Chapter 22

SeeLife and Letters of Sir George Savile, 1st Marquis of Halifax(2 vols., 1898), by Miss H. C. Foxcroft, who has collected and made excellent use of all the material available at that date, including hitherto unexplored Savile MSS., at Devonshire House, in the Spencer Archives, in the Longleat and other collections, and who has edited the works of Halifax and printed a memorandum of conversations with King William of 1688-1690, left in MS. by Halifax. Macaulay, in hisHistory of England, misjudged Halifax on some points, but nevertheless understood and did justice to the greatness of his statesmanship, and pronounced on him a well-merited and eloquent eulogy (iv. 545). Contemporary characters of Halifax which must be accepted with caution are Burnet’s in theHistory of His Own Times(ed. 1833, vol. i. pp. 491-493, and iv. 268), that by the author of “Savilianal,” identified as William Mompesson, and “Sacellum Apollinare,” a panegyric in verse by Elkanah Settle (1695).

(P. C. Y.)

1Cal. State Papers, Dom.(Nov. 1667-Sep. 1668). p. 106.2Lords’ Journals, 12, p. 567;Savile Correspondence, ed. by W. D. Cooper, p. 136; “Character of a Trimmer,” inLife of Sir G. Savile, by H. C. Foxcroft, ii. 316.3Foxcroft i. 160, where Hallam is quoted to this effect.4Hist. MSS. Comm. House of Lords MSS.1689-1690, p. 287.5Character of a Trimmer, conclusion.6Saviliana quoted by Foxcroft i. 115.7Foxcroft, ii. 273 et seq., andHist. MSS. Comm. MSS.of F. W. Leyborne-Popham, p. 264.

1Cal. State Papers, Dom.(Nov. 1667-Sep. 1668). p. 106.

2Lords’ Journals, 12, p. 567;Savile Correspondence, ed. by W. D. Cooper, p. 136; “Character of a Trimmer,” inLife of Sir G. Savile, by H. C. Foxcroft, ii. 316.

3Foxcroft i. 160, where Hallam is quoted to this effect.

4Hist. MSS. Comm. House of Lords MSS.1689-1690, p. 287.

5Character of a Trimmer, conclusion.

6Saviliana quoted by Foxcroft i. 115.

7Foxcroft, ii. 273 et seq., andHist. MSS. Comm. MSS.of F. W. Leyborne-Popham, p. 264.

HALIFAX,a city and port of entry, capital of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It is situated in 44° 59′ N. and 63° 35′ W., on the south-east coast of the province, on a fortified hill, 225 ft. in height, which slopes down to the waters of Chebucto Bay, now known as Halifax Harbour. The harbour, which is open all the year, is about 6 m. long by 1 m. in width, and has excellent anchorage in all parts; to the north a narrow passage connects it with Bedford Basin, 6 m. in length by 4 m., and deep enough for the largest men-of-war. At the harbour mouth lies McNab’s Island, thus forming two entrances; the eastern passage is only employed by small vessels, though in 1862 the Confederate cruiser, “Tallahassee,” slipped through by night, and escaped the northern vessels which were watching off the western entrance. The population in 1901 was 40,832.

The town was originally built of wood, plastered or stuccoed, but though the wooden houses largely remain, the public buildings are of stone. Inferior in natural strength to Quebec alone, the city and its approaches have been fortified till it has become the strongest position in Canada, and one of the strongest in the British Empire. Till 1906 it was garrisoned by British troops, but in that year, with Esquimalt, on the Pacific coast, it was taken over by the Canadian government, an operation necessitating a large increase in the Canadian permanent military force. At the same time, the royal dockyard, containing a dry-dock 610 ft. in length, and the residences in connexion, were also taken over for the use of the department of marine and fisheries. Till 1905 Halifax was the summer station of the British North American squadron. In that year, in consequence of a redistribution of the fleet, the permanent North American squadron was withdrawn; but Halifax is still visited periodically by powerful squadrons of cruisers.

Though, owing to the growth of Sydney and other outports, it no longer monopolizes the foreign trade of the province, Halifax is still a thriving town, and has the largest export trade of the Dominion in fish and fish products, the export of fish alone, in 1904, amounting to over three-fifths that of the entire Dominion. Lumber (chiefly spruce deals) and agricultural products (especially apples) are also exported in large quantities. The chief imports are manufactures from Great Britain and the United States, and sugar, molasses, rum and fruit from the West Indies. Its industrial establishments include foundries, sugar refineries, manufactures of furniture and other articles of wood, a skate factory and rope and cordage works, the produce of which are all exported. It is the Atlantic terminus of the Intercolonial, Canadian Pacific and several provincial railways, and the chief winter port of Canada, numerous steamship lines connecting it with Great Britain, Europe, the West Indies and the United States. The public gardens, covering 14 acres, and Point Pleasant Park, left to a great extent in its natural state, are extremely beautiful. Behind the city is an arm of the sea (known as the North-West Arm), 5 m. in length and 1 m. in breadth, with high, well-wooded shores, and covered in summer with canoes and sailing craft. The educational institutions include a ladies’ college, several convents, a Presbyterian theological college and Dalhousie University, with faculties of arts, law, medicine and science. Established by charter in 1818 by the earl of Dalhousie, then lieutenant governor, and reorganized in 1863, it has since become much the most important seat of learning in the maritime provinces. Other prominent buildings are Government House, the provincial parliament and library, and the Roman Catholic cathedral. St Paul’s church (Anglican) dates from 1750, and though not striking architecturally, is interesting from the memorial tablets and the graves of celebrated Nova Scotians which it contains. The city is the seat of the Anglican bishop of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and of the Roman Catholic bishop of Halifax.

