Hallam

Hallam, Henry (1777-1859), the historian, was born at, Windsor and educated at Eton and Christ Church, after which he went to the bar. He did not, however, long continue to practise, but, having obtained a Commissionership of Stamps and having property besides, gave his whole attention to literature. In 1818 he published his View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages, which immediately established his reputation for learning and research. His Constitutional History of England, which appeared in 1827, covered the period from the accession of Henry VII. to the death of George III. He had in his former work in some measure dealt with the earlier constitutional history, but his account of this formative period has been superseded by Dr. Stubbs's works. Hallam's book is still the standard authority on Tudor and Stuart constitutional history. Hallam's last great work, the Introdudion to the Literature of Europe in the 15th, 16th and 17th Centuries (4 vols. 1837-39), showed the same accuracy and learning as the previous publications, and had the same defect of colour. In spite of an impartiality beyond praise in those Quarterly and Edinburgh days, he showed decided Whig leanings, though of an historical rather than of a practical character.

Arthur Henry Hallam, the friend of Tennyson, was born in 1811. He died at Vienna in 1833, when on a Continental tour with his father. Among his Remains the best specimens of his work were his Essay on Cicero, his attack on Rossetti's symbolic criticisms of Dante, and his review of Tennyson's first poems.