MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM HAYLEY. BOOK THE EIGHTH. FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR 1798, TO THE DEATH OF CHAPTER I. BRIEF NOTICE OF INCIDENTS AND COMPOSITIONS So many particulars of the Poet's life are minutely recorded in his biographical tribute to the memory of his son; his own feelings and sentiments are so copiously displayed in the series of letters, which he inserted in his affectionate memorial, that the present history will hasten to the period, when it pleased Heaven to deprive a tender father of that singularly interesting child, whose education and welfare had been the primary objects of his incessant attention. Hayley always regarded his son with peculiar affection; and the talents, which he evinced, were a continual source of the most consolatory, and enlivening sensations in his paternal bosom. The early years of this youth were so happy, that his father used often to exclaim to himself, "should it please God to deprive me of my son to-morrow, I ought to be most cordially thankful for the several years of rare felicity that he has already enjoyed." By contemplations of this sort, he prepared his own mind to sustain a trial, that he was very far from foreseeing-the trial of losing his filial idol, not by a sudden stroke of death, but by a slow and severe martyrdom of more than two years. The insidious advances of that destruction, and the angelic spirit of the unrepining and cheerful sufferer, are faithfully recorded by the ocular witness of his gentle fortitude, and of all his virtues: here it will be sufficient briefly to notice some of the literary occupations, in which the afflicted father was able to employ himself in the long and calamitous season, while he was anxiously watching over a life far dearer than his own. Towards the end of the year 1797, Hayley had left his young artist, then believed to be convalescent by all his medical friends, resuming his professional studies under the excellent Flaxman. His letters were cheerful; but when the anxious father revisited the young student on the 10th of February, his quick eye discerned, in the altered features of his son, such symptoms of undiscovered malady, as had escaped all his medical friends. His kind physician declared, that he could discern no source of serious alarm; but, as the tender father thought otherwise, he exhorted him by all means to convey the interesting invalid immediately into his native air. He did so; and soon after his return to Eartham, discovered the unsuspected source of his infirmity-an incipient curvature of the spine, long and fatally mistaken for inflammatory accidental mischief, extending only to the muscles of the breast. I will not repeat his father's circumstantial account of his gradual decline, the frequent, though fruitless hopes of his revival, or the many surprising exertions of his spirit, and his talents, in the course of his oppressive, and often excruciating malady; recollecting that this narrative ought now to be more and more confined to the personal history of the author. His chief occupation was to amuse the beloved sufferer, and assist him in such employment as he was yet able to endure. The journey from London to Eartham had so affected the injured frame of the invalid, that he appeared for some time overwhelmed with extreme languor, both of body and mind; so that he could hardly command attention, except for one favourite amusement, namely, to hear his father read some of the best English comedies. The anxious parent devoted all his thoughts to cheer and inspirit this beloved sufferer, who gradually revived so far, that great hopes were entertained of his recovery by a residence in marine air. He was, therefore, stationed at Felpham, by the advice of his medical friend, Mr. Guy; and the poet supported the native alacrity of his own spirits, by cherishing The early years of this youth were so happy, that his father used often to exclaim to himself, "should it please God to deprive me of my son to-morrow, I ought to be most cordially thankful for the several years of rare felicity that he has already enjoyed." By contemplations of this sort, he prepared his own mind to sustain a trial, that he was very far from foreseeing the trial of losing his filial idol, not by a sudden stroke of death, but by a slow and severe martyrdom of more than two years. The insidious advances of that destruction, and the angelic spirit of the unrepining and cheerful sufferer, are faithfully recorded by the ocular witness of his gentle fortitude, and of all his virtues: here it will be sufficient briefly to notice some of the literary occupations, in which the afflicted father was able to employ himself in the long and calamitous season, while he was anxiously watching over a life far dearer than his own. Towards the end of the year 1797, Hayley had left his young artist, then believed to be convalescent by all his medical friends, resuming his professional studies under the excellent Flaxman. His letters were cheerful; but when the anxious father revisited the young student on the 10th of February, his quick eye discerned, in the altered features of his son, such symptoms of undiscovered malady, as had escaped all his medical friends. His kind physician declared, that he could discern no source of serious alarm; but, as the tender father thought otherwise, he exhorted him by all means to convey the interesting invalid immediately into his native air. He did so; and soon after his return to Eartham, discovered the unsuspected source of his infirmity-an incipient curvature of the spine, long and fatally mistaken for inflammatory accidental mischief, extending only to the muscles of the breast. I will not repeat his father's circumstantial account of his gradual decline, the frequent, though fruitless hopes of his revival, or the many surprising exertions of his spirit, and his talents, in the course of his oppressive, and often excruciating malady; recollecting that this narrative ought now to be more and more confined to the personal history of the author. His chief occupation was to amuse the beloved sufferer, and assist him in such employment as he was yet able to endure. The journey from London to Eartham had so affected the injured frame of the invalid, that he appeared for some time overwhelmed with extreme languor, both of body and mind; so that he could hardly command attention, except for one favourite amusement, namely, to hear his father read some of the best English comedies. The anxious parent devoted all his thoughts to cheer and inspirit this beloved sufferer, who gradually revived so far, that great hopes were entertained of his recovery by a residence in marine air. He was, therefore, stationed at Felpham, by the advice of his medical friend, Mr. Guy; and the poet supported the native alacrity of his own spirits, by cherishing |