390 HALE HALES viction of prisoners charged with this crime. After the great fire in London in 1666, his ex- ertions with a view to improvements in the re- building of the city obtained for him the high- est praise. " He was," says Baxter, " the great instrument for rebuilding London; his pru- dence and justice removing multitudes of im- pediments." In 1671 Hale was made chief justice of the court of king's bench, and four years later he was attacked by inflammation of the diaphragm, which in 1676 compelled him to retire upon his pension. Withdrawing to Acton, he amused himself principally in the study of mathematics and physics. He was twice married ; and by his first wife, the daugh- ter of Sir Henry Moore, he had ten children. His second wife was a servant girl, whom he married in order to have a nurse in his declining years, and whom in his will he called a " most dutiful, faithful, and loving wife." She was appointed on of his executors, and to her he confided the education of his grandchildren. After his death were published several works which have created for him a high reputation as a legal and constitutional writer. His Historia Placitorum Corona (1678, several times edit- ed with additions by various hands), a work of great authority, and the "History of the Com- mon Law " (6th ed., by C. Runnington, 8vo, London, 1820), may be specially cited. The treatise on the "Original Institution, Power, and Jurisdiction of Parliament " (1709), which bears his name, was written, according to Har- grave, by some other person. Sir Matthew Hale's moral and religious works, with his life by Bishop Burnet, were published by the Rev. T. Thirlwall (2 vols. 8vo, London, 1805). HALE. 1. Nathan, an American soldier, born in Coventry, Conn., June 6, 1755, executed in New York, Sept. 22, 1776. He graduated at Yale college in 1773, and became a teacher at East Haddum, and afterward at New London. His parents intended him for the ministry; but in 1775 he entered the army as lieutenant, and in a few months was made captain. In Sep- tember, 1776, when in New York, he with an associate captured a British sloop laden with provisions, taking her at midnight from under the guns of a frigate, and distributing her prize goods to the American soldiers. After the re- treat of the army from Long Island, Washing- ton applied for a discreet officer to enter the enemy's lines and procure intelligence, and Hale volunteered for the service. He passed in disguise to the British camp, and made full drawings and memoranda of all the desired in- formation. On his return he was captured and taken before Sir William Howe, by whom he was ordered to be executed the next morning ; and he was hanged as a spy, saying with his last breath, " I only regret that I* have but one life to lose for my country." Dwight extolled him in prose and verse. See " Life of Capt. Nathan Hale, the Martyr Spy," by I. W. Stu- art (12mo, Hartford, 1856). II. Nathan, an American journalist, nephew of the preceding, born at Westhampton, Mass., Aug. 16, 1784, died at Brookline, Feb. 9, 1863. He graduated at Williams college in 1804, studied law, and was for two years an instructor in the academy at Exeter, N. II. He then removed to Boston, was admitted to the bar in 1810, practised for four years, and was also one of the editors of the "Boston Weekly Messenger," the first weekly periodical in America devoted to liter- ature and politics. In 1814 he purchased the Boston "Daily Advertiser," the first and for many years the only daily newspaper in New England. This journal, of federal and after- ward whig politics, for many years under his charge, exercised a wide influence. It opposed the Missouri bill in 1820, and the Nebraska bill in 1854, and was the first newspaper to urge the immediate free colonization of Kansas. Mr. Hale served several terms in the legislature of Massachusetts, occupied other public offices, was for 19 years president of the Boston and Worcester railroad, the first in New Eng- land upon which steam power was used, and was the head of the commission which intro- duced water into Boston in 1848. He made many improvements in printing, and was among the founders of the " North American Review " and the " Christian Examiner." He published an excellent map of New England (1825), a work on the protective policy (1828), and a se- ries of stereotype maps on a plan of his own invention (1830). His wife was a sister of Ed- ward Everett, and he was the father of the Rev. E. E. Hale. HALE, Sarah Josepha (Bnell), an American au- thoress, born at Newport, N. H., in 1795. In 1814 she married David Hale, a prominent lawyer, and upon his death in 1822 she was left with five young children dependent upon her for support. In 1828 she became editor of the Boston " Ladies' Magazine," which was in 1837 united with " Godey's Lady's Book," Philadelphia, Mrs. Hale continuing to be one of the editors. Besides her editorial labors she has published more than 20 separate works, among which are: "The Genius of Oblivion, and other Poems" (1823); " North wood," a novel (1827); "Traits of American Life" (1835); "Ladies' New Book of Cookery" (1852); " Dictionary of Poetical Quotations" (1852); "New Household Receipt Book" (1853) ; " Woman's Record, Sketches of Dis- tinguished Women" (1853); "Liberia, or Mr. Peyton's Experiment " (1854) ; " Letters of Madame de Sevigne"," and " Letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu " (1856). HALES, Alexander of. See ALEXANDER OP HALES. HALES, Stephen, an English clergyman, born at Beckesbourn, Kent, Sept. 7, 1677, died at Teddington, Middlesex, Jan. 4, 1761. Ho studied theology at Cambridge, became per- petual curate of Teddington, and received seve- ral other livings. He devoted himself to sci- entific pursuits, and in 1717 was made a mem- ber of the royal society, and in 1753 a foreign
