standard Record","id":"object-110005679","indexed":1747159851952,"modified":1681744483000,"processed":1747159409017,"source":"adlib","stream":"fitz-online","uid":"adlib-object-110005679","uri":"https:\/\/data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk\/id\/object\/110005679","uuid":"391b54b6-8fa4-3728-9bbf-28d585bc88be","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-60281","uid":"adlib-agent-60281","uuid":"eb950ea2-c7cf-31ca-86c5-6e18f0e39f92"},"summary_title":"Hayley, Thomas Alphonso"},{"@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-198991","uid":"adlib-agent-198991","uuid":"6704da4c-9ab6-3716-8ebd-8a5d62c1c5ab"},"summary_title":"Saville, John"},{"@link":{"relation":"person","type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-199119","uid":"adlib-agent-199119","uuid":"3d4df547-559e-3359-994a-6d1dcbabb0ca"},"summary_title":"Sargent, John"},{"@link":{"relation":"person","type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-199506","uid":"adlib-agent-199506","uuid":"fff40633-ba80-31c3-9c6a-9bc24fa13e6a"},"summary_title":"Sargent, Charlotte"},{"@link":{"relation":"person","type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-199507","uid":"adlib-agent-199507","uuid":"f77cf64b-e833-367e-a544-33833bf1201c"},"summary_title":"Pinkerton, John, author"},{"@link":{"relation":"person","type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-163244","uid":"adlib-agent-163244","uuid":"e6ad7c11-8918-3100-9cdd-07e15ab49643"},"summary_title":"Walpole, Horace"},{"@link":{"relation":"person","type":"reference"},"admin":{"id":"agent-199508","uid":"adlib-agent-199508","uuid":"c94ce17a-6128-3fed-9cfa-e52d32844e05"},"summary_title":"Henderson, John - actor"}],"content":{"description":[{"type":"content description","value":"Hayley's letter opens with a report of how his son Thomas Alphonso (then 5 years old) had asked him to write to Seward & tell her that I want to see her again at Eartham & to thank her for putting my favourite \\ode of\/ Horace into such spirited English verse---\", so Hayley writes \"In obedience to my Lilliputian Governor\".\n\nHe writes in response to Seward asking his \"opinion of two poetical Compliments, which, in the abundance of yr gracious Enthusiasm, you have lavish'd upon me: I shall only say, that they are both abominably unfaithful to the objects you meant to describe; & ought to have run thus\n\nAccept, dear Friends, a Bard, who sometimes sunk\n   & sometimes mounted to so strange a Height,\nThat now his Verse seems fit to line a Trunk\n   & now to soar upon a Paper Kite.\"\n\nHe continues \"I rejoice to hear of the great success of the dear Songstress [unidentified] at Bath\", and praises her letters. He then asks Seward to tell \"Giovanni [John Saville] that Eliza cannot recollect all the words of the anti-hunting song, but I will get them at the first opportunity from Mrs Sargent: our poetical Brother of Lavington [John Sargent] is at present in London, but we expect Him again very soon. He told me lately that yr detested critic Mr Heron does not exist under that Name, but the book is the Composition of a Scotchman [John Pinkerton], who living by Mr Walpole's Table had picked up a large Cargo of his critical Crumbs, & molded them into the bitter bread, which you found so unpalatable.\"\n\nHe then claims that \"an anonymous author has just sent me (without any Letter) three neat little Volumes entitled \"an essay on Old Maids\" as I have only peeped into the 1st Vol I can only say, that it promises a whimsical mixture of Gravity & Fun  -- as you must be a better judge of his Subject than I can be (for I am such a Hermit that I hardly ever see a living Old Maid) pray give your opinion of this odd production if it falls in yr way.\n\nThe author must I think be a clever Fellow indeed, if he does justice to the antient Virgins, without flagging, in the long Course of three Volumes.\" (Hayley was the author).\n\nHayley then complains about the state of his eyes, and explains that this should not put Seward off writing him long letters, and Eliza will happily read them to him by candle light.\n\nHe concludes with a paragraph on the death of the Shakespearian actor, John Henderson, with whom he was friendly."}]},"identifier":[{"accession_number":"Hayley\/XII\/45","primary":true,"type":"accession number","value":"Hayley\/XII\/45"},{"priref":"110005679","type":"priref","value":"110005679"},{"type":"uri","uri":"https:\/\/data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk\/id\/object\/110005679","value":"https:\/\/data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk\/id\/object\/110005679"}],"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":1785,"from":{"earliest":1785,"latest":1785,"value":"1785-12-12"},"latest":1785,"range":true,"to":{"earliest":1785,"latest":1785,"value":"1785-12-13"}}],"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"}}