HAMILTON, a surname originally derived from the lordship and manor of Hambledon in Leicestershire, the seat of the ancient family of Hamilton, the first of whom settled in Scotland in the thirteenth century. In the time of William the Conqueror, as we learn from the index to Domesday Book, there were several places in England of the names of Hameldun, Hameldune, Hameledone, Hameltun, Hameltune, and Hameledune; and different families of the name were established in various parts of England, about the time of the early Scottish Hamiltons, but there is no reason to suppose that any of them settled in Scotland. A william de Hamilton, who belonged to a Yorkshire family, is repeatedly taken notice of in the Faedera Angliae, from 1274 to 1305, being employed in various negociations and transactions of importance. He was archbishop of York and lord-chancellor of England during the reign of Edward the first, and one of the commissioners appointed by that monarch who met at Upsettlington, near Norham castle, on 2d June 1292, to determine the claims of the competitors for the Scottish crown. In Cleland’s ‘Annals of Glasgow,’ vol. ii. p. 484, there is inserted the translated copy of a charter from Malcolm Canmore (who reigned between 1057 and 1093) to the masons of Glasgow, granting them very ample privileges, one of the witnesses to which is designed Andrew Hamilton, bishop of Glasgow; but the authenticity of the deed is doubted from the fact that there were no bishops of Glasgow for a considerable period after this; the first, according to Chalmers, having been John (preceptor of David I.,) who died in 1147. The first person of the name in Scotland that can be relied upon was Walter de Hamilton, usually designed Walterus fulius Gilberti, or Walter Fitz-Gilbert, and from him the ducal family of Hamilton are descended. His father, Sir Gilbert Hamilton, is said to have been the son of Sir William de Hamilton, one of the sons of Robert de Bellomont, surnamed Blanchemaine, third earl of Leicester, who died in 1190. The story told by Hector Boece, Lesly, Buchanan, and others, of the first Hamilton who settled in Scotland having been obliged to flee from the court of Edward the Second in 1323, for slaying John Despencer, is quite in character with the legendary origins of families formerly so universal, and is evidently an invention. The fable goes on to state that having been closely pursued in his fight, Hamilton and his servant changed clothes with two woodcutters, and taking the saws of the workmen, they were in the act of cutting an oak-tree when his pursuers passed. Perceiving his servant to notice them, Sir Gilbert cried out to him “Through,” which word, with the oak-tree and saw through it, he took for his crest. Sir Gilbert’s son, Sir Walter, however, was settled in Scotland long before this period. In the chartulary of Paisley he appears as one of the witnesses to the charter of confirmation by James, great steward of Scotland, to the monastery of Paisley, of the privilege of a herring fishery in the Clyde, in 1294; and in 1292, and again in 1296, we find him among the barns who swore fealty to King Edward the First, for ands lying in Lanarkshire and different other counties. During the contest which ensued for the succession to the Scottish crown he adhered to the English or Baliol interest. By Edward the Second he was appointed governor of the castle of Bothwell, and he held that important fortress for the English at the period of the battle of Bannockburn. He is mentioned by Barbour as “Schyr Waltre gilbertson.” He seems soon after to have been taken into favour with Robert the Bruce, as that monarch bestowed on him the barony of Cadyow in Lanarkshire, and several other lands and baronies in that county, and in Linlithgowshire and Wigtonshire. He continued faithful to King David Bruce, the son of his great benefactor, and during his minority he accompanied the regent Douglas to the relief of Berwick, then threatened with a siege by the English. He was also present at the battle of Halidon-hil, where he had a command in the second great body of the army under the young Stewart. He was twice married. His second wife was Mary, only daughter of Adam de Gordon, ancestor of al the Gordons in Scotland. He had two sons: Sir David, and John de Hamilton, who, marrying Elizabeth, daughter of Alan Stewart of Dreghorn, got with her the lands of Ballencrief, &c. Of him are descended the Hamiltons of Innerwick, the earls of Haddington, and others. Sir Walter had two brothers, Sir John de Hamilton de Rossaven, and Hugo de Hamilton. The former had a charter from his nephew, Sir David de Hamilton de Cadyow, of the barony of Fingaltoun in Renfrewshire, dated in 1339. He was ancestor of the Hamiltons of Fingaltoun and Preston, from whom are sprung the families of Airdrie and ellershaw, and from the latter are said to be descended the Hamiltons of Cairnes, and the Hamiltons of Mount Hamilton in Ireland.

      Sir David de Hamilton, lord of Cadyow, was, like his father, a faithful adherent of David the Bruce, and after that monarch’s return from France, he accompanied him in all his excursions into the northern counties of England. He was taken prisoner with the king at the disastrous battle of Durham, 17^th October, 1346, but soon obtained his freedom on payment of a heavy ransom. He is mentioned as one of the magnates Scotiae, at a meeting of the Estates held at Scone, 27^th March 1371, to settle the succession, when John earl of Carrick was unanimously acknowledged to be the eldest lawful son of King Robert the Second, and undoubted heir to the crown. He had three sons: Sir David, his successor; Walter de Hamilton, ancestor of the Hamiltons of Cambuskeith and Grange in Ayrshire; and Alan de Hamilton of Lethberd or Larbert in Linlithgowshire.

      The eldest son, sir David de Hamilton, was knighted by Robert the Second, who, in 1377, made him a grant of the lands of Bothwell muir. He died before 1392. He married Janet or Johanetta de Keith, only daughter and heiress of the gallant Sir William Keith of Galston, and the ancestrix, not only of the noble family of Hamilton, but of their cousins the Stewarts of Darnley, from whom James the First of England, and the subsequent monarchs of the house of Stuart, were lineally descended. By this lady he had; with a daughter, Elizabeth, married to Sir Alexander Fraser of Cowie and dores, ancestor of the Frasers, Lord Salton; five sons; namely, Sir John, his successor; George, ancestor of the Hamiltons of Boreland in Ayrshire; William, ancestor of the Hamiltons of bathgate; Andrew, ancestor of the Hamiltons of Udston; and John, ancestor of the family of Bardowie.

      The eldest son, Sir John Hamilton of Cadyow, when returning from France, in 1398, with Sir John Hamilton of Fingaltoun, and some other Scottish gentlemen, was captured at sea by the English. Prompt complaints of this breach of public faith having been made by the Scottish government, King Richard the Second issued an order, dated 28^th October 1398, for them to be set at liberty, the ship and cargo restored, and the damages made good. The following year he was one of the Scottish commissioners appointed for receiving the oath of King Richard for the fulfilment of the truce with Scotland; and, some time after, he was present with the duke of Albany on the borders, when he and the duke of Lancaster on the part of England, prolonged the truce between the two countries. With a daughter, Catherine, married to Sir William Baillie of Lamington, he had three sons; viz. Sir James, his successor; David, ancestor of the Hamiltons of Dalserf, Blackburn Green, &c.; and Thomas of Darngaber, common ancestor of the Hamiltons of Raploch, Milburne, Stanehouse, Neisland, Torrance, Aikenhead, Dechmont, Barnes, &c., as well as of the earls of Clanbrassil, and other families of note in Ireland. Thomas de Hamilton of Darngaber was ordered to be released out of the Tower of London, having been for some time a prisoner of war. The order is dated 12^th April 1413, immediately after the accession of King Henry the Fifth.

      The eldest son, Sir James Hamilton, and his next brother, David, obtained letters of safe-conduct, dated 6^th September 1413, from King Henry the Fourth, to travel into England, as far as the castle of Calthorpe in Lincolnshire. He was one of the hostages for James the First, when he was allowed to return to Scotland in 1421, and in 1424 he was one of those who went to London as sureties for their sovereign. He had five sons, namely, Sir James, his successor, first Lord Hamilton; Alexander, ancestor of the Hamiltons of Silvertonhill and Westport; John, designated of Whistleberry; Gavin, provost of the collegiate church of Bothwell, ancestor of the Hamiltons of Orbinstoun, progenitor of the Hamiltons of Dalzier, Haggs, Monkland, Kilbrachmont, Parkhead, Longharmiston, Barr, &c.; and Robert.

      James, the eldest son, was created a lord of parliament by royal charter, on July 3, 1445, under the title of Lord Hamilton of Cadyow. In 1449, he was one of the commissioners appointed to meet on the borders and renew the truce with England. In accordance with the practice of the age amongst the great landed proprietors of forming collegiate establishments, Lord Hamilton obtained from Pope Sextus V. authority to erect the parich church of Hamilton (formery Cadyow) into a collegiate church, and to add to it a provost and six prebendaries to a former foundation of two chaplainries in the said church. A new church having been built in 1732, the old Gothic fabric erected by his lordship was pulled down, with the exception of one of the aisles, which now covers the burying vault of the Hamilton family. In 1450 he accompanied the earl of Douglas on his celebrated tour to Rome, and after their return to Scotland the following year, he went with him on a pilgrimage to St. Thomas’ tomb at Canterbury. He joined the confederacy which Douglas had formed with the earls of Moray, Crawford, and Ross, and in 1452, when King James invited that powerful nobleman to the fatal conference in Stirling castle, he accompanied him to the gate; but on attempting to follow Douglas within it, he was rudely thrust back by the porter, and drawing his sword to avenge the insult, his relation, Sir Alexander Livingston, from within held him back with a long halbert till they got the gate made fast. Afterwards, when he heard of the murder of Douglas, he knew that his being denied entrance was done for his safety. A friend in the castle, privily conveying a pair of spurs to Lord Hamilton, (a hint for him to escapt,) gave the first intimation to Douglas’ friends in the town of his fate. As he adhered to the earl’s brother, Sir James Douglas, who succeeded as ninth and last earl of Douglas, the king, in November 1454, after ravaging Douglasdale, proceeded to Lord Hamilton’s lands in Avondale and Clydesdale, which he also laid waste. He afterwards went to England to solicit from King Henry the sixth assistance in men and money for Douglas; but although he failed in his efforts as regarded the earl, he obtained for himself a considerable sum of money with which, on his return, he equipped a body of 300 horse and 300 foot. Soon after, the earl, at the head of 40,000 men, took the field in open rebellion against his sovereign. He encamped on the south bank of the Carron, about three miles from the Torwood in Stirlingshire. The king at the same time advanced from Stirling with an army of 30,000 men. At this crisis, Bishop Kennedy sent a private message to Lord Hamilton, offering, in the king’s name, a free pardon for all that was past, and great rewards in future, if he deserted Douglas, and submitted to the government. Immediately repairing to that nobleman, as his troops were drawing out from the camp, he represented to him that as he never would probably again be at the head of a more numerous and well-appointed force, so he never could have a better opportunity of fighting the king to advantage; and added, that he would find it extremely difficult to keep his troops longer together. The earl haughtily replied, “That if he (Lord Hamilton) was tired or afraid, he might be gone.” the same night, collecting his kinsmen and followers, Lord Hamilton carried them over to the royal camp, and was received by the king with open arms; but, for the sale of apprearances, he was sent to Roslin castle for a few days. In consequence of this and other desertions, the earl of Douglas, with two hundred horse, all that remained to him, hastily retired to the borders. The following year (1455) he renewed his depredations on the estates of the royalists, but being overtaken at Ancrum moor in Teviotdale, by a body of troops under the earl of Angus and Lord Hamilton, he was routed with great loss, and driven out of the kingdom. Lord Hamilton subsequenty obtained from his grateful sovereign grants of extensive territorial possessions in Lanarkshire and other counties, and among others, of the lands of Fynnart in Renfrewshire, forfeited by the earl of Douglas. In1455 he was appointed one of the commissioners on the part of Scotland to treat of peace, with the Lord Montague and others, on the part of England; for which purpose they met at York. He was employed again in 1461, 1471, 1472, and in 1474, in which last year he was one of the ambassadors extraordinary to the court of England. Two years thereafter, he was one of the commissioners appointed to meet the plenipotentiaries of England to prolong the truce, and to negociate a marriage between the Princess Cicely, the daughter of Edward IV., and the duke of Rothesay, prince of Scotland, both of whom were then in their childhood – a union that never took place. His name appears frequently in the ‘Acta Dominorum concilii,’ as one of these judges, during the years 1478 and 1479, in which latter year he died. He was married, first, to Lady Euphemia Graham, eldest daughter of Patrick earl of Strathearn, and widow of Arcibald, fifth earl of Douglas and second duke of touraine; and, secondly, in 1474, to the Princess Mary, eldest daughter of King James the Second, and widow of Thomas Boyd, earl of Arran. By the former he had two daughters, Elizabgeth, married to David, fourth earl of Crawford, created, by James III., duke of Montrose, and Agnes, married to Sir James Hamilton of Preston; and by the latter he had a son, James, 2dLord Hamilton, and a daughter, Elizabeth, married to Matthew, 2d earl of Lennox. He had also several natural sons, but of these only are known James de Hamilton, whose name appears in the succession charter of 1455; Sir Patrick Hamilton of Kincavel, father of Patrick Hamilton, the martyr; and John Hamilton of Broomhill. He had also a daughter, married to Sir John Macfarlane, chief of the clan Macfarlane.

      James, second Lord Hamilton and first earl of Arran, was held in high estimation by his cousin, King James IV., who made him one of his privy councillors. In 1503 he was sent, with some other noblemen, to the court of England, to negociate a marriage betwixt the Princess Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry VII., and his royal relative, which was concluded the following year. On this occasion King James made him a grant of the island of Arran, at the same time creating him earl thereof, by letters patent, dated 11^th August 1503. He also gave him a charter or commission of justiciary with the island. During the marriage rejoicings, Lord Hamilton and the celebrated French knight, Anthony D’Arcy, better known by the name of the Sieur de la Beauté, who was renowned all over Europe for his martial prowess, tilted together in presence of the whole court, and after several trials, neither could boast of any advantage over the other, “only,” says Sir J. Balfour in his Annals, “the Lord Hamilton, one day at Falkland, was judged to have the honour, which La Beauté did impute to his own indisposition of body that day.” The same year (1504) he was appointed to the command of a force of 10,000 men which James IV. Sent to the assistance of the king of Denmark, when engaged in hostilities with the Swedes and Norwegians. In 1507, with the archbishop of St. Andrews, he was sent as ambassador to France. On his return through England, the following year, accompanied by his natural brother, Sir Patrick Hamilton, he was arrested in Kent by Vaughan, an officer of Henry the Eighth. He was at first treated with distinction, bt, on his refusal to swear fidelity to King Henry, he was committed to the custody of a guard. The English monarch having sent an envoy to Scotland to vindicate himself, King James desired this ambassador to inform his master that he highly approved of the earl’s conduct in refusing to swear fealty to England; adding, that to obtain the freedom of his kinsman, he would delay the renewal of the league with France, if he were released. In June following, the bishop of Moray repaired to London again to solicit his libertion, but without effect; and it appears that he was not set at liberty till towards the end of that year. During his residence in England, his brother, Sir Patrick (whom Andréof Toulouse, in his Diary for the year 1508, styles a most famous knight,) vanquished, in single combat, an Irish gentleman of eminent skill in arms. Soon after, the earl was appointed to the command of a body of auxiliaries which was sent to the assistance of Louis the Twelfth of France, who, for the seasonable aid thus rendered him, settled an annual pension on the earl for life, besides making him many valuable presents. On his return to Scotland, he was driven by stress of weather into the port of Carrickfergus in Ireland; but the inhabitants of that place having maltreated his men, the earl landed a choice body of his sailors, assaulted and stormed the town, and gave it up to be plundered.

