visits to the metropolis and other parts of the country on public service were frequent, and always productive of advantage to the cause he sought to promote, by the interest excited and the impression produced by his appeals. It was only towards the later part of his life that he appeared much before the public as an author. With the exception of a few occasional sermons and pamphlets, his first publication was a volume of sermons, which appeared in 1833. His next of any size was a collection of essays, some of which had appeared before in print and which he issued under the infelicitous title of "Nugæ Literariæ." In 1841 he gained a prize for an essay on missions, being the second of two which had been proposed by a gentleman in Scotland for the best essays on that subject. A prize essay on education, published in 1844; a second series of sermons, issued in 1845; a volume on "The Revealed Doctrine of Rewards and Punishments," being the congregational lecture for 1846; a small work in defence of the Sabbath; and a memoir of his friend, the Rev. J. Ely—complete the list of his published works. In all these the marks of a great and versatile intellect are manifest. His theological views, which were those of the puritan school, are boldly and honestly avowed,. and defended and enforced with a freshness of thought and illustration, a breadth and fulness of view, a richness of decoration, and a force of eloquence seldom combined. In some of his literary essays his power of humour is abundantly shown, as in his paper on the Yorkshire dialect, and his essay on craniology in the "Nugæ;" but of his extraordinary gift in this way only those can form any idea who enjoyed the pleasure of his personal acquaintance. His nature was genial and loving, and his temper generous. He thus drew to him the affections of all with whom he associated, and few men have carried with them to the grave the regards of a larger number of their fellow-citizens. He died 18th July, 1848.—W. L. A.
HAMILTON, Robert, LL.D., a political economist and mathematician, was born at Edinburgh in the June of 1743, the eighth son of a bookseller and publisher there. Distinguishing himself by his proficiency in the most various branches of learning, he was obliged to forego at first the gratification of his wishes for a literary and scientific life, and to enter a banking establishment in Edinburgh, a position, however, which gave him a practical knowledge of monetary affairs afterwards turned to good and useful account. At this time he employed his leisure in literary and scientific discussion with a knot of young men, which included the founders of the Speculative Society; and a review of Lord Kaimes' well-known work introduced him to that judge and to his circle. After managing a paper-manufactory belonging to his father, he became rector of the academy at Perth, and in 1779 obtained the chair of natural philosophy in Marischal college, Aberdeen, which, after a year he exchanged for the more congenial one of mathematics. In 1777 he published his practical "Merchandise," and in 1796 his "Arithmetic"—treatises long and deservedly popular. But his chief work was the "Inquiry concerning the Rise and Progress, the Redemption and Present State of the National Debt," published at Edinburgh in 1813. This work gave the deathblow to Mr. Pitt's and every other scheme for extinguishing the National Debt by means of a sinking fund, which Dr. Hamilton proved, with an affluence of logic more needed then than now, to be but another and a clumsy mode of borrowing. He died in retirement in 1829, and in 1830 his friends published from his papers a work with the title "The Progress of Society," being mainly disquisitions on politico-economical subjects. There is an interesting sketch of him in Chambers' Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen.—F. E.
HAMILTON, Thomas, first earl of Haddington, and lord of the court of session, was the son of Sir Thomas Hamilton of Priestfield, and was born about 1563. He received his legal education in France, and was admitted to the bar in 1587. He obtained a seat on the bench in 1592, and four years later was one of the eight individuals, well known in Scottish history as the "octavians," to whom the management of public affairs was intrusted; and was appointed king's advocate. In 1612 he was nominated clerk-register, an office which he soon afterwards exchanged for that of secretary. In the following year he was raised to the peerage by the title of Lord Binning and Byres. In 1616 he was appointed lord president of the court of session; and three years later was created earl of Melrose, a title which, in 1625, he exchanged for that of Haddington. In the following year he resigned the offices of president and secretary, and was appointed lord privy seal. He died in 1637, in his seventy-fourth year. The earl was celebrated among his contemporaries for his remarkable shrewdness and sagacity, and acquired a large fortune by his industry and frugality. He was held in high esteem by James VI., who bestowed upon him the homely sobriquet of "Tam o' the Cowgate."—Charles Lord Binning, one of his descendants, was the author of the Scotch song entitled "Robin and Nannie."—J. T.
