might be "permitted to know his departed the Bishop's character. Being asked why, father in the heavenly world; and that their he expressed his reluctance to enlarge upon united prayers, often presented on earth, the subject; but added, "Poor man, I pity might be then turned into praise, while they him! He married public virtue in his early beheld their 'Redeemer face to face to- days, but seemed forever afterwards to be gether.'" quarrelling with his wife."

His writings sufficiently attest the liber- When Christmas Evans, a celebrated ality of his religious views. In some in- Welsh preacher, was in Bristol, he was stances, indeed, he has expressed himself talking to Mr. Hall about the Welsh lanin terms which will be deemed severe; but guage, which he said was very copious and he was a "lover of all good men," while expressive. "How I wish," said Mr. Evhe firmly maintained his sentiments as a ans, "that Dr. Gill's works had been writDissenter and a Baptist. He cultivated ten in Welsh!"-"I wish they had, sir," much intercourse with many who differed replied Hall, "I wish they had, with all my from him in both respects, and never, it is heart, for then I should never have read believed, gave them any real occasion of them. They are a continent of mud, sir." offence. Sometimes he would indulge in a On some one observing to him that his little sarcasm and raillery at their peculiar- animation increased with his years, he exities; but his wit was the flash of the innoc- claimed-" Indeed! then I am like touchuous summer lightning, attracting rather wood, the more decayed the easier fired." by its beauty and playfulness, than injuring by its stroke.

An extensive corn-factor in London met him at the house of a friend in Cambridge, who observed that Mr. Hall was very silent at table, and looked very suspiciously at the stranger. On his leaving the room, Hall said "Who is that person, sir?" His friend informed him he was an eminent corn-dealer. "Do you transact any business with him, sir?"—"Yes.""Have you sold him anything to-day, sir?"-"Yes, a large quantity of corn. "" I am sorry for it; that man is a rogue, sir."-"Oh, you are quite mistaken, Mr. Hall; he is highly respectable, and can obtain credit to any amount in this market."-"I do not care for that, sir; get your account settled as soon as you can, and never do any more business with him." The event verified his physiognomical sagacity. In about twelve months afterwards this very person defrauded his creditors and fled the coun

He was greatly distinguished for his conversacional powers, and was generally very communicative. In this respect a parallel might be instituted between him and Coleridge, presenting, however, some striking diversities. Coleridge was more studied in his conversations; Hall more free and spontaneous. Coleridge was frequently involved and metaphysical; Hall simple, natural, and intelligible. Coleridge usurped and engrossed conversation; Hall never did so voluntarily. Coleridge could and would talk upon any thing; Hall required to be more invited and brought out by the remarks or inquiries of others. Coleridge was more profound; Hall more brilliant. Coleridge did not deal in polished sentences, but would continue to talk for hours in a plain and careless diction; Hall was invariably elegant and classical, commonly vi- try. vacious and sparkling with wit. Coleridge His opinion of Barrow was thus expresswas sure to be heard; Hall to be remem-ed: "He is very imperfect as a preacher, bered. Coleridge had the advantage of a sir. more universal knowledge; Hall of a more moral philosophy; but they might have unencumbered and clearly perceptive intel- been heard by any man for years together without his receiving any just views of his situation as a sinner, or any comprehensive knowledge of the leading doctrines of the gospel. All his appeals were directed to one faculty; he only addressed himself to the understanding, he left the affections and emotions untouched. Hence, from one faculty being kept in constant and exclusive exercise, he is read with extreme fatigue. I never could read his productions long together." One of the company said-" But you must allow, sir, that he

lect. Each was in his day the first of his class, rarely equalled, and probably never surpassed.

The conversations of Robert Hall abounded in wit, fine discriminations of character, and profound estimates of eminent authors. It would not be difficult to fill many pages with these, but our limits forbid more than two or three specimens.

On being asked if he had read the life of Bishop Watson, he replied that he had, and regretted it, as it lowered his estimate of

His sermons are fine lectures on

exhausts his subject."-"Yes, he does that completely, sir, and his reader also at the same time."

