population were ready to rise to the rescue. There were other settlements of sturdy honest fellows, the regular backwoodsmen, in which rogues were not tolerated. There was, therefore, a continual struggle between these parties, the honest people trying to expel the others by the terrors of the law, and when that mode failed, forming regulating companies and driving them out by force. To be a public prosecutor among such a people requires much discretion and no small degree of courage. When the contest breaks out into violence, when arms are used, and a little civil war takes place, there are aggressions on both sides, and he is to avoid making himself a party with either; when called upon to prosecute either he is denounced and often threatened, and it required calmness, self-possession, and sometimes courage to enable him to do his duty, preserving his self-respect and the public confidence."*

In these cases Mr. Hall was a rigorous prosecutor, never flinching from duty, and on some occasions turning out himself and aiding in the arrest of notorious and bold villains. He served in that office four years, and obtained also a large practice on the civil side of the court. He was then elected by the legislature Judge of the Circuit Court, the court having general original jurisdiction, civil and criminal. He presided in that court three years, when a change in the judiciary system took place, the circuit courts were abolished, and all the judges repealed out of office. At the same session of the legislature he was elected State Treasurer, and removed to Vandalia, the seat of government. This office he held four years, in connexion with an extensive law practice, and in connexion also with the editorship of the Illinois Intelligencer, a weekly newspaper, and of the Illinois Monthly Magazine, which he established, published, owned, edited, and for which he wrote nearly all the matter-tale, poem, history, criticism, gossip.

In 1833 Mr. Hall removed to Cincinnati, his present residence, having lived in Illinois twelve years. He has since 1836 been engaged in financial pursuits, having been at first the cashier of the Commercial Bank, and since 1853 the president of another institution bearing the same name. The series of Mr. Hall's numerous publications commenced with his contributions to the Port Folio during the editorship of his brother, who took charge of that work. In 1820, when descending the Ohio, and afterwards during the early part of his residence in Illinois, Mr. Hall wrote a series of Letters from the West, which were published in the Port Folio. They were written in the character of a youth travelling for amusement, giving the rein to a lively fancy, and indulging a vein of levity and rather extravagant fun. They were intended to be anonymous, but having been carried by a friend to England, unexpectedly to the author appeared from the London press ascribed to "the Hon. Judge Hall" on the title-page. The English reviews had their sport out of the apparent incongruity. They acknowledged a certain sort of ability about it, and confessed that the author wrote very good English;

Mr. Hall has given a pleasant sketch of this time and region in the preface to his revised edition of the Legends of the West, published by Putnam in 1858.

Nimeltall

but sneered at the levities, and asked the English public what they would think of a learned judge who should lay aside the wig and robe of office, and roam about the land in quest of "black eyes" and "rosy cheeks," dancing at the cabins of the peasantry, and "kissing the pretty girls." The venerable Illinois Judge they pronounced to be a "sly rogue," and wondered if the learned gentleman was as funny on the bench, &c. &c. The author never allowed the book to be republished.

Mr. Hall's subsequent literary productions may be classed under the heads of periodical literature, books written to exhibit the political and social character and statistics of the West, and an extensive series of works of fiction illustrating the romance, adventure, and humor of the region. In 1829 he edited and secured the publication of the Western Souvenir, in imitation of the elegant annuals then in vogue. Half of the matter was written by himself. Though the appearance of the work suffered from mechanical defects, its spirit was admitted, and as a novelty it was quite successful.

In October, 1830, Mr. Hall published the first number of the Illinois Monthly Magazine at Vandalia, which was also a novelty, and judging from the numbers before us, quite a creditable one. In the worth and elegance of its matter it would not be out of place now in any of the leading cities of the country. Then it was a free-will offering of time, enthusiasm, and money (for the work was sustained by the author's purse as well as pen), to the cause of social improvement and refinement in a virgin state, the resources of which were as yet all to be developed. It was continued for two years, and served well its liberal purposes. This work was followed by the Western Monthly Magazine, published at Cincinnati for three years from 1833 to 1835, and sustained by a large subscription. Like the former it was not only diligently edited but mostly written by Mr. Hall.

