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    him was the inspiration of . the moment , is as finished as if it had been the painful effort of much midnight study . It has been said that eloquence cannot be printed ; and of many eminent orators the remark holds good : the published sermons of Whitfield , for instance , are said to be- altogether unworthy of the great name he attained as a sacred orator ; and , certainly , the main effect of the mc ^ — nlal ^ n _^^

    extempore , has been produced by the manner and by various adventitious circumstances . But with Hall it was not so : in point of matter ,, arrangement , and style , his published discourses are without fault ; and , from one or two interesting anecdotes respecting them ,, narrated by his biographer , there is every reason to presume that they are a faithful representation of what was spoken . If we still fastidiously object that what was avowedly so much laboured , does not give us an adequate opportunity of judging , the question

    is placed beyond dispute by referring to the discourses which are given in the last volume , from the notes of differentJriends , and which of course had not the benefit of his revising hand . Though somewhat more simple in language than those which were presented to the public under his own sanction , they * are , in all respects , worthy the most accomplished writer : in-precision and in

    correctness of sentiment they cannot he outdone . Indeed , if his pulpit addresses gained as much from the accompaniment of gesture , and the influence of excitement * as- oratorical displays generally do , their effect must have been irresistible ; and we can only exclaim , as the scholars of uEschines are said to have done , after their master had recited the oration of his rival , ' DeCoronV * Oh ! that we had heard him . '

    If we were asked what was the distinctive feature of Hall's sermons , we should be at a loss to reply . The discourses of bishop Sherlock are remarkable for the acuteness of their reasoning ; Barrow accumulates arguments and illustrations till his subject is exhausted ; Jeremy Taylor captivates our imagination by the beauty of his imagery , and wins us over by the plaintiye and pathetic strain of his appeals ; TillotsOh is characterised by cool and sober argumentation , which carries conviction to the mind of

    every well-disposed and attentive reader . Among living worthies . Dr . Chalmers excels in vehemence and energy of appeal ; he bears us along by a torrent , as it were , of language , and by the unconstrained earnestness with which he enforces the important — 'truths of which he treats : but Hall possesses a great variety of excellencies in so equal a proportion and to such a degree , that

    any one of them separately mi ght be assumed as characteristic of him ; and , as might be supposed , the union of so many prevents each from travelling into excess . His fancy and imagination never satiate us , as is sometimes the case with Taylor : in argument he is logical and profound , without being so recondite as Sherlock ; and certainly his practical appeals are as stirring and

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    258 ON THE CHARACTER AND

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 1, 1833, page 258, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2621/page/2/