Hall, John, of Durham

(1627-1656)

   Poet and pamphleteer, born and educated at Durham. He studied at St. John's College, Cambridge, then at Gray's Inn, London. He accompanied Cromwell in 1650 to Scotland, where he wrote the pamphlet The Grounds and Reasons of Monarchy, with an appendix, An Epitome of Scottish Affairs. He was awarded a pension by Cromwell and the council for his pamphleteering services. He left work unfinished when he died. Some of his other publications: Horæ Vacivæ, or Essays. Some Occasional Considerations, 1646. Commendatory Verses, 1646. Poems, 1646-1647. The Second Book of Divine Poems, 1647. A Satire against Presbytery, 1648. Answer to the Grand Politick Informer, 1653. A Letter from a Gentleman in the Country, 1653. A Treatise Discovering the Horrid Cruelties of the Dutch Upon Our People at Amboyna, 1624. Emblems with Elegant Figures, Newly Publishe, 1658. Hierocles Upon the Golden Verses of the Pythagoreans. Translated Immediately Out of the Greek into English, 1682. Some of his poems: "A Pastoral Hymn," "An Epicurean Ode," "Home Travel," "Of Beauty," "On an Hour-Glass," "The Call."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography, Electronic Edition, 1.1. English Poetry: Author Search. ChadwyckHealey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The New Oxford Book of Seventeenth Century Verse. Alastair Fowler, ed. Oxford University Press, 1991.