HAYDN, JOSEPH, German composer, born at Rohrau, in Austria, of poor parents; early evinced a musical talent, and became at the age of eight a cathedral chorister; came into notice first as a street musician; soon became a popular music-master in Vienna, and, under the patronage of the Esterhazys, kapellmeister to Prince Nicolaus, a passionate lover of music; he produced operas, symphonies, and oratorios, &c.; he is at his best in quartettes and symphonies, and in “The Creation” and “The Seasons”; he was a man of a happy disposition, and his character appears in his music; he was known at length as Father Haydn (1732-1809).
HAYDON, BENJAMIN ROBERT, an English historical painter, born at Plymouth; studied at the Royal Academy, and in 1807 exhibited “Joseph and Mary resting on the Road to Egypt”; two years later occurred his memorable split with the Royal Academy over a supposed slight to his picture, “Dentatus”; “Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem” brought him L1700 by exhibition, and his “Judgment of Solomon,” considered his finest work, sold for 700 guineas; despite large sums obtained for “The Mock Election,” “The Reform Banquet,” &c., he was continually in debt, and his high-strung, sensitive temperament, smarting under imaginary slights and weary of unrealised ambitions, led him to commit suicide by shooting himself in his studio; he was an artist of great but unequal genius; he was fascinated with the Elgin Marbles, and the admiration he expressed for them contributed to persuade the Government to purchase them (1786-1846).
HAYES, ISAAC ISRAEL, Arctic explorer, born in Pennsylvania; after graduating in medicine, joined the Kane expedition in search of Franklin in 1853, and subsequently made two other voyages to the Arctic regions, accounts of which are given in his “An Arctic Boat-journey,” “The Land of Desolation,” &c.; subsequently he served as a surgeon during the Civil War, and sat in the New York Assembly (1832-1881).
HAYES, RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD, President of the United States, born at Delaware, Ohio; graduated at Kenyon College, Ohio; studied law at Harvard, and started practice at Cincinnati; he served with distinction through the Civil War, entered Congress in 1865, and was thrice governor of Ohio; in 1876 he was elected President in the Republican interest after a protracted and bitterly disputed election; he did much to pacify the South, reform the civil service, advance education, and to bring about resumption of specie payments, measures which greatly restored the prosperity of the country (1822-1893).
HAY-FEVER, a sort of catarrh, accompanied with paroxysms of sneezing, irritation in the eyes, pains in the head, &c., most frequent in early summer.
HAYLEY, WILLIAM, poet, the friend and biographer of Cowper; wrote “Triumphs of Temper,” a poem (1745-1820).
HAYM, RUDOLF, professor of Philosophy at Halle; wrote biographies of Hegel, W. von Humboldt, and Schopenhauer; b. 1821.