Founded in 1749 by the Hon. Edward Cornwallis as a rival to the French town of Louisburg in Cape Breton, it was named after the 2nd earl of Halifax, president of the board of trade and plantations. In the following year it superseded Annapolis as capital of the province. Its privateers played a prominent part in the war of 1812-15 with the United States, and during the American Civil War it was a favourite base of operations for Confederate blockade-runners. The federation of the North American provinces in 1867 lessened its relative importance, but its merchants have gradually adapted themselves to the altered conditions.

HALIFAX,a municipal, county and parliamentary borough in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, 194 m. N.N.W. from London and 7 m. S.W. from Bradford, on the Great Northern and the Lancashire & Yorkshire railways. Pop. (1891), 97,714; (1901) 104,936. It lies in a bare hilly district on and above the small river Hebble near its junction with the Calder. Its appearance is in the main modern, though a few picturesque old houses remain. The North Bridge, a fine iron structure, spans the valley, giving connexion between the opposite higher parts of the town. The principal public building is the town hall, completed in 1863 after the designs of Sir Charles Barry; it is a handsome Palladian building with a tower. Of churches the most noteworthy is that of St John the Baptist, the parish church, a Perpendicular building with lofty western tower. Two earlier churches are traceable on this side, the first perhaps pre-Norman, the second of the Early English period. The old woodwork is fine, part being Perpendicular, but the greater portion dates from 1621. All Souls’ church was built in 1859 from the designs of Sir Gilbert Scott, of whose work it is a good example, at the expense of Mr Edward Akroyd. The style is early Decorated, and a rich ornamentation is carried out in Italian marble, serpentine and alabaster. A graceful tower and spire 236 ft. high rise at the north-west angle. The Square chapel, erected by the Congregationalists in 1857, is a striking cruciform building with a tower and elaborate crocketed spire. Both the central library and museum and the Akroyd museum and art gallery occupy buildings which were formerly residences, the one of Sir Francis Crossley (1817-1872) and the other of Mr Edward Akroyd. Among charitable institutions the principal is the handsome royal infirmary, a Renaissance building. The Heath grammar school was founded in 1585 under royal charter for instruction in classical languages. It possesses close scholarships at Oxford and Cambridge universities. The Waterhouse charity school occupies a handsome set of buildings forming three sides of a quadrangle, erected in 1855. The Crossley almshouses were erected and endowed by Sir Francis and Mr Joseph Crossley, who also endowed the Crossley orphan home and school. Technical schools are maintained by the corporation. Among other public buildings may be noted the Piece-Hall, erected in 1799 for the lodgment and sale of piece goods, now used as a market, a great quadrangular structure occupying more than two acres; the bonding warehouse, court-house, and mechanics’ institute. There are six parks, of which the People’s Park of 12½ acres, presented by Sir Francis Crossley in 1858, is laid out in ornate style from designs by Sir Joseph Paxton.

Halifax ranks with Leeds, Bradford and Huddersfield as a seat of the woollen and worsted manufacture. The manufacture of carpets is a large industry, one establishment employing some5000 hands. The worsted, woollen and cotton industries, and the iron, steel and machinery manufactures are very extensive. There are collieries and freestone quarries in the neighbourhood.

The parliamentary borough returns two members. The county borough was created in 1888. The municipal borough is under a mayor, 15 aldermen and 45 councillors. Area, 13,967 acres.

At the time of the Conquest Halifax formed part of the extensive manor of Wakefield, which belonged to the king, but in the 13th century was in the hands of John, earl Warrenne (c.1245-1305). The prosperity of the town began with the introduction of the cloth trade in the 15th century, when there are said to have been only thirteen houses, which before the end of the 16th century had increased to 520. Camden, about the end of the 17th century, wrote that “the people are very industrious, so that though the soil about it be barren and improfitable, not fit to live on, they have so flourished ... by the clothing trade that they are very rich and have gained a reputation for it above their neighbours.” The trade is said to have been increased by the arrival of certain merchants driven from the Netherlands by the persecution of the duke of Alva. Among the curious customs of Halifax was the Gibbet Law, which was probably established by a prescriptive right to protect the wool trade, and gave the inhabitants the power of executing any one taken within their liberty, who, when tried by a jury of sixteen of the frith-burgesses, was found guilty of the theft of any goods of the value of more than 13d. The executions took place on market days on a hill outside the town, the gibbet somewhat resembling a guillotine. The first execution recorded under this law took place in 1541, and the right was exercised in Halifax longer than in any other town, the last execution taking place in 1650. In 1635 the king granted the inhabitants of Halifax licence to found a workhouse in a large house given to them for that purpose by Nathaniel Waterhouse, and incorporated them under the name of the master and governors. Nathaniel Waterhouse was appointed the first master, his successors being elected every year by the twelve governors from among themselves. Halifax was a borough by prescription, its privileges growing up with the increased prosperity brought by the cloth trade, but it was not incorporated until 1848. Since the Reform Act of 1832 the burgesses have returned two members to parliament. In 1607 David Waterhouse, lord of the manor of Halifax, obtained a grant of two markets there every week on Friday and Saturday and two fairs every year, each lasting three days, one beginning on the 24th of June, the other on the 11th of November. Later these fairs and markets were confirmed with the addition of an extra market on Thursday to Sir William Ayloffe, baronet, who had succeeded David Waterhouse as lord of the manor. The market rights were sold to the Markets Company in 1810 and purchased from them by the corporation in 1853.

