Haydon was born at Plymouth, and at ten years old was sent to the
Grammar School, under the care of the Rev. Dr. Bidlake, who possessed
great taste for painting, and first noticed Haydon’s love of drawing;
and, as a reward for diligence in school, the reverend gentleman used to
indulge his pupil by admitting him to his painting-room, where he was
allowed to pass his hal.-holidays.
At the age of fourteen, Haydon was sent to Plympton St. Mary School,
where Sir Joshua Reynolds acquired all the scholastic knowledge he ever
received. On the ceiling of the school-room was a sketch drawn by
Reynolds with a burnt cork; and it was young Haydon’s delight to sit and
contemplate this early production of the great master. Whilst at this
school, he was about to join the medical profession; but the witnessing
of an operation at once debarred him. When he left the Plympton School,
after a stay there of about two years, he had not decided what
profession he should pursue; and whilst at home in this unsettled state,
his mind was never at rest, but he was constantly employed in drawing or
painting, and reading hard. About this time, Reynolds’s “Discourses”
attracted his attention, and fixed his resolution on painting; and, as
the first step to which, he resolved to study anatomy.