The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-06-30 00:00:00

THE LATE B. R. HAYDON, ESA

This well-known h'storical painter died on Monday last,
under very melancholy circumstances. Pecuniary difficul-
ties appeared to have pressed on his mind. An examination
of the body proves that the deceased must have first fired a
pistol into his head, a bullet wound being viable in the parie-
tal bone. This appears not to have had a fatal effect, and the
deceased appears subsequently to ha, e obtained possession
of a razor, with which he afterwards inflic ed two severe
gashes in his throat, which caused his death. The coro-
ner's jury found, that the deceased was of unsound mind
whets he committed the act. In the cow se of inquiry, the
following extract was read from a journal of the eeceass.d,
that he had kept fr r marry years, up to the moment of his
death :—" I have written to Sir Robert Peel, to
and to —, stating that I have a heavy sum to pay. I
have offered the Duke's Study' to—, Who answered
first.? Tormented by —, harassed by pubic business,
up came the following letter :

" ` Whitehall, June 16.
" am sorry to hear of your condoned embar-
rassments. From a limited fund which 1 have at my dis-
posal I send, as a contribution to your relief from these
embarrassments, the sum of 450.
" 1 remain, air, your obedient servant,
" ' BERT PEEL.'
" That's 13eP1. Will —, or answer."

The coroner said, that in leaving the case in the hands of
the jury, he could not fail to remark on the munificent
act of Sir Robert Peel towards the unortunate deceased.
He thought it must speak to the heart of a great many
thousand persons that, whilst others were, so to speak,
attempting to destroy his own mind, and amidst a Ares-
` sure of public business almost unparalleled. Sir Robert
Peel bad not forgotten the sufferings of others. It was
further stated at the inquest, by the Rev. Mr. Hyman,
the deceased's stepson, that as soon as Sir Robert Peel
was informed of Mr. flaydon's death, he transmitted a
sum of .£2OO to prevent the family from being molested
by the creditors before a public appeal could be made on
their behalf, and added, that when► that appeal was made,
he should be most ready to come forward with his private
purse and personal influence.

The following letter bas been addressed to the editor of
the Mornino Herald:—

twenty years ago (July 9. 18'17) your
journal published an appeal—or rather a complaint.
of
poor ilaydon's, too plainly foreshowing the destiny of his
helpless and hopeless career. At thie moment, when the
dead man attracts a notice which the living could never
obtain, his sad letter may not be inaptly reprinted.

"TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING HERALD

" Sir,—ln the Literary Gazette of Saiu, day week was
published a report of what had been spent by the directors
of the British Gallery in favour of British artista--viz
£75,000 in pictures sold, £14,000 in pictures
by the directors. and £5OOO in premiums bestowed.
" Perhaps, in my present condition of bitter degrada-
tion, it will not be considered- ungrateful in toe to state
that I never received one guinea of the £75,000 laid out
in pictures sdd at the Bridal Gallery ; that of the £14,000
bestowed by the directors in purchases I have never had
the honour of receiving one • shilling; and that of the
£5OOO spent in premiums. only £lOO was voted as a pre-
mium. £lOO as a premium during 23 years ! That at
this moment my ' Judgment of Solomon' is rolled up in
a winehouse in the Borough ! My ' Entry into Jerusa-
lem,' once graced by the enthusiasm of the rank and
beauty of the three kingdoms, is doubled up in a back
room in Holborn! That my ' Laz Yrus' is in an uphol-
sterer's shop in Mount-street ! and my Crucifixion' in
a hayloft in Lisson-groce •..

Purchased

"My being unable, th••refore, to meet the just denvmds
on me at present is not, I hope, wholly unaccounted for.
" Sir, yours,
" B. R. II A.TDON.
" King's Bench Prison, July 7."

One hundred pounds in 23 years! and not a penny
daring the next 19! The utilitarians to whom we vote
our hundreds of thousands of pounds in reward of their
having made their own fortune,. by railroad and cotton
schemes will piously wonder over the suicide, whom 42
years of neglect have driven into his d• sperate grave.
Long before the date of his letter to the Herald. 1111Y-
don had been liberated from gaol as an insnlvent, under
which process one of his finest pictures (a debt contracted
for its gilt frame being. I believe, in his schedule ; and
another, probably, for its canvas and ca'our.:,) was sold to
a tradesman for less than the cost price of itN materials
jUI3O 25, 1846. Pil YLAX.

(F,-om the Britannia.)

To give a last remembrance to the unfortunate Haydon.
If he could have obtained in the earlier part of his career

but ob.-ye the necessity of driid2iiii on all kinds
of snhjoets,lia-nlight_havP made a gre4T ar.ist, and agreat
honour to his country. With his absolute passion for the
arts, his untiring industry, his active ambition, and his
picturesque mind, he must have produced works.which

Our
into oduction

country would not " have willingly let di(
;ion prohibits, and wisely prohibits tl

be turned into picture gaderie

Nor can we force the

various city or country corporations to expend money,
money generally not their own, in 6ecorating their walls.
We cannot expect private individuals to give commissions
for great pictures, which are unsuited to their houses or
their personal means ; and yet, without the production of
pictures on a large scale and on striking public subjects,
we cannot have a nation., school of painting.

neuot
o hisuf fame,
rP.
young
olw'uee n g
artists
coalj)pi oetushcert spaholptobsravisiOnf., 0 f course,
•. v. l••... 1 , • ....... .., .• • • ''
Proof wag shown of
would
`Theprovideoryiloyunnagtuarratlisatsndine effective eesirp:etidmiesottyrawtisnovv.:toinenushodlodwootfihsbtxehue:2thoohttioose
moderate competence which would enable a lover of his
tatao
ha. art,
nyeet
aoshrruoiasmisb,
subject,
iegnnicnhdtitluoctanohcnasesplln:leceboreit
ouiheterty:nei;
atrotytwb;l
be enough.
xpelitnent ; and What are
£5,000 out of an income of fifty millions?
There are at this moment other artists, and those too,
tfatuct.i
al bti
thteeye
ability.
purpose
rußxesr.npsdiose:eix.ocoefapottyhueewga
nations)
:et:hi
seoinscahle sufficient
eexpended
ed
Gallery has cost, probably,
men of fine conceptions, and even of known name, strug-
glingduces generally £4OOO a }ear.
with scarcely lees. than the difficulties of the unfor-
X 12,000. But all those establishments, things to be? The nation
is not deficient in liberal love for the arts. The National
British Institution is large. The Royal Academy pro-
The Art-Union produces
their merits, fail in the one great and e-,sential otject—tor
securing a man of talent from the direct pressute of want;
I 0 .000. Tale
and
theyo uie
jo 1
have
a the
e
disturbed by the exigencies of the hour; a
d nrde:qment for
Of enabling him to pursue his chosen course offrotaaadiT,,ying
him to cultivate, in whatever
totelenee and
row lustye round
the time, that genius which id yet done. trill roy-
alty country. SJrnething morezrr
of a
pure s(nd solid
silty neglect the noblest.°
legislature be negligent Of an illus-
trious duty? Will the leg" forget that Its genius is its
Will. the nation
that
justice to that geniuS
most precious
exalted tides to national renown?
is Among the moat
popularity?
posses,ion, and .