HALL, Rev. ROBERT, a celebrated English dissenting preacher and writer, was b. at Arnsby, near Leicester, May 2, 1764. He was the son of a Baptist ministef of sonic note as a preacher and author of religious works, and was the youngest of fourteen children. He was feeble in body and precocious in intellect, learning to read almost as soon as he could speak, from the tombstones of the churchyard, his playground. At the age of 15, be was sent to a Baptist academy at Bristol, when he gave promise of his future fame as an orator, but, from his nervous organization, broke down in his first public efforts. In 1781 he entered King's college, Aberdeen, where he remained four years. An intimate companionship with Mackintosh, in which they read and discussed together philosophy and theology, was of great service to him. Graduating in 1785, he became, at the age of 21, assistant Baptist minister and tutor in the academy at Bristol. He was a fluent, rapid, and impressive speaker, and was liberal, but not heterodox in his religious views. In consequence of a disagreement with his colleague, he went in 1790 to Cambridge, where, by his elaborate composition and vivid eloquence, lie rose to the highest rank of British orators, He is not for his writings and published discourses, than as a pulpit orator. His Apology for the _Freedom
of the Press, .1793, and sermon on Modern Infidelity, extended his reputation. In 1806 he settled in Leicester; married in 1808, after a whimsical courtship; returned to Bristol in 1825, and died Feb. 21, 1831. He was an indefatigable student, learning Italian at 60, that he might enjoy Dante, and full of wit, fun, and a spontaneous eloquence, so that the style of his improvisations was superior to that of his writings. Nearly all his life lie suffered the tortures of an obscure disease of the spine; lie had at times attacks of insanity, and his death was preceded by great agony, caused by a large calculus in one of his kindeys; yet few meu have performed more intellectual labor. A complete edition of his works, with a memoir by Dr. 0. Gregory, and observations on his character as a preacher by John Forster, was published at London, in 6 vols., 1831 38; 11th edition, 1853.