      During his absence on this expedition, James the Fourth, with the flower of his obility, had been slain at Flodden, and the queen-mother had been declared regent of the kingdom. On her resignation of that office, soon after, an assembly of the estates was held at Perth to elect a new regent, when the voices were much divided between the duke of Albany, then in France, and the earl of Arran. Through the influence, however, of Elphinston, bishop of Aberdeen, and Lord Home, the former was elected, and Sir Patrick Hamilton and the Lyon King at arms sent to France, to notify the election to him. In 1515, after Albany had taken prisoner Lord Home, whose overgrown power and turbulent disposition had become dangerous to the state, he committed him to the custody of the earl of Arran, governor of the castle of Edinburgh. The latter, who disliked the regent, was easily persuaded by Home to retire with him to the borders, where they commenced hostilities, on which he was required to surrender himself within fifteen days, to avoid being proclaimed a rebel as Home and his brother had been. At the same time, the regent, at the head of a select body of troops, and a small train of artillery, proceeded to invest the castle of Cadyow, the earl’s principal stronghold, and required its immediate surrender. His mother, the Princess Mary, aunt of Albany, resided at that time in Cadyow castle, and on her solicitation the regent consented to pardon Arran, on his returning to his duty, which he accordingly did. In the following year, at the instigation of the English king, Arran, who still aimed at the regency, associated with the earls of Glencairn, Lennox, and the majority of the noblemen and gentlemen of the west, and seized the royal magazines at Glasgow.  They also sent a body of troops to take possession of some French ships, with supplies of arms and ammunition for Albany, which had arrived in the Clyde. The vessels, however, had sailed, but a quantity of gunpowder and other ammunition landed from them, they brought to Glasgow, where, lest it might fall into the hands of their enemies, the powder was thrown into a draw-well. The earl of Arran, at the same tie, by a stratagem made himself master of the castle of Dumbarton, expelling Lord Erskine, the governor. An accommodation, however, between the regent and the leaders of the malcontents was soon brought about, chiefly through the means of Forman, archbishop of Glasgow. In 1517, on Albany’s departure for France, Arran was constituted lieutenant-general and one of the lords of the regency, and, on the murder of the Sieur de la Beauté, warden of the marches. In the latter capacity he committed to prison Sir George Douglas, the brother of Angus, and Mark Ker, for some misdemeanor, and took possession of the castles of Hume, Wedderburne, and Langton. By the members of the regency he had been elected their president, but was, upon all occasions, opposed by the earl of Angus. Having, in 1519, while the plague raged at Edinburg, conveyed the young king, for greater security, to the castle of Dalkeith, he was, on his return to Edinburgh, denied entrance by the citizens, on the instigation of Angus, and the gates shut against him. His followers and those of Angus had a fierce encounter on the High Street of Edinburgh, 30^th April 1520, when several were slain on both sides, and the Hamilton party obliged to disperse. Arran himself and his son, Sir James Hamilton, fighting their way through the melee, retired down a wynd on the north side of the High Street, where, finding a coal-horse standing, they threw off his burden, and rode through the North Loch, at a shallow place, no one thinking of pursuing them that way. Among those slain were Sir Patrick Hamilton of Kincavel, already mentioned, and Sir James Hamilton, younger of Preston. In 1523 Arran joined the queen dowager in opposing the regent, and after the final retirement of the latter to France the following year, he had again the chief direction of affairs under the king. In 1526, however, on Angus obtaining the superiority, he retired for a time from court to his estates, but on the 4^th September of that year, he commanded the royal ary against his nephew, the earl of Lennox, at the battle near Linlithgow, where the latter was slain by Sir James Hamilton of Finnart. On the forfeiture of Angus he had a charter of the lordship of Bothwell, 16^th November 1528. He died before 21^st July 1529. He married, first, Beatrix, daughter of John, Lord Drummond, by whom he had a daughter, married to Andrew Stewart., Lord Evandale and Ochiltree, whose grandson was the notorious favourite of James the Sixth, Captain James Stewart, the titular earl of Arran. He married, secondy, Elizabeth, sister of Alexander Lord Home, by whom he had no issue. It being found that this lady’s former husband, Sir Thomas Hay, of the family of Yester, who had gone abroad and was supposed to be dead, was alive, a sentence of divorce was pronounced in 1513. He married, thirdly, Janet, daughter of Sir David Bethune of Creich, comptroller of Scotland, niece of Cardinal Bethune, and widow of Sir Thomas Livingston of Easter Wemyss, and by her had, with four daughters, two sons, namely, James, second earl of Arran, regent of Scotland and duke of Chatelherault, of whom a memoir is given afterwards, and Gavin. He had also four natural sons and one natural daughter. The sons were, Sir James Hamilton of Finnart, already mentioned, ancestor of the Hamiltons of Evandale, Crawfordjohn, Gilkerscleugh, &c.; sir John Hamilton of Clydesdale, ancestor of the Hamiltons of Samuelston; James Hamilton of Parkhill; and John, archbishop of St. Andrews, executed at Stirling 1^st April, 1570. According to Knox and Buchanan, however, the paternity of the last was doubtful.

      James, second earl of Arran, and duke of Chatelherault, married Lady Margaret Douglas, eldest daughter of the third earl of Morton, and by her had, with four daughters, four sons, namely, James, third earl of Arran; John, Marquis of Hamilton; Lord David Hamilton, who died without issue in March 1611; and Lord Claud, ancestor of thte earls of Abercorn. (Marquises of Abercorn, peerage of Great Britain, 1790).

      James, third earl of Arran, succeeded his father in 1575. The dukedom of Chatelherault, having been resumed by the crown of France, did not descend to him. He was in the castle of St. Andrews when Cardinal Bethune was assassinated in 1546, and was detained prisoner there by the conspirators. As his father was the presumptive heir to the crown, on the 14^th August 1546, the Estates of the kingdom passed an act declaring him to be secluded from the succession as long as he happened to be in the hands of those that committed the slaughter of the cardinal, or of any enemies of the realm. He was released on the surrender of the conspirators to the French, and in 1555, he went over to France, where he obtained the command of the Scottish guards. Having become a convert to the reformed doctrines, a plot against his life was formed by the princes of Lorraine, but entertaining suspicions of the design from some expressions dropped by the cardinal of Lorraine, he hastily quitted France in 1559, and on his way home visited the court of Queen Elizabeth. In 1560, the Scottish Estates proposed the earl of Arran as a husband to that princess, but with great professions of regard she declined the alliance. The following year, on the arrival from France of his own sovereign, Queen Mary, he openly aspired to her hand, and on her part she showed great partiality for him, but by his most imprudently opposing the exercise of her religion, he forfeited her favour altogether. His love, inflamed by disappointment, gradually undermined his reason, and he was declared, by a cognition of inquest, to be insane. When his brothers, Lord John and Lord Claud Hamilton were attainted in 1579, the earl, though incapable, from his situation, of committing any crime, was involved, by a shameful abuse of law, in the common ruyin of his house. He had continued to live secluded at the castle of Craignethan, under the care of some faithful servants of the family, but a party being sent to demand the surrender of that fortress, his servants, after making what defence they could, were forced to yield, and the earl, with his aged mother, the duchess of Chatelherault, sent to Linlithgow and placed under the custody of one Captain Lambie, the same miscreant who insulted Queen Mary on her surrender at Carberry Hill, a creature of Morton’s, and a most inveterate enemy of the house of Hamilton. Captain James Stewart, grandson of Lady Margaret Hamilton, already mentioned, was appointed his tutor, and afterwards, in 1581, under pretence that he was the lawful heir of the family, he was created earl of Arran, which title he held, along with the estates of the Hamilton family, until his downfall in 1585, when they were restored to the rightful owner. James Hamilton, third earl of Arran, died without issue in March 1609, and was succeeded by his nephew, James, second marquis of Hamilton.

      Lord John, the second son of the regent duke of Chatelherault, and first marquis of Hamilton, born in 1532, had the commendatory of the rich abbey of Aberbrothwick conferred on him in 1541. When Queen Mar was imprisoned in 1567, he entered into an association for endeavouring to procure her liberty; and on her escape from Lochleven castle in May of the following year, she hastened to Hamilton, where, in a few days, she was joined by a splendid train of nobles, accompanied by such numbers of followers as formed an army of 6,000 men, But the defeat at Langside, the same month, disconcerted all the measures of her friends. On the death of his father in 1575, the family estates devolved on Lord John. His lordship and his brother, Lord Claud, commendator of Paisley, suspected of being accessory to the murder of the regents Moray and Lennox, had been included in a general bill of attainder on that account, and in 1579, at the instigation of the regent Morton, it was resolved, without trial or the examination of any witnesses, to put it in force against them. Timely information having reached the brothers of their dander, they made their escape, but the castle of Cadyow was besieged and taken, and completely demolished. The garrison, with their hands tied behind their backs, were led prisoners t Stirling, where their captain, Arthur Hamilton of Merritoun, was publicly executed. The whole of the Hamilton estates were confiscated, and the most cruel and oppressive proceedings directed against almost all the gentlemen of the name, a number of whom fled from their homes. Lord John Hamilton, disguised as a seaman, retired to France, where he was kindly received by the archbishop of Glasgow, ambassador at the French court for Queen Mary. His refusal to change his religion lost him the favour of that bigoted court, on which he returned to England, and joined his brother Lord Claud, who had found a secure asylum at Widdrington, in the north of England, with a relation of the earl of Northumberland. In 1585, they returned to Scotland, with the other exiled nobles, and being admitted into King James’ presence at Stirling, Lord John Hamilton, in name of the others, said, “That they were come, in all humility, to beg his majesty’s love and favour.” The king answered, “My lord, I did never see you before, and must confess that of al this company you have been most wronged. You were a faithful servant to my mother in my minority, and, when I understood not, as I do now, the estate of things, hardly used.” They were immediately restored to their estates and honours, and in a parliament held at Linlithgow in December of the same year, an act of oblivion for all that was past, was solemnly ratified. Lord John was sworn a privy councillor and made governor of Dumbarton castle. In 1587, while the unfortunate Queen Mary was under sentence of death, she took a ring from her finger, which she ordered one of her attendants to deiver to Lord John Hamilton, and tell him it was all that she had left to witness her great sence of his family’s constant fidelity to her, and desired that it should always be kept in the family, as a lasting evidence of her regard towards them. This ring is still preserved in the charter-room at Hamilton palace. In 1589, when the king went to Denmark to bring home his young queen, the Princess Anne, he nominated Lord John Hamilton lieutenant of the three wardenries of the marches, and of the whole of the south of Scotland. The queen, on her arrival, was crowned, with great pomp, in the abbey church of Holyrood, by the earl of Lennox and Lord John.        

      In 1593, he accompanied the king in his expedition to the north against the popish lords, after the battle of Glenlivet. On this occasion he claimed the leading of the vanguard, which the earl of Angus opposed, alleging that this honour, of right, belonged to him, being the ancient privilege of the Douglases. The king decided that Lord John should have the command at this time, but which should not in any manner impugn the rights and privileges of the house of Douglas. Lord John sat as one of the jury upon the trial of the earls of Huntly, Bothwell, and Crawford, when they were found guilty, and sent to separate prisons. Calderwood has recorded a curious conversation betwixt the king and Lord John, on the subject of the excommunication of the popish lords. Having failed in his efforts with the Edinburgh clergy to prevent the intimation of the sentence in that city, James paid a visit to Hamilton palace, for the purpose of sounding that nobleman in the matter. “You see, my lord,” he said, “how I am used, and have no man in whom I may trust more than in Huntly. If I receive him, the ministers will cry out that I am an apostate from the religion, – if not, I am left desolate.” “If he and the rest be not enemies to the religion,” replied his lordship, “you may receive them, – if otherwise, not.” “I cannot tell,” said his majesty, “what to make of that, – but the ministers hold them for enemies. Always I would think it good that they enjoyed liberty of conscience.” Upon this Lord Hailton exclaimed, “Sir, then we are all gone! Then we are all gone! Then we are all gone! If there were no more to withstand them than I, I will withstand.” The king, perceiving his servants approach, put an end to the conversation by saying, with a smile, “My lord, I did this to try your mind.” In 1596, when the clergy, preaching against the king’s government and measures, forced him to leave Edinburgh, Bruce and Balcanquhal, two of their number, in name of the others, invited Lord John, then at Hamilton, to repair to Edinburgh and place himself at their head. Hastening to the king at Linlithgow, he placed the letter in his hands. He was created Marquis of Hamilton at Holyroodhouse 17^th April 1599. So great was King James’ regard for him that he requested him to stand godfather to one of his children, and he often visited him at Hamilton. He died 12^th April, 1604, in his 72d year. He married Margaret, only daughter of the eighth Lord Glammis, widow of the fourth earl of Cassillis, and by this lady, who survived him many years, he had two sons, Edward, who died young, and James, second marquis of Hamilton; and one daughter, Lady Margaret, the wife of the eighth Lord Maxwell. He had a natural son, Sir John Hamilton of Lettrick, father of the first Lord Bargeny, and a natural daughter, Jean, who was contracted in marriage to Sir Umfra Colquhoun of Luss.

      James, second marquis of Hamilton, born in 1589, succeeded his father in 1604, and his uncle, the earl of Arran, in May 1609, in his estates and in the hereditary office of sheriff of Lanarkshire. Besides being made one of the gentlemen of the king’s bedchamber, he was on 14^th January 1613, appointed one of the lords of the privy council, and lord steward of the household; and on 16^th June 1619, he was created a peer of England by the title of Earl of Cambridge and Lord Innerdale, titles that had never before been converred on any but such as were of the blood royal. And here it becomes necessar to correct an “historical error” that is almost universaly held, namely, that after the present royal family the house of Hamilton is heir to the Scottish crown, and of consequence to the throne of Great Britain, as by the act of Union it is for ever provided that whosoever is heir to the throne of Scotland shall be heir also to the throne of the United Kingdom, and vice versa. During the period of nearly a century (previous to the birth of children of the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth, which took place in 1613) the head of the Hamilton family was undoubtedly the next heir to the Scottish crown. As such, in the year 1542, an act was passed in the Estates of Scotland, by which “all the lordis sperituale, temporale, and commissaris of burrowis, representand the thre estatis of parliament, declarit and declaris James, earle of Arrane, Lord Hailton (ancestor of the duke of Hamilton) second persoun of this realme, and narrest to succede to the crown of the samin, falyeing of our suirane lady (Queen Mary) and the barnis lauchfullie to be gotten of hir body.” And again, in 1546, as already stated, the three estates solemnly recognised the eldest son of the earl of Arran as “the third persoun of the realm,” and acknowledged “all his rychtis of successionis alsweill of the crowne as of others.” The head of the house of Hamilton remained in this distinguished position of “second person of the realm,” or heir presumptive to the crown, until the birth of King James the Sixth interposed a third person between him and the throne. After the dethronement of Queen Mary, the house of Hamilton again reverted to its pre-eminence of being next heir to the crown, and held that high position until the numerous issue of King James the Sixth removed them to a distance in the order of succession. By the act of Union, confirming previous acts of succession and settlement of the crown, it is enacted “that the succession of the monarchy of Great Britain, after Queen Anne, and in default of issue of her majesty, be, and remain, and continue, to the most excellent Princess Sophia, (the daughter of the Princess Elizabeth, queen of Bohemia, daughter of King James the Sixth of Scotland), and the heirs of her body, being Protestats.” It is under the provisions of this act that Queen Victoria and her royal family, as heirs of King George the First, the eldest son of the Princess Sophia, now hold the crown of the United Kingdom, and under the same act, in the event of the failure of the present royal family, the succession to the crown would open up to the next immediate heirs descended of the body of the Princess Sophia. These are very numerous. With every day, therefore, the “historical error” or popular fallacy, of representing the noble house of Hamilton as “after the royal family, heir to the Scottish crown,” becomes greater and greater. Their boarst is that they once were the presumptive heirs to the ancient kingdom of Scotland, and that they still inherit the royal blood of its long line of sovereigns.

      The second marquis of Hamilton, chosen a knight of the Garter at Whitehall, 9^th February 1621, was high commissioner to the Scottish parliament the same year, in which the five articles of Perth, so obnoxious to the presbyterian party, were ratified by a majority of 27. He died at Whitehall, London, 2d March 1625, in his 36^th year, a few days before King James. As he was sais to have been poisoned by the duke of Buckingham, with whom he had some difference, three medical men were appointed to examine his body. Two of them declared that he had not been poisoned, but the third, Dr. Eglisham, affirmed that he had, and hesitated not to impute the crime to Buckingham. He was obliged in consequence to leave England, when he retired to Flanders, where he published his opinions in the shape of a pamphlet. The marquis married Lady Anne Cunninghame, fourth daughter of the seventh earl of Glencairn. Of a firm and masculine spirit, this lady, who long survived her husband, distinguished herself on the side of the Covenanters, her father’s family having ever been warm friends of the presbyterian interest. In 1633, when her son conducted the English fleet to the forth, to overawe the Covenanters, she appeared among them on the shore at Leith, and the head of a troop of horse, and drawing a pistol from her saddlebow, declared she would be the first to shoot her son, should he presume to land and attack his countrymen and his country. With three daughters, the second marquis had two sons, James, third marquis, and first duke of Hamilton, and William, earl of Lanark, second duke of Hamilton.

