Letter from William Hayley, Felpham, to Sir Walter Scott, 1811 July 16 : autograph manuscript draft signed with initials.

Commenting on Scott's talent and his "The Vision of Don Roderick" and on the recent publication of Anna Seward's letters by Constable; saying " The voice of Envy has suggested to you that your nown is ephemeral & your modesty has honoured the Calumny too much by seeming to apprehend it may be true - but trust me you will ever be a favourite among the genuine Lovers of true Poetry as long as our Language endures. Your Influence over the Heart & [illegible] is derived from Truth & Nature & forming a part of their dominion must like themselves be indelible. Your new Poem is worthy of yrself & of your subject - it is a noble Performance devoted to a noble Purpose - after a third recital of it aloud to a very sensible audience we are all confident in this opinion of it - Merit - yr Portrait of Buonaparte is sketched with the spirit & Energy of Michael Angelo...now for architecture - I am truly glad to hear you are preparing to build for yrself a pastoral abode - who can plan so well the rural Bower & Sylvan Hall - witness your enchanting Lady of the Lake - I send you however a little incomplete sketch...of the whimsical structure that I formed in this marine village as a sort of Halcyon nest for old age - I send it chiefly to recommend to you the Idea of not making your stables adjoining to your House - but rather connect them by a covered arcade - which you will observe in the rough sketch I send we have found peculiarly useful & pleasant both in summer & winter - affording occasionally shelter & good exercise both for man & Horse - I smile at our similar Fondness for that most valuable animal it used to be my daily Cantor in all seasons to give my Horses at 6 oclock in the morning for the purpose of endearing myself to the Creatures so conducive to my health & amusement - There is a Time for all Things - & at the age of 66 I have found it expedient to resign my Horses after a score of hairbreath Escapes of Life by their falling under me & back upon me - Two years & a half have passed since I made this great sacrifice to peace & to Economy - my Friends [illegible] it would injure my health but I thank Heaven that has rather had the opposite effect. Shall I now speak of the unhappy & alas the malignant Anna Seward...& reserve so unpleasant a subject for a future confidential letter to you in which I may tell you stranger things perhaps than you have ever yet met with in all your wonderful Legends - how could so sensible & so civil a man as Mr. Constable bring himself to print & publish such an infamous letter as the 4th of his 5th volume to Mrs. Gell. If I were vindictive, but thank Heaven I am not so & if I chose to make Law an instrument to punish a most gross violation of Justice & decency I believe I might obtain very heavy damages from the publisher of such a savage Libel against the character of a deceas'd Wife - who, between ourselves, was torn under Circumstances almost miraculously singular - but more of these Mysteries hereafter - I will only say at present poor ungrateful Seward may God forgive Her for all her manifold offences - She has shewn but too deplorably for her own Credit - / adieu my dear Walter - may your daughters if they inherit any of yr poetic Fire have all the charms of our deceased poetess without any of her defects - That God may render you as preeminently happy in yr domestic as you are in yr literary character is the cordial wish & prayer of yr obedient & affectionate / WH;" adding, in a postscript, "I send you a little poem alluding to Spain that is not I believe to be purchased - it was written some time ago by an old friend of mine & a great adviser of yours."