The Scottish army left England the following year, and Charles was transferred to the English parliament.
In 1647 the seizure of the king by Joyce, and his consequent transference to the custody of the army and the independents, brought about a revulsion of feeling in Scotland. On 2 March 1648 a new parliament met at Edinburgh, in which Hamilton, who favoured the intervention of a Scottish army in England, was secure of a majority of thirty or thirty-two votes over Argyll, who with the more severe of the clergy was opposed to this intervention (Montreuil to Mazarin, March 8-18, 14-24, Arch. des Aff. Étrangères, Angleterre, vol. Ivi.) All through the early part of the year there was a network of plots with the object of a combined rising in England of the royalists and presbyterians, and of the arrival of the Prince of Wales in Scotland to place himself in the army with which Hamilton was to cross the border. It was not till 8 July, after the English risings were occupying theEnglish army, that Hamilton entered England at the head of a force numbering about twenty thousand. Lambert, who was opposed to him with a much inferior force, kept him in check till Cromwell came up. In the second week in August Cromwell joined him, but even then the English army counted not much more than nine thousand, while the Scots had been raised by reinforcements to twenty-four thousand. Hamilton, however, had never conducted any operation of life with success, and he was not likely to succeed in war. He allowed his regiments to scatter over the country, while Cromwell, who kept his men well in hand, dashed successively at each fragment of the Scottish host. In three days (17-19 Aug.) the whole of Hamilton's army was completely beaten, in the so-called battle of Preston, and the duke himself surrendered on 25 Aug.
On 21 Dec. Hamilton saw the king at Windsor, as he passed through on the way to his trial. He did not long survive his master. An attempt at escape failing, he was brought to St. James's, and on 6 Feb. 1649 he was put upon his trial before the high court of justice. On 6 March he was condemned to death, and was executed on the 9th.
Mary Hamilton (1613-1638), duchess of Hamilton, wife of the above, was married when only seven years of age. Her husband was at first averse to keeping the contract, and for some years they were on bad terms. She was lady of the bed"chamber to Henrietta Maria, and enjoyed the confidence both of the king and the queen. Burnet describes her as a lady of great and singular worth,' and Waller wrote his ' Thyrsis Galatea' in her praise (Colville, Warwickshire Worthies, pp. 272-4). She died 10 May 1638, leaving three sons, who died young, and three daughters, Mary (died young), Anne, and Susanna. In 1651, on the death of her uncle, William, earl of Lanark and second duke of Hamilton [q. v.], who succeeded his brother by special remainder, the Scottish titles reverted to Anne as eldest surviving daughter of the first duke [see under Douglas, William, third Duke of Hamilton], while the earldom of Cambridge became extinct.
[The leading authority for the life of the duke is Burnet's Lives of the Hamiltons, which contains a large number of original documents. Though allowance must be made for the zeal of a biographer, the general accuracy of the book bears the test of a comparison with letters in the Hamilton Charter Chest, which have recently been published by the Camden Society, under the title of the Hamilton Papers.]
HAMILTON, JAMES (d. 1666), divine, was second son of Gawen Hamilton, third son of Hans Hamilton, vicar of Dunlop. After receiving a liberal education at Glasgow he was appointed by his uncle, James Hamilton, lord Claneboye [q. v.], overseer and general manager of his estates in Ireland. Of a naturally serious disposition, he attracted the attention of Robert Blair (1593-1666) [q. v.], at that time minister of the church at Bangor in co. Down, who, after a private trial of his ability as a preacher, persuaded him to enter the ministry. Accordingly in 1626, notwithstanding his presbyterian proclivities and heterodox views, which resembled Blair's own in regard to episcopacy, he was ordained by Bishop Echlin, and presented by Lord Claneboye to the church at Ballywalter in co. Down. Here he laboured successfully for ten years 'until, by the rigidities of my Lord Wentworth and the then Bishop of Derry [John Bramhall, q. v.], new terms of church communion to be sworn to were imposed upon the whole church of Ireland, whereunto he could not submit.' His example was followed by several prominent ministers in the north of Ireland. Henry Leslie, Bishop Echlin's successor, was urged by Bishop Bramhall to proceed to their deposition. But, determined to convince them of the error of their ways, Leslie challenged them to a public disputation. His challenge was accepted, and Hamilton was chosen to conduct the defence on their behalf. The conference opened on 11 Aug. 1636, in the presence of a large assemblage, but after the debate had proceeded a little way Bishop Bramhall interfered, and, having obtained an adjournment, persuaded Leslie