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HAMILTON, Duke of, a title in the peerage of Scotland, conferred, with that of marquis of Clydesdale, in 1643, on James, earl of Arran, the elder son of the second marquis of Hamilton, and now held by the Douglas family, through the marriage of Anne, duchess of Hamilton, niece and successor of the second duke, with the earl of Selkirk. Of the first duke of Hamilton, a memoir is afterwards given. His grace having only surviving daughters, was succeeded by his brother, William, earl of Lanark.

      William, second duke of Hamilton, was born at Hamilton, December 14, 1616, and received his education at the university of Glasgow. He afterwards travelled on the Continent, and resided for some time at the French court. On his return, in 1637, he became a great favourite with Charles the First and his queen. On the last day of March 1639, he was created a Scottish peer by the titles of earl of Lanark, Lord Machanshyre and Polmont, and in 1640 was made secretary of state for Scotland. In 1644, he was, by the king’s order, arrested with his brother the duke, at Oxford, on the false representation of their enemies. The duke was sent prisoner first to Pendennis castle in Cornwall, and afterwards to St. Michael’s Mount, where, two years after, he was set at liberty by some of the parliament forces. The earl of Lanark, who was to be sent to Ludlow castle in Wales, made his escape, and went to London, whence he returned to Scotland, where he made it clearly appear that, notwithstanding the hard usage he had experienced, he continued as steadfast to the cause of the king as ever. In 1646, when the king put himself into the hands of the Scottish army at Newcastle, he was one of the commissioners sent by the Scots Estates to confer with his majesty, when he used his utmost endeavours to induce Charles to agree to the terms submitted to him, but in vain. When his brother marched into England in 1648, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the forces in Scotland. Being soon afterwards deprived, by the act of Classes, of all his public employments for his adherence to “the Engagement,” he retired to Holland; but he had scarcely arrived there, when he received the sad intelligence of the execution of his royal master, and soon after of that of his brother, whom he succeeded in his titles and estates. In 1650 he accompanied Charles the Second to Scotland; but was excluded by parliament from the king’s councils, and not suffered to remain with his majesty. He retired in consequence to the island of Arran, where he remained till the end of January 1651, when he was permitted to go to court, and was received with much distinction by the king.

      When the march into England was decided upon, the duke obtained liberty to raise a troop of horse, and he soon collected about a hundred men. He afterwards raised seven other troops, who joined the royal army at Moffat, previously to its entering England, which it did by the western marches. At Warrington bridge the royalists defeated General Lambert, who had been sent against them. The duke accompanied the king on the whole march until they came to Worcester. Here they found themselves surrounded by an army of 30,000 men, commanded by Cromwell in person, who, attacking the royal forces, met with little resistance, except from General Middleton and the duke of Hamilton. The duke behaved with uncommon bravery, and charged repeatedly at the head of his regiment; but he was at last wounded and taken prisoner. Of this wound he died, September 12, 1651, nine days after the battle; and his remains were interred in the cathedral church of Worcester.

      He had married in 1638, Lady Elizabeth Maxwell, eldest daughter and coheiress of James, earl of Dirleton, and by her had, James, Lord Polmont, who died an infant, and five daughters, one of whom died young. The dukedom of Hamilton, with the titles and estates, devolved on his niece, Anne, duchess of Hamilton. By Cromwell’s act of grace and pardon, 1654, William duke of Hamilton, deceased, was excepted from all benefit thereof, and his estates were forfeited, reserving out of them £400 a-year to his duchess, during her life, and after her death £100 to each of his surviving daughters. The English titles of earl of Cambridge and Lord Innerdale, granted to his father, the second marquis, in 1619, with limitation to the heirs male of his body, became extinct with him; but the Scottish honours of the same, included in the patent of the dukedom granted to his brother in 1643, descended to his niece along with the other titles.

      Anne, duchess of Hamilton, eldest surviving daughter of James, first duke of Hamilton, was born about 1636. She married Lord William Douglas, eldest son of William, first marquis of Douglas, born 24^th December 1634, and created earl of Selkirk, Lord Daer and Shortcleugh, 4^th August, 1646. He was fined £1,000 by Cromwell’s act of grace and pardon of 1651. On the restoration, in consequence of a petition from the duchess, he was created duke of Hamilton for life, 12^th October, 1660, and at the same time sworn a privy councillor. His prudent management enabled him in the course of a few years to pay off the accumulated debts with which the Hamilton family were at that time burdened; and in the parliament of 1673, he distinguished himself by his opposition to Lauderdale. He and the other leaders of his party went to London, to represent their grievances to the king, and received from him full assurances of redress, but on their return to Scotland, they found that the parliament was dissolved. This excited such popular discontent that the assassination of Lauderdale was contemplated, and only averted by the advice of the duke of Hamilton. He was again invited to court with his friends, when they requested a hearing from the king, but were desired to present their complaints in writing, which they declined, knowing well that the most cautious statement of grievances it was possible to frame would to protect them from the statute of leasing-making. In the following year Lauderdale’s opponents were displaced from council, with the exception of the duke of Hamilton, who, however, was removed in 1676, for opposing the sentence against Baillie of Jerviswood. In 1678, the duke and thirteen other peers repaired to London, to complain to the king of Lauderdale’s arbitrary proceedings, but as they had left Scotland without permission, an audience was refused. They were at length heard in presence of the cabinet council, and being again required to produce their complaints against Lauderdale in writing, which they declined to do without a previous indemnity, the king declared his full approbation of Lauderdale’s proceedings. On the breaking out of the insurrection in Scotland in 1679, the duke and the Scottish lords then in London, generously offered to suppress it, without arms or the shedding of blood, if the grievances of the people were redressed, but their assistance was rejected. They afterwards obtained an audience, and were fully heard on their complaints against Lauderdale, but in vain.

      In 1692, after the fall of that unprincipled minister, his grace was invested with the order of the Garter; and on the accession of James the Seventh, he was sworn a privy councillor of Scotland, and appointed one of the commissioners of the Treasury. He was constituted an extraordinary lord of session, 26^th March 1686, and sworn a member of the English privy council, 14^th April 1687. On the arrival of the prince of Orange in London the following year, he was elected president at a meeting of the Scottish nobility and gentry then in that city, when they framed an address, requesting the prince to assume the government and call a convention of the Estates at Edinburgh. This convention was accordingly held 14^th March 1689. The duke was chosen president of the meeting which declared the throne vacant, and tendered the crown to King William and Queen Mary. His grace was constituted lord high commissioner to King William’s first parliament in the following June, and was also president of the council and high admiral of Scotland. He was again high commissioner to the parliament which met 18^th April 1693, and on 19^th December following re-appointed an extraordinary lord of session. He died at Holyroodhouse, 18^th April 1694, in his 60^th year. His wife, Anne, duchess of Hamilton, survived him till 1717. She resigned her titles in favour of her eldest son, the earl of Arran, who was accordingly created duke of Hamilton, with the original precedency. They had, with four daughters, seven sons, namely, James, fourth duke of Hamilton; Lord William, who died in France, without issue; Lord Charles, earl of Selkirk (See SELKIRK, earl of); Lord John, earl of Ruglen (see RUGLEN, earl of); Lord George, earl of Orkney (see ORKNEY, earl of); Lord Basin (for whom see SELKIRK, earl of); and Lord Archibald. The latter, Lord Archibald Hamilton of Riccarton and Pardovan, a distinguished naval office, master and one of the commissioners of Greenwith Hospital, who died 5^th April 1754, was father of the Right Hon. Sir William Hamilton, long British ambassador at Naples, of whom a memoir is afterwards given.

      Of James, fourth duke of Hamilton, and first duke of Brandon in the peerage of the United Kingdom, a memoir is afterwards given. He was twice married, and with six daughters, had three sons. The latter, with four of the daughters, he had by his second wife. The sons were, James, fifth duke; Lord William, M.P. for Lanarkshire, who died in July 1734; and Lord Anne, so called after Queen Anne, his godmother, an ensign in the army, who died in France in December 1748. By Lady Barbara Fitzroy, third daughter of Charles the Second and the duchess of Cleveland, his grace, then earl of Arran, had a natural son, Charles Hamilton, born at Cleveland House, 30^th March 1691, during his father’s confinement in the Tower, as afterwards related. Incensed at the discovery of this intrigue, the queen, and the earl’s father, the duke of Hamilton, made the retreat of Lady Barbara to the Continent the principal condition of his release from the Tower. She accordingly withdrew to the nunnery of Pontoise, where she died. Her son was reared at Chiswick by his grandmother the duchess of Cleveland, and afterwards sent to France, where his education was intrusted to the earl of Middleton, secretary of state to the exiled monarch. He was held in great consideration by the court of St. Germains, where he was styled count of Arran. After the death of his father, who was killed in a duel with Lord Mohun, in 1712, he went to Antwerp, and sent a challenge to General Macartney, Mohun’s second, but it was not accepted. He subsequently went to Switzerland, where he divided his time betwixt the pursuits of alchemy, and a friendly intercourse with the Earl Marischal of Scotland, then in exile. He was the author of ‘Transactions during the reign of Queen Anne, from the union to the death of that princess,’ published by his son at London in one volume, 1790, 8vo. He died at Paris, 13^th August, 1754, aged 64, and was buried at Montmartre. He had married in 1737 Antoinette Courtney of Archambaud, by whom he had an only child, Charles Hamilton, born at Edinburgh 16^th July, 1738, captain in the service of the East India Company, and died at Holyroodhouse 9^th April 1800, aged 62.  He was the author of ‘The Patriot; a Tragedy, altered from the Italian of Metastasio,’ London, 1784, 8vo; ‘An Historical Relation of the Origin, Progress, and Final Dissolution of the Government of the Rokilla Afghans, in the Northern Provinces of Hindostan, compiled from a Persian MS. And other original papers,’ Lond. 1787, 8vo; ‘Hedaya, or Guide; a Commentary on the Mussulman Laws, translated by order of the Governor-General and Council of Bengal,’ London, 1791, 4 vols. 4to.

      James, fifth duke of Hamilton, and second duke of Brandon, born about 1702, succeeded his father when he was only 10 years old. He was installed a knight of the Thistle at Holyroodhouse 31^st October 1726, and appointed in 1727 one of the lords of the bedchamber to King George the Second; but resigned that office in 1733, not approving of the measures of Sir Robert Walpole’s administration. At the general election in 1734, he was a candidate to represent the Scottish peerage, in opposition to the court list, and died at Bath 9^th March 1743, in his 41^st year. He was thrice married; first, to Lady Anne Cochrane, eldest of the three beautiful daughters of John fourth earl of Dundonald; secondly, to Elizabeth, fourth daughter of Thomas Strangeways of Melbury Sampford, Dorsetshire; and, thirdly, to Anne, daughter and co-heir of Edward Spenser of Redlesham in Suffolk. By his first duchess he had a son, James, sixth duke of Hamilton, and by his third, a daughter, Anne, countess of Donegal, and two sons, Archibald, ninth duke of Hamilton, and Lord Spencer Hamilton, colonel in the guards and one of the gentlemen of the bedchamber to the prince of Wales, who died 20^th March 1791, in his 49^th year.

      James, sixth duke of Hamilton, and third duke of Brandon, born in 1724, succeeded his father in 1743, and was invested with the order of the thistle, 14^th March 1755. He died of inflammation in the chest, caught in hunting, after a few days’ illness, at Great Tew in Oxfordshire, on 18^th January 1758, in his 34^th year. He married Elizabeth, second daughter of John Gunning of Castle Coote, in the county of Roscommon, Ireland, one of the three beautiful Misses Gunning, and by her had a daughter, Lady Elizabeth, countess of Derby; James-George, seventh duke of Hamilton; and Douglas, eighth duke. The widowed duchess married, secondly, 3d March 1759, John, fifth duke of Argyle, and was created a peeress of Great Britain, 4^th May 1766, by the title of Baroness Hamilton of Hameldon, in the count of Leicester, with the dignity of Baron Hamilton to the heirs male of her body. She died in 1790.

      James-George, seventh duke of Hamilton, and fourth duke of Brandon, born at Holyroodhouse, 18^th February 1755, succeeded his father when only three years old. On the death of Archibald, duke of Douglas, in 1761, he became the male representative and chief of the illustrious house of Douglas, and succeeded to the titles of marquis of Douglas, earl of Angus, and lord of Abernethy and Jedburgh Forest. His guardians having asserted his right to the Douglas estates as male representative of that family, under the belief that Mr. Douglas, born at Paris, son and heir of Lady Jane Stewart, sister of the last duke of Douglas, was a supposititious child, the protracted lawsuit, known as “the great Douglas cause,” was the consequence. In Paris it was decided in favour of the duke of Hamilton, and the claim was again sustained by the court of session in Scotland; but on appeal to the House of Lords, it was ultimately decided in favour of Mr. Douglas, afterwards created a peer of the United Kingdom by the title of Lord Douglas of Douglas. Outgrowing his strength, the duke of Hamilton died at Hamilton palace, 7^th July 1769, in his 15^th year. On his monument in the family cemetery, is a poetical inscription by Dr. Moore, (father of Sir John Moore,) who had attended his grace to the Continent, and resided with him.

      Douglas, eighth duke of Hamilton, and fifth duke of Brandon, born 24^th July 1756, succeeded his brother in 1769. In his travels on the Continent he was attended by Dr. Moore, whose work, in four volumes, 8vo, entitled ‘A View of Society and Manners in France and Italy,’ contains an account of their excursion. The duke came of age in 1777, when he raised the 82d regiment of foot, which highly distinguished itself in the American war, and in which he accepted a captain’s commission, but resigned it in 1779. He had a grant of the offices of keeper of the palace of Linlithgow and castle of Blackness 25^th November 1777, and a further grant of the same, with power to appoint deputies, 10^th January, 1778. Having presented a petition to the king for a summons to parliament as duke of Brandon, his majesty, after a reference to the House of Lords, and the opinion of the twelve judges being taken that the 23d article of the Union did not debar the creation of peers of Scotland peers of Great Britain, on 11^th June, 1782, caused a summons to be issued accordingly, and his grace, as duke of Brandon, took his seat in the house of peers, of which his family had been for so many years deprived. In 1785, he moved the address of thanks for the king’s speech, and the following year he was invested with the order of the Thistle. In 1798 he was appointed colonel of the militia and lord-lieutenant of the county of Lanark. He died 2d August 1799, in his 44^th year. He had married Elizabeth Anne, sister of Peter, Lord Gwydir, but having no issue by her, was succeeded by his uncle, Lord Archibald Hamilton, in al his titles, except that of Lord Hamilton of Hameldon in Leicestershire, which in right of his mother went to his brother uterine the marquis of Lorn, afterwards duke of Argyle.

      Archibald, ninth duke of Hamilton, and sixth duke of Brandon, born 15^th July 1740, inherited through his mother and grandmother, extensive property in the county of Suffolk, and in Lancashire, and Staffordshire. At the general election of 1768, he was elected M.P. for the county of Lancaster, but vacated his seat in 1772. He died 16^th February 1819. He had married in 1765, Lady Harriet Stewart, 5^th daughter of 6^th earl of Galloway, and by her, who died in 1788, before her husband’s accession to the ducal titles, he had 3 daughters and 2 sons; Alexander tenth duke, and Lord Archibald Hamilton.

      The latter, born March 16, 1769, distinguished himself as a political reformer and as an active and eloquent public speaker. Chosen, in 1802 M.P. for Lanarkshire, he continued to represent that county till his death, taking a prominent part against the Pitt, Addington, and other Tory governments. In 1804 he published a pamphlet entitled ‘thoughts on the Formation of the late and Present Administrations,’ contending for a ministry on a broad and firm basis, and examining how far that of Mr. Pitt answered the idea. He invariably endeavoured to correct abuses, and is exertions in the cause of burgh reform, made his name in his time very popular in Scotland. He died unmarried Aug. 28, 1827. His sister, Lady Anne Hamilton, eldest daughter of the 9^th duke, was the confidential friend and companion of Queen Caroline, wife of George IV., and enjoyed no small amount of popularity for her adherence to that unfortunate princess. She died Oct. 10, 1846. Lady Charlotte, the next daughter, became duchess of Somerset, and died June 10, 1827. Lady Susan, the youngest, married her cousin, the earl of Dunmore, and died May 24, 1846.

