THE INVESTIGATOR; OR, Quarterly Magazine. VOL. IV. JANUARY AND APRIL, 1822. "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things EDITED BY THE REV. WILLIAM BENGO' COLLYER, D.D. LL.D. F.A.S. THE REV. THOMAS RAFFLES, LL.D. (OF LIVERPOOL,) AND JAMES BALDWIN BROWN, ESQ. LL.D. LONDON: Printed at the Caxton Press, by Henry Fisher. PUBLISHED BY THOMAS AND GEORGE Underwood, 32, fleet-streET; 1822. CONTENTS TO NUMBER VII. BIOGRAPHY. Short Account of the Islands of Timor, Rotti, Savu, Solor, Ende, or Floris, and Sumba, or Sandal Wood Island, in the Indian Archipelago. Communicated by Sir Narrative of a Visit to the Island of St. Helena; with Dr. Chalmers' Discourses on the Application of Chris- THE INVESTIGATOR. JANUARY, 1822. Biographical Sketch of William Hayley, Esq. In pursuance of our promise, we had intended to complete our Necrological Retrospect for the year 1820, by biographical sketches of Hayley and Young, two celebrated writers, removed, during that period, from their labours, which were generally calculated to promote the real interests of man; but the length to which the first of them has extended, compels us to defer the second to a future opportunity. The subject of the present notice was born at Chichester, in October, 1745. His father was Thomas Hayley, esq. of Eartham, in Sussex, a son of Dr. Hayley, the learned dean of Chichester, and prebendary of Winchester, who died on the 12th of August, 1739; his mother, a daughter of colonel Yates, one of the members in parliament for the poet's native city. Losing his father in infancy, his mother supplied, by her kindness and attention, so severe a loss. She placed him, at an early age, in the grammar school at Kingston, in Surrey; but his health being extremely delicate, she soon took him home, and had him instructed in the rudiments of classical learning beneath the maternal roof. Thence he was removed, at a proper age, to Eton, where, as had been the case during his short stay at Kingston, he was more distinguished by his masters, and better known to his schoolfellows, for the benevolence of his temper, and the mildness of his engaging manners, than for any manifestation of extraordinary genius, or rapidity of improvement. From Eton he was sent to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where, at the age of sixteen, he produced an ode, inserted in the congratulatory collection of his university, on the birth of the prince of Wales, our present sovereign. This early production of his muse evinced not any very superior poetical talent, though, perhaps, fully equal to most of its associates, especially to those written by collegians, who were, like himself, under-graduates. While at the university, he devoted also a considerable portion of his time to the frequent exercise of the pencil, having, at the recommendation of Mr. Steevens, the learned editor of Shakspeare, who was just VOL. IV. No. 7. B |