During the Civil War Halifax was garrisoned by parliament, and a field near it is still called the Bloody Field on account of an engagement which took place there between the forces of parliament and the Royalists.

SeeVictoria County History, “Yorkshire”; T. Wright,The Antiquities of the Town of Halifax(Leeds, 1738); John Watson,The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Halifax(London, 1775); John Crabtree,A Concise History of the Parish and Vicarage of Halifax(Halifax and London, 1836).

ḤALIṢAH(Hebrew,חליצה“untying”), the ceremony by which a Jewish widow releases her brother-in-law from the obligation to marry her in accordance with Deuteronomy xxv. 5-10, and obtains her own freedom to remarry. By the law of Moses it became obligatory upon the brother of a man dying childless to take his widow as wife. If he refused, “then shall his brother’s wife come unto him in the presence of the elders and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother’s house.” By Rabbinical law the ceremony was later made more complex. The parties appear before a court of three elders with two assessors. The place is usually the synagogue house, or that of the Rabbi, sometimes that of the widow. After inquiry as to the relationship of the parties and their status (for if either be a minor or deformed, ḥaliṣah cannot take place), the shoe is produced. It is usually the property of the community and made entirely of leather from the skin of a “clean” animal. It is of two pieces, the upper part and the sole, sewn together with leathern threads. It has three small straps in front, and two white straps to bind it on the leg. After it is strapped on, the man must walk four cubits in the presence of the court. The widow then loosens and removes the shoe, throwing it some distance, and spits on the ground, repeating thrice the Biblical formula “So shall it be done,” &c. Ḥaliṣah, which is still common among orthodox Jews, must not take place on the Sabbath, a holiday, or the eve of either, or in the evening. To prevent brothers-in-law from extorting money from a widow as a price for releasing her from perpetual widowhood, Jewish law obliges all brothers at the time of a marriage to sign a document pledging themselves to submit to ḥaliṣah without payment. (CompareLevirate).

HALKETT, HUGH,Freiherr von(1783-1863), British soldier and general of infantry in the Hanoverian service, was the second son of Major-General F. G. Halkett, who had served many years in the army, and whose ancestors had for several generations distinguished themselves in foreign services. With the “Scotch Brigade” which his father had been largely instrumental in raising, Hugh Halkett served in India from 1798 to 1801. In 1803 his elder brother Colin was appointed to command a battalion of the newly formed King’s German Legion, and in this he became senior captain and then major. Under his brother’s command he served with Cathcart’s expeditions to Hanover, Rügen and Copenhagen, where his bold initiative on outpost duty won commendation. He was in the Peninsula in 1808-1809, and at Walcheren. At Albuera, Salamanca, &c., he commanded the 2nd Light Infantry Battalion, K.G.L., in succession to his brother, and at Venta del Pozo in the Burgos retreat he greatly distinguished himself. In 1813 he left the Peninsula and was subsequently employed in the organization of the new Hanoverian army. He led a brigade of these troops in Count Wallmoden’s army, and bore a marked part in the battle of Göhrde and the action of Schestedt, where he took with his own hand a Danish standard. In the Waterloo campaign he commanded two brigades of Hanoverian militia which were sent to the front with the regulars, and during the fight with the Old Guard captured General Cambronne. After the fall of Napoleon he elected to stay in the Hanoverian service, though he retained his half-pay lieutenant-colonelcy in the English army. He rose to be general and inspector-general of infantry. In his old age he led the Xth Federal Army Corps in the Danish War of 1848, and defeated the Danes at Oversee. He had the G.C.H., the C.B. and many foreign orders, including the Prussian order of the Black Eagle andpour le Mériteand the Russian St Anne.

See Knesebeck,Leben des Freiherrn Hugh von Halkett(Stuttgart, 1865).