A work of considerable magnitude, in which Mr. Hall soon engaged, involved vast labor and

original research. In connexion with Col. Tho- | mas L. M'Kenney he undertook to edit and write A History and Biography of the Indians of North America. The work, a costly one, was to be illustrated by a series of portraits taken at Washington by King, who had formed a gallery in the War Department of the various celebrated chiefs who visited the capital. It was proposed by Col. M'Kenney, who had been Commissioner for Indian Affairs, to publish one hundred and twenty portraits, with a memoir of each of the chieftains. The work appeared easy, but it was soon found sufficiently difficult to task the energies of Mr. Hall, upon whom the toil of composition fell, to the extent even of his accustomed diligence and pliant pen. The material which had been supposed to exist in official and other documents at hand had to be sought personally from agents of government, old territorial governors, and such original authorities as Governor Cass, General Harrison, and others. With the exception of a few facts from the expeditions of Long, Pike, and Schoolcraft, nothing was compiled from books. The testimony of actors and eye-witnesses was songht and sifted, so that the work is not only full of new and interesting facts but of a reliable cha

racter.

The expensive style of this publication, a copy costing one hundred and twenty dollars, has confined it to the public libraries or to the collections of wealthy persons. From the failure of the first publishers, the change of others, and the expense of the work, Messrs. M'Kenney and Hall, who were to have received half the profits, got little or nothing.

In 1835 Mr. Hall published at Philadelphia two volumes of Sketches of History, Life, and Manners in the West, and subsequently at Cincinnati, another pair of volumes entitled The West, its Soil, Surface, and Productions; Its Navigation and Commerce. The "Sketches" illustrate the social, the others the material characteristics of this important region.

During the canvass between General Harrison and Van Buren in 1836 Mr. Hall published a life of the former, the materials of which he had prepared for the Sketches of the West.* It is a polished and interesting history.

The several volumes of Mr. Hall's tales include the separate publications, The Legends of the West; The Border Tales; The Soldier's Bride and other Tales; Harpes Head, a Legend of Kentucky; The Wilderness and the War Path. Many of these first appeared in magazines and annuals. They are characterized by a certain amenity and ease of narrative, a poetic appreciation of the beauties of nature, and the gentler moods of the affections; while the author's pleasing narrative has softened the rudeness without abating the interest of the wild border strife. The Indian subjects are handled with peculiar delicacy; the kindly sentiment of the author dwelling on their virtues, while his imagination is enkindled by their spiritual legends. His style, pure in sentiment and expression, may be aptly compared with the calm, tranquil aspect of his own Ohio river, occasionally darkened by wild bordering

A Memoir of the Public Services of William Henry Harrison of Ohio. Philadelphia.

woods, but oftener reflecting the beauty of the azure heaven.

Several of Mr. Hall's family have engaged in literature. His mother, Mrs. Sarah Hall, the daughter of Dr. John Ewing, wrote Conversations on the Bible, which were republished abroad, and which have passed through several editions. She was a contributor to the Port Folio from the commencement and during the editorship of her son. A volume of her writings was edited and published by Harrison Hall in 1833, with a prefatory memoir by Judge Hall. She was born October 30, 1760, and died April 3, 1830.

