PREFACE. THE present volume would have appeared much earlier, had not the author been under an engagement to withhold the publication for two years, to give opportunity for reprinting and getting into circulation the complete Works of Mr. Hall, with their accompaniments. As a necessary consequence, several articles have been anticipated by previous writers, which would otherwise have added to the interest of the narrative, and only such retained as were necessary to its cohesion and continuity. The difficulty of collecting the requisite materials, and giving them in a shape corresponding with the interest and magnitude of the subject, will readily be perceived, when it is known that no diary or private memorandums were found at any time to exist; that no direct information could be elicited from Mr. Hall himself, who |