with apparent justice that he should have begun by obtaining authority instead of taking matters into his own hand.
Hamilton made a profound impression upon his hearers. His striking appearance, fine head and piercing eye, his dignity, earnestness, and air of authority, combined with the display of wide reading and dialectical ability to produce admiring sympathy. He introduced various plans for effectually catechising his hearers, called upon them to give public recapitulations of his teaching, and frequently entertained them in his own house.
A metaphysical society formed among the students contributed to spread his teaching. He suggested courses of reading for the vacations, and had mechanical devices for illustrating his lectures, and for recording the names of the pupils who distinguished themselves in examinations. He persuaded a greatnumberof young Scotsmen and some of them with justice that they were able metaphysicians. He instituted an honour examination, but withdrew in 1846 from cooperating with the senatus in regard to graduation. In his relations to his colleagues he appears to have been generally uncompromising. A constant topic of dispute was the 'Reid fund,' of which the distribution was not finally settled until the Scottish University Act of 1858. Hamilton disinterestedly objected to applying it to a fund for retiring allowances to professors. His income, in consequence of an annuity to his predecessor, was under 300l. a year, and in 1840 he applied without result to Lord Melbourne for an appointment as clerk to the court of sessions.
In 1843 he contributed to the ecclesiastical controversy of the day a pamphlet called 'Be not Schismatics, be not Martyrs by mistake,' arguing that the so-called 'non-intrusion principle' was really inconsistent with the presbyterian church establishment. He was answered by William Cunningham [q.v.]
In July 1844 Hamilton had an attack of paralysis, without premonitory symptoms. It was no doubt precipitated by his habit of sitting up writing or reading all night. His mental faculties were not injured, and he calmly observed his own symptoms and remembered analogous cases. He never fully regained the command of his limbs ; his articulation and his eyesight were affected, and he was ever afterwards an invalid. An appeal was made to Lord John Russell in 1846 for a pension, but Hamilton declined as inadequate an offer of 100l. a year, all that was then at the disposal of the minister. After some further negotiations a pension of 100l. was granted to Lady Hamilton in 1849, but, in spite of an application from many distinguished people, Lord Palmerston declined to increase it after Hamilton's death.
Hamilton had begun his edition of Reid in 1836, but dropped it in 1839, in consequence of a dispute with the publisher. He had resumed it before his illness, and it was published, though still imperfect, in November 1846. It was completed after his death by H. L. Mansel [q. v.] The first course of lectures after his attack was undertaken by James Frederick Ferrier [q. v.] He was afterwards able to superintend his classes, with the assistance in later years of Thomas Spencer Baynes, subsequently professor of logic and rhetoric at St. Andrews. In January 1851 he began to collect his articles in the 'Edinburgh Review,' which with various appendices and additions appeared in March 1852. In 1853 he undertook an edition of Dugald Stewart's 'Works,' and his last publication was a preface to the two volumes containing Stewart's lectures on political economy. In the autumn of 1853 he broke his arm by a fall, and probably received a shock to the brain, which caused an illness in the following winter. After this his strength failed, and he died in his house in Great King Street, Edinburgh, on 6 May 1856. Lady Hamilton died on 24 Dec. 1877, and his only daughter Elizabeth on 2 March 1882. The baronetcy devolved upon his son (vide Foster, Baronetage, p. 688).
In 1865 a fund was raised in honour of Hamilton, and devoted to the foundation of the 'Hamilton Philosophical Examination,' given once in three years by competitive examination to the masters of arts of Edinburgh of not more than three years' standing. A bust by William Brodie (1815-1881) [q. v.] was presented by the subscribers, and placed in the senate hall of the university in December 1867. An engraving from a portrait by James Archer is prefixed to his 'Life.' Twenty gentlemen of Glasgow subscribed 2,000l. to buy his library for presentation to the university of Glasgow.
In private life Hamilton showed a most affectionate nature. He was perfect as a son, brother, husband, and father. His power of concentration enabled him to do much work in the room used by his family. He made friends of his children, encouraged their studies, and joined in their games. Besides his serious studies, he was fond of light literature, and had a fancy for the grotesque, and even the horrible, enjoying fairy tales and Mrs. Radcliffe's romances. He had much mechanical skill, and amused himself by binding-