John E. Hall, her eldest son, was born December, 1783. He was educated at Princeton, read law with Judge Hopkinson, was admitted to practice in 1805, and removed to Baltimore. He published the American Law Journal in Philadelphia from 1808 to 1817. He was elected Professor of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres in the University of Maryland. He collected and arranged an edition of the British Spy, to which he contributed several letters much to the gratification of Wirt the author. When the Baltimore riot broke out in 1811, he was one of the party of Federalists who aided in defending Hanson's house, and was one of the nine thrown on a heap as killed. He left Baltimore soon afterwards, removing to Philadelphia, where he assumed the editorship of the Port Folio in 1806. The memoirs of Anacreon in that journal were from his pen. They were a reproduction on this thread of narrative of Grecian manners and customs, supposed to be written by Critias of Athens, and the author was stimulated to their composition by the approval of the poet Moore, who was then creating a sensation in the literary circles of Philadelphia. Mr. Hall was the author of the life prefixed to the poems of his friend Dr. John Shaw, published in Baltimore in 1810. In 1827 he edited with biographical and critical notes, The Philadelphia Souvenir, a collection of fugitive pieces from the press of that city. The editor's part is written with spirit. In the same year was published in Philadelphia in an octavo volume, Memoirs of Eminent Persons, with Portraits and Fac-Similes, written and in part selected by the Editor of the Port Folio. In consequence of his declining health the Port Folio was discontinued in 1827. He died June 11, 1829. His brother, Harrison Hall, publisher of the Port Folio, is the author of a work on Distilling, first published in 1815, which has received the commendation of Dr. Hare and other scientific men of the day.

Dr. Thomas Mifflin Hall, a younger brother, contributed poetry and some scientific articles to the Port Folio. În 1828 he embarked on board of a South American ship of war to which he was appointed surgeon. The vessel was never heard of after.

SOLITUDE.

And what is solitude? Is it the shade
Where nameless terrors brood-
The lonely dell, or haunted glade,
By gloomy phantasy arrayed?
This is not solitude.

For I have dared alone to tread,
In boyhood's truant mood,

PIERRE, THE FRench barber's INDIAN ADVENTURE-FROM THE DARK MAID OF ILLINOIS.*

[Pierre, who is the butt of the village, and is anxious to see the wonders of the wilderness, marries an Indian bride and proposes a stroll.]

When our inclinations prompt us strongly to a particular line of conduct, it is easy to find reasons enough to turn the scale. Indeed, it is most usual to adopt a theory first, and then to seek out arguments to support it. Pierre could now find a host of reasons urging him to instant wedlock with the Illinois maiden. And not the least were the advantages which would accrue to Father Francis, to the church, and to the cause of civilization. When he should become a prince, he could take the venerable priest under his patronage, encourage the spread of the true faith, cause his subjects to be civilized, and induce them to dress like Christians and feed like rational beings. He longed, with all the zeal of a reformer, to see them powder their hair, and abstain from the savage practice of eating roasted puppies.

So he determined to marry the lady; and, having thus definitely settled the question, thought it would be proper to take the advice of his spiritual guide. Father Francis was shocked at the bare mention of the affair. He admonished Pierre of the sin of marrying a heathen, and of the wickedness of breaking his plighted faith; and assured him, in advance, that such misconduct would bring down upon him the severe displeasure of the church. Pierre thanked him with the most humble appearance of conviction, and forthwith proceeded to gratify his own inclination-believing that, in the affair of wedlock, he knew what was for his own good quite as well as a holy monk, who, to the best of his judgment, could know very little about the matter.

Published in the collection, The Wilderness and the War

Path.

On the following morning the marriage took place, with no other ceremony than the delivery of the bride into the hands of her future husband. Pierre was as happy as bridegrooms usually are-for his companion was a slender, pretty girl, with a mild black eye and an agreeable countenance. They were conducted to a wigwam, and installed at once into the offices of husband and wife, and into the possession of their future mansion. The females of the village assembled, and practised a good many jokes at the expense of the young couple: and Pierre, as well to get rid of these as to improve the earliest opportunity of examining into the mineral treasures of the country, endeavored, by signs, to invite his partner to a stroll-intimating, at the same time, that he would be infinitely obliged to her if she would have the politeness to show him a gold mine or two. The girl signified her acquiescence, and presently stole away through the forest, followed by the enamored hair-dresser.

As soon as they were out of sight of the village, Pierre offered her his arm, but the arch girl darted away, laughing, and shaking her black tresses, which streamed in the air behind her, as she leaped over the logs and glided through the thickets. Pierre liked her none the less for this evidence of coquetry, but gaily pursued his beautiful bride, for whom he began to feel the highest admiration. Her figure was exquisitely moulded, and the exercise in which she was now engaged displayed its gracefulness to the greatest advantage. There was a novelty, too, in the adventure, which pleased the gay-hearted Frenchman; and away they ran, mutually amused and mutually satisfied with each other.

