Ballads

William Hayley's 1805 work, "Ballads: Founded on Anecdotes Relating to Animals," is a significant collection of ballads based on true anecdotes that reflect the poet's interest in burgeoning Romantic themes such as the loyalty, courage, and moral value of animals; while Hayley uses the narrative power of the poetic form to deliver emotional and moral lessons, the most notable feature of the volume is that it is embellished with powerful and dramatic engravings by the celebrated artist William Blake, who was under Hayley's patronage at the time, making the book a valuable example of both early 19th-century animal literature and artistic collaboration.