We are aware, however, of the rapid evaporation which takes place in the spirit of such details when committed to paper, and shall therefore desist. The eye, the tone, the manner, are all absent. To give them is like painting Niagara, neither the sound nor the motion are there.

measure, and on the genesis of curves by motion, as taught by Barrow and Newton, would tend to the conclusion that had he pursued those subjects he might have participated in the triumphs and the fame of the most eminent men. Had he been educated for law, and trained for Parliament, there can be little question that, with all his disadvantages of voice, his name would have been associated with the first of our If the subject of biography possessed Senatorial orators. He would have dissome one pre-eminent excellence or glaring played in felicitous combination much of defect, the task of description would be the splendor of Burke, the wit of Sheridan, considerably lessened in difficulty, the ex- the flow of Chatham and of Pitt, and the cellence or the defect forming so charac- eloquence of Fox. We have already stated teristic a peculiarity as to aid the concep- that he was distinguished for the imagination of a perfect likeness. But, in the tive as well as philosophical faculties. This present instance, little or no such help is is evident in the use he makes of figurative afforded. The great qualities of Hall ex-language in his writings, and was conspicisted in the rarest combination. Men of uous in the appropriate though somewhat talent have usually been celebrated for rare employment of them in his public dissome one, or for a few powers of mind in courses. We are inclined to believe that more than ordinary vigor, and these pre-imagination was one of the chief constituents dominant faculties have commonly been as- of his mind, and that it gave intensity to sociated with disparaging deficiencies; a his sarcastic powers. His compositions circumstance which has naturally suggest- evince the element of poetry as the basis of ed the classification of intellect, and the his mind. If his ear was not tuned to balance of proportion. Here, however, we sounds (he was not musical,) there was have a union, and that with very little per- melody in his soul; and nothing in this ceptible difference of vigor, between the point of view can be more delightful than various powers. All seemed to be of the to listen to those fine strains of mingled highest order, and to move in entire har- piety, pathos, and true poetry of sentiment mony; so that in attempting an analysis and feeling, that often occur in his works. of this fine edifice of mind, we resemble Take the following specimen. It is the persons who should take the stones of a concluding part of the funeral sermon for building one by one, or separate the pillars Dr. Ryland :and ornaments, which are found each complete in its kind, yet to be only estimated "If the mere conception of the reunion of in their unbroken connexion and arrange-good men, in a future state, infused a momentary rapture into the mind of Tully; if an airy There was in Hall a singular mixture of speculation-for there is reason to fear it had little hold on his convictions-could inspire the philosophic and the poetic; the acute-him with such delight, what may we be exness of the one, and the imagination of the pected to feel, who are assured of such an other. Under the influence of the former, event by the true sayings of God! had he devoted himself to logic and meta- should we rejoice in the prospect, the certainty physics, in accordance with his earliest rather, of spending a blissful eternity with tendencies, he might have ranked with those whom we loved on earth, of seeing Locke, Des Cartes, Cudworth, Clarke, the deeper ruins of the fall, not only uninjured, them emerge from the ruins of the tomb, and Reid, Dugald Stewart, and other reason- but refined and perfected, with every tear ers, the acutest and most refined. Had he wiped from their eyes,' standing before the employed himself in researches of philoso- throne of God and the Lamb, in white robes g phy and criticism, his penetration would and palms in their hands, crying with a loud have rivalled the etymologists and search-voice, Salvation to God that sitteth upon the ers into language, and he might have added throne, and to the Lamb, for ever and ever! to the list of the Bentleys, the Buxtorfs, and What delight will it afford to renew the sweet the Kennicotts. The testimony of a very toils of combat, and the labor of the way, and counsel we have taken together, to recount the competent witness, Dr. Hutton, who heard to approach, not to the house, but the throne nim in a casual conversation expatiate on of God, in company, in order to join in the Barrow's Disquisitions on Mathematical symphonies of heavenly voices, and lose our

ment.