Pierre was an active you: g fellow, and, for a while, followed the beautiful savage with a creditable degree of speed; but, unaccustomed to the obstacles which impeded the way, he soon became fatigued. His companion slackened her pace when she found him lingering behind; and, when the thicket was more than usually intricate, kindly guided him through the most practicable places, always, however, keeping out of his reach; and whenever he mended his pace, or showed an inclination to overtake her, she would dart away, looking back over her shoulder, laughing, and coquetting, and inviting him to follow. For a time this was amusing enough, and quite to the taste of the merry barber; but the afternoon was hot, the perspiration flowed copiously, and he began to doubt the expediency of having to catch a wife, cr win even a gold mine, by the sweat of his brow-especially in a new country. Adventurers to newly discovered regions expect to get things easily; the fruits of labor may be found at home.

On they went in this manner, until Pierre, wearied out, was about to give up the pursuit of his lightheeled bride, when they reached a spot where the ground gradually ascended, until, all at once, they stood upon the edge of an elevated and extensive plain. Our traveller had heretofore obtained partial glimpses of the prairies, but now saw one of these vast plains, for the first time, in its breadth and grandeur. Its surface was gently uneven; and, as he happened to be placed on one of the highest swells, he looked over a boundless expanse, where not a single tree intercepted the prospect, or relieved the monotony. He strained his vision forward, but the plain was boundless-marking the curved line of its profile on the far distant horizon. The effect was rendered more striking by the appearance of the setting sun, which had sunk to the level of the furthest edge of the prairie, and seemed like a globe of fire resting upon the ground. Pierre looked around him with admiration. The vast expanse

destitute of trees, covered with tall grass, now driel by the summer's heat, and exte dig, as it seemel to him, to the western verge of the continent-excited his special wonder. Little versed in geog aphy, he persuade himself that he hal reached the western boundary of the world, and behel i the very spot where the sun passed over the edge of the great terrestrial plane. There was no mistake. He had achieved an adventure worthy the greatest captain of the age. His form dilate 1, and his eye kindle 1, with a consciousness of his own importance. Columbus had discovered a co tinent, but he hid travelled to the extreme verge of the earth's surface, beyond which nothing remained to be discovered. "Yes," he solemnly exclaimed, "there is the end of the world! How fortunate am I to have approached it by daylight, and with a gui le; otherwise, I might have steppel over in the dark, and have fallen-I know not where!"

The Indian girl had seated herself on the grass, and was compose lly waiting his pleasure, when he discovered large masses of smoke rolling upward in the west. He pointed towards this new phenomenon, and endeavore l to obtain so ne expla a io of its meaning; but the bride, if she understool his enquiry, had no mea is of reply. There is a la ga ge of looks which is sufficient for the purposes of love. The glance of approving affection beams expressively fron the eye, and finds its way in silent eloquence to the heart. No doubt that the pair, whose bridal day we have described, had already learned, from each other's looks, the confession which they had no other commoi language to convey; but the intercourse of signs ca go no further. It is perfectly ina lequate to the interpretation of natural pheaomena and the Indian mail was unable to explain that singular appearance which so puzzled her lover. But lis covering, fom the direction to which he pointed, that his curiosity was stro gly excited, the obligig girl rose and led the way towards the west. They walked for more than an hour. Pierre insensibly became grave and silent, and his sympathizi g companio u iconsciously fell into the same moo I. He had taken her hand, which she now yielded without reluctance, and they move I slowly, side by side, over the plain-she with a submissive and demure air, and he alternately admiring his beautiful bri le, and throwing suspicious g'ances at the novel scene arou id him. The sun had gone down, the breeze hal subside 1, and the stillness of death was hanging over the prairie. Pierre begin to have awful seisations. Though bold and volatile, a so nething like fear crept over him, and he would have turned back; but the pride of a French gentleman, and a marquis in anticipation, prevented him. He felt mean-for no man of spirit ever becomes seriously alarmed without feeling a sense of degradation. There is something so unmanly in fear, that, although no bosom is entirely proof against it, we feel ashamed to acknowledge its influence even to ourselves. Our hero looked forward in terror, yet was too proud to turn back. Superstition was beginning to throw its misty visions about his fancy. He had taken a step contrary to the advice of his father confessor, and was in open rebellion against the church; and he began to fear that some evil spirit, under the guise of an Indian maid, was seducing him away to destruction. At all events, he determined not to go much further.

