HALL, JOSEPH, an eminent divine and prolate, was born July 1st, 1574, at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, in Leicestershire, and received his academical education at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, of which in due time he was elected fellow. Having taken orders and received some minor benefices in succession, he was made dean of Worcester in 1617 ; sent as one of the English deputies to the synod of Dort in 1618 ; appointed bishop of Exeter in 1627, and translated to Norwich iu 1611. His professional zeal and earnest piety involved him in those jealous times In the charge of puritanism ; and being harassed by frequent and vexatious attacks, to use his own words " Under how dark a cloud I was hereupon I was so sensible, that I plainly told the lord archbishop of Canterbury [Laud] that rather than I would be obooxIous to those slanderous tongues of his miainformcrs I would cast np my roehet. I knew I went right ways, and would not endure to live under undeserved suspicions." In truth ho was well attached to the church of which he was a member, and wrote strongly in defence of episcopacy when the danger of the times became iunniuent. In November 1641, having joined others of tho bishops in a protest against all laws made during their forced absence from parliament, he was sent to the Tower, and only released in the following June on giving bail for 5000/. In the next year the revenues of his bishopric were sequestrated, and during the rest of his life be suffered much from poverty and harsh treatment, of which he has given an account in a piece called 'Hard Measure.' He removed in 1617 to Higham,
near Norwich, and died there in 1656.
His numerous works fill several volumes in the old folio editions, and ten in the modern 8vo. They are chiefly controversial, as will appear from the catalogue in Watt, and therefore of ephemeral popu larity. His ' Contemplations' are of mere personal and lasting interest, and are esteemed for their language, criticism, and piety ; as also his 'Enochismue, or Treatise on the Mode of Walking with God,' a beautiful tract, translated into English in 1769. To the student of English manners his Satires entitled ' Virgidemiarum,' in 6 books, are peculiarly valuable. They have been analysed by Warton, 'History of Poetry, 405-40, ed. 1840). He says of them very truly, "The characters are delineated in strong and lively colouring, and their dis criminations are touched with the masterly traces of genuine humour. The versification is equally energetic and elegant, and the fabric of the couplets approaches to the modern standard. It is no inconsider able proof of a genius predominant over the general taste of an age when every preacher was a punster, to have written verses where laughter was to be raised, and the reader to be entertained with sallies of pleasantry, without quibbles and conceits. His chief fault is obscurity, arising from a remote phraseology, constrained combi nations, unfamiliar allusions, elliptical apostrophes, and abruptness of expression."