d. He received a good
education, and at an early age began the study of the law. He removed to
New Orleans soon after, and was for a while in the office of the Hon.
John Slidell. He subsequently returned to New York, where he became
associated with the late Mr. Nathaniel Blunt, as Assistant
District-Attorney. Upon the death of Mr. Blunt, he was elected
District-Attorney by the Whig party, and held that position for about
twelve years. At the end of that time, he was elected Mayor of New York,
to succeed John T. Hoffman, now Governor of the State. For some years he
has been a member of the law firm of Brown, Hall & Vanderpoel, which firm
enjoys a large and lucrative practice. He is said to be a lawyer of
considerable ability, and has undoubtedly had great experience in
criminal practice. As a politician, his experience has also been
extensive and varied. He began life as a Whig, but became a prominent
Know-Nothing in the palmy days of that party. Finding Know-Nothingism a
failure, however, he became a Republican, from which party, about nine or
ten years ago, he passed over to the Democrats.

A writer in _Every Saturday_ thus speaks of him:

"His Honor has some facility as a writer, and for twenty years has
maintained a quasi or direct connection with the press. He is not
lacking in the culture of desultory reading, and when he chooses to do so
can bear himself like a gentleman. Of such a thing as dignity of
character, he appears to have but a faint conception. Pedantry is more
to him than profundity, and to tickle the ear of the town with a cheap
witticism, he deems a greater thing than to command it with a forcible
presentation of grave issues. The essential type of the man was
presented to public gaze about two years ago, when he stood on the City
Hall steps dressed from head to foot in a suit of green to review a St.
Patrick's procession. He is a harlequin with the literary ambition of a
Richelieu. He affects an intimacy with the stage, and has done something
in the way of producing plays. He can write clearly and concisely when
he will, but prefers to provoke with odd quips and far-fetched conceits.
He patronizes journalists and magazine writers with a sort of grotesque
familiarity, and readily makes himself at home among the Bohemians of
Literature."

Since his union with the Democracy, Mr. Hall has been the constant and
intimate associate of the men who have brought disgrace and loss upon the
c