with which he dealt as to justify the doubt whether he really had it. Hence he made Reid s writings, as it were, his own, corrected his errors, and gave a solid basis to the
theory which he had himself failed even to make plain.The philosopher to whom above all others he professed allegiance was Aristotle. His works were the object of his , profound and constant study, and supplied in fact the mould in which his whole philosophy was cast. With the com mentators on the Aristotelian writings, ancient, mediaeval, and modern, he was also familiar ; and the scholastic philo sophy he studied with care and appreciation at a time when it had hardly yet begun to attract attention in his country. His wide reading enabled him to trace many a doctrine to j the writings of forgotten thinkers ; and nothing gave him greater pleasure than to draw forth such from their obscurity, and to give due acknowledgment, even if it chanced to be of the prior possession of a view or argument that he had thought out for himself. Of modern German philosophy lis was a diligent, if not always a sympathetic, student. How profoundly his thinking was modified by that of Kant is evident from the tenor of Lis speculations ; nor was this less the case because, on fundamental points, he came to widely different conclusions. There is a closer likeness as to results between his system and that of Jacobi, from which, however, his is distinguished by its more scientific character, especially by intuition being more clearly identified with the voice of reason, and more rigidly required to prove its authority as such.
His labours in logic coincided in time with a general movement by which formal logic was effectually advanced and improved. Bat as to the originality of his contributions, especially in regard to the quantification of the predicate, there is no room for doubt. No evidence has ever been adduced that in the smallest degree weakens the force of the abundant evidence brought forward in its support.
Any account of Hamilton would be incomplete which regarded him only as a philosopher, for his knowledge and his interests embraced all subjects related to that of the human mind. Physical and mathematical science had, indeed, no attraction for him ; but his study of anatomy and physiology was minute and experimental. In literature alike ancient and modern he was widely and deeply read ; and, from his unusual powers of memory, the stores which he had acquired were always at command, every topic sug gesting to him apt quotations or pertinent examples. If there was one period with the literature of which he was more particularly familiar, it was the IGth and 17th cen turies. Here in every department he was at home. He had gathered a vast amount of its theological lore, had a critical knowledge especially of its Latin poetry, and was minutely acquainted with the history of the actors in its varied scenes, not only as narrated in professed records, but as revealed in the letters, table-talk, and casual effusions of themselves or their contemporaries. His article on the Epislolce Obscurorum Virorum, and his pamphlet on the Disruption of the Church of Scotland in 1843, may be cited in confirmation and illustration of what has now been said. Among his literary projects were editions of the works of George Buchanan and Julius Caesar Scaliger. His general scholarship found expression in his library, which, though mainly, was far from being exclusively, a philosophical collection. It now forms a distinct portion of the library of the university of Glasgow.
His chief practical interest was in education, an inter est which he manifested alike as a teacher and as a writer, and which had led him long before he was either to a study of the subject both theoretical and historical. He thence adopted views as to the ends and methods of education that, when afterwards carried out or advocated by him, met with general recognition ; but he also expressed in one of his articles an unfavourable view of the study of mathematics as a mental gymnastic which excited much opposition, but which he never saw reason to alter. As himself a teacher, he was zealous and successful. He did not indeed deem it necessary to give ta his lectures the elaboration and precision that he bestowed on his published writings. But he made them sufficient for the end which they had to accomplish, he supplemented them at times by other instruction, and he strove, not only by all academic means, but also by his personal influence, to develop the speculative energy and interest of his pupils. His writings on university organization and reform had, at the time of their appearance, a decisive practical effect, and contain much that is of permanent value.
Many of his moral as well as intellectual characteristics are expressed in his writings, the intensity and force of his nature, his tendency to be carried away by polemical ardour, his freedom from anything like pettiness, his perfect sincerity and candour. Such a reflex is at best very im perfect, but here could hardly be bettered by description, which, therefore, is not attempted.
His posthumous works arc his Lectures on Metaphysics and Loyic, 4 vols. , edited by the Rev. H. L. Mansel, Oxford, and Professor Yei teh (Metaphysics,. 1858 ; Logic, 1860); Kid Additional Notes to Reid s Works, from Sir W. Hamilton s MSS. , under the editorship of the Rev. H. L. Mansel, D.D., 1862. A Memoir of Sir W. Hamilton, by Professor Veitcli, appeared in 1869.
and patron of the fine arts, was born in 1730 of a noble but needy Scottish family. Of his early life and education we know nothing beyond the fact that he was equerry to Prince George, afterwards George III., whoso foster-brother he is said to have been ; but in his twenty-fifth year he married a young and beautiful heiress, whose fortune placed him in affluence. In the first parliament of George III. Hamilton sat as member for Midhurst; arid in 1 7G4 he was accredited ambassador to Naples, an office which he retained till 1800. On proceeding to his post his attention and interest were at once awakened by the discoveries at Pompeii and Herculaneum, and he took up the study of antiquities with ardour. The Porcinari collection of Greek and Etruscan vases, purchased in 1765, was the nucleus of a valuable collection of his own, now for the most part in the British Museum. Engravings and descriptions of the most valuable pieces are given in the famous Antiquit cs Etrmques, Grecqucs, et Romaines, t trees du Cabinet de M. Hamilton, edited by D Hancarville, and published at Naples in 17G6-67. Hamilton also contributed liberally to the museum at Portici, and gave much attention to the MSS. and other valuable articles rescued from the buried cities ; but his efforts were almost nullified by the inertness of the Neapolitan court, which was even suspicious of his zeal. Natural history and science also were not neglected by him. Between 1764 and 17G7 Hamilton paid numerous visits to Vesuvius, Etna, and the Lipari Islands, accompanied by a young artist, Pietro Fabris, who made drawings of the noteworthy objects and appearances under Hamilton s directions. The result of these excursions, first sent as letters to the Iloyal Society, of which he became a member in 1766, was afterwards expanded into two works, Observations upon Mount Vesuvius, Mount Etna, and other Volcanoes of the Two Sicilies, published at London in 1772, and Campi Fhlegrcei, a collection of plates illustrating the volcanic phenomena, accompanied by concise descriptions in English and French, published at Naples in 1776-77. A Supplement to the latter described the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1779. Hamilton s daughter died in 1775, and his first wife in 1782. In 1772 he was made K.C.B., and in 1791 privy councillor. His continued interest in art and antiquity is manifested by his contributions to the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society from 1767
