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HALL, JOSEPH (1574-1656)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 848 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HALL, See also:JOSEPH (1574-1656) , See also:English See also:bishop and satirist, was See also:born at See also:Bristow See also:park, near See also:Ashby de la See also:Zouch, See also:Leicester-See also:shire, on the 1st of See also:July 1 574. His See also:father, See also:John Hall, was See also:agent in the See also:town for See also:Henry, See also:earl of See also:Huntingdon, and his See also:mother, Winifred Bambridge, was a pious See also:lady, whom her son compared to St Monica. Joseph Hall received his See also:early See also:education at the See also:local school, and was sent (1589) to See also:Emmanuel See also:College, See also:Cam-See also:bridge. Hall was chosen for two years in See also:succession to read the public lecture on See also:rhetoric in the See also:schools, and in 1595 became See also:fellow of his college. During his See also:residence at See also:Cambridge he wrote his Virgidemiarum (1597), satires written after Latin See also:models. The claim he put forward in the See also:prologue to be the earliest English satirist: " I first See also:adventure, follow me who See also:list And be the second English satirist " gave See also:bitter offence to John See also:Marston, who attacks him in the satires published in 1598. The See also:archbishop of See also:Canterbury gave an See also:order (1599) that Hall's satires should be burnt with See also:works of John Marston, See also:Marlowe, See also:Sir John See also:Davies and others on the ground of licentiousness, but shortly afterwards Hall's See also:book, certainly unjustly condemned, was ordered to be " staied at the See also:press," which may be interpreted as reprieved (see Notes and Queries, 3rd See also:series, xii. 436). Having taken See also:holy orders, Hall was offered the mastership of Blundell's school, See also:Tiverton, but he refused it in favour of the living of Halsted, See also:Essex, to which he was presented (16o1) by Sir See also:Robert See also:Drury. In his See also:parish he had an opponent in a Mr See also:Lilly, whom he describes as " a witty and bold atheist." In 1603 he married; and in 16o5 he accompanied Sir See also:Edmund See also:Bacon to See also:Spa, with the See also:special aim, he says, of acquainting himself with the See also:state and practice of the Romish See also:Church. At See also:Brussels he disputed at the Jesuit College on the See also:authentic See also:character of See also:modern miracles, and his inquiring and argumentative disposition more than once threatened to produce serious results, so that his See also:patron at length requested him to abstain from further discussion. His devotional writings had attracted the See also:notice of Henry, See also:prince of See also:Wales, who made him one of his chaplains (16o8).

In 1612 See also:

Lord Denny, afterwards earl of See also:Norwich, gave him the curacy of See also:Waltham-Holy-See also:Cross, Essex, and in the same See also:year he received the degree of D.D. Later he received the prebend of Willenhall in the collegiate church of See also:Wolverhampton, and in 1616 he accompanied See also:James See also:Hay, Lord See also:Doncaster, afterwards earl of See also:Carlisle, to See also:France, where he was sent to congratulate See also:Louis XIII. on his See also:marriage, but Hall was compelled by illness to return. In his See also:absence the See also:king nominated him See also:dean of See also:Worcester, and in 1617 he accompanied James to See also:Scotland, where he defended the five points of ceremonial which the king desired to impose upon the Scots. In the next year he was one of the English deputies at the See also:synod of See also:Dort. In 1624 he refused the see of See also:Gloucester, but in 1627 became bishop of See also:Exeter. He took an active See also:part in the Arminian and Calvinist controversy in the English church. He did his best in his Via See also:media, The Way of See also:Peace, to persuade the two parties to accept a See also:compromise. In spite of his Calvinistic opinions he maintained that to acknowledge the errors which had arisen in the See also:Catholic Church did not necessarily imply disbelief in her catholicity, and that the Church of See also:England having repudiated these errors should not deny the claims of the See also:Roman Catholic Church on that See also:account. This view commended itself to See also:Charles I. and his episcopal advisers, but at the same See also:time Archbishop See also:Laud sent spies into Hall's See also:diocese to See also:report on the Calvinistic tendencies of the bishop and his lenience to the Puritan and See also:low-church See also:clergy. Hall says he was thrice down on his knees to the King to See also:answer Laud's accusations and at length threatened to " See also:cast up his See also:rochet " rather than submit to them. He was, however, amenable to See also:criticism, and his See also:defence of the English Church, entitled See also:Episcopacy by Divine Right (164o), was twice revised at Laud's dictation. This was followed by An Humble Remonstrance to the High See also:Court of See also:Parliament (164o and 1641), an eloquent and forceful defence of his order, which produced a See also:retort from the See also:syndicate of Puritan divines, who wrote under the name of " Smectymnuus," and was followed by a See also:long controversy to which See also:Milton contributed five See also:pamphlets, virulently attacking Hall and his early satires.

