impertinence with which their author, unlike the best breed of young poets and men of letters, attempts to satirise his literary betters; while they are to some extent at any rate tarred with the other two brushes of corrupt imitation of the ancients, and of sham moral indignation. Indeed the want of sincerity-the evidence of the literary exercise-injures Hall's satirical work in different ways throughout. We do not, as we read him, in the least believe in his attitude of Hebrew prophet crossed with Roman satirist, and the occasional presence of a vigorous couplet or a lively metaphor hardly redeems this disbelief. Nevertheless, Hall is here as always a literary artist-a writer who took some trouble with his writings.-SAINTSBURY, GEORGE, 1887, History of Elizabethan Literature, p. 152.

EPISTLES

1608-11

An able inquirer into the literature of this period has affirmed that Hall's Epistles, written before the year 1613, are the first example of epistolary composition which England had seen. "Bishop Hall," he says, "was not only our first satirist, but was the first who brought epistolary writing to the view of the public; which was common in that age to other parts of Europe, but not practiced in England till he published his own Epistles." And Hall himself in the Dedication of his Epistles to Prince Henry observes, "Your grace shall herein perceiue a new fashion of discourse by Epistles, new to our language, vsuall to others: and, as nouelty is neuer without plea of vse, more free, more familiar."-WARTON, THOMAS, 1778-81, History of English Poetry, sec. lxiv.

CONTEMPLATIONS
1612-15

Why have I travelled thus far on the road of Divinity without mentioning the "Contemplations" of Bishop Hall? a prelate and a poet, of very distinguished attainments. A vein of piety, and even of an original cast of observation, runs through the greater part of his performances and his "Contemplations," in particular, breathe the fire of poetry as well as of devotion. His works have been long and justly held in very general esteem. --DIBDIN, THOMAS FROGNALL, 1824, The Library Companion, p. 55.

The first and last terms are justly applied, but not the middle one; as there is very little criticism, in the proper meaning of the term, in any of the works of Hall. . . There is a great variety of sentiment, and great richness of thought and expression, in these "Contemplations." The historical passages are often very happily illustrated; and a pure and elevated devotion, combined with a fine imagination, pervades the whole. ORME, WILLIAM, 1824, Biblotheca Biblica.

"The Contemplations" of Hall are among his most celebrated works. They are prolix, and without much of that vivacity or striking novelty we meet with in the devotional writings of his contemporary, but are perhaps more practical and generally edifying.-HALLAM, HENRY, 1837-39, Introduction to the Literature of Europe, pt. iii, ch. ii, par. 72.

Very devotional and useful.-BICKERSTETH, EDWARD, 1844, The Christian Student.

CHRISTIAN MEDITATIONS

1640

These satires, however, striking as they are for their compactness of language and vigor of characterization, convey but an inadequate idea of the depth, devoutness, and largeness of soul displayed in Hall's theological writings. His "Meditations," especially, have been read by thousands who never heard of him as a tart and caustic wit. But the one characteristic of sententiousness marks equally the sarcasm of the youthful satirist and the raptures of the aged saint. -WHIPPLE, EDWIN P. 1859-68, The Literature of the Age of Elizabeth, p. 242.

MUNDUS ALTER ET IDEM
1643

is a

"Mundus Alter et Idem" witty and ingenious Invention of a Learned Prelate, writ by him in his younger days (but well enough becoming the austerity of the gravest Head), in which he distinguisheth the Vices, Passions, Humours, and ill Affections most commonly incident. to mankind into several Provinces; gives us the Character of each, as in the descriptions of a Country, People, and chief Cities of it, and sets them forth unto the Eye in such lively Colours, that the Vitious man may see therein his own Deformities, and

the well-minded man his own Imperfections. The Scene of this Design is laid by the Reverend Author in this Terra Australis; the Decorum happily preserved in the whole Discovery; the style acutely clear, in the invention singular.-HEYLYN, PETER, 1652, Cosmography, bk. iv.

With Hall's satires should be ranked his "Mundus Alter et Idem," an ingenious satirical fiction in prose, where, under a pretended description of the Terra Australis, he forms a pleasant invective against the characteristic vices of various nations, and is remarkably severe on the Church of Rome. This piece was written about the year 1600, before he had quitted the classics for the fathers, and published some years afterwards against his consent. -WARTON, THOMAS, 1778-81, History of English Poetry, sec. lxiv.

I can only produce two books by English authors, in this first part of the seventeenth century, which fall properly under the class of novels or romances; and, of these, one is written in Latin. This is the "Mundus Alter et Idem" of Bishop Hall, an imitation of the latter and weaker volumes of Rabelais. A country in Terra Australis is divided into four regions, Crapulia, Viraginia, Moronea, and Lavernia. Maps of the whole land and of particular regions are given; and the nature of the satire, not much of which has any

especial reference to England, may easily

be collected. It is not a very successful effort. HALLAM, HENRY, 1837-39, Intro

duction to the Literature of Europe, pt. iii, ch. vii, par. 59.

