I rath HAYDON 543 the field of instrumental composition, _jther than into that of operatic writing. But in this no one who is acquainted with lis works at all extensively can doubt he was error. He was of too happy a tempera- it to have touched the deep-toned harps of idel, Gluck, Mozart, and Beethoven. For >re than half a century music flowed from is pen in a continuous stream, always new, Iways attractive, always cheerful, always eautiful, often grand, sometimes reaching the iblirne, but never betraying any touches of lly tragic sorrow or grief. He was the mu- al apostle of the beautiful and the happy. ydn's biography has been written by Grie- 3r (1810), Bombet ("Bayle," 1817), Grosser ), and Ludwig (1867). II. Michael, a Ger- composer, brother of the preceding, born Rohrau, Sept. 16, 1737, died in Salzburg, 1808. He was educated in music by 3uter, 'and rose to eminence as an organist composer, chiefly in consequence of his lose study of the works of Fux, Bach, Handel, Graun. He was chapelmaster at Gross- rardein in Hungary, and occupied the same lition in the cathedral of Salzburg, where also established an excellent school of coun- 3rpoint. His works are numerous, and em- race operas, oratorios, masses, symphonies, many other popular forms of vocal and trumental composition ; but they are little wn in consequence of the author's reluc- ce to have them published during his life, lis brother Joseph considered him the best iposer of sacred music of the day. HAYDON, Benjamin Robert, an English painter, rn in Plymouth, Jan. 25, 1786, died by his >wn hand in London, June 22, 1846. Disre- ding the wishes of his father that he should lopt his own business, that of a bookseller, he rent to London at the age of 18, and became student in the school of the royal academy. [e was an enthusiast in the pursuit of what is led "high art," and prosecuted his studies . drawing and anatomy with singular earnest- His first picture, "Joseph and Mary ting with our Saviour after a Day's Journey the Road to Egypt," was exhibited in 1807, immediately purchased by Thomas Hope, author of "Anastasius." This was fol- >wed by " Dentatus," a work which estab- shed his reputation, but involved him in a larrel with the academy, whose hanging mmittee had placed the picture in a small side room. A fondness for controversy led him to publish several attacks upon the acad- emy, which had only the effect of estranging some of his most valuable friends, of exasper- ating his own temper, and of cutting him oif from what was the chief ambition of his life, the honor of being an academician. From this time forward, notwithstanding the frequent production of eminent works, he had constant- ly to struggle with pecuniary difficulties. In 1815 he established a school, in opposition to that of the academy, in which the Landseers 395 VOL. viii. 35 and Eastlake were instructed, and about the same time became associated in the conduct of a periodical entitled "Annals of the Fine Arts." Having no tact for either pursuit, he failed in both; and in 1823* two years after his marriage, he was so involved in debt that he became an inmate of the king's bench prison, where he remained two months. Subsequent- ly he painted here one of his most characteris- tic works, " The Mock Election," representing a scene which took place within the prison walls in July, 1827, and which was purchased by George IV. for 500 guineas. For his "Pha- raoh, and Moses," painted soon after his re- lease, he obtained an equal sum. Notwithstand- ing these and similar emoluments, in 1836 he again became a prisoner for debt, but was soon after enabled to compound with his creditors. About this time he lectured on painting with considerable success. Upc- f n the publication by government, in great part through Hay- don's own exertions, of proposals for decora- ting the new houses of parliament with frescoes representing scenes in the history of the na- tion, he sent to the exhibition in Westminster hall two cartoons, " The Curse " and " Edward the Black Prince." No notice was taken of his performances, and his hope of executing some great public work of art was crushed for ever. To show the world how erroneous had been the decision of the judges, he commenced a series of gigantic pictures, including " Uriel and Satan," " Curtius Leaping into the Gulf," the " Burning of Rome," and the " Banishment of Aristides," the two latter of which, while on exhibition in London, attracted but 133 visitors during the time that Tom Thumb in an adjoining room received 120,000. Under the weight of this neglect and of pecuniary embarrassments his reason gave way, and while engaged on his last great picture, " Alfred and the Trial by Jury," he put an end to his life, having first written in his journal : " Stretch me no longer on this rough, world." A post- mortem examination discovered a long-seated disease of the brain, which may account for much of his eccentricity. His family were provided for by a public subscription. Hay- don's autobiography, edited by Tom Taylor in 1853 (2d ed., 3 vols. 8vo), lays bare the char- acter of the man, and explains his unhappy career. His love of art was a passion rather than a principle. An impetuosity of temper, impatience of criticism, and an exaggerated es- timate of his own powers and of his mission as the apostle of high art, were continually involv- ing him in disputes. His "Judgment of Solo- mon," "Christ's Entry into Jerusalem," "Christ Rejected," "Christ's Agony in the Garden," and "Raising of Lazarus," all painted previous to his first imprisonment for debt, and in the maturity of his artistic powers, are among the most favorable specimens of his style. Several of these pictures contain portraits of eminent personages, and the " Christ's Entry into Jeru- salem " is now the property of the Catholic