His brother,Sir Colin Halkett(1774-1856), British soldier, began his military career in the Dutch Guards and served in various “companies” for three years, leaving as a captain in 1795. From 1800 to the peace of Amiens he served with the Dutch troops in English pay in Guernsey. In August 1803 Halkett was one of the first officers assigned to the service of raising the King’s German Legion, and he became major, and later lieutenant-colonel, commanding the 2nd Light Infantry Battalion. His battalion was employed in the various expeditions mentioned above, from Hanover to Walcheren, and in 1811 Colin Halkett succeeded Charles Alten in the command of the Light Brigade, K.G.L., which he held throughout the Peninsula War from Albuera to Toulouse. In 1815 Major-General Sir Colin Halkett commanded the 5th British Brigade of Alten’s division, and at Waterloo he received four wounds. Unlike his brother, he remained in the British service, in which he rose to general. At the time of his death he was governor of Chelseahospital. He had honorary general’s rank in the Hanoverian service, the G.C.B. and G.C.H., as well as numerous foreign orders.

For information about both the Halketts, see Beamish,History of the King’s German Legion(1832).

HALL, BASIL(1788-1844), British naval officer, traveller and miscellaneous writer, was born at Edinburgh on the 31st of December 1788. His father was Sir James Hall of Dunglass, the geologist. Basil Hall was educated at the High School, Edinburgh, and in 1802 entered the navy, where he rose to the rank of post-captain in 1817, after seeing active service in several fields. By observing the ethnological as well as the physical peculiarities of the countries he visited, he collected the materials for a very large number of scientific papers. In 1816 he commanded the sloop “Lyra,” which accompanied Lord Amherst’s embassy to China; and he described his cruise inAn Account of a Voyage of Discovery to the West Coast of Corea and the Great Loo-choo Island in the Japan Sea(London, 1818). In 1820 he held a command on the Pacific coast of America, and in 1824 published two volumes ofExtracts from a Journal written on the Coasts of Chili, Peru and Mexico in the Years 1820-21-22. Retiring on half-pay in 1824, Hall in 1825 married Margaret, daughter of Sir John Hunter, and in her company travelled (1827-1828) through the United States. In 1829 he published hisTravels in North America in the Years 1827 and 1828, which was assailed by the American press for its views of American society.Schloss Hainfeld, or a Winter in Lower Styria(1836), is partly a romance, partly a description of a visit paid by the author to the castle of the countess Purgstall.Spain and the Seat of War in Spainappeared in 1837.The Fragments of Voyages and Travels(9 vols.) were issued in three detachments between 1831 and 1840. Captain Hall was a fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh, and of the Royal Astronomical, Royal Geographical and Geological Societies. His last work, a collection of sketches and tales under the name ofPatchwork(1841), had not been long published before its author became insane, and he died in Haslar hospital, Portsmouth, on the 11th of September 1844.

HALL, CARL CHRISTIAN(1812-1888), Danish statesman, son of the highly respected artisan and train-band colonel Mads Hall, was born at Christianshavn on the 25th of February 1812. After a distinguished career at school and college, he adopted the law as his profession, and in 1837 married the highly gifted but eccentric Augusta Marie, daughter of the philologist Peter Oluf Bröndsted. A natural conservatism indisposed Hall at first to take any part in the popular movement of 1848, to which almost all his friends had already adhered; but the moment he was convinced of the inevitability of popular government, he resolutely and sympathetically followed in the new paths. Sent to theRigsforsamlingof 1848 as member for the first district of Copenhagen, a constituency he continued to represent in theFolketingtill 1881, he immediately took his place in the front rank of Danish politicians. From the first he displayed rare ability as a debater, his inspiring and yet amiable personality attracted hosts of admirers, while his extraordinary tact and temper disarmed opposition and enabled him to mediate between extremes without ever sacrificing principles.

Hall was not altogether satisfied with the fundamental law of June; but he considered it expedient to make the best use possible of the existing constitution and to unite the best conservative elements of the nation in its defence. The aloofness and sulkiness of the aristocrats and landed proprietors he deeply deplored. Failing to rally them to the good cause he determined anyhow to organize the great cultivated middle class into a political party. Hence the “June Union,” whose programme was progress and reform in the spirit of the constitution, and at the same time opposition to the one-sided democratism and party-tyranny of theBondevenneror peasant party. The “Union” exercised an essential influence on the elections of 1852, and was, in fact, the beginning of the national Liberal party, which found its natural leader in Hall. During the years 1852-1854 the burning question of the day was the connexion between the various parts of the monarchy. Hall was “eiderdansk” by conviction. He saw in the closest possible union between the kingdom and a Schleswig freed from all risk of German interference the essential condition for Denmark’s independence; but he did not think that Denmark was strong enough to carry such a policy through unsupported, and he was therefore inclined to promote it by diplomatic means and international combinations, and strongly opposed to the Conventions of 1851-1852 (SeeDenmark:History), though he was among the first, subsequently, to accept them as an established fact and the future basis for Denmark’s policy.

Hall first took office in the Bang administration (12th of December 1854) as minister of public worship. In May 1857 he became president of the council after Andrae, Bang’s successor, had retired, and in July 1858 he exchanged the ministry of public worship for the ministry of foreign affairs, while still retaining the premiership.