How

selves amidst the splendors and fruitions of the beatific vision!

and could plunge into the deepest waters with his eyes open. Although Hall had a mind full of brilliant conceptions, and a mind, too, which would never miss its way

"To that state all the pious on earth are tending; and if there is a law from whose operation none are exempt, which irresistibly conveys their bodies to darkness and to dust, in the darkness, yet it was not capacitated there is another, not less certain or less pow-to go down so low-to the very bottom, as erful, which conducts their spirits to the it were, of thinking-as that of Foster. He abodes of bliss, to the bosom of their Father would not go or stay long where imaginaand their God. The wheels of nature are not tion could not light his path, or revel, as made to roll backward; every thing passes on the latter did, in the naked elementary towards eternity; from the birth of time an forms and philosophy of truth. In the art impetuous current has set in, which bears all the sons of men towards that interminable of communicating, however, Foster was inocean. Meanwhile, heaven is attracting to ferior. His style has few graces, and is itself whatever is congenial to its nature, is not unfrequently involved. He seems to enriching itself by the spoils of earth, and col- work, but not to win his way. He aims to lecting within its capacious bosom whatever convince, but not to please. He would is pure, permanent, and divine, leaving nothing force the judgment into subjection, but for the last fire to consume but the objects and aims not to carry captive the taste and the the slaves of concupiscence; while every thing which grace has prepared and beautified shall fancy. In Hall the very reverse of this is be gathered and selected from the ruins of the observable. He imparts the sublimest world, to adorn that eternal city which hath no truth in a graceful manner. Secure of his need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine thoughts he seeks to beautify and embellish in it, for the glory of God doth enlighten it, them. His words are carefully chosen, asand the Lamb is the light thereof. Let us siduously collocated and formed into brilobey the voice that calls us thither; let us liant sentences. seek the things that are above, and no longer

cleave to a world which must shortly perish, and which we must shortly quit, while we neglect to prepare for that in which we are invited to dwell for ever."

full of melody. It seems instinct with the His language is rich and vigor, purity, and flexibility of his conceptions, and flows as if by necessity, into courses of varied beauty and grandeur. As the subject requires, it is smooth as the river, and rushingas the cataract. He is seen at once glowing with the majesty of thought, and the mastery of language. In reading Foster, you want Hall's illuminations; in reading Hall, you want Foster's bottoming power.

During the latter years of his life, Robert Hall was brought, by his removal to Bristol, into close association and friendship with another of the most eminent writers of his age, John Foster. They constituted together a kind of double star in the moral firmament-but the light they emitted, Two things, at least, seem essential to though in both cases resplendent and be- the formation of a good style, namely, a nign, exhibited striking varieties. Their thorough acquaintance with classical literaprinciples were similar, but their tastes ture, and a refined taste in the art of comwere different. Both were literary bene- position. In these respects Robert Hall factors to their country, each in his own surpassed his friend, who was very little way. Each had the greatness to estimate addicted to what is strictly termed elegant and admire the other's greatness, but nei- learning, and who felt no great concern ther was capable of being an imitator; about the order of words and the euphony the attempt in either case would have been of language. To attain his end Hall would self-destructive. As a thinker, Foster was generally compose for the press with Johnthe most profound. His mind was a fath- son's Dictionary before him, to assist in oming line, which he perpetually employed the use of terms, and in the balancing of in penetrating the depths of sentiment, and synonyms. He was familiar with the fetching up the purest gems. Diving to Greek and Latin writers, having read them those profundities seemed easy to him, and with critical attention. The writer of this he could extend the search to places far article has heard him state that he had pebeyond the reach of most, even distinguished rused every thing in Greek literature; and, intellects. He was not like Coleridge, who on a visit, he had the opportunity of examwould lose himself and others in metaphy-ining his copy of Plato, in whose writings sical subtleties or shapeless imaginings; he much delighted, which every where bore but he had, with some exceptions, the clear- the marks of a studious perusal, by frequent est idea of what he intended to unfold, pencil observations on the margin. The