      Alexander, 10^th duke of Hamilton, and 7^th of Brandon, the elder son of the 9^th duke, born Oct. 3, 1767, in early life spent many years in Italy, where he acquired considerable taste in the fine arts. In 1801 he returned home, and the following year he was appointed colonel of the Royal Lanarkshire militia, and lord lieutenant of that county. Till he reached the advanced age of fifty-two, he bore the courtesy title of marquis of Douglas and Clydesdale. At the general election of 1803 he was electee M.P. for Lancaster, but on 28^th May 1806, he was appointed British ambassador at St. Petersburg, under the administration of Charles James Fox, then for a short time prime minister. On this occasion he was sworn a member of the privy council. On 4^th November of the same year he was summoned by writ to the house of peers as Baron Dutton in Cheshire, one of his father’s titles. In 1807 the Whig administration went out of office on the Roman Catholic question, when he resigned the Russian embassy, and after having made an excursion through great part of Russia and Poland, he returned to Scotland the following year. In 1819 he succeeded his father. His energies after this period were devoted principally to the improvement of his estates, and the embellishment of his princely palace of Hamilton. Besides inheriting two dukedoms, a Scottish and an English one, he assumed the title of duke of Chatelherault in France. At the coronations of William IV. And Queen Victoria, he officiated as high steward. In 1836 he was elected a knight of the Garter. He was also a fellow of the royal society, and of the antiquarian society, and president of the royal society of Scotland. He likewise held two marquisates, three earldoms, and eight baronies. He never took any prominent part in politics, but generally gave his votes to the Whig party. A trait of private generosity is related of him which was highly honourable to his character. His father, at his death, had left all his personal property to his second youngest daughter, the duchess of Somerset, to the exclusion of Lord Archibald Hamilton. The duke, on being informed of this, immediately presented his brother with £20,000. His grace died in 1852, aged 85. On April 26, 1810, when 43 years of age, he married Susan Euphemia, youngest daughter of Mr. William Beckford of Fonthill Abbey, author of ‘Vathek,’ and grand-daughter of the celebrated London alderman of that name. Her grandmother was Lady Margaret Gordon, of the Aboyne family, and her mother was a Hamilton. The issue of this marriage was a son, the 11^th duke, and a daughter, Lady Susan Harriet Catherine, who was married Nov. 27, 1832, to the earl of Lincoln (5^th duke of Newcastle), to whom she had 4 sons and 1 daughter, but was divorced in 1850.

      William Alexander Anthony Archibald, 11^th duke of Hamilton and 8^th of Brandon, born Feb. 15, 1811, studied at Oxford; B.A. 1832. He married in 1843 the princess Mary Amelia Elizabeth Caroline (born 1818), daughter of the grand duke of Baden, and cousin-german of Napoleon III., emperor of the French; issue, 2 sons and a daughter, viz., 1. William Alexander Louis Stephen, marquis of Douglas and Clydesdale, born in 1845; 2. Lord Charles George Archibald, born in 1847; 3. Lady Maria Victoria, born in 1850. His grace is hereditary keeper of Holyroodhouse, premier peer of Scotland, and knight marischal of Scotland, 1846; appointed lord lieutenant of Lanarkshire and colonel of its militia, 1852.

      The dukes of Hamilton have never relinquished their right to the title of duke of Chatelherault, in France, conferred on the Regent earl of Arran in 1548. The title is also claimed by the marquis of Abercorn, as male representative of the house of Hamilton.

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      The most ancient cadet of the house of Hamilton is the family of Hamilton of Preston, East Lothian, and Fingalton, Renfrewshire, which possesses a baronetcy of Scotland and Nova Scotia, conferred in 1673, on Sir William Hamilton, born in 1647, the 13^th from the original progenitor of this line. He was the son of Sir Thomas Hamilton of Preston, whose signature to the Covenant of 1638 is found on one of the few copies of that national compact that have escaped the ravages of time. Lieutenant-colonel in the army which, in 1650, was raised to oppose the English invasion that followed on the arrival of Charles II. In Scotland, Sir Thomas was present at the battle of Dunbar. After that defeat his estates were plundered and his castle of Preston burnt; his charter chest, containing all his family papers and title-deeds, being consumed. His sacrifices and exertions in the royal cause, with his subsequent services and sufferings, and commemorated at length in the records of the Scottish parliament. At the battle of Worcester in 1651, he also distinguished himself. He died in 1672, leaving two sons, Sir William and Sir Robert, and a daughter, Janet, wife of the celebrated Alexander Gordon of Earlston, whose persecutions she shared. Her religious meditations in the solitary dungeons of the Bass, have been frequently republished under the title of ‘Lady Earlston’s Soliloquies.’ The baronetcy was conferred on the elder son, on 5^th November, 1673, for the services of his father at Dunbar and Worcester. Sir William, 1^st baronet, maintained the principles, political and religious, of his family, being a presbyterian and a Whig, though he was wholly adverse to the extravagances and enthusiasm of his brother Robert, the leader of the extreme Covenanters. He even accompanied the duke of Monmouth when marching to quell the insurrection headed by his brother. His undisguised opposition, however, to the arbitrary measures of the court exposed him to the hostility of the ruling faction, and, proceeding to Holland, in 1681, he joined the Scottish and English malcontents assembled at the Hague. In 1685, he accompanied the earl of Argyle in his descent on Scotland, and after the failure of that ill-starred enterprise, he escaped a second time into Holland. He held a high command in the army of the prince of Orange in the expedition to England in 1688, but died at Exeter, of a sudden illness, while the troops were on the march to London, in November of the same year. As he left no male issue, he was succeeded in the title and representation of the family by his brother, Sir Robert.

      Sir Robert Hamilton, 2d bart., a rigid Covenanter, was born in 1650. He was educated under Bishop Burnet, at the university of Glasgow, and, according to the testimony of that author, (Hist. Of his own Times, vol. i. p. 471), was, while at college, a sprightly youth of great promise. When the Presbyterians of Scotland, goaded to desperation by the oppression and tyranny of the government, at length rose in arms in defence of their civil and religious liberties, Robert Hamilton at once placed himself at their head, and commanded the forces of the Covenanters with great intrepidity in the victory of Drumclog, and the discomfiture of Bothwell Bridge in June 1679. Laing, in his Account of the Western Insurrection, erroneously styles Hamilton a preacher.

      After the defeat at Bothwell Bridge, Hamilton avoided the consequences of his attainder and condemnation by retiring into Holland; and, along with his brother-in-law, Gordon of Earlston, he acted as commissioner in behalf of the “United Societies,” whom he greatly assisted by his influence in obtaining for them the countenance and support of the continental churches. He resided principally at Holland till the Revolution of 1688, when he returned to Scotland. His attainder being reversed, he succeeded, on his brother’s death, in November of that year, to the representation and honours of the family; but as we learn from his own letters and his biographer (in Scots Worthies, he could not, without violence to his notions of religious obligation, “acknowledge an uncovenanted sovereign of these covenanted nations;” and he constantly refused to prefer any claim to his brother’s estates, as such aa proceeding would have necessarily involved a recognition of the title of the prince and princess of Orange to the crown of Scotland. At the same time, being unmarried, he contented himself with privately securing the entailed settlement of the family inheritance on the issue of his brother’s eldest daughter, who had been married to the eldest son of Sir James Oswald.

      Sir Robert Hamilton’s well-known sentiments in religious matters, with the intemperate avowal of his opinions, soon involved him in new troubles. Being suspected, with some show of reason, of having been the author of the Declaration published at Sanquhar, August 10, 1692, he was soon after arrested at Earlston, and detained a prisoner in Edinburgh and Haddington for nearly eight months. During this interval he was frequently brought before the privy council; but, though he declined their jurisdiction, and refused to answer the questions put to him, or take the oath of allegiance, or in any way acknowledge the authority of William and Mary, or enter into any obligation not to rise against their government, he was at length set at liberty in May 1693. From this period he was permitted to testify, without further official molestation, against the backslidings both in church and state; and his biographer informs us that he was, during his life, the principal stay and comfort of that afflicted remnant, who alone, amid the general defection of the times, continued faithful in their adherence to Christ and his covenanted cause. He died unmarried, October 20, 1701, aged 51 years.

      The representation and honours of the family devolved on Robert Hamilton of Airdrie, Lanarkshire, fifth in the male line from John, 2d son of Sir Robert Hamilton of Preston, 2d of that name. Born in 1650, with his cousin, Robert Hamilton of Preston, his immediate predecessor, he was implicated in the western rebellion of 1679, and after the defeat at Bothwell Bridge, was, with several of his domestics, arrested and carried prisoner to Edinburgh, but by the interest of his friends, liberated, after a month’s confinement, on giving security “not to rise in arms against his majesty or his authority.” He died January 18, 1705. He had 4 sons: Robert, his successor; John, and James, whose male issue failed in the first generation; and Thomas, professor of anatomy and botany in the university of Glasgow, whose grandson ultimately succeeded to the representation of the family.

      Robert, the eldest son, embarked in some unfortunate speculations, which obliged him to alienate a great part of what remained of the family estates, and the last fragment of his inheritance was sold, after his death, during the minority of his eldest son. By his wife, Mary, daughter of John Baird of Craigton, he had 3 sons, William, John, and Robert, who successively represented the family, and all died unmarried, and 2 daughters, Grizelda, wife of John Arnot, Esq, and Mary, who married Thomas Cochrane, M.D.

      On the death of Robert, the youngest son, at St. Helena, in 1799, on his return from China, the representation of the family devolved on William, grandson of Professor Thomas Hamilton, above mentioned.

      This Thomas Hamilton married Isabella, daughter of Dr. William Anderson, professor of church history in the university of Glasgow, and had a son, William, an eminent surgeon and lecturer on anatomy, born in that city July 31, 1758. He was educated in his native city, and took his degree of M.A. in 1775. After studying for the medical profession at Edinburgh under cullen and black, he proceeded to London for further improvement. His zeal, application, and regularity of conduct, recommended him to the notice of Dr. William Hunter, who invited him to reside with him, and intrusted him with the important charge of his dissecting room. Soon after, he returned to Glasgow, to assist his father in his lectures; and in 1781, when the latter resigned his chair, he was appointed his successor. On his father’s death in 1782, he succeeded also to his extensive practice. In 1783 he married Elizabeth, 2d daughter of William Stirling, Esq., heir male of the ancient family of Calder, and by her had two sons, Sir William, and Thomas, a captain in the army. He died march 13, 1790, in the 32d year of his age. A memoir of his life, by Professor Cleghorn, is inserted in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh of 1792.

      The elder son, William, succeeded to the representation and baronetcy of the family. On July 24, 1816, he was retoured heir male in general to Sir Robert Hamilton, 5^th of that name, and was the 24^th male representative of Sir John Fitz-Gilbert de Hamilton, of Rossavon and Fingalton, 2d son of Sir Gilbert, the founder of the house of Hamilton in Scotland. He thus resumed the baronetcy, after its having been in abeyance since the death of the 2d baronet in 1701. A memoir of Sir William Hamilton, professor of logic in the university of Edinburgh, and one of the first metaphysicians in Europe, is given below.

      On his death, May 6, 1856, he was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir William, 4^th Baronet, born Sept. 17, 1830. After being educated at Edinburgh and Addiscombe, he became a lieutenant in the Bengal Artillery, being employed as assistant civil engineer, public works department, Punjaub. He married Oct. 15, 1836, Eliza Marcia, eldest daughter of Major Barr, Bengal Horse Artillery. His next brother, Hubert, who passed advocate at the Scottish bar in 1860, was born in 1834.

      The patent of baronetcy is in remainder to the heirs male general.

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      The family of Hamilton of Airdrie, was founded by John, 2d son of sir Robert Hamilton, 7^th representative of the house of Preston, by his first wife, Margaret, daughter of Sir John Mowat of Stanehouse. He married before 1503, Helen, daughter of Archibald Crawford, of Ruchsulloch, hereditary bailie of the Monkland, and had 2 sons, Methusalem, his successor, and William. Educated in Glasgow University, he repeatedly appears with his brothers, Robert, Patrick, and James, as procurator for his father and other relatives, in actions before the lords of council, in 1507 and 1508.

      The eldest son, Methusalem, died after 1564; his eldest son, John, having predeceased him in 1561. His 2d son, Gavin, succeeded him. Like most gentlemen of the Hamilton name, he supported the cause of Queen Mary. He was engaged in the celebrated capture of the king’s party in Stirling in 1571, and was compelled to produce guarantees for his obedience in 1572 and1579. He married in 1567, Isabella, daughter of James Robertson, of Ernock; issue 4 sons and a daughter. He died Aug. 17, 1591.

      His eldest son, John, burn in 1569, married Janet, daughter of Robert Hamilton of Torrence, and had 2 sons and 3 daughte3rs. The elder son, John, having predeceased him, without issue, in 1641, he was succeeded, on his death in 1648, by his younger son, Gavin.

      This gentleman was appointed, in 1649, parliamentary commissioner of war for the county of Lanark; and he accompanied William, duke of Hamilton, and his kinsman, Sir Thomas Hamilton of Preston, in the unfortunate expedition into England under Charles II. In 1651. His estate, like the fortunes of most other gentlemen of his name, was deeply involved by his exertions in the double cause of the convenant and king. Gavin Hamilton married Jane, daughter of Robert Montgomery, of Hazlehead, by Jane, daughter of Sir James Hamilton, of Preston, and died Dec. 29, 1687. His widow survived him for many years; and the male line of her family having become extinct, about the conclusion of the century, that ancient branch of the house of Eglinton is now exclusively represented by her descendants as heirs of line. Gavin Hamilton had two sons, Robert and William, of the latter of whom afterwards.

      Robert, the elder son, in 1688 made up titles as heir to his father; and, in 1695, he obtained an act of parliament in his favour, “for the holding of a weekly market and four yearly fairs in his town of Airdrie.” He succeeded to the representation of the family, after the death of his cousin, Robert Hamilton of Preston, in 1701, as above mentioned.

      Gavin Hamilton of Airdrie’s 2d son, William Hamilton, D.D., born in 1675, was baptized at a conventicle. In 1694, he was ordained minister of Cramond, and in Oct 1709, was appointed professor of divinity in the university of Edinburgh. In discharging the duties of this chair he peculiarly endeared himself to the students under his care by his kindness, candour, and affability, and after acquiring the highest reputation among his contemporaries for piety and theological erudition, and distinguishing himself as a leader in the government of the Church of Scotland, he was appointed principal of the university. He died Nov. 12, 1732, leaving a numerous family.

      One of his sons, Gavin Hamilton, was an eminent publisher in Edinburgh. A man of fine taste and high literary and scientific attainments, he occupied a prominent place in Edinburgh society. At the time of the Porteous Mob in 1736, he was junior bailie of the city, and while on duty on that eventful night, he received a message from a married sister, in the neighbourhood, intimating that she had something particular to communicate. Supposing it to be of public importance, he made his way through the crowd and went to her house. On his arrival, his sister locked the door, and said she would not let him out again, to which he sternly replied, “Madam, I must be on duty to-night, and if you will not let me out at the door, I will jump the window.” Seeing him so determined she unlocked the door, and he resumed his station at the prison gate, where he narrowly escaped being killed by a blow from a Lochaber axe. In 1740 he was again in the magistracy, and risked his life in quelling a meal mob in the village of the Water of Leith, where the public granaries of the city of Edinburgh are situated. There was a famine in Scotland at the time, and the people were ferocious from want.

      In 1745, he was senior bailie of Edinburgh, and the lord provost, Stewart, being a Jacobite, Mr. Hamilton, as a staunch supporter of the reigning family, was often exposed to jeopardy in the discharge of the important duties entrusted to him. By his wife, Helen, daughter of James Balfour, of Pilrig, he had a large family. A memoir of his 8^th son, Dr Robert Hamilton, the celebrated mathematician, is given below.

      Baillie Gavin Hamilton’s brother, Robert Hamilton, D.D., born at Cramond, May 19, 1707, 4^th son of Principal William Hamilton, was ordained minister of his native parish April 4, 1731. In 1736, he was appointed minister of Lady Yester’s Edinburgh, and in 1754 professor of divinity in Edinburgh university, when he gave up Lady Yester’s. He was also dean of the order of the Thistle. He was respected for his sterling good sense and sound principles, and for his steady opposition to the infidel spirit of the age, encouraged as it was by the popular writings and attractive manners of David Hume. He was known to lament the court paid to that eminent author by some of his brethren of the clergy, saying they were misled by the pride of literary talent. Dr. Hamilton married Jean, daughter of John Hay, Esq., of Hayston, Perthshire.

