William Hayley is better known today as the friend and benefactor of William Blake than as a prolific poet of the eighteenth century. Robert Southey said of Hayley, "Everything about that man is good except his poetry."

Among several works of Hayley's that he illustrated, Blake provided a series of forceful engravings for Hayley's Anecdotes (1805).

Shown is Blake's unusual illustration for the first animal ballad, "The Dog."