His first published compositions had a political origin. In 1791 appeared Christianity consistent with the Love of Freedom, in which he defended the political conduct of dissenters against the attacks of the Rev. John Clayton, minister of Weighhouse, and gave eloquent expression to his hopes of great political and social ameliorations as destined to result nearly or remotely from the subversion of old ideas and institutions in the maelstrom of the French Revolution. In 1793 he expounded his political sentiments in a powerful and more extended pamphlet entitled an Apology for the Freedom of the Press. On account, however, of certain asperities into which the warmth of his feelings had betrayed him, and his conviction that he had treated his subject in too superficial a manner, he refused to permit the publication of the pamphlet beyond the third edition, until the references of political opponents and the circulation of copies without his sanction induced him in 1821 to prepare a new edition, from which he omitted the attack on Bishop Horsley, and to which he prefixed an advertisement stating that his political opinions had undergone no substantial change. His other publications while at Cambridge were three sermons—On Modern Infidelity (1801), Reflections on War (1802), and Sentiments proper to the present Crisis (1803). He began, however, to suffer from mental derangement in November 1804. He recovered so speedily that he was able to resume his duties in April 1805, but a recurrence of the malady rendered it advisable for him on his second recovery to resign his pastoral office in March 1806.
On leaving Cambridge he paid a visit to his relatives in Leicestershire, and then for some time resided at Enderby, preaching occasionally in some of the neighbouring villages. Latterly he ministered to a small congregation in Harvey Lane, Leicester, from whom at the close of 1806 he accepted a call to be their stated pastor. In the autumn of 1807 he changed his residence from Enderby to Leicester, and in 1808 he married the servant of a brother minister. His proposal of marriage had been made after an almost momentary acquaintance, and, according to the traditionary account, in very abrupt and peculiar terms; but, judging from his subsequent domestic life, his choice did sufficient credit to his penetration and sagacity. His writings at Leicester embraced various tracts printed for private circulation; a number of contributions to the Eclectic Review, among which may be mentioned his articles on “Foster’s Essays” and on “Zeal without Innovation”; several sermons, including those On the Advantages of Knowledge to the Lower Classes (1810), On the Death of the Princess Charlotte (1817), and On the Death of Dr Ryland (1825); and his pamphlet on Terms of Communion, in which he advocated intercommunion with all those who acknowledged the “essentials” of Christianity. In 1819 he published an edition in one volume of his sermons formerly printed. On the death of Dr Ryland, Hall was invited to return to the pastorate of Broadmead chapel, Bristol, and as the peace of the congregation at Leicester had been to some degree disturbed by a controversy regarding several cases of discipline, he resolved to accept the invitation, and removed there in April 1826. The malady of renal calculus had for many years rendered his life an almost continual martyrdom, and henceforth increasing infirmities and sufferings afflicted him. Gradually the inability to take proper exercise, by inducing a plethoric habit of body and impeding the circulation, led to a diseased condition of the heart, which resulted in his death on the 21st of February 1831. He is remembered as a great pulpit orator, of a somewhat laboured, rhetorical style in his written works, but of undeniable vigour in his spoken sermons.
See Works of Robert Hall, A.M., with a Brief Memoir of his Life, by Olinthus Gregory, LL.D., and Observations on his Character as Preacher by John Foster, originally published in 6 vols. (London, 1832); Reminiscences of the Rev. Robert Hall, A.M., by John Greene, (London, 1832); Biographical Recollections of the Rev. Robert Hall, by J. W. Morris (1848); Fifty Sermons of Robert Hall from Notes taken at the time of their Delivery, by the Rev. Thomas Grinfield, M.A. (1843); Reminiscences of College Life in Bristol during the Ministry of the Rev. Robert Hall, A.M., by Frederick Trestrail (1879).
HALL, SAMUEL CARTER (1800-1889), English journalist, was born at Waterford on the 9th of May 1800, the son of an army officer. In 1821 he went to London, and in 1823 became a parliamentary reporter. From 1826 to 1837 he was editor of a great number and variety of public prints, and in 1839 he founded and edited The Art Journal. His exposure of the trade in bogus “Old Masters” earned for this publication a considerable reputation. Hall resigned the editorship in 1880, and was granted a Civil List pension “for his long and valuable services to literature and art.” He died in London on the 16th of March 1889. His wife, Anna Maria Fielding (1800-1881), became well known as Mrs S. C. Hall, for her numerous novels, sketches of Irish life, and plays. Two of the last, The Groves of Blarney and The French Refugee, were produced in London with success. She also wrote a number of children’s books, and was practically interested in various London charities, several of which she helped to found.
HALL, WILLIAM EDWARD (1835-1894), English writer on international law, was the only child of William Hall, M.D., a descendant of a junior branch of the Halls of Dunglass, and of Charlotte, daughter of William Cotton, F.S.A. He was born on the 22nd of August 1835, at Leatherhead, Surrey, but passed his childhood abroad, Dr Hall having acted as physician to the king of Hanover, and subsequently to the British legation at Naples. Hence, perhaps, the son’s taste in after life for art and modern languages. He was educated privately till, at the early age of seventeen, he matriculated at Oxford, where in 1856 he took his degree with a first class in the then recently instituted school of law and history, gaining, three years afterwards, the chancellor’s prize for an essay upon “the effect upon Spain of the discovery of the precious metals in America.” In 1861 he was called to the bar at Lincoln’s Inn, but devoted his time less to any serious attempt to obtain practice than to the study of Italian art, and to travelling over a great part of Europe, always bringing home admirable water-colour drawings of buildings and scenery. He was an early and enthusiastic member of the Alpine Club, making several first ascents, notably that of the Lyskamm. He was always much interested in military matters, and was under fire, on the Danish side, in the war of 1864. In 1867 he published a pamphlet entitled “A Plan for the Reorganization of the Army,” and, many years afterwards, he saw as much as he was permitted to see of the expedition sent for the rescue of Gordon. He would undoubtedly have made his mark in the army, but in later life his ideal, which he realized, with much success, first at Llanfihangel in Monmouthshire, and then at Coker Court in Somersetshire, was, as has been said, “the English country gentleman, with cosmopolitan experiences, encyclopaedic knowledge, and artistic feeling.” His travels took him to Lapland, Egypt, South America and India. He had done good work for several government offices, in 1871 as inspector of returns under the Elementary Education Act, in 1877 by reports to the Board of Trade upon Oyster Fisheries, in France as well as in England; and all the time was amassing materials for ambitious undertakings upon the history of civilization, and of the colonies. His title to lasting remembrance rests, however, upon his labours in the realm of international law, recognized by his election as associé in 1875, and as membre in 1882, of the Institut de Droit International. In 1874 he published a thin 8vo upon the Rights and Duties of Neutrals, and followed it up in 1880 by his magnum opus, the Treatise on International Law, unquestionably the best book upon the subject in the English language. It is well planned, free from the rhetorical vagueness which has been the besetting vice of older books of a similar character, full of information, and everywhere bearing traces of the sound judgment and statesmanlike views of its author. In 1894 Hall published a useful monograph upon a little-explored topic, “the Foreign Jurisdictions of the British Crown,” but on the 30th of November of the same year, while apparently in the fullest enjoyment of bodily as well as mental vigour, he suddenly died. He married, in 1866, Imogen, daughter of Mr (afterwards Mr Justice) Grove, who died in 1886; and in 1891, Alice, daughter of Colonel Hill of Court Hill, Shropshire, but left no issue.
See T. E. Holland in Law Quarterly Review, vol. xi. p. 113; and in Studies in International Law, p. 302.
(T. E. H.)