William Hall

“ William is such a much bigger man than I am now. He's made a lot of money, and they've knighted him. I dare say they'll give him a peerage, if he makes much more. I can't stand out against him. I'm only an old dug-out of a soldier, and don't matter."
"Well, dear, you're Squire of Hayslope, which counts for something. As for me, I'd rather be Mrs. Eldridge of Hayslope Hall than Lady Eldridge of Hayslope Grange. I don't mean I'd rather be me than Eleanor, though of course I would. But she isn't spoilt by all their money, and I certainly don't want to quarrel with her." ”

“ I've never seen a finer, for a fellow who can live up to it. It wouldn't do for me, because I couldn't keep that old shooting-jacket of mine hanging up behind the door." That was it, Sir William decided afterwards. It was really a room for a man who liked to live in a drawing-room, and he didn't want, himself, to live always in a drawing-room, even a man's drawing-room. ”

“ I must say I shouldn't like, myself, to have a house of that sort growing up within a stone's throw of my own. I should think the Grange is as big as this house now, isn't it? And with William I should never be surprised to see it a good deal bigger. He's a fellow who likes spending his money and never seems satisfied with what he's got."
"There's some truth in what you say there, and as a matter of fact William and I have discussed that very question. He is making an addition to his garden there at this very minute. ”

“ The Grange is mine as [Pg 73] well as the Hall. When I'm dead he can do what he likes with both of them. Until then he must be content with what he has."
"Oh, I think he will be. And he's sure to see your point, if you put it to him without irritation. Of course you are irritated, dear, and it's only natural. I should be myself, though I'm not an irritable person. I flatter myself that I can see below the surface of things, and I'm sure William is really devoted to you, and looks up to you. He wouldn't want to do anything to displease you, and Eleanor would be horrified at the very idea. ”

“ Sir William did not smile at this speech. "There's a lot of nonsense talk about buying peerages," he said. "I've been saying to mother, only just now, that I doubt whether there has ever been a single instance of a man putting down so much money and getting a peerage for it, or even a baronetcy. Or, if things were ever [Pg 226] done in that way, they're certainly not now. As far as I'm concerned, I'd just as soon have done what I'm going to do in the Commons as in the Lords. For many things I would much rather have been in the Commons. ”

“ Nor was he going to make her partaker of his secret hopes, or even, if he could help it, give her cause for suspecting his desires. "Sir William was quite decent to me, when I saw him," he said, "and Lady Eldridge has asked me—once—to the Grange since I've been home. But look at the welcome they've given me at the Hall! I don't care much for female society; it's never been in my line. But as long as I'm living quietly here, I like to have the Hall to go to; and I believe Colonel Eldridge likes to see me there. I find plenty to talk to him about. ”

“ William is said to have studied common law at Gray's Inn, and then, disliking that pursuit, to have moved to Cambridge, possibly to Pembroke Hall, where his brother Lawrence was educated. After being ordained he was collated on 9 April 1416 to the prebend of Oxton in Southwell collegiate church. ”

“ When William received the news of Harold's accession he was having a game with a bow and arrows in his hunting-ground near Rouen. His trembling knees suddenly took the form of his bow, and his lip began to quiver. He threw himself hastily into a skiff, and crossing the Seine, never stopped till he reached his palace, where he walked up and down the hall several times, occasionally sitting down for a moment in the porter's chair, then starting up and resuming his promenade up and down the passage. ”

“ I would have swallowed all that—I did swallow it—for there was some right feeling behind it; but...."
"Edmund dear," she interrupted him, "before you go on—oughtn't we to keep that in front of us as the thing that really matters? William is fond of you, and you of him. When Eleanor and I have been talking it over, we...."
"It has got beyond that now," he interrupted her in his turn. "What neither you nor Eleanor can see [Pg 213] is that William is not the same man as he used to be. What really matters, you say! What really matters is what he founds himself upon ”

