* HALLAM, HENRY, English historian and critic, was born in or about the year 1778, and was educated at Eton, and at Christchurch College, Oxford, where he took the degree of M.A. In the early part of the present century he became a resident in Loudon, where, since that time, be has passed the greater portion of his life in literary research and composition. He was one of the contributors to the ' Edinburgh Review' iu the first years of its publication; and in the pages of that review, as well as of some other contemporary perio dicals, he first gave conspicuous proofs of his erudition, his taste, and his calm philosophic judgment. Ooe of his most celebrated articles in the ' Edinburgh Review' was that on Sir Walter Scott's biography of Dryden, and edition of Dryden's works, published in 1808. in the allusions made to Mr. Hallam at this period in the correspondence of such men as Wilberforce, ltomilly, Horner, Jeffrey, there is ample proof of the high respect in which he was held by the literary circles of London and Edinburgh, ou account of his scholarship. Byron's allusion also to " the classic Hallam," in his 'English Bards and Scotch Reviewers,' testifies satirically to the same fact. From the very first Mr. Hallam had attached himself to the Whig party in polities, but the candid and philosophic temper of his mind prevented him from mingling with ordinary political etrife. He took a warm interest however in questions of geueral philanthropy, social improvement, and constitutional progress. lie co-operated heartily in the movement for the abolition of the slave-trade. In the meantime, while thus making his name favourably known to all who were interested in literature, and the gradual progress of political and administrative reform in Britain, Mr. Hallam was qualifying himself by laborious historical investigations and by studies, at once various and profound, in the literatures of almost all the modern languages of Europe, for a course of authorship in which he had had, properly speaking, no pre decessor in this country, and lu which he is without a rival.
The first fruit of these investigations and studies was his ' View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages,' published originally in two volumes 4to, in 1818. As a work of extensive and profound learning, written in a clear and classical style, and exhibiting a spirit of historical generalisation tampered by strict conscientiousness, the work at once took a high place not only in British literature, but in the literature of Europe. Mr. Ilallauie next work was ' The Cows* tutional History of England from the Accession of Henry VII. to the Death of George IL,' published in two volumes, 4to, in 1827; and this was followed by his 'Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the 15th, 16th, and 17th Centuries, published in four volumes, 8vo, in 1837-39. A volume of 'Supplemental Notes' to his 'History of the Middle Ages' was published in 1848; embodying additional information procured, or modifications of views into which the author had been led since the publication of the main work. All the three works have gone through numerous editions—the 'History of the Middle Ages' being now (1856) in its eleventh or twelfth. They have all been translated into French and German. A new and uniform edition of Mr. Hallam's works is at present in course of publication ; but to make it complete, the author's numerous scattered essays in periodical works and elsewhere would have to be collected. Among these minor writings one of the most interesting was a private memoir of his son, Arthur H. Hallam, who died in 1S33 in the prime of his youth, after having won the most favourable opinions from all who knew him. This, the elder son of tho venerable historian (a younger has since also died) is the A. H. H. of Tennyson'a ' In Memoriam? Mr. Hallam is a Fellow of tho Royal and of numerous other societies; ho is a trustee of the British Museum : he was also one of the original promoters of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. He survives among us yet, full of years and crowned with honours.