SOURCE: Huntley, Frank Livingstone. “The Bishop of Exeter, John Milton, and the ‘Modest Confutant.’” In Bishop Joseph Hall, 1574-1656: A Biographical and Critical Study, pp. 115-34. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1979.

In this essay, Huntley focuses on a low point in Hall's career, during which he was at odds with other Anglican bishops and he was embroiled in a malicious public print war with John Milton and other writers. Huntley emphasizes Hall's moderation and consistency of character in the dispute, in contrast to the petty, ad hominem attacks of Milton.

James I died on 27 March 1625. As late as the Humble Remonstrance to Parliament (1640), which played its part in the quarrel between Hall and Milton, Joseph Hall said that King James was ‘the learnedest king that ever sat upon this throne; or, as I verily think, since Solomon's time, upon any other’ (Wynter, IX, 286). He was succeeded by his son...