VI.

Memorials of John Halle.

THE time is, at length, arrived, gentle reader, when it behoveth me to make you acquainted with the deeds of the Hero of my little History -with the deeds of John Halle, the Citizen, and Merchant, of Salisbury, whose splendid banqueting-room has so justly, and so greatly, attracted the attention of the public.

I have already introduced John Halle to you. I have described his heraldic honours, and his (to him equally valuable) merchant's mark. I have descanted on his dress, and I have now to detail those portions of his history, to the knowledge of which I have attained. These details I have, humbly, ycleped “Memorials.” They are few, yet interesting, and give us some insight into the character, and station, of one, certainly, in his day, of great local importance; yet-prithee bear in mind, that, although an affluent "marchant," and of great respectability, he did not stand in that situation of life, which

should call him into the active employ of the State, so as to aid in ruling her destinies, or in guiding her armies; indeed, his days were days of peril, and well content was he to bear alone the honour of representing in the Senate the goodlie Citie of Salisburie, and (as one of her most affluent citizens) to conduct a trade equally honourable, extensive, and lucrative.

It cannot, then, surprise you, gentle reader, when I thus acquaint you, that I am unable to present you with the "Life of John Halle.” Would that it were in my power! We must, I again repeat, consider him as a private individual—affluent-of high respectability, and— of much local influence, but-not a leading man in the affairs of the State. He was neither a Baron, nor Knight of martial renown-he lived at an æra, when the art of printing was but just discovered, and that in his latter days-when even manuscripts were comparatively rare, and -in an age, the records of which have seldom descended to our own times. It cannot, then, excite surprise, that I have so little to say of the worthy John Halle; and that I thus give the appellative of “ Memorials" to these few historical memoranda.

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In my second Essay I have imparted a slender detail of the family of Halle; which is accompanied with a short, but authentic, pedigree. I have there remarked, that I have been unable to discover, whether the ancestors of John Halle were originally of the City of Salisbury, or emigrated thither from some other part of the kingdom. It is a question involved

in the darkness of ages long since past-relative to the history alone of a private family; and that before the æras of printing-of the institution of parochial registers, or-of the establishment of an Heraldic College; but-it is a question of minor importance; yet, in that Essay, I have demonstrated from the ancient Leger of the City, that there was, in the reign of Henry, the Sixth, one Thomas Halle, who was a member of the Corporation, and, most probably, the father of John Halle. I must here beg permission to quote a few lines of that Essay. In speaking of Thomas Halle, the Corporator, I there said, "His name does not appear in the Leger after the 19th year of Henry, the Sixth, 1440, nor is that of John Halle to be found there before that date, as his name first appears in the 22nd year of that Monarch, 1443, and he was, probably, elected a member of the Corporation on the death of his father, Thomas Halle, or on the occasion of some other early vacancy, as only three years elapse between the last entry of the one, and the first entry of the other, name; and, it is probable, an earlier occasion may not have occurred after his admission for the mention of the name of the son. I cannot, however, on this probable, yet problematical, testimony admit Thomas Halle, the Corporator, into the family pedigree."

I can, therefore, only presume, that John Halle was the son of Thomas Halle, the Corporator, mentioned in the Leger of the City; but who, or what, he was, it is impossible to say; neither am I able to impart, where John Halle

was born, nor in what part of the City he resided, prior to the purchase of those premises, on the site of which is even yet standing the most interesting halle of his ancient mansion. This purchase was made by him of William Hore, Senior, Citizen, and Merchant, of Salisbury, in the year 1467.

It, however, does appear from the entries in the ancient Leger of the City, that in the 24th year of Henry, the Sixth, 1446, he was appointed one of the collectors of a subsidy for the Crown for New-street Ward; and that, in the 27th year of Henry, the Sixth, 1449, he was appointed Constable for New-street Ward.

It is here incumbent on me to remark, that I have, long since, discovered, that my work will, necessarily, extend to a second volume; and, in that volume, I shall endeavour fully to describe the interesting Halle of John Halle. To that Essay, then, the translation of the feoffment, or purchase-deed of the premises, (which is in the Latin Language,) most properly, pertains; and I shall, therefore, not at present lay it before my readers. Let it suffice now to say, that the premises, at this time (1836) the property, and the residence, of Mr. Sampson Payne, chinaman, on the New Canal, in the City of Salisbury, are the same premises, which are described in the feoffment-deed; and on the site of which was the mansion of John Walle; but of which, mayhap, little is left, save his splendid banqueting-room.

From the strong, and valid, reasons before stated, I am also unable to say, whom John

Halle selected as his partner for life--what Ladye faire had the happiness to share the good fortune, with which Providence blessed him. In one of the windows of his interesting halle appear the arms of Halle impaling Halle; and, as I have ascertained, that William Halle, his son, married into the respectable family of Berenger of the county of Hants, I am strongly inclined to think, that John Halle, the father, took to wife one of his own kindred, and name; and that the above arms must be appropriated to him. This armorial coat, now in the second window, we may presume, at first, led the van in this beautiful series of brilliant, but fragile, historical memoranda. The arms of the owner of the mansion impaling those of his loving spouse, it is probable, originally occupied the first place in the first window. I am strengthened in my conjecture, that John Halle did inter-marry with his relative, as I have elsewhere observed, (see p. 55,) by this curious fact, that on the transom-stone of the chimney-piece are two shields, on one of which are the arms of John Halle, and on the other his merchant's mark. It was an ancient custom for the owner, and builder, of a mansion to place his arms on the impost of the chimney-piece of his principal room. The one shield, therefore, appropriately, points him out as the owner, and the erector, of this splendid halle, and the other indicates, that he was a "marchant;" but I contend, that, as the second shield should in courtesy, in honour, and in affection, have been assigned to the heraldic memento of his other self, this was omitted