N. B.—I have just heard of another pleasant specimen of Mr. Hall's
piddling, mischievous, gossipping, and wicked temper. Mr. Neal, it
appears, was, many years ago, a merchant, in extensive business, at
Baltimore; failed; and was indebted, at the time of his failure, to the
house of George Grundy & Sons;—the head of which house spent a
good deal of time, and no little money, trying, in vain, to prevent the
discharge of Mr. Neal, under the insolvent laws of Maryland; and to
convict him, in any way, of any impropriety whatever—having the
books and papers of the whole concern, in his possession. Mr. John
E. Hall, it appears, had heard of this; and, taking it for granted, that
an unpaid creditor, must be a mortal enemy; and able, if anybody could,
to blacken the character of his debtor—actually wrote to the house of
George Grundy & Sons, to whom he was a perfect stranger, a few days
ago, to learn the character of Mr. Neal! The letter was without
date
or place; and, instead of being able to give Mr. Hall any satisfaction,
such as he wanted—these gentlemen had some difficulty
in finding out
who Mr. Hall was!
What a mischievous wretch! How deadly and fatal might such a fellow
be, if his courage and talent bore any proportion to his malignity
and spite. Upon my soul, I am inclined to believe, that the creature
is some peevish, disappointed old maid, who has contrived to slip into
a hat and breeches, that did'nt belong her.
A pretty fellow, indeed, for the successor of the polite, noble-hearted
Dennie, in the management of the Port Folio! John E. Hall is a man
that never writes English, except by accident—never by design. Had
I leisure, I should like to furnish a few examples of his own writing;
a few of his blunders in translation; two or three of his editoria! improvements;
a book of which might be made up; to prove, not only that
he cannot write English, himself—but that he will not let any body else
write it, if he can help it. Still, one or two specimens may not be
amiss. “An example is familiar to every man. Who has not stooped
from a height, and clung to earth for support and strength?” said one
of his correspondents. John E. Hall, being “delighted” with the sentence,
made this of it:—“An example is familiar to every man who
has not stooped from an height, and clung to earth for support and
strength!”
Again—but this example is purely his own. “There is a humorous
Jew who sometimes spits upon his gabArdine and calls him by ludicrous
nicknames, which seem to smart like a Burgundy plaIster, seasoned
with Spanish flies.” That is—the nicknames (not the man) smart!—
like a Burgundy plaister!—(for plaster)—and two commas are omitted
in the punctuation. Here, too, the writer knew that he was in a glass-house;
and, of course, was doubly fortified;—yet, in two lines and a
half, there is one blunder in the sense; one, in a verb; another, in grammar;
two, in punctuation; and two, in orthography!—Ed.