HAMILTON, Thomas, best known as the author of "Cyril Thornton," was born about 1789, and entered the royal artillery, in which corps he rose to be a captain. He served through the peninsular and American campaigns, and at the peace withdrew from the active duties of his profession, and amused himself with literature. He was a contributor to Blackwood's Magazine from its commencement, and figures in Peter's Letters as the author of "innumerable beautiful jeux d'esprit." In 1827 appeared his novel, "The Youth and Manhood of Cyril Thornton," painting in desultory but most attractive fashion military life in various climes. A few years later was published his "Annals of the Peninsular Campaigns," partly the result of personal experience, and forming a compact handbook of its subject. A new edition of it, with improvements, by Mr. Frederick Hardman, appeared in 1849. In 1833 Captain Hamilton published an interesting record of transatlantic travel—his "Men and Planners in America"—which went through several editions. He died at Pisa on the 7th December, 1842.—F. E.
HAMILTON, William, of Bangour, a Scottish poet, was born in 1704. He was descended from an ancient family, and received a liberal education. When the rebellion of 1745 broke out, Hamilton joined the standard of Prince Charles, and wrote a triumphal ode on the battle of Prestonpans. On the suppression of the rebellion he made his escape to France; but having obtained a pardon from the king, he was allowed to return home and take possession of his paternal estate. The state of his health, however, compelled him to return to the continent, and he died at Lyons in 1754. The first genuine collection of his poems did not appear till 1760. His ballad of "The Braes of Yarrow," which gave rise to the well-known poems of Wordsworth on this spot, is by far the best of his effusions.—J. T.
HAMILTON, Sir William, Right Hon., a distinguished antiquary and a diplomatist, connected with the noble house of Hamilton, was born in Scotland in 1730. It is said that he was the foster-brother of George III. Of his education, and how he passed the early years of his life, nothing is recorded, further than that he became equerry to the young prince, and in 1755 married a young lady, handsome, amiable, and accomplished, with a fortune of £5000. In the first parliament in George III.'s reign Mr. Hamilton sat as one of the members for Midhurst, and in 1764 he was appointed ambassador to the court of Naples in the place of Sir James Grey. Herculaneum and Pompeii were then only recently discovered, and the ambassador naturally had his attention turned enthusiastically to archæological and artistic matters, with the study of which he afterwards combined that of natural history. Between 1764 and 1767 he visited Mount Vesuvius on twenty-two different occasions. He also visited Mount Etna and the Lipari islands. In these excursions he was accompanied by a clever Neapolitan artist, Pietro Fabris, who made drawings of the principal objects of interest, which were afterwards engraved and published in the two works—"Observations on Mount Vesuvius, Mount Etna, &c.," London, 1744; and "Campi Phlegræi: Observations on the Volcanoes of the Two Sicilies," 2 vols., Naples, 1776. A supplement to the latter work was published in 1779. Sir William gradually amassed a splendid cabinet of antiquities, principally consisting of Greek vases, most of which are now in the British museum, in the collection usually known under the misnomer of Etruscan vases. Several objects in the Townley collection of marbles were also formerly in the museum of Sir William Hamilton. A descriptive account of Sir William Hamilton's museum was published by M. D'Hancarville. Sir William Hamilton was known in other ways as a patron of art. He was intimate with Winckelmann and Morghen, and it was owing to his encouragement that the latter was enabled to publish his well-known collection of views at Pozzuoli and other places in the neighbourhood of Naples. His house was hospitably open to artists and savans of every nation. In 1766 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1772 was created