      His son, Dr. James Hamilton, was an eminent physician in Edinburgh. He was born in 1749, and educated at the High School there. After taking his degree at the university, he spent some years on the Continent. Elected one of the physicians to the Royal Infirmary of the Scottish capital, he afterwards obtained, in succession, the same office in George Heriot’s Hospital, the Merchant Mainden, and the Trades Maiden Hospitals in that city, and held three appointments for upwards of fifty years. In the two first mentioned hospitals his portrait is preserved. A full length etching of him, in the costume of the old school, with three cocked hat, which he always wore, is also given in “Kay’s Edinburgh Portraits.” He was the author of a valuable and elegantly written medical work, entitled, ‘Observations on the Utility and Administration of Purgative Medicine in Several Diseases;’ the 8^th edition of which ‘Revised and Improved by the Author, with a chapter on Cold Bathing, Considered in its Purgative Effect,’ was published in 1826. Dr. Hamilton died at Edinburgh in 1835. His sister, Grizel Hamilton, married Benjamin Bell, Esq., surgeon in that city, of whom a memoir is given in volume I.

      Gilbert Hamilton, D.D., a younger son os Principal William Hamilton, born May 16, 1715, was ordained minister of Cramond, May 1, 1737, as successor to his brother Robert. He was a man of an accomplished mind, deeply embued with the charms of poetry, and a great lover of the classics and general literature. He was so much attached to his parish that he would not remove from it, although solicited to accept of a charge in Edinburgh. He married Margaret, daughter of John Craigie, Esq., of Halhill and Dumbarnie, by Susan, daughter of Sir John Inglis, of Cramond, and died in May 1772, leaving 3 daughters: 1^st, Anne, Mrs. Dinwiddie, mother of Gilbert Dinwiddie, Esq., deputy commissary general; 2d, Susan, wife of Alexander Anderson, Esq., of Kingask, and mother of Major Anderson, of Montrave, parish of Scoonie, Fifeshire; 3d, Mary, died unmarried.

      Principal Hamilton’s daughter, Anne, wife of Rev. Mr. Horsley, an English clergyman, was mother of Dr. Samuel Horsley, bishop of St. Asaph.

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      The Hamiltons of Silvertonhill, Lanarkshire, a family in possession of a baronetcy of Nova Scotia, are descended from Alexander de Hamilton, 2d son of Sir James Hamilton, dominus de Cadzow, and are therefore next to the Abercorn family in the male representation of the house of Hamilton. This Alexander de Hamilton had a charter, in 1449, from Alexander, earl of Crawford, wherein he was styled “alexander de Hamilton, of Quhitecamp, afterwards of Silvertonhill.” He had also a charter of a piece of land adjoining the estate of Westport, Linlithgowshire, sold to him by a person of the name of Wilde, a burgess of Linlithgow. In a charter of settlement of the Hamilton estates, granted to his brother, the first Lord Hamilton, of date Oct. 23, 1455, he was called next in succession after his brother’s daughter, Elizabeth, and his natural sons. He appears to have left two sons, James, and William, ancestor of the Hamiltons of Westport.

      James, the elder son, in a charter of settlement of the Hamilton estates granted to James, 1^st earl of Arran, of date January 16, 1512-13, was called next in succession, after Sir James Hamilton, of Fynnart; Patrick Hamilton, of Kincavil; and John Hamilton, of Brumehill. With his wife, a daughter of the family of Douglas, he got the lands of Newton, in the barony of Drumsargard. He had a son, John, designed of Newton, and a daughter, married to James, Viscount Teviot.

      John Hamilton, the son, married a daughter of Sir John Somerville, of Quodquhan, and had a son, Andrew, and a daughter Margaret, wife of Archibald Hamilton of Raploch. He died, according to Crawford, in 1535.

      His son, Andrew, who predeceased him, had 3 sons, Andrew, Alexander, tutor of Silvertonhill, who carried on the line of this family, and John, of Cubardy.

      Andrew, the eldest son, succeeded his grandfather. In a charter of settlement of the Hamilton estates, granted to the duke of Chatelherault, of date Sep. 15, 1540, he was called next in succession after David Hamilton, of Brumehill. He married a daughter of James Hamilton, of Stanehouse, and died in the beginning of the reign of Queen Mary, leaving an infant son, Andrew.

      This Andrew Hamilton, of Silvertonhill, was carefully educated under the guardianship of his uncle, Alexander. He married Elspeth, a daughter of Baillie, of Carfin, and had several children, who all predeceased him but one son.

      The son, Francis Hamilton, of Silvertonhill, is described as having been “a very enthusiastic, wrong-headed man. He fancied himself bewitched by Dame Isobel Boyd, Lady Blair, which appears by several extravagant petitions to parliament from him in 1641. He died not long after this, having greatly squandered away the family estate, and, as he never was married, the representation devolved on the descendants of his grand-uncle, Alexander.” (Anderson’s Historical and Genealogical Memoirs of the House of Hamilton, page 378).

      Alexander Hamilton, tutor of Silvertonhill, got from his father the lands of Goslingtoun, which for sometime continued to be the title of his family. He had 2 sons, Sir Andrew, and John, mentioned in the list of the Hamiltons, circa 1570. Alexander’s latter will and testament is dated at Newton, August 31, 1547. Sir Andrew, his son, and Catherine his spouse, were appointed his successors.

      The elder son, Sir Andrew Hamilton, of Goslingtoun, was a faithful and loyal subject of Queen Mary, by whom he was knighted. He was at the battle of Langside, for which he was forfeited, but had his possessions restored to him, by the treaty of Perth, in 1572. He died in 1592, leaving 3 sons, 1^st. Sir Robert; 2d, James Hamilton, of Tweediesyde, who, for his attachment to the interests of the Hamilton family, was obliged to take refuge in England, but returned from exile in 1585; 3d. Andrew.

      Sir Robert Hamilton, of goslingtoun, the eldest son, married Elizabeth, daughter and sole heiress of Sir William Baillie, of Provan, lord president of the court of session, and had 5 sons, and one daughter. Sir Robert died in 1642.

      His eldest son, Francis, having predeceased him, he was succeeded by his 2d son, Edward, designed first of Balgray, afterwards of Silvertonhill. He had a charter, under the great seal, dated July 8, 1635, of the lands of Tweedie, goslingtoun, Provan, &c., containing an entail, first to himself, and the heirs male of his body, which failing, to Robert Hamilton, his brother, and the heirs male of his body, which failing, to his next brother, James, a merchant burgess of Glasgow, who died in 1655. In this charter there are some lands mentioned which had been evicted from Francis Hamilton of Silvertonhill by John Crawford, and again acquired by Edward; all which are now confirmed to him; and he accordingly took the title of Silvertonhill, which afterwards continued to be that of the family. By his wife Marion, daughter of Mure of Caldwell, Edward had 2 sons, Sir Robert, and John, and 2 daughters, Jean, married to the laird of Minto-Stewart, and Christian. He died in 1649.

      The elder son, Sir Robert Hamilton, of Silvertonhill, was a steady adherent of Charles I., by whom he was created a baronet of Scotland and Nova Scotia about 1646. He married Hon. Anne Hamilton, 2d daughter of John, 1^st Lord Belhaven, and had 2 sons, Sir Robert, and Thomas, who died in France, and 4 daughters; 1^st Margaret, wife of John, eldest son of Robert Hamilton of Pressmannan; her maternal grandfather, Lord Belhaven, settled on them the state of Biel, and resigned his title in favour of John Hamilton, who, of course, became 2d Lord Belhaven, on his death in 1679. 2d. Anne, married to sir William Craigie, of Garie, without issue. 3d. Elizabeth, married to John Livingstone, Esq., a captain of dragoons, whose son, James, married a daughter of Sir James Foulis of Coliston. 4^th, Mary. Sir Robert sold the lands and barony of Provan to the city of Glasgow in 1652, and otherwise encumbered his fortune.

      His elder son, Sir Robert, 2d baronet, was a colonel in the army, He was likewise for some time in the service of the States of Holland. He also greatly dilapidated the family estate, and died in 1708. He was twice married, 1^st, to Amelia Catherine Van Hettingen, a lady of Friesland, and, 2dly, to Isobel, daughter of John Hamilton of Boggs. By his first wife he had 4 sons and 2 daughters, and by his 2d, one daughter. The sons were, 1^st, James, who entered the army, and was killed in action while yet very young; 2d, sir John; 3d, William, an officer in the Dutch service, who had a son, John, lieutenant-colonel of Holstein’s regiment; Robert, a captain in the army; and William, a major in the Dutch guards; 4^th, George.

      His 2d son, Sir John, 3d baronet, lived some time at Hull, Yorkshire, and afterwards in the island of Jersey, and died in 1748. With two daughters he had 2 sons, Sir Robert, and George, a youth of great spirit, who for his zeal, merit, and good behavior at Quebec, &c., was appointed a captain in the Royal navy, and died at Halifax in 1763, without issue.

      The elder son, Sir Robert, 4^th baronet, was a lieutenant-general in the army, and colonel of the 108^th foot, a regiment reduced at the peace in 1763, when he was appointed colonel of the 40^th. He was twice married, but had issue only by his first wife, Mary, daughter of William Pier Williams, Esq., an eminent lawyer, namely, a son, John William, Captain 54^th regiment, who retired from the army to become under secretary at war in Ireland, and predeceased his father. He had married Mary Anne, daughter of Richard St. George, Esq., of Kilrush, county Kilkenny, He had a son, Frederick, who succeeded his grandfather, and a daughter, the wife of Lieutenant-general Sir William Anson, K.C.B., with issue.

      Sir Frederick, 5^th baronet, born Dec. 14, 1777, was in the service of the East India Company, as collector of revenues for the district of Benares, and died Aug. 14, 1853. He married Feb. 20, 1800, Eliza Ducarel, youngest daughter of John collie, M.D., Calcutta; issue, 5 sons and 1 daughter.

      The eldest son, Sir Robert North Collie Hamilton, 6^th baronet, born April 7, 1802, entered the civil service of the East India Company on the Bengal establishment as writer, in April 1819, and was for some years resident at the court of Indore in Central India. In 1859 he received the thanks of parliament for his services in the suppression of the Indian mutinies. The same year, he was appointed provisional member of the council of the governor-general. His married Oct. 6, 1831, Constantia, 3d daughter of General Sir George Anson, G.C.B.; issue, 3 sons, 1^st, Robert Howden, died young; 2d, Frederick Hardinge Anson, born in 1836; 3d, Francis, born April 7, 1840; and 3 daughters.

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      The Hamiltons of Kincavel, Linlithgowshire, were descended from Sir Patrick Hamilton, natural son of James, 1^st Lord Hamilton, and brother of 1^st earl of Arran. Of sir Patrick Hamilton of Kincavel, some notices will be found at previous pages of this volume. He had a charter of the lands of Kincavel, county of Linlithgow, dated September 22, 1498. In a charter of settlement of the Hamilton estates, by the first earl of Arran, dated January 16, 1512-13, he was called next in succession after his brother’s natural son, Sir James Hamilton of Fynnart, being the second in succession at that time. Four days afterwards his legitimation passed the great seal. He was killed in the skirmish betwixt the Hamiltons and the Douglases on the High Street of Edinburgh, April 30, 1520, called “Cleanse the Causeway.” He married Catherine, daughter of Alexander, duke of Albany, 2d son of King James II., and had 2 sons, James, his successor, and Patrick, abbot of Ferne, Ross-shire, the proto-martyr, a memoir of whom is given below.

      The elder son, James Hamilton of Kincavel, was sheriff of Linlithgowshire and captain of Blackness. The brother of the proto-martyr, he did not escape persecution from the popish party. In 1534 he was summoned before the ecclesiastical court to answer to a charge of heresy, but dreading an unfavourable result, he took refuge abroad, and on his non-appearance at Holyrood, on the 16^th of August, the day of citation, the bishop of Ross pronounced the doom of heresy against him. After an exile of six years, he was permitted in 1540, to return to Scotland for a few months, to arrange his private affairs; at which time, through the medium of his son, he preferred the charge of high treason against his kinsman, Sir James Hamilton of Fynnart, which ultimately brought that personage to the scaffold. The sentence of the bishop of Ross was afterwards reversed by the General Assembly in 1563.

      His son, James Hamilton of Kincavel, a faithful adherent of Queen Mary, was taken prisoner at the battle of Langsyde, and condemned to death by the Regent Moray, but reprieved and pardoned at the intercession of the Reformed Clergy. His estates, which had been confiscated, were restored to him by the treaty of Perth in 1572. On Feb. 10, same year, he executed an obligation to maintain the true faith, and not again to relapse into popery, a curious vacillation in the nephew of the proto-martyr.

      Patrick Hamilton of Kincavel, supposed to be the son of James, for adhering to the interests of the Hamilton family, had to fly into England, when his lands were confiscated, but returning with the exiled lords in 1585, they were restored.

      The Hamiltons of the Peil of Livingston, same county, are supposed to have been the same family as Kincavel. 

HAMILTON, PATRICK, abbot of Ferne, usually considered the first martyr in Scotland to the doctrines of the Reformed Religion, was born about 1503. He was the second son of Sir Patrick Hamilton of Kincavel, natural brother of the first earl of Arran. His mother was the daughter, and not the sister, as is commonly supposed, of Alexander duke of Albany, second son of James the Second, king of Scotland. He was educated at the university of St. Andrews, and, while still very young, had the abbacy of Ferne, in Ross-shire, conferred on him, to enable him to prosecute his studies with a view to high preferment in the church. Proceeding into Germany, he remained for some time at the university of Wittenberg, and afterwards removed to that of Marpurg, where he was the first to introduce public disputations on theological questions. Having become intimate, during his residence on the Continent, with Martin Luther and Philip Melancthon, he soon imbibed the opinions of these illustrious reformers; and, on his return to Scotland, he began publicly to expose the corruptions of the Church of Rome, and to promulgate the Reformed doctrines with great zeal, his high reputation as a scholar, his irreproachable moral character, and his courteous demeanour, contributing much to his usefulness in the good work. The clergy became alarmed at the progress of the new religion, and their resentment against the youthful Reformer rose to the utmost height of persecuting rage. Under pretence of desiring a friendly conference with him on religious matters, Cardinal Bethune enticed him to St. Andrews, at that time the principal seat of the Romish clergy, where one Alexander Campbell, a prior of the Black Friars, had several private interviews with him, and treacherously pretended to acknowledge the force of his objections to the prevailing conduct of the clergy, and even to admit the errors of the Church of Rome. This Campbell was afterwards his principal accuser. Hamilton was apprehended in the middle of the night, and next day was brought before the cardinal and his convention, charged with maintaining and preaching heretical opinions. After a long examination, he was condemned as an obstinate heretic, and delivered over to the secular power, the sentence being signed by the archbishops of St. Andrews and Glasgow, the bishops of Brechin, Dunkeld, and Dunblane, and a number of abbots, priors, and doctors, as well as by every person of note in the university. The same day he was also condemned by the secular power; and in the afternoon, immediately after dinner, he was hurried to the stake, the fire being prepared in the area in front of the gate of St. Salvador’s college. He suffered with great fortitude and constancy, March 1, 1527, in the 23d year of his age. He was the author of:

      Patrick’s Places; or, Common Places. Originally written in Latin, and afterwards translated by John Frith into English, under the title of, Fruitfull Gatheringes of Scripture. 12mo. In 1807 appeared a new edition of Patrick’s Places, a Treatise on the Law and Gospel. This ingenious and extraordinary composition is inserted in Fox’s Acts and Monuments.

HAMILTON, SIR JAMES of FYNNART, the principal architect in Scotland of his time, was the natural son of the first earl of Arran, by a lady of the name of Boyd, a daughter, according to Lord Somerville, of Lord Boyd, or, according to Crawford, of Boyd of Bonshaw. Sir James, while yet a young man, received from his father the barony of Fynnart in Renfrewshire, and became a great favourite with James V., who appointed him cupbearer and steward of the royal household, and superintendent of the royal palaces and castles. Under his directions the two palaces of Falkland and Linlithgow were erected; and the castles of Edinburgh, Stirling, Rothesay, &c., were re-edified or adorned by his genius. His sovereign, whose fine taste in architecture, sculpture, and painting, enabled him to appreciate his merits, rewarded him with several grants of land. He acquired besides many other valuable estates, and his possessions altogether equalled those of the first barons in the realm. Indeed, few of the nobility, not even the family from which he sprung, appeared at court with such a numerous and splendid retinue. He had castles and houses in different parts of the kingdom, and his great opulence and power were shown in the rebuilding of the castle of Craignethan, in Lanarkshire, which afforded shelter to Queen Mary, for a few days, after her escape from Lochleven, and is supposed to be the castle of Tillietudlem, described in the ‘Tales of My Landlord.’