The shades of night had begin to close, when they again ascended one of those elevations which swells so gradually that the traveller scarcely remarks them until he reaches the summit, and beholds, from a commanding eminence, a boundless landscape spread before him. The veil of night, without con

cealing the scene, rendered it indistinct; the undulations of the surface were no longer perceptible; and the prairie seemed a perfect plai.. One phenomenon astonished and perplexed hin: before him the Prairie was light. 1 up with a dim but supernatural brilliancy, like that of a distant fire, while behind was the blackness of darkness. An air of solitude reigned over that wild plain, and not a sound relieved the desolation of the scene. A chill crept over him as he gazed around, and not an object met his eye but that dark maid, who stood in mute patience by his side, as waiting his pleasure; but on whose features, as displayed by the uncertain light that glimmered on them, a smile of triumph seemed to play. He looked again, and the horizon gleamed brighter and brighter, until a fiery redness rose above its dark outline, while heavy, slow moving masses of cloud curled upward above it. It was evilently the intense reflection, and the voluminous smoke, of a vast fire. In another moment the blaze itself appeared, first shooting up at one spot, and then at another, and advancing, until the whole line of horizon was clothed in flames, that rolled around, and curled, and dashed upward, like the angry waves of a barning ocean. The simple Frenchman hal never heard of the fires that sweep over our wide prairies in the autumn, nor did it enter into his head that a natural cause could produce an effect so terrific. The whole western horizon was clad in fire, and, as far as the eye could see, to the right and left, was one vast conflagratio, having the appearance of angry billows of a fiery liquid, dashing against each other, and foaming, and throwing flakes of burning spray into the air. There was a roaring sound like that cause I by the conflict of waves. A more terrific sight could scarcely be conceived; nor was it singular that an unpractised eye should behold in that scene a wide sea of flame, lashed into fury by some internal commotion.

Pierre could gaze no longer. A sudden horror thrilled his soul. His worse fears were realized in the tremendous landscape. He saw before him the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels The existence of such a place of punishment he had never doubte 1; but, heretofore, it had been a mere dog na of faith, while now it appeared before him in its terrible reality. He thought he could plainly distinguish gigantic black forms dancing in the flames, throwing up their long misshapen arms, and writhing their bodies into fantastic shapes. Utterig a piercing shriek, he turned and fled with the swiftness of an arrow. Fear gave new vigor to the muscles which had before been relaxed with fatigue, and his feet, so lately heavy, now touched the ground with the light and springy tread of the antelope. Yet, to himself, his steps seemed to linger, as if his heels were lead.

The Indian girl clapped her hands and laughed aloud as she pursued him. That laugh, which, at an earlier hour of this eventful day, had enlivened his heart by its joyous tones, now filled him with terror. It seemed the yell of a demon-the triumphant scream of hellish delight over the downfall of his soul. The dark maid of Illinois, so lately an object of love, became, to his distempered fancy, a minister of vengeance-a fallen angel sent to tempt him to destruction. A supernatural stregth and swiftness gave wings to his flight, as he bounded away with the speed of the ostrich of the desert; but he seemed, to himself, to crawl sluggishly, and, whenever he cast a glance behind, that mysterious girl of the prairie was laughing at his heels. He tried to invoke the saints, but, alas! in the confusion of his mind, he could not recollect the names of more than half a dozen, nor determine which was