OF THE

REV. ROBERT HALL, A. M.

BY J. W. MORRIS.

SECOND EDITION,

WITH THE AUTHOR'S FINAL CORRECTIONS,

AND

SEVEN SKETCHES OF SERMONS

PREACHED BY MR. HALL.

LONDON:

HOULSTON AND STONEMAN,

65, PATERNOSTER ROW.

1846.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

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 studied concealment as much as others studied to be acquainted with his history, nothing being more abhorrent from his feelings than the most distant approach to whatever had the appearance of egotism.

Having known and been acquainted with him for the space of forty eight years, I judged it not improbable that my own memoranda and recollections might furnish a variety of facts and circumstances that could not well be known to others, and afford gratification to a numerous class of readers, who would dwell with peculiar interest on the incidents of such a life. I have also to acknowledge my

obligations to several friends, who not only recommended the present attempt, but supplied a variety of valuable items, and pointed out other sources of information.

The eminent individual himself, certainly, neither desired nor expected that any memorial should be written of him, as is evident from the following very curious incident, not now introduced for the purpose of gratifying any feelings of vanity, or of exciting expectations that cannot be gratified, but as forming some apology at least for my having prepared the following sheets for publication.

In the act of collecting materials and obtaining information from various quarters, with the utmost care and circumspection, that the ear of modesty might not be offended, it so happened that one confidential friend, with no ill design, betrayed the secret. The late Mr. Mack was on a visit at Bristol, in December 1827, and in conversation with Mr. Hall mentioned the intended memoir, and the name of the writer. Mr. Hall was startled, and instantly exclaimed, "Memoirs of my life, sir! I cannot imagine there is any thing worth writing about me ! But if it must be so, there is no person I should prefer to the author of Mr. Fuller's Memoirs. My only objection would be, lest the partiality of friendship should overcharge the portrait.'

At a later period I had occasion to apply to Sir James Mackintosh, for any information he could give of Mr. Hall's college life at Aberdeen, or on any subsequent part of his history. Sir James, not knowing the applicant, confided my letter to an officious individual, who immediately made it his business to alarm the apprehensions of Mr. Hall and of some of his friends, but with only a transient effect, his friendship and his kindness remaining unabated to the end of life.

Despairing of any thing like an adequate memorial, or of doing justice to the subject I have ventured to sketch, I have attempted no other classification of my materials, than simply that of following the order of events as they occurred, though in this I cannot in every instance be equally confident. The circumstances in which Mr. Hall's publications originated, or with which they were accompanied, together with occasional extracts for the gratification of such as are not in possession of his invaluable works, are given with as much brevity as the case would admit; the leading design being to exhibit his religious character, rather than his intellectual greatness, and to furnish a memorial for that part of the community which held him in veneration chiefly on account of his eminent piety.

Some of the anecdotes and minor circumstances may to a fastidious taste appear too trivial for public notice; and apart by themselves they would have been so; but nothing pertaining to so great a character can properly be considered as unimportant, if it tends to elucidate the peculiar tact and genius of the individual. Nor has it appeared necessary wholly to suppress the painful part of the narrative relating to Mr. Hall's mental malady, which in pure and generous minds could produce no other feeling than that of the deepest sympathy, and of devout gratitude to that wise and merciful providence which prevented its recurrence, and lengthened out a long unclouded day of usefulness and peace. Hayley's censurable folly in attempting to conceal what all the world was before acquainted with, and the consequences it produced, are a sufficient warning against the affectation of imitating such an example.

If any one should think that in the following pages I have only performed "the futile office of a panegyrist," he is quite welcome to that opinion.