Fitzedward Hall was instrumental as an editor of the Oxford English Dictionary as well as a scholar of Sanskrit and Hindi whose long career made enormous contributions to the study of both Sanskrit and English grammar. This paper examines the construction “had rather” in English as it is used with verbs (Had rather go, etc.), which many grammarians found to be a puzzling grammatical anomaly. Hall connects it to parallel constructions in Anglo-Saxon and traces examples from as early as the 15th century. Many dated examples are provided from a great variety of sources and the argument is presented in engaging prose, making this an extremely user-friendly piece for the casual student of English grammar and a deeply erudite exploration for the specialist.