In 1641 Hall was translated to the see of Norwich, and in the same year sat on the Lords' See also:

Committee on See also:religion. On the 3oth of See also:December he was, with other bishops, brought before the See also:bar of the See also:House of Lords to answer a See also:charge of high See also:treason of which the See also:Commons had voted them guilty. They were finally convicted of an offence against the See also:Statute of See also:Praemunire, and condemned to forfeit their estates, receiving a small See also:maintenance from the parliament. " They were immured in the See also:Tower from New Year to Whitsuntide, when they were released on finding See also:bail for 5000 each. On his See also:release Hall proceeded to his new diocese at Norwich, the revenues of which he seems for a time to have received, but in 1643, when the See also:property of the " malignants " was sequestrated, Hall was mentioned by name. Mrs Hall had difficulty in securing a fifth of the maintenance (400) assigned to the bishop by the parliament; they were eventually ejected from the See also:palace, and the See also:cathedral was dismantled. Hall retired to the See also:village of Higham, near Norwich, where he spent the time See also:preaching and See also:writing until " he was first forbidden by See also:man, and at last disabled by See also:God." He See also:bore his many troubles and the additional See also:burden of much bodily suffering with sweetness and See also:patience, dying on the 8th of See also:September 1656. See also:Thomas See also:Fuller says: " He was commonly called our English See also:Seneca, for the purenesse, plainnesse, and fulnesse of his See also:style. Not unhappy at Controversies, more happy at Comments, very See also:good in his Characters, better in his Sermons, best of all in his Meditations." Bishop Hall's polemical writings, although vigorous and effective, were chiefly of ephemeral See also:interest, but many of his devotional writings have been often reprinted. It is by his early See also:work as the See also:censor of morals and the unsparing critic of contemporary See also:literary extravagance and affectations that he is best known. Virgidemiarum. Sixe Bookes.

First three Bookes. Of Toolhlesse See also:

Satyrs. (1) Poeticall, (2) Academicall, (3) Morall (1597) was followed by an amended edition in 1598, and in the same year by Virgidemiarum. The three last bookes. Of byting Satires (reprinted 1599). His claim to be reckoned the earliest English satirist, even in the formal sense, cannot be justified. Thomas See also:Lodge, in his Fig for See also:Momus (1593), had written four satires in the manner of See also:Horace, and John Marston and John See also:Donne both wrote satires about the same time, although the publication was in both cases later than that of Virgidemiae. But if he was not the earliest, Hall was certainly one of the best. He writes in the heroic See also:couplet, which he manoeuvres with See also:great ease and smoothness. In the first book of his satires (Poeticall) he attacks the writers whose verses were devoted to licentious subjects, the bombast of Tamburlaine and tragedies built on similar lines, the laments of the ghosts of the See also:Mirror for Magistrates, the metrical eccentricities of See also:Gabriel See also:Harvey and See also:Richard See also:Stanyhurst, the extravagances of the sonneteers, and the sacred poets (See also:Southwell is aimed at in " Now good St See also:Peter weeps pure See also:Helicon, And both the See also:Mary's make a See also:music moan "). In Book II. See also:Satire 6 occurs the well-known description of the See also:trencher-See also:chaplain, who is See also:tutor and hanger. on in a See also:country See also:manor.