      Sir James’ father obtained a legitimation for him under the great seal, on January 20, 1512-13; and King James, by charter, dated March 3, 1530, granted him liberty to incorporate part of the royal arms with his own armorial bearings, which his descendant, Hamilton of Gilkerscleugh, continues to carry till this day.

      Unfortunately for Sir James, he accepted the office of ecclesiastical judge in all matters of heresy; and in his capacity of Inquisitor-General, he was guilty of great cruelty and severity towards the favourers of the reformed doctrines. Pinkerton asserts that he never held this odious office; but it cannot be doubted that he gave his sanction to the persecuting measures of the Romish clergy, which ultimately led to his own downfall. A son of his kinsman, James Hamilton of Kincavel, had been denounced as a heretic, and fearing that he would experience the fate of the young man’s uncle, the proto-martyr, Patrick Hamilton, who had been burnt at the stake about ten years previously, the father sent a younger son with a private message to the king, who referred him to the treasurer, Kirkaldy, the secretary, Sir Thomas Erskine, and the master of the household, Sir Thomas Learmouth, to whom young Hamilton accused Sir James Hamilton of Fynnart of treason and embezzlement of the moneys he had received for the erection and repair of the royal palaces. Sir James was accordingly brought to trial, and having been found guilty, was beheaded and quartered, and his lands and possessions confiscated to the crown. This happened in 1540, but three years afterwards the family estates were restored to his son, Sir James Hamilton of Evandale. The king, it is said, regretted much his death, and the historians of that period record several frightful dreams of his majesty relative to his late favourite, whose sudden and unexpected downfall created a great sensation throughout the kingdom.

HAMILTON, JAMES, second earl of Arran, regent of Scotland, the first who in that country authorised the Bible to be read in the vulgar tongue, was the eldest son of James, Lord Hamilton, first earl of Arran, by his third wife, Janet, daughter of Sir David Bethune of Creich, niece of Cardinal Bethune. He succeeded his father some time before July 1529, and in the summer of 1536, before he came of age, he accompanied James V. in an excursion to the Orkneys and Hebrides. In September of the same year, he embarked with the king for France, and was present at the nuptials of his majesty to the Princess Margaret, eldest daughter of Francis I., which were solemnized at the church of Notre Dame, Paris, with extraordinary magnificence.

      On the death of James the Fifth, in December 1542, the earl of Arran, in right of his proximity of blood to the infant queen, was declared regent by the Estates of the realm. In his first parliament he passed a number of patriotic acts, one of which sanctioned a translation of the Bible into the language of the laity, which contributed much to the advancement of the Reformation in Scotland. He likewise entertained in his family, as domestic chaplains, two of the most noted preachers of the reformed religion, which procured him the favour of the great body of the people.

      Henry the Eighth of England having proposed a marriage between his only son Edward, and the young Queen Mary of Scotland, offered, if Arran would deliver the person of Mary into his hands, to make him king of all Scotland beyond the Forth, to give his daughter Elizabeth in marriage to his eldest son, and to support him with all his power in his new dignity; which proposition the regent at once rejected. A treaty of peace, however, between the two kingdoms, and one of marriage between the young queen of Scots and Prince Edward, were concluded on July 1, 1543. Against the alliance with England, Argyle, Huntly, Bothwell, and other powerful nobles, openly protested; and by their assistance Cardinal Bethune, who had been intriguing against the regent’s authority, but was soon after released, seized the persons of the young queen and her mother, and invited over from France the earl of Lennox, the hereditary enemy of the Hamiltons. On his arrival, instigated by the malcontent lords, that nobleman began to collect troops and oppose the measures of the regent. A reconciliation having been effected between Arran and the cardinal, the regent was induced to renounce the friendship of England, and enter into a new league with France. Lennox had, in the meantime, been joined by the earl of Glencairn, the baron of Tullibardine, and other lords, and after a hollow attempt at an accommodation, he was defeated by the regent near Glasgow, in 1544, and soon after was forced to take refuge in England.

      In the spring of 1544, King Henry, indignant at the conduct of the Scots, sent the earl of Hertford with a body of troops, destined for the french wars, to invade Scotland. Landing at Leith, the earl soon became master of that place, and, marching directly to Edinburgh, after devastating the adjacent country, he laid siege to the castle, which was bravely defended by the governor, James Hamilton of Stanehouse. On the approach of a considerable force hastily collected by the regent, the English Commander set fire to the city, and, embarking part of his troops on board his fleet, with the remainder made a rapid and disorderly retreat to the borders. On February 17, 1545, the regent defeated with great slaughter a considerable body of English under Lord Evers, Sir Brian Latoun, and the earl of Lennox, at Pennielhaugh, near Jedburgh, when the two former were among the slain. On the assassination of Cardinal Bethune, May 29, 1546, the archbishopric of St. Andrews was bestowed by the regent on his natural brother, John Hamilton, abbot of Paisley.

      In September 1547, the earl of Hertford, now duke of Somerset, and protector of England, entered Scotland at the head of eighteen thousand men, while a fleet of sixty ships appeared off the coast, to second his forces on land. The regent had foreseen this invasion, and was prepared for it; but the Scots army, in their eagerness to attack the English, unfortunately abandoned a most favourable position which they had taken up, and were defeated at Pinkie, near Musselburgh, with great loss. The regent, however, by his prudence, prevented Somerset from reaping any material advantage, and he soon afterwards returned to England. Subjoined is his portrait.

[portrait of James Second Earl of Arran]

      In 1548 a new treaty was entered into with France, by which the young queen was betrothed to the dauphin, and when she was scarcely six years of age, she was sent to that country for her education; and on February 8^th, the regent was created by the French king duke of Chatelherault, in the province of Poitou. Owing, however, to the intrigues of the queen-mother, Mary of Guise, and the unceasing exertions of his enemies, a strong party was formed in Scotland against his authority; and after many delays the duke resigned the regency in a parliament which met April 10, 1554, when the queen-mother was immediately raised to that high office, which had so long been the object of her ambition. On this occasion Arran received from France the confirmation of his French title, with a considerable pension, as well as from the Scottish parliament a formal recognition of his right of succession to the crown, and a public ratification of his conduct during his regency. The duke of Chatelherault afterwards joined the lords of the congregation, and employed all his power and influence in support of the reformed faith, which, after the death of the queen regent, was, by the parliament that met August 1, 1560, recognised as the established religion of the Scottish nation.

      In consequence of his opposition to Mary’s marriage with Darnley, the duke was forced in 1565 to retire first to England, and afterwards to France. During his absence occurred the murder of Darnley, the criminal marriage of Mary with Bothwell, the speedy exile of the latter, the queen’s deposition and imprisonment in Lochleven castle, the elevation of the earl of Moray to the regency, the escape of Queen Mary, the battle of Langside, and the queen’s flight into England. On his return to Scotland in 1569, the duke claimed the regency as his by right of blood; and in virtue of a commission from Queen Mary, constituting him lieutenant-general of the kingdom, he began to assemble his friends and raise forces. At a meeting, however, which afterwards took place between the duke and the earl of Moray, the former agreed to acknowledge the king’s authority, while the latter bound himself to get the forfeiture taken off all those who had supported the queen’s interest, and to restore their estates. Soon after Moray, under pretence that they were plotting in behalf of Queen Mary, ordered his guards to seize the duke and Lord Herries, and committed them prisoners to the castle of Edinburgh, where they remained till the murder of the regent by Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, in the succeeding January, when they were set at liberty. The earl of Lennox, on being chosen regent, proclaimed the duke of Chatelherault, the earls of Huntly and Argyle, and the other leaders of the queen’s party, traitors and enemies to their country, and in 1571 shamefully beheaded the duke’s brother, the archbishop of St. Andrews. For two years after this the country was desolated with the civil war which raged between the regent’s party and the Hamiltons, or the “king’s men” and “queen’s men,” as the two factions were called; but after the earl of Morton’s elevation to the regency, a treaty was concluded at Perth with the duke and the earl of Huntly, by which the establishment of the reformed religion and the king’s authority were secured, and the duke and the queen’s friends were relieved of the act of attainder which had been passed against them. The duke spent the remainder of his days on his estates, and died at Hamilton palace, January 22, 1575.

HAMILTON, JOHN, Archbishop of St. Andrews, was the natural son of James, first earl of Arran. Mackenzie says that he studied the belles lettres and philosophy at the university of Glasgow, and theology in France, where he entered into holy orders, and that he was nominated, in 1541, abbot of Paisley; but Crawford states that he attained to this dignity in 1525. On his return to Scotland from France in 1543, one of his first measures was to effect a reconciliation between his brother the regent and Cardinal Bethune, who had till then been Arran’s determined enemy. He now joined the cardinal in his opposition to the proposed matrimonial treaty with England, and prevailed on the regent to renounce the friendship of Henry the Eighth, and to renew the alliance with France. In January 1543 he was appointed keeper of the privy seal, and he held that situation till August 1546. In the former year he also succeeded Kirkaldy of Grange as treasurer of the kingdom, an office which he retained till the resignation of the regency by his brother in 1554. In June 1545 he obtained a legitimation under the great seal, and shortly after he was created bishop of Dunkeld. On the assassination of Cardinal Bethune in May 1546, he became archbishop of St. Andrews; and under his primacy, Adam Wallace, and Walter Mill, an aged preacher of the Reformed doctrines, were burnt at the stake for heresy.

      In 1551, when the archbishop was confined to his bed, by a dangerous and lingering malady, advantage was taken of his illness by the queen-mother, Mary of Guise, to endeavour to get the regency into her own hands; and she was so far successful in her design, that the earl of Arran was induced to enter into a negotiation on the subject, with the view of resigning to her his authority. But no sooner was the primate, by the aid of the celebrated Cardan, restored to health, than he used all his influence with his brother to break off the negotiation; and Arran, in consequence, retained possession of the regency for three years more, and only resigned it at last on receiving a parliamentary acknowledgment of his right of succession to the throne. The archbishop subsequently endeavoured in vain to obstruct the progress of the Reformation in Scotland; and in 1563, three years after the new religion had obtained the sanction of the legislature, he was committed to the castle of Edinburgh for having celebrated mass contrary to law. He was soon, however, liberated, on the intercession of Queen Mary, at whose request he baptized, in 1566, the infant prince James, with the ceremonies of the Church of Rome. The queen having soon after restored him to his consistorial jurisdiction, he granted a commission to judges, who pronounced sentence of divorce between the earl of Bothwell and his wife, the Lady Jean Gordon. He adhered faithfully to the queen throughout her subsequent misfortunes in Scotland, and after the battle of Langside, he was among those of the name of Hamilton who were proscribed and attainted by parliament. On the capture of the castle of Dumbarton, April 2, 1571, the archbishop, who had found a temporary refuge there, was taken prisoner, and carried under a strong guard to Stirling, where an attempt was made to convict him of the murder of the king (Lord Darnley) and the regent (the earl of Murray), but these accusations could not be substantiated. He was, however, condemned to death by the regent Lennox, in terms of the act of forfaulture already passed against him, and was accordingly hanged in his pontifical robes on the common gibbet of Stirling, April 5, 1571, being the first bishop in Scotland who had died by the hands of the executioner, and the last Scottish primate of the Roman Catholic church. By his mistress, Grizzel Semple, widow of James Hamilton of Stanehouse, he had two sons and one daughter. The elder son, was William Hamilton of Blair near Culross, whose grandson, Peter Hamilton, was first episcopal minister at Cramond, afterwards at Leith, and subdean of the chapel-royal. By Charles the Second he was promoted to be bishop of Dunkeld, and died after the Revolution, without issue. Crawford describes him as “a pleasant facetious gentleman, and an excellent companion over a bottle.”

HAMILTON, JOHN, a factious and turbulent secular priest, who, in the sixteenth century, rendered himself conspicuous by his furious zeal in behalf of the Church of Rome, was the second son of Thomas Hamilton of Orchartfield, grandfather of the first earl of Haddington. He left Scotland on account of his religion, and fixing his residence at Paris in 1573, was soon after appointed professor of philosophy in the college of Navarre. In 1576 he became tutor to the cardinal de Bourbon, and in 1578 to Francis de Joyeuse, afterwards a cardinal.

      In October 1584 Hamilton was chosen rector of the university of Paris, and in the following year was presented, by the students forming the German nation of that university, to the cure of the parishes of St. Cosmus and Damian. He was a zealous partisan of the Catholic league of 1586; and in 1590, when Henry IV. Besieged Paris, he collected the ecclesiastics of the capital, and marshaling them in battle order, advanced at their head against the forces of the heretics. In 1591 he was one of the “‘Couseil des Seize Quartiers,” who offered the crown of France to Philip II. Of Spain, when, among other atrocities, that society of bigots decreed the death of Brisson, president of the parliament of Paris, and of L’Archer and Tardif, two of the councillors. Hamilton carried his violence so far as to drag Tardif from a bed of sickness to the scaffold. In 1594, on the very day that Henry IV. Entered Paris, he and some other fanatics like himself, distrusting that monarch’s recent conversion to the Catholic faith, endeavoured to expel the king by force of arms. The attempt, however, failed, and Hamilton was arrested, but soon after received permission to the depart out of France, on which he retired to Brussels. In his absence the parliament condemned him to be broken on the wheel for the murder of Tardif, and the sentence was duly executed on his effigy.

      In 1601, after an absence of nearly thirty years, he ventured to return to Scotland, where he was joined by Edmond Hay, the Jesuit. No sooner was their arrival known, than the king issued a proclamation ordering their instant departure from the kingdom, on pain of treason, and prohibiting any one from harbouring them. Hamilton found a temporary asylum at the castle of Airlie, in Forfarshire, belonging to Lord Ogilvie; but in 1609 he was apprehended by a party of life-guards, sent by the Scottish privy council, and confined in the Tower of London, where he died.

      He was the author of:

      Ane Catholick and Facile Traictaise drawin out of the Halie Scriptures, treulie exponit be the Ancient Doctrines, to confirm the Reall and Corporell Praesence of Christis Pretious Bodie and Blude in the Sacrament of the altar. Dedicated to His Soveraine, Marie, the Queenis Majestie of Scotland. Paris, 1581, 16mo. Appended to this curious production were twenty-four Orthodox and Catholic conclusions dedicated to James VI., containing ‘Certain Questions to the quhilks we desire the Ministers mak resolute answer at the next General Assemblie.’ Running title: Of ye Lordis Supper. There is another edition entitle, “ Facile Traictise; contenand first, and infallible Reul to discerne trew from fals Religion; nixt, a declaration of the nature, number, verteu, and effects of the Sacraments, &c. Lovan, 1600, 8vo.

HAMILTON, JAMES, third marquis and first duke of Hamilton, elder son of James, second marquis, who in 1619 was created by James the First of England earl of Cambridge in the English peerage, was born in Hamilton palace, June 19, 1606. He received the early part of his education in Scotland, and completed it at Oxford. On the death of his father in 1625, he succeeded to the family titles and estates; and at the coronation of Charles the First in that year, he carried the sword of state in the procession. He afterwards lived in retirement, chiefly at Brodick castle, island of Arran, till the end of 1628, when, having been pressingly invited by the king, he went to court, and was created master of the horse, gentleman of the king’s bedchamber, and privy councillor in both kingdoms. At the baptism of Prince Charles in 1630, he represented the king of Bohemia, as one of the sponsors, when the order of the Garter was conferred on him, together with a grant of the office of chief steward of the house and manor of Hampton Court.

      The same year, having been empowered by the king to raise troops in his own name, he joined the famous Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, with 6,000 men, to assist Charles’ brother-in-law, the elector palatine, in his attempt to recover his lost hereditary dominions. On disembarking his troops near the mouth of the Oder, he received from his Swedish majesty a general’s commission, and immediately proceeded into Silesia, where he besieged and took several fortified places, distinguishing himself by his bravery on all occasions. The severity of the service, combined with the ravages of the plague, in a short time reduced his army to two incomplete regiments, and, finding himself treated with neglect by the king of Sweden, he returned to England in September 1632. The following year he attended King Charles to Scotland, and assisted at his coronation there, but took no farther part in public affairs for several years.

      In 1638 the marquis of Hamilton was appointed his majesty’s commissioner to the famous General Assembly, which met at Glasgow, and the proceedings of that body being in opposition to the views of the king, the marquis had recourse to a dissolution of the court. But as, of course, the Assembly could not recognise this exercise of authority, they continued their sittings as usual, went on subscribing the Covenant, and formally abolished Episcopacy in Scotland. The king hereupon authorised the marquis to treat with them, and endeavour to get the Covenant recalled, but they plainly told him “that they would sooner renounce their baptism.” This year he published a ‘Declaration and Vindication of himself,’ in 4to.

