Agnes C. Hall (''née'' Scott) (1777–1846) was a Scottish writer of novels and non-fiction articles, and also a translator. She used the pseudonym Rosalia St Clair.

Life

Born in

Roxburghshire Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh ( gd, Siorrachd Rosbroig) is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the north-west, and Berw ...

, she was the wife of Dr. Robert Hall who died in 1824. She survived him, dying in London on 1 December 1846. Her time in the literary world brought her in particular the acquaintance of

John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, Member of Parliament (MP) and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of classical liberalism, he contributed widely to ...

; but her financial difficulties were serious, and she applied in particular to the

Royal Literary Fund The Royal Literary Fund (RLF) is a benevolent fund that gives assistance to published British writers in financial difficulties. Founded in 1790, and granted a royal charter in 1818, the Fund has helped an extensive roll of authors through its long ...

.Patrick Leary, ''"Fraser's Magazine" and the Literary Life, 1830-1847'', Victorian Periodicals Review Vol. 27, No. 2 (Summer, 1994), pp. 105-126, at p. 120. Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press on behalf of the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20082761

Works

Hall was a contributor on literary and scientific topics to

Olinthus Gregory Olinthus Gilbert Gregory (29 January 17742 February 1841) was an English mathematician, author, and editor. Biography He was born on 29 January 1774 at Yaxley in Huntingdonshire, the son of Robert, a shoemaker, and Ann, who also had three you ...

's ''

Pantologia ''Pantologia'' is an English encyclopedia, published in 12 volumes, 8vo in 1813, with 370 plates (some coloured). Its full title page was ''A New Cyclopedia, comprehending a complete series of Essays, Treatises and Systems, alphabetically arrange ...

'', William Nicholson's '' British Encyclopedia'', and ''

Rees's Cyclopædia Rees's ''Cyclopædia'', in full ''The Cyclopædia; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature'' was an important 19th-century British encyclopaedia edited by Rev. Abraham Rees (1743–1825), a Presbyterian minister and scholar w ...

''; also to

John Aikin John Aikin (15 January 1747 – 7 December 1822) was an English medical doctor and surgeon. Later in life he devoted himself wholly to biography and writing in periodicals. Life He was born at Kibworth Harcourt, Leicestershire, England, son o ...

's ''Old Monthly'', and Knight's ''Printing Machine''. She wrote the notes to Anton Zacharias Helms's ''Buenos Ayres'' (1806). During her later years she contributed to the '' Annual Biography'', the ''

Westminster Review The ''Westminster Review'' was a quarterly British publication. Established in 1823 as the official organ of the Philosophical Radicals, it was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the liberal journal until ...

'', and '' Fraser's Magazine''. In fiction, she published ''Rural Recreations''; ''Obstinacy'' (1826), a tale for young people; ''First and Last Years of Wedded Life'', a story of Irish life in the reign of George IV; and a historical novel based on the massacre of Glencoe. Hall translated the ''Travels'' of F. R. J. De Pons (1807),

Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent Jean-Baptiste Geneviève Marcellin Bory de Saint-Vincent was a French naturalist, officer and politician. He was born on 6 July 1778 in Agen (Lot-et-Garonne) and died on 22 December 1846 in Paris. Biologist and geographer, he was particularly in ...

, Michel Ange Bernard de Mangourit (''Travels in Hanover''),

Aubin-Louis Millin de Grandmaison Aubin-Louis Millin de Grandmaison (19 July 1759 (Paris) – 14 August 1818 Paris) was an antiquary and naturalist erudite in various domains, who followed Jean-Jacques Barthélemy as curator of the Cabinet des médailles et antiques of the former ...

and François Pouqueville (1813), Goldberry and Michaux. Other translations included Vittorio Alfieri's ''Autobiography'' (1810), Madame de Genlis's historical romance ''La Duchesse de La Vallière'' (1804), and some other works by the same writer, and some of the tales of August Heinrich Lafontaine.

Notes

External links

Corvey Novels Project, ''Rosalia St. Clair''.
;Attribution 1777 births 1846 deaths 19th-century Scottish writers Scottish translators 19th-century British women writers 19th-century British writers 19th-century British translators {{Scotland-translator-stub