Hall’s programme, “den Konstitutionelle Helstat,”i.e.a single state with a common constitution, was difficult enough in a monarchy which included two nationalities, one of which, to a great extent, belonged to a foreign and hostile jurisdiction. But as this political monstrosity had already been guaranteed by the Conventions of 1851-1852, Hall could not rid himself of it, and the attempt to establish this “Helstat” was made accordingly by the Constitution of the 13th of November 1863. The failure of the attempt and its disastrous consequences for Denmark are described elsewhere. Here it need only be said that Hall himself soon became aware of the impossibility of the “Helstat,” and his whole policy aimed at making its absurdity patent to Europe, and substituting for it a constitutional Denmark to the Eider which would be in a position to come to terms with an independent Holstein. That this was the best thing possible for Denmark is absolutely indisputable, and “the diplomatic Seven Years’ War” which Hall in the meantime conducted with all the powers interested in the question is the most striking proof of his superior statesmanship. Hall knew that in the last resort the question must be decided not by the pen but by the sword. But he relied, ultimately, on the protection of the powers which had guaranteed the integrity of Denmark by the treaty of London, and if words have any meaning at all he had the right to expect at the very least the armed support of Great Britain.1But the great German powers and the force of circumstances proved too strong for him. On the accession of the new king, Christian IX., Hall resigned rather than repeal the November Constitution, which gave Denmark something to negotiate upon in case of need. But he made matters as easy as he could for his successors in the Monrad administration, and the ultimate catastrophe need not have been as serious as it was had his advice, frankly given, been intelligently followed.

After 1864 Hall bore more than his fair share of the odium and condemnation which weighed so heavily upon the national Liberal party, making no attempt to repudiate responsibility and refraining altogether from attacking patently unscrupulous opponents. But his personal popularity suffered not the slightest diminution, while his clear, almost intuitive, outlook and his unconquerable faith in the future of his country made him, during those difficult years, a factor of incalculable importance in the public life of Denmark. In 1870 he joined the Holstein-Holsteinborg ministry as minister of public worship, and in that capacity passed many useful educational reforms, but on the fall of the administration, in 1873, he retired altogether from public life. In the summer of 1879 Hall was struck down by apoplexy, and for the remaining nine years of his life he was practically bedridden. He died on the 14th of August 1888. In politics Hall was a practical, sagacious “opportunist,” in the best sense of that much abused word, with an eye rather for things than for persons. Moreover, he had no very pronounced political ambition, and was an utter stranger to that longing for power, which drives so many men of talent to adopt extreme expedients. His urbanity and perfectequilibrium at the very outset incited sympathy, while his wit and humour made him the centre of every circle within which he moved.

See Vilhelm Christian Sigurd Topsöe,Polit. Portraetstudier(Copenhagen, 1878); Schöller Parelius Vilhelm Birkedal,Personlige Oplevelser(Copenhagen, 1890-1891).

(R. N. B.)

1On this head see the 3rd marquess of Salisbury’sPolitical Essays, reprinted from theQuarterly Review.

HALL, CHARLES FRANCIS(1821-1871), American Arctic explorer, was born at Rochester, New Hampshire. After following the trade of blacksmith he became a journalist in Cincinnati; but his enthusiasm for Arctic exploration led him in 1859 to volunteer to the American Geographical Society to “go in search for the bones of Franklin.” With the proceeds of a public subscription he was equipped for his expedition and sailed in May 1860 on board a whaling vessel. The whaler being ice-bound, Hall took up his abode in the regions to the north of Hudson Bay, where he found relics of Frobisher’s 16th-century voyages, and living with the Eskimo for two years he acquired a considerable knowledge of their habits and language. He published an account of these experiences under the title ofArctic Researches, and Life among the Esquimaux(1864). Determined, however, to learn more about the fate of the Franklin expedition he returned to the same regions in 1864, and passing five years among the Eskimo was successful in obtaining a number of Franklin relics, as well as information pointing to the exact fate of 76 of the crew, whilst also performing some geographical work of interest. In 1871 he was given command of the North Polar expedition fitted out by the United States Government in the “Polaris.” Making a remarkably rapid passage up Smith Sound at the head of Baffin Bay, which was found to be ice-free, the “Polaris” reached on the 30th of August the lat. of 82° 11′, at that time, and until the English expedition of 1876 the highest northern latitude attained by vessel. The expedition went into winter quarters in a sheltered cove on the Greenland coast. On the 24th of October, Hall on his return from a successful sledge expedition to the north was suddenly seized by an illness of which he died on the 8th of November. Capt. S. O. Buddington (1823-1888) assumed command, and although the “Polaris” was subsequently lost after breaking out of the ice, with only part of the crew aboard, the whole were ultimately rescued, and the scientific results of the expedition proved to be of considerable importance.

