Three generations

MRS. S. C HALL 335
the proceeds of a volume of history he had just written
and sold.
But it seems to me that to class Mrs. Hall with
S. C. Hall, as always playing a part, is altogether
unwarrantable. She was Irish and effusive, and
belonged to a day when literary people, especially
women, were tempted to express themselves in the
terms of a mutual admiration society, and she persisted
in believing in the man who was a good and loyal
husband to her with a woman's self-deceiving infatua-
tion while, surely, other men may condone the weak-
ness. Apart from this, I could only see in her a fine
old lady, gracious and kind, who could tell of the
" Ettrick Shepherd " that when he came to see her
in the old times he called her little pet dogs " tykes " ;
how when one of the publishers of Chambers's Journal
paid her for her contributions with a cheque which
she put into her purse without looking at it, because
the terms of payment had been fixed beforehand, he
asked her to take out the cheque and read it, when she
found the sum was increased in proportion to the
additional popularity which her tales had given to the
journal.
Mrs. Hall had Tom Moore's writing-desk, which had
been given to her by his widow. It was kept marked
by the laurel wreath laid on the lid.
A little before I knew the Halls, their circumstances,
which had not been particularly prosperous, were
rendered comfortable and safe by the exertions of
friends who subscribed sufficient funds to buy a joint
annuity settled on the two and retained by the last
survivor. The annuity was presented to the pair on a
great gathering to celebrate their golden wedding day.
She held a weekly reception, and was a little hurt