HALL, CAPTAIN BASIL, a distinguished British traveller and miscellaneous writer, was born at Edinburgh in 1788. His father was Sir James Hall of Dunglass, a man still remembered for his Essay on the Origin, Principles, and History of Gothic Architecture, and for his ingenious researches into geology, with a view of establishing the theory of Hutton in opposition to that of Werner. Basil Hall entered the navy in 1802, and rose gradually to be post-captain in 1817. In the course of his many voyages, he set himself to observe the manners and customs of the peoples whom he visited, as well as the physical peculiarities of the countries which they inhabited, and in this way collected the materials for a very large number of scientific papers which he contributed to various journals and encyclopaedias. Perhaps the most interesting of his works is his Voyage of Discovery to the Western Coast of Corea and the Great Loo-Choo Island, in the Japan Sea, which had a very wide and rapid circulation. His Travels in North America were equally popular, less through their intrinsic merits, than from the violence with which they were assailed by the American press for their very partial and unfriendly view of American society. Various other works of travel followed these from Captain Hall's pen, but of inferior interest and merit. His last, which appeared in 1841 under the title of Patchwork, had not been long published when its author was seized with insanity, from which he was only relieved by death in 1844.