      In 1639, when the Scots nation were compelled to defend by arms their civil and religious liberties, the marquis was sent to Scotland with a well equipped fleet and a force of 5,000 men, while the king, at the head of 25,000 foot and 3,000 horse, advanced by land. The treaty of Berwick, however, concluded July 18, prevented hostilities for that time. In October 1641 a plot was formed, by the marquis of Montrose and the earl of Crawford, against the marquis, his brother, the earl of Lanark, and the marquis of Argyle, on which he retired with these two noblemen to the house of Kinniel, in Linlithgowshire, till the affair was investigated; and at the end of a few days they resumed their attendance in parliament. This event is styled in history “The Incident.”

      In 1643, as a reward for his services to the king, the marquis was created duke of Hamilton, and marquis of Clydesdale, &c. About the end of the same year, the duke and his brother went to Oxford, to clear themselves from some misrepresentations of their conduct which had been made by their enemies to the king, but were debarred access to his majesty, who ordered them into confinement. The earl of Lanark, as previously mentioned, made his escape, but the duke was sent prisoner to Pendennis castle, in Cornwall, and afterwards was removed to St. Michael’s Mount, at the Land’s End, where he remained till the end of April 1646, when the castle being captured by the parliamentary forces, he was set at liberty.

      After Charles had thrown himself into the hands of the Scottish army, the duke went to Newcastle, and again offered his services to the king. On August 10, 1646, he had a grant from his majesty of the office of hereditary keeper of the palace of Holyrood. In 1648 the duke promoted, with all his power, “the Engagement” entered into by the Scots parliament, to raise an army for the relief of the king. Of the force which was hastily collected together, amounting to about 10,000 foot and 4,000 cavalry, the duke was appointed general, the earl of Callendar lieutenant-general, and Middleton and Baillie major-generals. With these troops, which were very indifferently appointed and disciplined, and but imperfectly armed, and without artillery, the duke marched into England, where he was joined by Sir Marmaduke Langdale, with a body of English forces, and by Sir George Monro with 2,000 foot and 1,000 horse. After compelling Lambert, the parliamentary general, to retire with precipitation, they passed through Carlisle, and advanced by Penrith, Appleby, and Kendal, driving the enemy before them to Preston, where the retreating force of Lambert was met by Cromwell at the head of a strong reinforcement. A battle ensued on August 17, in which the Royalists were defeated, and great part of their army dispersed. The remainder, with the duke, proceeded on to Uttoxeter, in Staffordshire, where, having only a few of the cavalry left, he capitulated with General Lambert, on assurances of safety to himself and his followers. The duke was carried to Derby, and from thence to Ashby-de-la-Zouche, where he continued till the beginning of December, when he was brought to Windsor castle, and confined under a strong guard. On the 21^st of that month, when the king was carried through Windsor on his way to his trial at London, the duke prevailed upon his keepers to permit him to see his majesty; and, as he passed, he fell on his knees, and passionately exclaimed, “My dear master!” The king, lifting him up, embraced him, and said, “I have been so, indeed, to you.” No further discourse was allowed between them, and Charles was instantly hurried away.

      Subjoined is a portrait of his grace from a painting by Vandyck:

[portrait of James first duke of Hamilton]

      After the king’s execution, his grace, apprehensive of his own fate, resolved on making his escape, and by the help of his equery, he succeeded in getting away from Windsor, under night, and reached the neighbourhood of London undiscovered; but entering the city about four o’clock in the morning, contrary to the directions he had received, he was apprehended by a patrol of cavalry, and carried to St. James’, where he was lodged in the same room with the earl of Norwich, Lord Capel, and Sir John Owen, also prisoners, who afterwards suffered with him. He was brought to trial February 6, 1649, being indicted as earl of Cambridge, and a natural-born English subject, for having levied war and committed treason against the kingdom and people of England. He pleaded that he had acted by command of the Estates and supreme authority of Scotland, which were altogether independent of England; that he was a native of Scotland, and consequently an alien, and not amendable to English jurisdiction; and, finally, that he had surrendered himself a prisoner of war on capitulation, by the articles of which his life and safety were secured. His pleas were overruled by the court, and after several adjournments, he was found guilty, and sentenced to be beheaded on Friday, March 9. After his condemnation he was earnestly solicited to save himself by making discoveries; but he rejected all such offers with scorn, saying, there was no choice betwixt a glorious death and an infamous life. He was decapitated in Palace Yard, Westminster, suffering death with great fortitude and magnanimity, and his remains were, according to his desire, conveyed to Scotland, and deposited in the burial-place of the family at Hamilton. His grace married Lady Mary Fielding, daughter of William earl of Denbigh, and by her, who died May 10, 1638, he had three sons, all of whom died young, and three daughters.

HAMILTON, JAMES, fourth duke of Hamilton, eldest son of Anne, duchess in her own right, by her husband, William earl of Selkirk (who, at the Restoration, was created duke of Hamilton for life, in right of marriage to the duchess), was born April 11, `658, and was at first styled earl of Arran. He was educated principally at the university of Glasgow, after which he passed some time on the Continent. On his return he was appointed, January 17, 1679, one of the gentlemen of the king’s bedchamber. He had not long been at court before an affair of gallantry involved him in a quarrel with Lord Mordaunt, afterwards the celebrated earl of Peterborough and Monmouth, which led to a duel betwixt the parties in Greenwich Park. Lord Arran fired first, and narrowly missed Lord Mordaunt, who discharged his pistol in the air. They then engaged with swords, when Lord Mordaunt was wounded in the groin, but running his antagonist into the thigh, his sword broke, so that his life was at the mercy of the earl of Arran, who honourably put an end to the contest, and they parted good friends.

      In December 1683, Charles II. Nominated Lord Arran ambassador extraordinary to France, to congratulate Louis XIV. On the birth of a grandson. He served two campaigns under the French king as his aide-de-camp, the dauphin and his lordship being sworn into that office on the same day. On the accession of James the Second and Seventh, his lordship returned to England, and was appointed master of the wardrobe to the new king, who, in the succeeding July, conferred on him the command of the first or royal regiment of horse.

      On the revival of the order of the Thistle in 1687, the earl of Arran was nominated one of the knights companions thereof. He adhered firmly to King James in his declining fortunes, and was one of the four lords who accompanied him to Rochester on his embarkation for the Continent, December 22, 1688. At the meeting of the Scottish nobility and gentry in London, assembled by the prince of Orange, January 7, 1689, of which his father, the duke of Hamilton, was president, Lord Arran made the following speech: “I have all the honour and deference for the prince of Orange imaginable. I think him a brave prince, and that we owe him great obligations in contributing so much to our delivery from popery; but, while I pay these praises, I cannot violate my duty to my master. I can distinguish betwixt his popery and his person; I dislike the one, but have sworn, and do owe, allegiance to the other, which makes it impossible for me to sign away that which I cannot forbear believing is the king my master’s fight; for his present absence in France can no more affect my duty, than his longer absence from us has done all the while; and the prince, desiring our advice, mine is, that we should move his majesty to return and call a free parliament for the securing our religion and property, which, in my humble opinion, will at last be found to be the best way to heal all our breaches.” This proposal received no support from any one. In the subsequent August, being suspected of having a share in Sir James Montgomery’s plot for the restoration of King James, and also of corresponding with the abdicated monarch, he was twice committed prisoner to the Tower of London, where he remained several months, but was at length discharged without prosecution. On his release he returned to Scotland, where he lived in retirement for some years. His father’s death, in 1694, brought no accession of honours or estate, both being hereditary in the duchess, but in July 1698 her grace resigned her titles into the hands of King William, in favour of her eldest son; when the earl of Arran was accordingly created duke of Hamilton, with the original precedency.

      The failure of the Darien expedition having excited much popular ferment in Scotland, the duke of Hamilton took an active part in support of the claims of the African Company, and headed a strong party, which stood firm to the interests of the country, and uniformly asserted the independence of the nation. He took the oaths and his seat in parliament May 21, 1700, and distinguished himself on all occasions by his opposition to the measures of King William’s government.

      On the accession of Queen Anne, March 8, 1702, his grace, with other influential persons, went to London, to endeavour to prevail on her majesty to call a new parliament; but she did not think proper to comply with their advice. On the opening of the Convention parliament, on June 9, his grace entered a protestation against the legality of the meeting, and, with seventy-nine members, withdrew from its sittings, amid the acclamations of the people. In the parliament of 1703 he exerted his utmost influence to obtain for his countrymen an equality of commercial privileges with England, and in all the discussions of that period he took a prominent part as leader of the country party. In August 1704 was passed the famous act of security, which provided for the succession to the crown, and for the maintenance of the liberties and independence of the Scottish nation. In this, the concluding parliament of Scotland, the duke’s conduct had an important influence on all the measures proposed for the settlement of the affairs of the kingdom. In the last session, which met October 3, 1706, the treaty of Union received the determined opposition of his grace, who voted against every article of that treaty, excepting the first clause of the fifteenth article relating to the equivalent, and adhered to every protest against it. In the debate respecting the first article, November 2d, he said, “What! Shall we, in half an hour, yield what our forefathers maintained with their lives and fortunes for many ages! Are none of the descendants here of those worthy patriots who defended the liberty of their country against all invaders – who assisted the great King Robert Bruce to restore the constitution, and avenge the falsehood of England and usurpation of Baliol? Where are the Douglases and the Campbells? Where are the peers? Where are the barons, once the bulwarks of the nation? Shall we yield up the sovereignty and independency of Scotland, when we are commanded by those we represent to preserve the same, and assured of their assistance to support us?” Some of the more violent of the opposition had planned a general insurrection against the progress of this obnoxious treaty, and had appointed a body of 7,000 men to rendezvous at Hamilton on a certain day, but the duke’s prudence prevented him from entering heartily into the design, and, by sending messengers to countermand the contemplated rising in the west country, he had the merit of saving the country from being involved in civil war.

      In 1707, when a visit from the Pretender was expected in Scotland, the duke, to avert suspicion from himself of favouring the project, retired to his seat in Staffordshire. In 1708, when the French fleet appeared off the coast, his grace was taken into custody and removed to London, but soon obtained his liberty. In June of that year his grace was elected one of the sixteen representative peers, and was rechosen at the next general election in 1710. On the overthrow of the Whig ministry, October 1, 1710, he was appointed lord-lieutenant of the county palatine of Lancaster, ranger of the queen’s forests therein, admiral of the sea-coasts of that county, and admitted a privy councillor.

      In September 1711 his grace was created a peer of Great Britain by the title of Baron Dutton, in Cheshire, and duke of Brandon, in Suffolk, On taking his seat in the subsequent December, several interesting debates took place in the House of Lords, as to his right to sit as a British peer while he continued a representative peer of Scotland, and their decision being unfavourable to his claim, the Scottish peers withdrew from the House. A motion for taking the option of the twelve judges on the point was negatived. In consequence of a message from the queen, who was much interested in behalf of the duke, the question was again taken into consideration on January 25, 1712, when the Scottish peers were so far appeased, that they resumed their attendance in the House of Lords. The point, however, was not completely set at rest till 1782, when, in the case of Douglas, the eighth duke of Hamilton and fifth duke of Brandon the judges gave an unanimous opinion in favour of the eligibility of Scottish peers to be admitted to the full privileges of peers of Great Britain.

      On the death of Earl Rivers, the duke was, September 5, 1712, appointed master-general of the ordnance; and, on October 26, was installed a knight of the order of the Garter. A few days thereafter, he was appointed ambassador extraordinary to France, upon the conclusion of the treaty of Utrecht; but while splendid preparations were making for that embassy, his grace was slain in a duel, fought in Hyde Park, with Lord Mohun, who was also killed on the spot, on Saturday, November 15, 1712. His grace and Lord Mohun had married two nieces of Charles, earl of Macclesfield, and for several years had been engaged in a chancery suit for part of his estate, which created much animosity, inflamed by their espousing different sides in parliament. The immediate cause of the duel was some high words which passed between them, at a meeting in the chambers of a master in chancery, three days before. Parnell, in his verses ‘On the Peace of 1712,’ notices the duke’s fate in very pathetic terms. At the time of his tragical death he was in his 55^th year. He was twice married: first to Lady Anne Spenser, eldest daughter of Robert 2d earl of Sunderland, by whom he had 2 daughters, who died young; and, 2dly, to Elizabeth, only child of Lord Gerard of Bromley, by whom he had 7 children. He was succeeded by his eldest son James. (See previous article)

HAMILTON LORD CLAUD, fourth son of James, second earl of Arran and first duke of Chatelherault, by his wife, Lady Margaret Douglas, eldest daughter of James, third earl of Morton, was born either in 1539, or, according to Keith [Catalogue of Bishops, page 253], in 1543. His father, the duke of Chatelherault, being acknowledged by act of parliament next heir to the crown of Scotland after Queen Mary, and having been appointed regent of Scotland in 1543 during her minority, Lord Claud was, at a very early age (in 1553), appointed to the opulent post of commendator of the abbey of Paisley, under the confirmation of a papal bull fro Pope Julius III. In the bull his age is given as fourteen years old. During the civil discords that prevailed in Scotland in the reign of Queen Mary, he, with his father and the other members of the house of Hamilton, warmly espoused her interests, and was one of the principal commanders in her army at the battle of Langside. May 13, 1568, the loss of which was the cause of her flight into England. Immediately after the battle, Lord Claud, with many others, was summoned to attend a parliament called by the Regent Moray, and upon his refusal to appear, was outlawed, and his estate forfeited. During the regency of the earl of Mar, Lord Claud’s lands were bestowed on Lord Semple, who kept a strong garrison in his castle, and exercised on all around a severe military discipline. At the head of his faithful tenants, Lord Claud besieged the castle, and compelled Lord Semple to surrender at discretion. His forfeiture was repealed by the act of parliament which confirmed the pacification of Perth in 1573.

      In the year 1579, King James, having it insinuated to him that the Hamiltons, as declared heirs to the crown, had espoused the queen’s cause in that hearty manner, with the view of destroying him, who stood in their way, resolved to apprehend the Lords John and Claud Hamilton, at that time in Edinburgh, under sanction of the articles of agreement ratified the year before. They however made their escape. Lord John fled in a seaman’s habit to England, and went thence to France. Lord Claud was in hiding for some time on the borders of Scotland, but ultimately retired into England, and lived for a time at Widdrington, with a relation of the earl of Northumberland. During the year that he remained in exile he was constantly engaged in the various attempts made to restore Queen Mary to liberty, and seems to have been regarded by her at that time, as appears from the numerous letters now extant in the State paper office, as the person in whose assistance she had the greatest hope and confidence. Amongst many letters of interest relating to him, is one from the unfortunate queen, during her imprisonment at Chartley, dated 20^th May 1586, to Sir Charles Paget, who was one of her principal means of communication there with her friends, in which she says –

      “I wold then in the meane tyme yow shold write to the Lord Claude, letting him understande how that the k. of Spayne is to sett on this countrye, and desireth to have the assistance of the Catholikes of Scotlande for to stoppe at the least, that from theme the queen of Englande have no soccours, and to that effect yow shall pray the sayd Lord Claude to sownde and grope the mindes hereunto of the principall of the Catholike hobilitye in Scotlande and others hereof, under pretextes he might bringe to other; moreover that he declare particularly unto yow the names of those that are to enter in this bande, and what forces they are able to make together, and to the ende they may be the more encouraged herein yow may write playnelye to the Lord Claude that yow have charge, of me, to treate with him in this matter. Buy by yowr first letter I am not of opinion that yow discover yowr selfe further to him nor to other at all, untill yow have received answer of the k. of spayne, which being conform to this desseignment, then may yow open more to the Lord Claude, shewing him that to assure himself of my sonne, and to the end (if it be possible) that things be past and done under his name and authoritye, it shall be nedefull to sease his person, in case that willinglye he cannot be browght to this enterprise; yea and that the surest way were to deliver him into the k. of spayne his hands, or the Pope’s, as shall be thowght best; and that in his absence he depute the L. Claude his lieutenant-general and regent in the government of Scotland, which yow are assured I may be easelye persuaded to confirme and approve. For if it be possible I will not, for divers respects, be named herein untill the extremitye. To persuade hereunto the sayd L. Claude, it shall be good that yow assure him to travell to abolish all remembrance or grefe of his brother the Lord of Arbroth (Lord John Hamilton) his procedings; that idurectly yow put him in hope that I shall make him be declared lawfull heyre to the crowne of Scotland, my sonne fayling without children, and that there unto I shall make the catholike princes of christendome condescende to mayntayne him in that respect. I can write nothing presentyle to the L. Claude him selfe, for want of an alphabete between me and him, which now I send yow herewith enclosed, that yow may send it unto him.”

