was produced with a cast including the Marchioness of Londonderry and Lord Castlereagh. By 1831 Bayly and his wife were experiencing financial difficulties. He had invested his wife's dowry in coal mines, which proved unproductive. The agent who managed Mrs. Bayly's property in Ireland failed to provide satisfactory accounts. A replacement agent ultimately made the property pay, but these financial difficulties, combined with poor physical health, had a detrimental effect on Bayly's creativity. During a trip to France to convalesce, he was able to recover sufficiently to write the poem The Bridesmaid, which drew a flattering letter from Sir Robert Peel. Bayly regained his productivity, and in a short time he wrote thirty-six dramatic pieces. However, By 1837 he had begun to suffer from a range of serious medical conditions. His novel Weeds of Witchery, published that year, led a French critic to describe him as the Anacreon of English romance. In the same year he wrote a trilogy of novels, Kindness of Women, consisting of a double novel Kate Leslie and an independent tale David Dumps, Or, The Budget of Blunders. They were published by Richard Bentley. He developed dropsy and jaundice, and he died on 22 April 1839. He was buried at Cheltenham, his epitaph being written by his friend Theodore Hook. Bayly played the harmonica, guitar, and banjo. Songs "Gaily the Troubadour Touched his Guitar" "I'd Be a Butterfly" "I'll Hang my Harp on a Willow Tree" "Isle of Beauty, Fare Thee Well!" "The Mistletoe Bough" "Oh, No! We Never Mention Her" "Oh, Pilot! 'tis a Fearful Night" "The Old House at Home" "She Wore a Wreath of Roses" "We Met, 'twas in a Crowd" "Long, Long Ago" Bibliography Notes References External links Short bio of the composer along with MIDI & lyrics for Long, Long Ago Sheet music for "The Mother of the Soldier Boy", Macon, GA: John C. Schreiner & Son, 1864, from the Confederate Imprints Sheet Music Collection 1797 births 1839 deaths English songwriters English male poets 19th-century English male writers 19th-century English poets