Among his other satirical portraits is that of the famished gallant, the See also:

guest of " See also:Duke Humfray." 1 Book VI. consists of one long satire on the various vices and follies dealt with in the earlier books. If his See also:prose is sometimes antithetical and obscure, his See also:verse is remarkably See also:free from the quips and conceits which See also:mar so much contemporary See also:poetry. He also wrote The King's Prophecie; or Weeping Joy (1603), a gratulatory poem on the See also:accession of James I.; Epistles, both the first and second volumes of which appeared in 16o8 and a third in 1611; Characters of Virtues and Vices (16o8), versified by See also:Nahum See also:Tate (1691); Solomons Divine Arts . (1609); and, probably Mundus alter et idem sive Terra Australis antehac See also:semper incognita lustrata (1605? and 1607), by " Mercurius See also:Britannicus," translated into English by John See also:Healy (,6o8) as The See also:Discovery of a New See also:World or A Description of the See also:South Indies . by an English See also:Mercury. Mundus alter is an excuse for a satirical description of See also:London, with some criticism of the Romish church, its See also:manners and customs, and is said to have furnished See also:Swift with hints for Gulliver's Travels. It was not ascribed to him by name until 1674, when Thomas See also:Hyde, the librarian of the Bodleian, identified " Mercurius Britannicus " with Joseph Hall. For the question of the authorship of this pamphlet, and the arguments that may be advanced in favour of the See also:suggestion that it was written by Alberico See also:Gentili, see E. A. See also:Petherick, Mundus alter et idem, reprinted from the See also:Gentleman's See also:Magazine (July 1896). His controversial writings, ;tot already mentioned, include :—A See also:Common See also:Apology against the Brownists (161o), in answer to John See also:Robinson's Censorious See also:Epistle; The Olde Religion: A See also:treatise, wherein is laid downe the true state of the difference betwixt the Reformed and the Romane Church; and the blame of this schisme is cast upon the true Authors...(1628); See also:Columba Noae olivam adferens ., a See also:sermon preached at St See also:Paul's in 1623; Episcopacie by Divine Right (164o); A See also:Short Answer to the Vindication of Smectymnuus (1641); A Modest Confutation of . . . (Milton's) Animadversions (1642).

His devotional works include :—Holy Observations See also:

Lib. I. Some few of See also:David's Psalmes Metaphrased (1607 and 1609); three centuries of Meditations and Vowes, Divine and Morall (16o6, 1607, 1609), edited by Charles Sayle (1901); The Arte of Divine Meditation (1607); See also:Heaven upon See also:Earth, or of True Peace and Tranquillitie of Mind (16o6), reprinted with some of his letters in John See also:Wesley's See also:Christian Library, vol. iv. (1819); Occasional Meditations . . . (163o), edited by his son Robert Hall ; Henochisme; or a Treatise showing how to walk with God (1639), translated from Bishop Hall's Latin by See also:Moses See also:Wall; The Devout Soul; or Rules of Heavenly Devotion (1644), often since reprinted; The See also:Balm of See also:Gilead . . . (1646, 1752) ; See also:Christ Mysticall; or the blessed See also:union of Christ and his Members (1647), of which See also:General See also:Gordon was a student (reprinted from Gordon's copy, 1893) ; Susurrium cum Deo (1659) ; The Great Mysterie of Godliness (165o) ; Resolutions and Decisions of See also:Divers Practicall cases of See also:Conscience (1649, 160,16 AuaHORITIEs 4 The See also:chief authority for Hall's See also:biography is to be found in his autobiographical tracts: Observations of some Specialities of Divine See also:Providence in the See also:Life of Joseph Hall, Bishop of Norwich, Written with his own See also:hand ; and his Hard Measure, a reprint of which may be consulted in Dr See also:Christopher See also:Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical Biography. The best criticism of his satires is to be found in Thomas See also:Warton's See also:History of English Poetry, vol. iv. pp. 363-409 (ed. See also:Hazlitt, 1871), where a comparison is instituted between Marston and Hall. In 1615 Hall published A Recollection of such See also:treatises as have been published .

. . (1615, 1617, 1621) ; in 1625 appeared his Works (reprinted 1627, 1628, 1634, 1662). The first See also:

complete Works speared in 18o8, edited by the Rev. See also:Josiah See also:Pratt. Other See also:editions are Cy Peter Hall (1837) and by See also:Philip Wynter (1863). See also Bishop Hall, his Life and Times (1826), by Rev. John See also:Jones; Life of Joseph Hall, by Rev. See also:George See also:Lewis (1886); A. B. See also:Grosart, The Complete Poems of Joseph Hall... with introductions, &c. (1879) ; Satires, &c. (Early English Poets, ed.

S. W. See also:

Singer, 1824). Many of Hall's works were translated into See also:French, and some into Dutch, and there have been numerous selections from his devotional works.

End of Article: HALL, JOSEPH (1574-1656)

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