Evelyn Beatrice Hall

Evelyn Beatrice Hall, (1868 – after 1939),^[1] who wrote under the pseudonym S.G. Tallentyre, was an English writer best known for her biography of Voltaire with the title The Friends of Voltaire, which she completed in 1906.

In her biography on Voltaire, Hall wrote the phrase: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" (which is often misattributed to Voltaire himself) as an illustration of Voltaire's beliefs.^[2] Hall's quote is often cited to describe the principle of freedom of speech.

Hall appeared to be an important influence in the life of Hugh Stowell Scott (pseudonym Henry Seton Merriman). Upon his death in 1903, Scott left £5,000 to Hall, writing that it was "in token of my gratitude for her continued assistance and literary advice, without which I should never have been able to have made a living by my pen." ^[3] Adjusting for inflation, this amounts to somewhere between £399,000 and £3,710,000 in 2010.^[4]

Notes and references

1. ^ Article citing a letter dated 9 May 1939. Sources which date her death to 1919, such as Fred R. Shapiro, The Yale book of quotations, appear to be in error.
2. ^ Boller, Jr., Paul F.; George, John (1989). They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505541-1. 
3. ^ The Advertiser, (Adelaide, SA) March 09, 1904
4. ^ "Five Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a U.K. Pound Amount, 1830 to Present"

Bibliography

• The Money-Spinner and Other Character Notes (1896).
• The Women of the Salons, and Other French Portraits (1901).
• The Friends of Voltaire (1906). ISBN 1-4102-1020-0
• The Life of Voltaire (1907). ISBN 1-4102-1346-3
• The Life of Mirabeau (1912). ISBN 1-4102-1024-3
• Voltaire In His Letters (translator) (1919). ISBN 1-4102-1195-9

External links

• Voltaire wrote, ....