In the course of this year a new catholic chapel was opened at Leicester, with great pomp and parade, which attracted very general attention. This induced Mr. Hall to deliver in his own place soon afterwards, two elaborate discourses on the pretensions of modern catholicity, which were heard with great satisfaction by a crowded auditory, including several of the resident clergy. He was strongly urged to print these discourses, and a hope was entertained of his compliance; nothing however resulted but an unfinished sketch, which has had a posthumous publication.

It has already been intimated, (§ vi.) that in 1821 Mr. Hall published a new edition of his Apology for the Freedom of the Press, to protect himself from the unfounded suspicions which the adverse party had insinuated, and also to prevent the clandestine sale of the work, which had been secretly encouraged. He found in fact that the public would not be denied the pleasure of a perusal, and was therefore compelled to make a fresh issue of the publication, which was eagerly bought up as soon as it made its reappearance. A writer in a high-church periodical, connected with the East India Company, immediately sounded the alarm, and deprecated the interference of a christian minister in the science of politics. With the view of rendering these strictures more annoying, they were soon copied into a Leicester newspaper, to be circulated among the friends of the author of the Apology. Mr. Hall in the first in

stance replied through the same medium; his animadversions were afterwards printed in a separate pamphlet, and nearly six editions were demanded in the course of a month. Neither the Christian Guardian, nor their satellite, will easily forget the effects of their temerity, in attempting to beard the lion in his den.

Yet such a spirit of infatuation has seized on these writers, that they still repeat their oft refuted calumnies, and go on traducing the character of their opponents. Even the Christian Observer, forgetting its usual decorum, and the strong claims it had on the attention of the religious public, has latterly descended to class itself with the bigoted and illiberal; has indulged in bitter invectives on dissenters generally, and endeavoured to cast a shade over Mr. Hall's character, on the ground of his political opinions. Yet who amongst all the serious dissenters does not revere and honour the memory of such men as Jeremy Taylor and Joseph Hall, and a host of other pious prelates, notwithstanding their adherence to a despotic government, and their zealous defence of episcopacy. And why is it that piety itself has no charms, unless it be decked with the meretricious ornaments of a world

establishment? The present times, as much or more than any other, call aloud for the union and cooperation of all the real friends of christianity; and surely the high-church party have chosen a very inappropriate period for venting their obloquy upon dissenters, and vaunting about the excellence

of their own church, a time when that church is coming under the correcting rod of the legislature, and is confessing her sins by the mouth of so many of her penitent seceding ministers.

That Mr. Hall was the uniform and unflinching advocate of a popular government, throughout the whole of life, is undeniably certain; though the superfluous assertion, that he wrote his Apology "at the age of twenty eight," would seem to insinuate that it was a premature performance, which had not the sanction of his maturer years. Yet who can forget that at the age of fifty seven he republished the same work, without retracting a single sentiment, and with the assurance that few things would have given him more uneasiness than to have it imagined he could ever become hostile or indifferent to the cause of civil and religious liberty. What some men have designedly desecrated under the notion of mere politics, was in his esteem an important branch of public morals, not undeserving the serious attention of the most religious persons, involving in a high degree the interests and the happiness of the human race. Lamenting as he did, the royal conspiracy against the inalienable rights of man, he was often heard to say that Waterloo had been the grave of European liberty, and that the results of that memorable battle had put back the clock of the world six degrees. He expected indeed, ever afterwards, that some great revulsion would eventually repair the losses of that period; and only

within sixteen days of his decease, in the last letter he ever wrote, he said that "a great crisis seemed approaching, which would probably shake Europe to its centre, and produce an entire new order of things."

A gentleman, who has given his name in the public papers, vouches for the truth of the following statement. "In January 1831 a public meeting was held in Bristol, to petition for reform in parliament and the vote by ballot; the petition received twenty two thousand signatures, and was to be presented by lord Althorp. I waited on the Rev. Robert Hall at his house for his signature, says the writer. He was then very ill, and confined to his room. After a short time he came to me in the parlour, dressed in his gown, shook me by the hand, took the petition and read it through. I wished to have saved him the trouble by telling him its contents, but this would not satisfy him. When he came to the vote by ballot he remarked in his usual quick manner, "that's right," and signed it. He then took the parchment to the fire, carefully examining it several times to see whether his signature was dried, and afterwards delivered it to me. It was the last signature to this petition, and I believe the last of a public nature he ever signed. Thus did this great man leave, by one of his last acts, his opinion, that without the vote by ballot the elective franchise would be of no advantage to the people."

SECTION XXII.

A. D. 1822, 1823.

In a Life written of Mr. Hall it would be highly improper to overlook that part of it, which though less known and less ostentatious, displays more of the interior of his character, than what came under a wider observation. Much as he excelled as a Preacher, he was not less eminent in the capacity of a christian Pastor. Amongst other regrets it is to be lamented that he has not left us a treatise of some sort on the subject of church fellowship, with its relative and official duties, than which nothing is more needful in the present state of religious society, where it is now too common to merge the pastoral duties in the acquisitions and engagements of a mere lecturer, or to discharge them chiefly in the shape of ordinary visits of complaisance and formality.

In the absence however of direct verbal instruction, his example may suggest in many instances some valuable counsel, on a subject less considered than its real importance seems to demand. Mr. Hall was indeed less mindful of ecclesiastical punctilios than some perhaps would contend for,