Life

Bayley was the son of Peter Bayley, a solicitor at Nantwich. In 1790 he entered Rugby school, and in February 1796, at the age of seventeen, Merton College, Oxford

Merton College, Oxford

Merton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor to Henry III and later to Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to...

. He did not take a degree. He was called to the bar at the Temple, but made no serious effort to pursue his profession. His interest in music and the drama rendered him neglectful of the dictates of prudence. ‘Instead of following the law,’ he, as it was said, ‘allowed the law to follow him,’ until he found himself in prison for debt. Subsequently he turned his attention to literature, and became editor of the ‘Museum,’ a weekly periodical. He died suddenly on his way to the opera, 25 January 1823.

Works

Bayley published a volume of poems in 1803, and, besides contributing occasional verses to periodicals, printed for private circulation, at an early period, several specimens of an epic poem founded on the conquest of Wales, which appeared posthumously in 1824 under the title of ‘Idwal.’ In 1820, under the pseudonym of Giorgione di Castel Chiuso, he published a volume of verse, entitled ‘Sketches from St. George's-in-the-Fields,’ containing clever and graphic descriptions of various phases of London life and therefore possessing now considerable antiquarian and social interest. A second series appeared in 1821. A posthumous volume of ‘Poetry’ by Bayley was published in 1824, and on 20 April 1825 a tragedy, ‘Orestes,’ left by him in manuscript, was brought out at Covent Garden with Charles Kemble

Charles Kemble

Charles Kemble was a British actor.-Life:The youngest son of Roger Kemble, and younger brother of John Philip Kemble, Stephen Kemble and Sarah Siddons, he was born at Brecon, South Wales. Like John Philip, he was educated at Douai...

in the principal part, one of the most successful of Kemble's impersonations.