Iliad and Odyssey were repeatedly and diligently examined. It cannot be questioned that the beautiful combinations of words in Homer gratified his taste, and stimulated his efforts at verbal perfection. This extraordinary man appeared, however, in his noblest character in the pulpit. To the ministry he was early devoted; and, by his habits of mental and moral cultivation, he became gradually prepared for its occupation. Of all the aspects in which he is presented to us, there is none so imposing and so important as that of the Great Preacher. Here he was unrivalled and alone.

the best sense,-namely, that of beginning his discourses in a low and subdued tone, and that of pausing at the end of sentences to observe the effect upon his hearers. He wept from pure feeling, in addressing the wicked. This we could easily imagine from examining the appeals in his published discourses; but they would not at all suggest the description given by one who heard him. "His preaching resembled a plentiful shower of dew, softly and imperceptibly insinuating itself into the minds of his numerous hearers, as the dew into the pores of plants, till the whole church was dissolved, and all in tears under his serIn glancing at the divines of our own mons." In almost all his productions he country, and of a more modern period, it displays great metaphysical subtlety, which would be easy to advert to the rivalry of one would scarcely suppose to flow in so their peculiar powers. We might descant soft a method. Here too, in fact, is disupon the hortatory pungency of Baxter, the cernible his greatest fault, for he appears clearness of Tillotson, the gorgeous bril- to raise difficulties in order to solve them. liancy of Taylor, the elaborate comprehen- In the general course of his argumentation siveness of Barrow, the divine energy, sin-there is an air of vivacity and glowing engleness of aim, and spiritual mindedness of ergy, and in his appeals, ardor, pungenHowe, the argumentative perspicuity and cy, and force. His mode of winding up a force of Horsley, and the fervid eloquence discourse by reiterations and amplificaof Whitefield; and, to come nearer, with- tions of a portion of the text, or some one out touching the living, the simplicity, prominent idea, is powerfully impressive. calmness, and vivid perceptions of Richard Bossuet, though eminent, is worthy of Watson, the enchanting sweetness and more admiration as an acute controversialspiritual elevation of Pearce, the pathos ist and sagacious historian than as a pulpit and solemnity of Fuller. But while ad- orator. He has indeed many noble pasmitting and admiring the superiority of sages which show that he had great strength some in the peculiarities for which they of pinion, and but for his prejudices and are most celebrated, we cannot fix on adulatory spirit would have soared much an individual amongst them all who dis- higher. He abounds in exclamations, played so much of that union and concen- apostrophes, and fulsome flattery to the tration of various faculties of mind, which great. We are tired in him and other rendered Hall illustrious. In a considera- French eulogists of "Grande Reine," ble degree he appeared to have every qual-" Auguste Monarque," and the offensive He had pungency, clearness, particularities introduced in celebrating brilliancy, comprehensiveness, energy, ar-the Virgin Mary, the Apostles and Saints. gumentative force, eloquence, simplicity, en- But, with all these extravagances, there is chanting sweetness, devotional elevation, much force and grandeur; and though he pathos, and solemnity. But his greatest often descends to the very ground, he must peculiarity was, as we have intimated, the not be denied his distinguishing epithet of rich and perfect combination of qualities. the "eagle of Meaux." Like the bow of heaven, every color was there, and in harmony.

We may, perhaps, be reminded of the most celebrated French preachers; and their pretensions are undoubtedly of the very first order. One of them-Saurinstands alone as a Protestant; three as Catholics, are usually named together, Bossuet, Bourdaloue, and Massillon.

Saurin is described as having a strong, clear, and harmonious voice. He practised two oratorical artifices-using that term in

Bourdaloue has, by some critics, been assigned a far more eminent place in the temple of fame than Bossuet; not only because he is much freer, and, indeed, almost entirely free, from the faults to which we have just adverted, but on account of the solidity and earnestness of his reasonings, the beauty of his arrangements, and the novelty of his thoughts. He displays great resources of mind, has much of point and power, and sounds with great effect the note of alarm. But notwithstanding his