Other circumstances, already recited, which connect the work with Gentili are its dedication to the Earl of Huntingdon and its publication at the cost of Ascanio. Rinialme, both members of Gentili's Inn, and further coincidence that the improved edition, Hanau, 1607, bears the same imprint as at least four others of Gentili's acknowledged works. Assuming the preface to be bona fide, Knight, as an Oxford M. A. may have been as much the friend of Gentili as of Hall. For Hall there is (a) the address of "J. H., the translator, to J. H., the author," (b) the translator's apology to the "reverend man" to whose. muse some few attributed the little book from Frankfort, (c) Heylyn's assignment of it to a "learned prelate"--unquestionably Hall is intended--and (d) the Bodleian

Catalogue (1674) referring "Mercurius Britannicus" to Hall. Upon which an advocate for Gentili might further argue that, accepting all that the critics say about the book, there is nothing in it of which a scholar need be ashamed; (e) Hall never claimed it himself, as far as is known; (f) His friend James did not claim it for him in the Bodleian Catalogue of 1620, while (g) Gentili is mentioned as the author in the table of contents prefixed to the book; and (h) his name appears as author of it upon the title-page of the German translation (1613) within eight years of the original publication, not more than five years after Gentili's death, three years before the death of his brother, Scipio Gentili, and without his or Hall's contradiction (?).-PETHERICK, EDWARD A., 1896, Mundus Alter et Idem, Gentleman's Magazine, vol. 281, p. 86.

GENERAL

He was commonly called our English Seneca, for the purenesse, plainesse, and fulnesse of his style. Not unhappy at Controversies, more happy at Comments, very good in his Characters, better in his Sermons, best of all in his Meditations. -FULLER, THOMAS, 1662, Worthies of England, ed. Nichols, vol. 1, p. 566.

Monsieur Balzac exceedingly admired him and often quotes him: vide Balzac's Brief Lives, ed. Clark, vol. 1, p. 282. "Apologie."-AUBREY, JOHN, 1669-96,

The wit of Hall is levelled against the ribaldry and bombast of the stage, the puritanical and religious poetry of the Precisians; and the extravagance of romantic and legendary poems. Spenser alone is excepted, from the general censure bestowed on the latter class of authors. Spenser was the only great poet contemporary with Hall, whose reputation, at the time his satires were published, was established.—HIPPISLEY, J.

H., 1837, Chapters on Early English Literature, p. 309.

Imaginative and copious eloquence, terse and pointed sentences, full of piety and devotion. Few writers more likely to be useful to (Divinity) students. Let them thoroughly read and digest such a writer, and they will be furnished for most of the calls upon them. -BICKERSTETH, EDWARD, 1844, The Christian Student.

Most of Hall's prose writings, had

a merit which might have been expected from the author of the "Satires," and which distinguished them from the mass of the theological writings of their day the merit of careful literary execution. Has still a place in the history of English theological prose between Hooker and Jeremy Taylor; and there are modern critics who, comparing Hall and Taylor, and pointing out their differences in the midst of some obvious similarities, seem to waver in their choice between them. With much of Taylor's rich fancy and rhetorical copiousness, however, there is more in Hall of a certain mechanical hardness of purpose, more of astringency and of mean temper. Even in his "Meditations" there is less of a genuine meditative disposition than of a cultured tendency to ethical sententiousness. -MASSON, DAVID, 1858, The Life of John Milton, vol. 1, ch. vi.

In naming Hall, indeed, we name a prince and chief among our English divines equally good at all weapons, equally surpassing in every department of theology. The highest tribute to the merits of Bishop Hall's writings is their great and unceasing popularity with the unlearned and poor. Side by side with the writings of Bunyan and Defoe, portions of them are to be found or many a cottage shelf; and the pious contemplations of the witty and eloquent bishop have gladdened and strengthened many a soul in sickness, sorrow, and pain. Do we seek the cause of this? It will be found in the fact that Joseph Hall had not only earnest, practical piety, great learning, great zeal, but also the invaluable gift of genuine wit and humour. Resembling Bishop Andrewes in the raciness, point, and piquancy of his imaginings, he far surpassed him in his power of expressing, in nervous and telling words, the products of his brain. His style is eminently happy, effective, graphic, and genuine. His mind was stored with learning. He had studied men and things under many circumstances, in various lands. His power of illustration is inexhaustible; his wit always fresh and telling; his knowledge of Scripture profound; his sense of the wants, dangers, and difficulties of men deep and practical; his charity and loving spirit abundant. With these qualifications he could scarcely fail of addressing

himself effectively to men. And he shone in all subjects. His satires are the best imitations of the Juvenalian vein which we possess; his letters some of the most charming specimens of earnestness, without dulness. PERRY, GEORGE G., 1861, History of the Church of England, vol. 1, p. 629.

The poetic temperament of Hall reveals itself, in his prose as well as in his verse, by the fervor of his piety, and the forcible and often picturesque character of his style, in which it has been thought he made Seneca his model. . . Both

in style and in mind Hall and Donne were altogether opposed; neither in his prose nor in his verse has the former the originality of the latter, or the fineness of thought that will often break out in a sudden streak of light from the midst of his dark sayings; but, on the other hand, he is perfectly free from the dominant vices of Donne's manner, his conceits, his quaintness, his remote and fantastic analogies, his obscurity, his harshness, his parade of a useless and encumbering erudition.