HALL, CHRISTOPHER NEWMAN(1816-1902), English Nonconformist divine, was born at Maidstone on the 22nd of May 1816. His father was John Vine Hall, proprietor and printer of theMaidstone Journal, and the author of a popular evangelical work calledThe Sinner’s Friend. Christopher was educated at University College, London, and took the London B.A. degree. His theological training was gained at Highbury College, whence he was called in 1842 to his first pastorate at the Albion Congregational Church, Hull. During the twelve years of his ministry there the membership was greatly increased, and a branch chapel and school were opened. At Hull Newman Hall first began his active work in temperance reform, and in defence of his position wroteThe Scriptural Claims of Teetotalism. In 1854 he accepted a call to Surrey chapel, London, founded in 1783 by the Rev. Rowland Hill. A considerable sum had been bequeathed by Hill for the perpetuation of his work on the expiration of the lease; but, owing to some legal flaw in the will, the money was not available, and Newman Hall undertook to raise the necessary funds for a new church. By weekly offertories and donations the money for the beautiful building called Christ Church at the junction of the Kennington and Westminster Bridge Roads was collected, and within four years of opening (1876) the total cost (£63,000) was cleared. In 1892 Newman Hall resigned his charge and devoted himself to general evangelical work. Most of his writings are small booklets or tracts of a distinctly evangelical character. The best known of these isCome to Jesus, of which over four million copies have been circulated in forty different languages. Newman Hall visited the United States during the Civil War, and did much to promote a friendly understanding between England and America. A Liberal in politics, and a keen admirer of John Bright, few preachers of any denomination have exercised so far-reaching an influence as the “Dissenters’ Bishop,” as he came to be termed. He died on the 18th of February 1902.

See hisAutobiography(1898); obituary notice inThe Congregational Year Bookfor 1903.

HALL, EDWARD(c.1498-1547), English chronicler and lawyer, was born about the end of the 15th century, being a son of John Hall of Northall, Shropshire. Educated at Eton and King’s College, Cambridge, he became a barrister and afterwards filled the offices of common sergeant of the city of London and judge of the sheriff’s court. He was also member of parliament for Bridgnorth. Hall’s great work,The Union of the Noble and Illustre Famelies of Lancastre and York, commonly calledHall’s Chronicle, was first published in 1542. Another edition was issued by Richard Grafton in 1548, the year after Hall’s death, and another in 1550; these include a continuation from 1532 compiled by Grafton from the author’s notes. In 1809 an edition was published under the supervision of Sir Henry Ellis, and in 1904 the part dealing with the reign of Henry VIII. was edited by C. Whibley. TheChroniclebegins with the accession of Henry IV. to the English throne in 1399; it follows the strife between the houses of Lancaster and York, and with Grafton’s continuation carries the story down to the death of Henry VIII. in 1547. Hall presents the policy of this king in a very favourable light and shows his own sympathy with the Protestants. For all kinds of ceremonial he has all a lawyer’s respect, and his pages are often adorned and encumbered with the pageantry and material garniture of the story. The value of theChroniclein its early stages is not great, but this increases when dealing with the reign of Henry VII. and is very considerable for the reign of Henry VIII. Moreover, the work is not only valuable, it is attractive. To the historian it furnishes what is evidently the testimony of an eye-witness on several matters of importance which are neglected by other narrators; and to the student of literature it has the exceptional interest of being one of the prime sources of Shakespeare’s historical plays.

See J. Gairdner,Early Chroniclers of Europe; England(1879).

HALL, FITZEDWARD(1825-1901), American Orientalist, was born in Troy, New York, on the 21st of March 1825. He graduated with the degree of civil engineer from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy in 1842, and entered Harvard in the class of 1846; just before his class graduated he left college and went to India in search of a runaway brother. In January 1850 he was appointed tutor, and in 1853 professor of Sanskrit and English, in the government college at Benares; and in 1855 was made inspector of public instruction in Ajmere-Merwara and in 1856 in the Central Provinces. He settled in England in 1862 and received the appointment to the chair of Sanskrit, Hindustani and Indian jurisprudence in King’s College, London, and to the librarianship of the India Office. He died at Marlesford, Suffolk, on the 1st of February 1901. Hall was the first American to edit a Sanskrit text, theVishnupurāna; his library of a thousand Oriental MSS. he gave to Harvard University.

His works include: in Sanskrit,Atmabodha(1852),Sānkhyaprāvachana(1856),Sāryasiddhānta(1859),Vāsavadattū(1859),Sānkhyasāra(1862) andDasarūpa(1865); in Hindi, Ballantynes’Hindi Grammar(1868) and aReader(1870); on English philology,Recent Exemplifications of False Philology(1872), attacking Richard Grant White,Modern English(1873), “On English Adjectives in -able, with Special Reference to Reliable” (Am. Jour. Philology, 1877),Doctor Indoctus(1880).

HALL, ISAAC HOLLISTER(1837-1896), American Orientalist, was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, on the 12th of December 1837. He graduated at Hamilton College in 1859, was a tutor there in 1859-1863, graduated at the Columbia Law School in 1865, practised law in New York City until 1875, and in 1875-1877 taught in the Syrian Protestant College at Beirut, where he discovered a valuable Syriac manuscript of the Philoxenian version of a large part of the New Testament, which he published in part in facsimile in 1884. He worked with General di Cesnola in classifying the famous Cypriote collection in the Metropolitan Museum of New York City, and was a curator of that museum from 1885 until his death in Mount Vernon, New York, on the2nd of July 1896. He was an eminent authority on Oriental inscriptions. Following the scanty clues given by George Smith and Samuel Birch, and working on the data furnished by the di Cesnola collection, he succeeded about 1874 in deciphering an entire Cypriote inscription, and in establishing the Hellenic character of the dialect and the syllabic nature of the script.

