Author: HALL, Thomas
Biography:
HALL, Thomas (fl 1788-89)
No copy of his Benevolence (1788) has been located and Sensibility (1789) has been found only in a second edition. Possibly this was in fact the first edition. The only magazine or newspaper notice of publication dates from July 1789 (Scots Magazine). The poem “Sensibility” suggests an English rather than Scottish author. It is dedicated to Mrs. Fitzherbert who in the poem is addressed in high-flown terms as “Fair Patroness of th’ liberal arts.” No records that can be linked to this author with any certainty have been located. However, it is just possible he was the Thomas Hall who had arrived in Edinburgh in Apr. 1788, set up a shop, was subsequently arrested in London with goods fraudulently obtained, and was tried in Edinburgh for swindling in Jan. 1789. That Thomas Hall issued a pamphlet about the trial, An Account of the Curious and Interesting Trial of Thomas Hall (1789), which presents the prisoner as elegantly dressed, well-spoken, and eager to impress the jury with his honourable motives and superior talents. It was printed by James Ainslie who was also involved in producing Sensibility. Although Hall was let off the initial charges on a technicality, a second trial on additional charges resulted in a sentence of seven years banishment. Although there is no proof of a connection to Thomas Hall the poet, the coincidences are intriguing. (Scots Magazine 51 [1789] 408)