“ In June 1863 he was commissioner of the Canterbury waste lands board. As a provincial politician he is best known as the originator of the road board system in Canterbury, and for his sheep ordinance.
In 1855 elections were held for the first responsible parliament that assembled in New Zealand, and Hall was one of the Christchurch members for the house of representatives until 1859. On 20 May 1856 he became colonial secretary under Sir William Fox [q. v. Suppl. I] , but the ministry lasted only for a fortnight ”

“ Just a century later William Wilkins, who was rearing marvellous edifices in the Gothic mode, was let loose on King’s. He began with the space opposite the chapel, and built the long row which includes the Hall, Combination Room, Library, Provost’s Lodge, and several sets of rooms. This row begins at King’s Parade and continues past the southern end of Gibbs’ Building to within a short distance of the river—nearly 200 yards of supremely bad imitation Gothic. In this range of buildings the Hall is the only one which attracts much attention. ”

“ But quarrelling was never worth while. He had come rather near to quarrelling with William over that affair of Barton's Close. He remembered with some compunction that he had spoken [Pg 130] angrily to his wife about it, and had written to William with more irritation than he now liked to think about; though he had shown in the latter part of his letter that the strength of his protest was not meant to go deeper than its expression. William had not yet answered his letter, as there would have been just time for him to do, which seemed to show that he had not taken it in offence ”

“ Is there any gossip about any dispute between William and me? It would annoy me very much if it were so."
"Oh, I don't say that, Edmund. You know best what's passing between you and William."
Colonel Eldridge jumped to conclusions. "It's damnably annoying how things get put about, and exaggerated," he said. "William and I are the best of [Pg 128] friends—always have been; but each of us has got his own way of looking at things and sometimes I don't say we don't have a little breeze, which makes no difference, or we shouldn't have chosen to live here close together for so many years." ”

“ HALL, BENJAMIN, Lord Llanover (1802–1867) , the eldest son of Benjamin Hall, M.P., of Hensol Castle, Glamorganshire, by his wife Charlotte, daughter of William Crawshay of Cyfarthfa, Glamorganshire, was born on 8 Nov. 1802. He was educated at Westminster School, where he was admitted in January 1814. On 24 May 1820 he matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, but left without taking any degree. ”

“ They had not quarrelled and would not quarrel, but each of them knew now that the other had espoused the quarrel, and that it was beyond their powers to end it.
Lady Eldridge had brought news. William had taken a shooting in Suffolk, and she was going to join him there immediately, to get ready for their first party, to which, however, she had brought no invitation. "It has all been rather sudden," she said with a smile. "But William is like that. It is very good partridge country. ”

“ And ere the dawn of day appear'd,
In Cumnor Hall, so lone and drear,
Full many a piercing scream was heard,
And many a cry of mortal fear. ”

“ But I don't want you or the children to make any difference. Let's hope Eleanor will bring him to reason; I [Pg 212] know she has a good influence over him. She may not want to meet me; I've thought of that. But I should like you to go to the Grange as usual. I don't want you to quarrel with William either. We'll leave the quarrelling to him, as he seems bent on it."
"Tell me what happened, dear," she said. "He came here on his way home, didn't he?"
"Oh, yes; with an air of coming to put everything right by making handsome concessions over something he doesn't care a hang about. ”

“ William, in Mr. Clive's clothes, would have made his fortune on a music-hall stage. Strong men would have wept tears at the sight, but Joan's loyalty was such that only affectionate concern was in the glance she turned on him. William's face was set and determined. He thought that the end of his troubles was in sight, as he rolled the table-cloth into a ball and put it beneath his arm. ”

“ Did pretty well out of it too."
"Eldridge didn't."
It was at this point that Sir William woke up to their speech, but what had come immediately before his name was mentioned, which his ears had taken in without conveying it to his brain, also turned itself into meaning.
"Perhaps not; though you never know. Anyhow, he's a new man, and I think we've saddled ourselves with quite enough of them. I think we ought to get back to the old sort—the men who come of good stock. ”

