Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 24.djvu/80

  [q. v.] and other covenanting ministers. Conventicles, or field meetings, were held on his estate. Its seclusion and proximity to the border hills, where refuge could easily be found in case of surprise by the dragoons, admirably adapted it for this purpose. There [q. v.] was licensed to preach the gospel.

Hall was one of four covenanting elders who, at a council of war at Shawhead Muir, on 18 June 1679, were appointed, with Cargill, Douglas, King, and Barclay, to draw up a statement of 'Causes of the Lord's wrath against the Land.' He was also one of the commanding officers of the covenanters' army from the skirmish at Drumclog till their defeat at Bothwell Bridge (June 1679). The blue silk banner carried before him in battle is still in possession of a family in Moffat, Dumfriesshire, On 25 June 1679 the Scottish privy council ordered a search for Hall. But he escaped to Holland. Returning after three months, he was surprised by Middleton, governor of Blackness Castle, while entering a house in Queensferry in company with Cargill (3 June 1680). Hall, being 'a bold and brisk man,' struggled with the governor, and Cargill escaped. A blow on the head disabled Hall, but with friendly assistance he managed to get away towards Edinburgh. Fainting on the road, he was carried into a house near Echlin, where he was captured by General or Dalzell [q. v.] of Binns and a company of the king's guards. He died while being conveyed to Edinburgh by the soldiers. His body was carried to the Canongate Tolbooth, and lay there three days, when it was interred at night by his friends. On his person was found a rough draft of a document, afterwards published under the name of 'The Queensferry Paper,' in which the subscribers renounced allegiance to the existing king and government, and engaged to defend their rights and privileges, natural, civil, and divine. (1763-1824) [q. v.] was a great-grandson.

 HALL, HENRY, the elder (1655?–1707), organist and composer, was born about 1655. His father, Captain Henry Hall, was connected with Windsor between 1657 and 1675 ( and, Annals of Windsor, ii. 281 et seq.) Hall was a chorister of the Chapel Royal, and, as it appears from his lines printed in Purcell's 'Orpheus Britannicus,' a fellow-student with Purcell, under Blow. In 1674 Hall was admitted lay vicar and succeeded Coleby as organist of Exeter Cathedral; in 1679 he was elected vicar choral, and in 1688 organist, of Hereford Cathedral. He died there on 30 March 1707, and was buried in the cloisters of the vicars choral. Tudway has preserved music by Hall in vols. iv. and vi. of his collection: this includes 'Morning and Evening Services in E flat' (of which the Te Deum has been printed), and anthems, 'Let God arise,' clap your hands,' 'By the waters of Babylon,' 'Comfort ye,' and 'The Souls of the Righteous.' An anthem, 'Blessed be the Lord my strength,' is in the British Museum (Addit. MS. 17840, p. 273). Hall was referred to by contemporary writers not only as an excellent organist and a sound musician, but also as a staunch upholder of the dignity of art. The duets, 'As Phœbus' and 'Beauty the painful mother's prayer' (Deliciœ Musicœ, 1695); the song, 'In vain I strive,' and others; an opera on the subject of the marriage of the Doge of Venice and the Adriatic (mentioned by Duncombe as an example of Hall's humour), may possibly have proceeded from the lighter and more ingenious talent of his son the younger [q. v.]

Another son, (d. 1700), was a violinist, and in 1692 and until 1700 one of the musicians in ordinary to the king. He died in 1700, and was buried at Richmond, Surrey. An inscription on his gravestone proclaims him 'a superior violin.' His compositions are few and unimportant.

 HALL, HENRY, the younger (d. 1713), organist, son of the elder [q. v.], succeeded his father in 1707 as organist of Hereford Cathedral. He is said to have composed little or no music, applying himself to verse-making. Such trifles as 'To Mr. R. C., a dun;' 'All in the Land of Cider;' 'Catch on the Vigo Expedition,' in 'The Grove,' 1721; and 'A Ballad on the Jubilee,' in 'Pope's Miscellany' (Lintot, 5th edit., 1727, vol. ii.) were admired for their ease and brilliancy in an age that was not repelled by their coarseness. Hall's commendatory poem prefixed to Blow's 'Amphion' is a pleasing example of his writing. There is no mention in the 'Fasti Herefordenses' of the election of the younger Hall to the office of vicar choral,