His work in Cypriote epigraphy is described in his articles inScribner’s Magazine, vol. 20 (June, 1880), pp. 205-211 and in theJournal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 10, No. 2 (1880), pp. 201-218. He published in facsimile the Antilegomena epistles (1886), which he deciphered from the W. F. Williams manuscript, and editedA Critical Bibliography of the Greek New Testament as Published in America(1884).

HALL, SIR JAMES(1761-1832), Scottish geologist and physicist, eldest son of Sir John Hall, Bart., was born at Dunglass on the 17th of January 1761; and became distinguished as the first to establish experimental research as an aid to geological investigation. He was intimately acquainted with James Hutton and John Playfair, and having studied rocks in various parts of Europe he was eventually led to accept and to demonstrate the truth of Hutton’s views with regard to intrusive rocks. He commenced a series of experiments to illustrate the fusion of rocks, their vitreous and crystalline characters, and the influence of molten rocks in altering adjacent strata. He thus assisted in proving that granitic veins had been injected into overlying deposits after their consolidation. He studied the volcanic rocks in Italy and recognized that the old lava flows and the numerous dikes in Scotland must have had a similar origin. He made further experiments to illustrate the contortions of rocks. The results were brought before the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He died at Edinburgh on the 23rd of June 1832. He represented in parliament (1807-1812) the old borough of Michael in Cornwall; he also wrote an Essay on theOrigin, History and Principles of Gothic Architecture(1813).

His eldest son, John Hall (1787-1860), who succeeded him, was a Fellow of the Royal Society; the second son, Captain Basil Hall (q.v.), was the distinguished traveller; the third son, James Hall (1800-1854), was a painter, art-patron, and a friend of Sir David Wilkie.

HALL, JAMES(1793-1868), American judge and man of letters, was born at Philadelphia on the 19th of August 1793. After for some time prosecuting the study of law, he in 1812 joined the army, and in the war with Great Britain distinguished himself in engagements at Lundy’s Lane, Niagara and Fort Erie. On the conclusion of the war he accompanied an expedition against Algiers, but in 1818 he resigned his commission, and continued the study of law at Pittsburg. In 1820 he removed to Shawneetown, Illinois, where he commenced practice at the bar and also edited theIllinois Gazette. Soon after he was appointed public prosecutor of the circuit, and in 1824 state circuit judge. In 1827 he became state treasurer, and held that office till 1831, but he continued at the same time his legal practice and also edited theIllinois Intelligencer. Subsequently he became editor of theWestern Souvenir, an annual publication, and of theIllinois Monthly Magazine, afterwards theWestern Monthly Magazine. He died near Cincinnati on the 5th of July 1868.

The following are his principal works:—Letters from the West, originally contributed to thePortfolio, and collected and published in London in 1828;Legends of the West(1832);The Soldier’s Bride and other Tales(1832);The Harpe’s Head, a Legend of Kentucky(1833);Sketches of the West(2 vols., 1835);Tales of the Border(1835);Notes on the Western States(1838);History of the Indian Tribes, in conjunction with T. L. M‘Keeney (3 vols., 1838-1844);The Wilderness and the War-Path(1845);Romance of Western History(1857).

HALL, JAMES(1811-1898). American geologist and palaeontologist, was born at Hingham, Massachusetts, on the 12th of September 1811. In early life he became attached to the study of natural history, and he completed his education at the polytechnic institute at Troy in New York, where he graduated in 1832, and afterwards became professor of chemistry and natural science, and subsequently of geology. In 1836 he was appointed one of the geologists on the Geological Survey of the state of New York, and he was before long charged with the palaeontological work. Eventually he became state geologist and director of the museum of natural history at Albany. His published papers date from 1836, and include numerous reports on the geology and palaeontology of various portions of the United States and Canada. He dealt likewise with physical geology, and in 1859 discussed the connexion between the accumulation of sedimentary deposits and the elevation of mountain-chains. His chief work was the description of the invertebrate fossils of New York—in which he dealt with the graptolites, brachiopods, mollusca, trilobites, echini and crinoids of the Palaeozoic formations. The results were published in a series of quarto volumes entitledPalaeontology of New York(1847-1894), in which he was assisted in course of time by R. P. Whitfield and J. M. Clarke. He published also reports on the geology of Oregon and California (1845), Utah (1852), Iowa (1859) and Wisconsin (1862). He received the Wollaston medal from the Geological Society of London in 1858. He was a man of great energy and untiring industry, and in 1897, when in his eighty-sixth year, he journeyed to St Petersburg to take part in the International Geological Congress, and then joined the excursion to the Ural mountains. He died at Albany on the 7th of August 1898.

SeeLife and Work of James Hall, by H. C. Hovey,Amer. Geol.xxiii., 1899, p. 137 (portraits).