“ They had each other and a dog. Boyhood could not wish for more. The whole world lay before them.
“Let’s go trespassin’,” said William the lawless.
“Where?” enquired Douglas.
“Hall woods—and take Jumble.”
“That ole keeper said he’d tell our fathers if he caught us in again,” said Ginger.
“Lettim!” said William, with a dare-devil air, slashing at the hedge with a stick. He was gradually recovering his self-respect. The nightmare memories of yesterday were growing faint. He flung a stone for the eager Jumble and uttered his shrill unharmonious war whoop. They entered the woods, William leading. ”

“ The dews of summer night did fall;
The moon, sweet regent of the sky,
Silver'd the walls of Cumnor Hall,
And many an oak that grew thereby. ”

“ November 6th, in the 5th year of Henry VI. Letter of attorney (Lat) , dated at Ouerhaddon, from Richard son of John Walker of Ouerhaddon to William de Brodhirst senior and John his son, to give seisin to William de Brodhirst junior and Margorie his wife, in one messuage and xxvi acres of land and meadow, with the appurtenances, in Ouerhaddon, following the form and effect of a certain charter of the said John Walker to the same William de Brodhirst junior and Margorie. Vellum: one skin 12 × 11⁄2 seal missing. ”

“ The young man took out a latchkey, stumbled over the milk-jug, and entered the hall, followed by the tall lady, the short lady, John and George.
"They can't go with the house," said the young man plaintively. ”

“ He has long been dean of the faculty of law in Bishop’s College, Lennoxville, from which college also he holds his doctor’s degree. All his life, Mr. Hall has been a leader of the public enterprises of his native province, his name being regarded as a tower of strength to any organization with which he becomes identified. He not only has the character of a man of spotless honor, but his public spirit, his great business ability, and his capacity for hard work, are guarantees of the success of anything to which he puts his hand. ”

“ After education at his native town, at Walpole, New Hampshire, and Poughkeepsie, Hall took the civil engineer's degree at Troy Rensselaer polytechnic in 1842. He early showed a passion for English words and phrases, which grew with his maturer years. He entered Harvard in 1846, but before his 'commencement' he was sent early in 1846 to Calcutta in pursuit of a runaway brother. Wrecked off the Ganges in September, and compelled for the moment to stay in India, Hall took lessons in Hindustani and Sanskrit, and finally resolved to remain in order to master the languages. ”

“ Hall is a self-made man. His life has not been an easy one. Every bit of his education, every one of his successes, has been gained by his own hard work. It was a steady uphill pull from the time he was thirteen years old until his appointment at Washington. ”

“ Hall seems to have been a well-to-do country gentleman, and in 1582 inherited much property, on the death of a kinsman at Grantham, but he apparently lived in London,, and gained notoriety by his excesses (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1547-90, p. 46) . On 2 April 1571 he was elected M.P. for Grantham, and on 8 May 1572 was returned again for the same constituency to the parliament which sat till 1583. Nine days after his second election the House of Commons ordered him to answer at the bar of the house a charge of having made 'sundry lewd speeches' both within and without the house. ”

“ He visited his old home in the summer, and in the fall of 1857 he took his wife to Cambridge and began his career as an astronomer.
Very few young married men of this day would like to start in a profession at the age of twenty-nine on a salary of three dollars a week. But young Hall expected he would be able to pick up outside work. He thought he could pursue his study in mathematics under Prof. ”

“ The remainder of his life was spent in legal and political activity in London. In 1532 he was appointed common serjeant, and in 1535 secondary of Bread Street compter, which he exchanged in 1537 for secondary of the Poulter compter. In 1533 he was autumn reader at Gray's Inn, and in 1540 Lent reader. In political matters Hall was a staunch supporter of Henry VIII, and his parents seem to have been important personages among the more advanced reformers. ”