CRAIK, GEORGE L., 1861, A Compendious History of English Literature and of the English Language, vol. 1, p. 612.

And

Hall writes with skill and with spirit. It can scarcely be said of him: Facit indignatio versum. He finds a pleasure in imitating, and in some sort reproducing, his Latin models; and this is rather his inspiration than any moral fervour. the chief value of his work is its vigorous picture of Elizabethan ways and manners. Whatever the old comedy did for Athens in the way of illustrating the old Athenian. life, that satire did for Rome, and with inferior, but yet no mean force, Hall did for Elizabethan London. It is no contemptible service to have helped to keep alive for us an age so fascinating, so glorious, so momentous. Whoever would picture to himself the very town in the midst of which Shakespeare moved, its lights and shadows, its whims and phantasies and follies-"a mad world, my masters'—see "the very age and body of the time, his form and presence, " and learn what were its daily thoughts, interests, cares, credulities, passions-will find truly valuable aid in Hall's satires.-HALES, JOHN W., 1881, Bishop Hall, The Antiquary, vol. 4, p. 190.

In language the "Satires" are artificially archaic: and the tone that pervades

least men in the kingdom, and one of the greatest scholars in Europe.-CLARENDON, LORD (EDWARD HYDE), 1674? Life.

Thro' the whole course of his bachelorship there was never any one in the then memory of man (so I have been informed by certain seniors of that coll. at my first coming thereunto) that ever went beyond him for subtle disputations in philosophy, for his eloquent declamations and orations, as also his exact knowledge in the Greek tongue, evidently demonstrated afterwards, not only when he read the Greek lecture in that coll., but also the public lecture of that tongue in the schools.

He was a man highly esteemed by learned men beyond and within the seas, from whom he seldom fail'd to receive letters every week, wherein his judgment was desir'd as to several points of learning. WOOD, ANTHONY, 1691-1721, Athene Oxonienses.

His great learning and "profound judgment" were combined with the most punctilious integrity and the utmost modesty of demeanor; so that there was no man of the day of whom more people spoke well.-MASSON, DAVID, 1858, The Life of John Milton, vol. 1, ch. vi.

We can readily realise from the whole tenor of his life, as well as of his writings, the picture suggested by Clarendon of a modest, sensitive, yet profound and discerning spirit-hating religious controversy, yet apt and keen in religious argument when once engaged in it --honest and open-minded to a fault, yet with a great power of reserve in him before the unwise and unreflective-loving peace, yet detesting tyranny and severe to himself, while kind and charitable in all his thoughts of others.-TULLOCH, JOHN, 1872, Rational Theology and Christian Philosophy in England in the Seventeenth Century, vol. 1, p. 218.

There are several Etonians of this century who acquired distinction as churchmen and scholars, whom I have not yet spoken of, but I must not omit in this chapter. First, I will revert to

THE EVER-MEMORABLE JOHN HALES.

Such was the title given by his friends and contemporaries to a learned, ingenious, pious, and kind-hearted man, who became a Fellow of Eton in 1613. The sounding title of "ever-memorable," applied to one whose works now seldom find

a reader, and whose name is rarely mentioned by any modern writer, reminds one of the epithets "Angelic," "Seraphic," "Irrefragable," and the like, which were so liberally bestowed on the once idolized but now neglected Schoolmen. In truth, the reputation of Hales in his own age seems to have been due not so much to any proof of gigantic genius or stupendous learning, as to pleasing powers of conversation, and affability of temper, combined with a fair share of natural ability and an unusual share of industrious energy. Every age has its John Hales.-CREASY, SIR EDWARD, 1876, Memoirs of Eminent Etonians, p. 222.

The genial recluse, with his prodigious memory and his keen, rapier-like thrust of argument, was the most loving and tenderhearted of men. -GARDINER, SAMUEL R., 1883, History of England from the Accession of James I. to the Outbreak of the Civil War, vol. VIII, p. 265.

Pure-minded, simple-hearted little man, reading Thomas-à-Kempis in his violet gown; poor, degraded, but not dishonoured; what a strong, grave protest your quiet, exiled life, self-contained and serious is, against the crude follies, the boisterous energies of the revolution seething and mantling all about you! the clearsighted soul can adopt no party cries, swears allegiance to no frantic school; enlightened, at the mercy of no tendency or prejudice, it resigns all that gave dignity to blessed quiet, and takes the peace without the pomp; with unobtrusive, unpretentious hopes and prospects shattered in the general wreck, the true life-philosopher still finds his treasures in the old books, the eternal thoughts and the kindly offices of retired life. BENSON, ARTHUR CHRISTOPHER, 1896, Essays, p. 17.

GENERAL

Their [Hale's Works] merits are unequal. The best seems to be his discourse on Schism, that on the abuse of hard places of Scripture, and his letters to Sir Dudley Carleton, from the Synod of Dort, in which he gives a good account of that far-famed convention. He was evidently. a man superior to many of the prejudices. of his age; but if the reader's expectations are raised very greatly by his highsounding title and the testimonies referred to, he will probably be disappointed even