HALL, JOSEPH(1574-1656), English bishop and satirist, was born at Bristow park, near Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire, on the 1st of July 1574. His father, John Hall, was agent in the town for Henry, earl of Huntingdon, and his mother, Winifred Bambridge, was a pious lady, whom her son compared to St Monica. Joseph Hall received his early education at the local school, and was sent (1589) to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Hall was chosen for two years in succession to read the public lecture on rhetoric in the schools, and in 1595 became fellow of his college. During his residence at Cambridge he wrote hisVirgidemiarum(1597), satires written after Latin models. The claim he put forward in the prologue to be the earliest English satirist:—

“I first adventure, follow me who listAnd be the second English satirist”—

“I first adventure, follow me who list

And be the second English satirist”—

gave bitter offence to John Marston, who attacks him in the satires published in 1598. The archbishop of Canterbury gave an order (1599) that Hall’s satires should be burnt with works of John Marston, Marlowe, Sir John Davies and others on the ground of licentiousness, but shortly afterwards Hall’s book, certainly unjustly condemned, was ordered to be “staied at the press,” which may be interpreted as reprieved (seeNotes and Queries, 3rd series, xii. 436). Having taken holy orders, Hall was offered the mastership of Blundell’s school, Tiverton, but he refused it in favour of the living of Halsted, Essex, to which he was presented (1601) by Sir Robert Drury. In his parish he had an opponent in a Mr Lilly, whom he describes as “a witty and bold atheist.” In 1603 he married; and in 1605 he accompanied Sir Edmund Bacon to Spa, with the special aim, he says, of acquainting himself with the state and practice of the Romish Church. At Brussels he disputed at the Jesuit College on the authentic character of modern miracles, and his inquiring and argumentative disposition more than once threatened to produce serious results, so that his patron at length requested him to abstain from further discussion. His devotional writings had attracted the notice of Henry, prince of Wales, who made him one of his chaplains (1608). In 1612 Lord Denny, afterwards earl of Norwich, gave him the curacy of Waltham-Holy-Cross, Essex, and in the same year he received the degree of D.D. Later he received the prebend of Willenhall in the collegiate church of Wolverhampton, and in 1616 he accompanied James Hay, Lord Doncaster, afterwards earl of Carlisle, to France, where he was sent to congratulate Louis XIII. on his marriage, but Hall was compelled by illness to return. In his absence the king nominated him dean of Worcester, and in 1617 he accompanied James to Scotland, where he defended the five points of ceremonial which the king desired to impose upon the Scots. In the next year he was one of the Englishdeputies at the synod of Dort. In 1624 he refused the see of Gloucester, but in 1627 became bishop of Exeter.

He took an active part in the Arminian and Calvinist controversy in the English church. He did his best in hisVia media, The Way of Peace, to persuade the two parties to accept a compromise. In spite of his Calvinistic opinions he maintained that to acknowledge the errors which had arisen in the Catholic Church did not necessarily imply disbelief in her catholicity, and that the Church of England having repudiated these errors should not deny the claims of the Roman Catholic Church on that account. This view commended itself to Charles I. and his episcopal advisers, but at the same time Archbishop Laud sent spies into Hall’s diocese to report on the Calvinistic tendencies of the bishop and his lenience to the Puritan and low-church clergy. Hall says he was thrice down on his knees to the King to answer Laud’s accusations and at length threatened to “cast up his rochet” rather than submit to them. He was, however, amenable to criticism, and his defence of the English Church, entitledEpiscopacy by Divine Right(1640), was twice revised at Laud’s dictation. This was followed byAn Humble Remonstrance to the High Court of Parliament(1640 and 1641), an eloquent and forceful defence of his order, which produced a retort from the syndicate of Puritan divines, who wrote under the name of “Smectymnuus,” and was followed by a long controversy to which Milton contributed five pamphlets, virulently attacking Hall and his early satires.

In 1641 Hall was translated to the see of Norwich, and in the same year sat on the Lords’ Committee on religion. On the 30th of December he was, with other bishops, brought before the bar of the House of Lords to answer a charge of high treason of which the Commons had voted them guilty. They were finally convicted of an offence against the Statute of Praemunire, and condemned to forfeit their estates, receiving a small maintenance from the parliament. They were immured in the Tower from New Year to Whitsuntide, when they were released on finding bail for £5000 each. On his release Hall proceeded to his new diocese at Norwich, the revenues of which he seems for a time to have received, but in 1643, when the property of the “malignants” was sequestrated, Hall was mentioned by name. Mrs Hall had difficulty in securing a fifth of the maintenance (£400) assigned to the bishop by the parliament; they were eventually ejected from the palace, and the cathedral was dismantled. Hall retired to the village of Higham, near Norwich, where he spent the time preaching and writing until “he was first forbidden by man, and at last disabled by God.” He bore his many troubles and the additional burden of much bodily suffering with sweetness and patience, dying on the 8th of September 1656. Thomas Fuller says: “He was commonly called our English Seneca, for the purenesse, plainnesse, and fulnesse of his style. Not unhappy atControversies, more happy atComments, very good in hisCharacters, better in hisSermons, best of all in hisMeditations.”

Back to Index Next