Hall, Joseph (1574–1656)

English bishop and satirist. He became chaplain to Prince Henry (1608), dean of Worcester (1616), and bishop of Exeter (1627). He later wrote in defence of the Anglican Church. In 1641 he became bishop of Norwich, but later that year was expelled from office and imprisoned.

He was born at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, and was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. While there, he wrote Virgidemiarum Sex Libri/Six Books of Stripes (1597–98), in which he claimed to be the first English satirist. For this he was attacked by John Marston in 1598; the works of both were burned in 1599.

He published Characters of Vertues and Vices (1608), the first imitation of Theophrastus in English. He defended the English Church in Episcopacy by Divine Right (1640), and An Humble Remonstrance to the High Court of Parliament (1640). This began a long controversy in which John Milton took part, attacking Hall for his early satires.