166 



liberty of the press, as the " Bostonian Stamp Act," &e. 

 Wlien the law went into operation, Mr. Hall spoke of it in the 

 Gazette as follows : 



" No printer can now advertise, even in his own paper, any books or 

 pieces of piely or devolion, not excepting the Holy Bible, without pay- 

 ing a heavy tax for it. How this accords with His Excellency's late 

 ' Proclamation for the encouragement of Pieiy, Virtue, Education, and 

 Manners,' let the framers of the act determine. ; Were it not for the tax 

 upon advertising good hooks, the Printer hereof would inform the Pub- 

 lic, that he has just published 'Extracts from Dr. Priestley's Catechism' 

 which he sells at five coppers single, and two shillings the dozen." 



In leaving, Mr. Hall said he should always retain the most 

 grateful recollection of favors received in this place, and should 

 "always endeavor to promote the interests and reputation of 

 the town of Salem." 



The removal to Boston was executed with characteristic 

 promptness, so that not a single issue of the paper was omitted, 

 the next number, under the new name of " The Massachusetts 

 Gazette," appearing as a continuation on the regular day. Nov. 

 28. Mr. Hall made arrangements to supply his Salem subscrib- 

 ers as usual, by a carrier. He subsequently sold the Gazette 

 to other parties. He afterwards printed a paper for a short 

 time in the French language, entitled " Courier de Boston," — 

 the first paper in that language in New England. In 1789 he 

 opened a book store in Cornhill, which he sold in 1805 to Lin- 

 coln and Edmands, of which firm Gould and Lincoln are the 

 present successors. 



Mr. Hall, as we have stated, was born in Medford, Nov. 2, 

 1740, of Jonathan Hall and Anna Fowle. He died Oct. 30, 

 1807, aged 67 years. He was an industrious, accurate, and 

 enterprising printer, a judicious editor, and excellent man. 

 His life was one of active usefulness and of remarkable suc- 

 cess. Besides his newspaper publications, he was the printer 

 and publisher of many works, of various degrees of importance, 

 some of them of considerable value. The list of his publica- 

 tions during his residence in Salem, and subsequently in Bos- 

 ton, would reflect great credit upon him as a man of business 

 enterprise. In his papers he advocated liberal opinions with 

 firmness and discretion, and always commanded the confidence 

 and respect of the best men in the community, " The coun- 

 try," says Mr. Buckingham, "had no firmer friend, in the 

 gloomiest period of its history, as well as in the days of its 

 young and increasing prosperity, than Samuel HalL" 