      Another letter, to Lord Claud himself, from Chartley, July 1586, is in these terms –

      “Right trusty and well-beloved cousin, – Being as yet not very sure of this new way, I will not content my self hereby only to testifie unto youe how much liking and contentment I have had of that which the English lordes brother (Sir Charles Paget) and Fontenay did write unto me in your name, before your return to Scotlande. Youe are now in place, and have meanes to correspond effectually to the expectation which I and all myne have conceaved of youe, wherein I assure youe that I shall not fayle youe in any thing consisting in my owne power, or that I may obtayne by my credit of all Christian princes. Wherefore I praye youe uppon that which I committed last to be imparted unto youe by the said English (desiring youe to credit him as my self) to let me know particularly your own resolution and the inclination of others my good and faithfull subjectes, to the end that according thereunto I may proceede with my principal frendes. This last ligue of my sonnes with the queene of England hath much offended them; labor to make me understand the perticuarities thereof, and whether if there be any thing passed in the same concerning my perticular, either in the publicque treatie or in any secreat articles. For I have been advertised that that unhappy master of Gray hath not desisted to labour with all extremity against me, which moveth me not to feare a litle that so ong as he shall remaine neere my sonne, we are not like (I and my sonne) ever to have much good intelligence together; and therefore I pray youe so earnestly as I can to find the meanes to shift him forth of the roome, having behaved himself so traiterously toward me, as that there is no punishment but he hath deserved therefore. The delivirer hereof did serve me very faithfully so long as he was in this contry, and I trust he will do the lyke in all you will employ him there for my service, especially for the sure convoy of your letters and myne by this way. God almighty have youe, cousin, in his holly protection. Your right loving cousingnes and good friend,

            Marie R.”

      Lord Claud, with his brother Lord John, returned to Scotland in 1585, and was well received by the king. All their estates and honours were restored to them, and in consideration of the constant loyalty, and great losses and sufferings of Lord Claud on behalf of the king’s mother, all the lordship and barony of Paisley, with the pertainments of the abbacy and monastery of Paisley, and their extensive lordships and estates, comprising lands in Renfrewshire and nine other counties, and the patronage of twenty-eight churches, were bestowed on him by charter in 1585, and, July 29, 1587, were erected into a temporal lordship, for him and his heirs male, under the title of Baron of Paisley. His eldest son also, James, was, during his lifetime, in 1606, created earl of Abercorn, and additional estates were granted to him in Linlithgowshire and elsewhere. Lord Claud died in 1622, aged 78, and was buried in the abbey of Paisley. He was the ancestor of the marquis of Abercorn, and also of the Counts Hamilton of Sweden. He married Margaret, only daughter of George, sixth Lord Set on, and with a daughter, Margaret, wife of William, first marquis of Douglas, had four sons. 1. James, first earl of Abercorn; 2. Hon. Sir Claud Hamilton, a gentleman of the king’s privy chamber, and by privy seal, dated October 6, 1618, appointed constable of the castle of Toome, county Antrim, Ireland, for life; 3. Hon. Sir George Hamilton of Greenlaw and Roscrea, county Tipperary, who behaved with great bravery in the service of Charles I. His daughter, Margaret, married, in 1622, Sir Archibald Acheson of Gosford, East Lothian, baronet, a lord of session and secretary of state for Scotland, ancestor of the earls of Gosford in the peerage of Ireland. 4. Hon. Sir Frederick Hamilton, whose youngest son, Gustavus, lieutenant-general in the army, was by George I., on October 9, 1714, created Baron Hamilton of Stackallan, and in August 1717, advanced to the dignity of Viscount Boyne, in the Irish peerage.

HAMILTON, JAMES, first earl of Abercorn, eldest son of the preceding, a nobleman of much ability, and in great favour with King James VI., was one of the lords of his privy council, and a gentleman of the bedchamber. By a charter, dated in 1600, the king gave the office of high sheriff of the county of Linlithgow, to him and his heirs male whatever; and by another charter in 1601, he got the lands of Abercorn, Braidmeadows, &c. He was created a peer, by the title of Baron Abercorn, April 5, 1603, and in 1604 he was appointed one of the commissioners, on the part of Scotland, to treat of a union with England, which did not take place. On July 10, 1606, he was advanced to the dignity of earl of Abercorn, baron of Paisley, Hamilton, Mountcastle, and Kilpatrick, by patent to him and his heirs male whatever. King James, after his accession to the crown of England, having founded the plantations of Ulster in the north of Ireland, and wishing to have eminent persons on whom he could depend in connexion with them, granted the earl of Abercorn the same precedence, as an earl, in the Irish parliament and at the council-table, as he held in Scotland, and in 1615 he had a grant of a vast estate out of the escheated lands in the barony of Strabane, on which he built a castle, a schoolhouse, and a church.

      The earl of Abercorn, who usually resided at the Place of Paisley, had the honour of receiving there in 1597 the consort of King James VI.; and again the king himself, who, in his progress through Scotland, after a fourteen years’ absence, tarried at Paisley in 1617, where “a welcome in the earl of Abercorn his great hall was verie graciously delivered by a prettie boy of nine years of age, son of Sir James Semple of Belltries.” The earl died in the lifetime of his father, March 16, 1618, and was buried in the abbey of Paisley. He married Marion, eldest daughter of Thomas, fifth Lord Boyd, and with three daughters, had five sons. 1. James, 2d earl of Abercorn. On the death of William, second duke of Hamilton, of his wounds at the battle of Worcester, September 11, 11651, the second earl of Abercorn became male representative of the family of Hamilton; but the estates and titles of that house devolved on the duke’s niece, Anne, duchess of Hamilton. 2. Claud, Lord Strabane in Ireland, so created Aug. 14, 1634, on his brother’s resignation of that title to him. The male line having failed in the eldest branch on the death of George, 3d earl of Abercorn, the descent devolved on Claud, grandson of Lord Strabane, who was 5^th baron of Strabane and 4^th earl of Abercorn. 3. Hon. Sir William Hamilton, who was long a resident at Rome, from Henrietta Maria, queen dowager of England. 4. Hon. Sir George Hamilton, of Donalong, county Tyrone, and Nenagh, Tipperary, created a baronet of Ireland in 1660. His eldest son, Colonel James Hamilton, who died June 6, 1673, of a wound received in a naval battle against the Dutch, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, was the father of James, 6^th earl of Abercorn. Sir George’s third son was the celebrated Count Anthony Hamilton, of whom a memoir is given below. 5. Hon. Sir Alexander Hamilton of Holborn, from whom the Counts Hamilton of Germany are directly descended. He settled first at the court of Philip William, elector palatine, by whom he was sent envoy extraordinary to King James II. Of England. He accompanied to Vienna the elector’s daughter Eleonora Magdalena, who was married to the Emperor Leopold, and was created a count of the empire, with a grant of the county of Neuberg, near Passau, and other estates in Moravia and Hungary.

HAMILTON, JAMES, eighth earl of Abercorn, a nobleman who possessed singular vigour of mind, integrity of conduct, and patriotic views, was born October 22, 1712. He was summoned by writ to the House of Peers in Ireland as Baron Mountcastle, March 23, 1736, and succeeded his father in 1744, as earl of Abercorn and Viscount Strabane. In 1745, he purchased from Archibald, duke of Argyle, the barony of Duddingston, Mid Lothian, where he built an elegant mansion, and made it his favourite residence. In the imperial parliament he was one of the peers who, on March 11, 1766, voted against the act to repeal the American stamp act, and joined in the protests against the second and third reading of the bill. He also voted for rejecting Fox’s India bill, December 17, 1783. He was created a peer of Great Britain, August 8, 1786, by the title of viscount Hamilton, with remainder to his nephew, John James.

      He was among the first who, in the middle of the eighteenth century, laid the foundation of that improved system of agriculture and rural economy for which Scotland has now become so remarkable. To him also is due, in great measure, the advancement of the important manufacturing town of Paisley, which a century ago was but an inconsiderable place, until what is now known as “the new town” was laid out and built by the earl on his patrimonial estate. This has been the means of increasing the trade and importance of Paisley, and giving it its present position among the manufacturing towns of the kingdom. On his estate in Ireland he built a magnificent house at Baron’s Court, near Strabane. At his seat, Witham, in Essex, Queen Charlotte slept September 7, 1761, on her journey from Harwich to London. The earl sat as a representative peer of Scotland for twenty-three years, from 1761 to 1784, He died unmarried, October 9, 1789, and was buried in the abbey of Paisley. His lordship, as heir male of the second earl of Arran and first duke of Chatelherault, claimed the title of duke of Chatelherault in France, a claim afterwards renewed on the part of the second marquis of Abercorn. He was succeeded by his nephew, John James, ninth earl and first marquis of Abercorn.

HAMILTON, COUNT ANTHONY, author of the ‘Memories du Comte de Grammont,’ third son of Sir George Hamilton, fourth son of first earl of Abercorn, and great-grandson of first duke of Chatelherault, was born in Ireland in 1646. During the protectorate of Cromwell he passed most of his time in France, having, with all his father’s family, accompanied Charles II. In his exile. He returned to England at the restoration. In 1687, he was a lieutenant-colonel, with the pay of £200 a-year, and although a Roman Catholic, had the command of a regiment of infantry in Ireland, and was governor of Limerick. At the revolution he followed James VII. Into France, and became a lieutenant-general in the French service, as did also his brother Richard.

      In his ‘Memories de Grammont,’ with a pen full of easy and exquisite point, he has portrayed the character of the beauties and wits of the court of Charles II., and detailed the intrigues in which he was himself a considerable actor. He was also the author of ‘Count Hamilton’s Tales,’ and other works, in the French language, to which Voltaire gives high praise, and which he says have all the humour without the burlesque of Scarron. His ‘Epistle to the Count de Grammont’ was much read. He may be styled the father of the natural romance or novel. His works were published collectively in 1749, in 6 vols. 12mo, and are all in French. Count Anthony Hamilton died at St. Germains, April 21, 1720, aged 74 years. His elder brother, James, father of the sixth earl of Abercorn, was in great favour with Charles II. After his restoration. The latter made a grant to him, for his and his children’s lives, of Hyde Park in London, which grant was, however, afterwards commuted, for a charge of nine hundred pounds per annum, on the first-fruits and tenths of the dioceses of St. David’s, Hereford, Oxford, and Worcester.

HAMILTON, ELIZABETH, countess de Grammont, popularly known as “La belle Hamilton” at the court of Charles II., and of whom numerous portraits are extant at Hampton Court Palace and elsewhere, was the eldest daughter of Sir George Hamilton, fourth son of the first earl of Abercorn, and the sister of Count Anthony Hamilton. Mill Hamilton was one of the few ladies attached to the court of Charles II. Who appear to have preserved a reputation, in spite of acknowledged beauty, untainted by suspicion. In the brilliant pages of the ‘Memoires de Grammont,’ she is styled “the chief ornament of the court, worthy of the most ardent and sincere affection, – nobody could boast a nobler birth, nothing could be more charming than her person.” She had many noble offers of marriage, and after refusing the duke of Richmond, Jermyn, nephew of the earl of St. Albans, and Henry Howard, afterwards duke of Norfolk, she married Philibert, count de Grammont, brother of the duke of that name, and hero of the ‘Memoires de Grammont.’ charles II., in a letter to his sister, the duchess of Orleans, dated 24^th October 1669, bears this testimony to her merits: – “I writt to you yestarday by the compte de Grammont, but I beleeve this letter will come sooner to your handes, for he goes by the way of Diep with his wife and family; and now that I have named her, I cannot chuse but again desire you to be kinde to her, for besides the meritt her family has on both sides, she is as good a creature as ever lived. I beleeve she will passe for a handsome woman in France, though she has not yett, since her lying in, recovered that good shape she had before, and I am affraide never will.” [Dalrymple’s Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 26.]

      After her marriage to the comte de Grammont, she was appointed dame du Palais to Maria Theresa of Austria, queen of Louis XIV. Her husband died at Paris, January 30, 1707, aged 86. She died January 3, 1708, aged 67. They had two daughters, Claude Charlotte de Grammont, who married Henry Howard, earl of Stafford, and Marie Elizabeth de Grammont, abbess de St. Marie de Poussay in Lorraine, who died in 1706.

HAMILTON, SIR Robert, Bart., of Preston, commander of the Covenanters’ army (see previous article).

HAMILTON, SIR THOMAS, first earl of Haddingto, an eminent judge and statesman, eldest son of Sir Thomas Hamilton of Priestfield, (a lord of session 1607-08), by his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of James Heriot of Trabrown, was born in 1563. According to Scott of Scotstarvet, his grandfather was a merchant in the West Bow of Edinburgh. He was, however, Thomas Hamilton of Orchartfield, Bathgate, and Ballencrieff, and was killed at the battle of Pinkie, September 10, 1547, leaving two sons, Sir Thomas, his successor, father of the subject of this notice, and John, a secular priest, whose life is given at a previous article. Thomas Hamilton of Orchartfield’s father, the great-grandfather of the first earl of Haddington, was also named Thomas Hamilton of Orchartfield, and was the second son of Hugh Hamilton of Innerwick, Haddingtonshire, sprung from John de Hamilton, second son of Sir Walter FitzGilbert de Hamilton, dominus de Cadzow.

      The subject of this notice was educated at the High School of Edinburgh, but pursued his university and legal studies for six years in France. After his return to Scotland, he was, on 1^st November 1587, admitted advocate, and soon distinguished himself by his talents and learning. As he resided in the Cowgate of Edinburgh, in the 16^th century a street of greater consideration than it is now, he acquired from James the Sixth the ludicrous byname of Tam o’ the Cowgate. In 1592 he was appointed a lord of session, when he took the title of Lord Drumcairn. The same year he was nominated one of the commissioners for printing the acts of parliament. On 13^th January 1595-6, he was constituted one of the eight persons, called from their number Octavians, to whom King James committed the charge of all the state patronage and finances, and in the distribution of offices made by them among themselves, he secured that of king’s advocate, although there were already two persons in possession of that office. The Octavians, from the invidious nature of their functions and their possession of all the patronage of the kingdom, were an unpopular body, and Hamilton is particular, from his being suspected of a leaning to popery, was so obnoxious to the people, that his life was in extreme danger during the tumult which took place in Edinburgh on 17^th December 1596. In the presbytery of Edinburgh, it was even proposed that he and the president of the court of session, Set on, afterwards earl of Dunfermline, should be excommunicated. In the famous anonymous letter delivered to the king’s porter on the night of 10^th January 1597, and by him given to the king, he is described as “Mr. Thomas Hamilton, brought up in Paris, with that apostate Mr. John Hamilton, and men say the dregs of stinking Roman profession sticke fast in his ribbes.” [Calderwood’s Hist. vol. v. p. 549.] On 22d February 1597, an act of sederunt of the court of session was passed, stating that people murmured at his sitting as a judge in the cases in which he was pursuer for the king’s interest, and declaring that in such cases he was not to be considered as a party. Being afterwards knighted, he was designed Sir Thomas Hamilton of Monkland. In 1604, he was named one of the Scots commissioners for the union then projected with England, and in 1606 he attended the celebrated conference at Hampton Court. In 1597 he had begun the purchase of land, particularly church lands, and in the course of thirty years he had acquired about twenty large estates, besides all the vast territories and jurisdictions which had once belonged to the knights of St. John, the successors of the Templars. On 4^th April 1607, he obtained a charter of the office of master of the metals, with a lease of all the metals and minerals in Scotland, upon payment of one-tenth of the produce to the king. The same year he discovered a silver mine within his lands near Linlithgow, and it is stated that, after having worked it till the vein was exhausted, he sold it to King James for five thousand pounds! “The king,” says honest Calderwood, “sent certan English and Scottish men, to bring a great quantity of the ore to Londoun, to be melted and tryed. How it proved, it is not weill knowne to manie; but after that the myne was closed till his majestie advised farther.”

      On 15^th May 1612, Sir Thomas was appointed lord clerk register, but soon after he exchanged this office with Sir Alexander Hay for that of secretary of state. At that time the salary attached to the latter place was only one hundred pounds. In 1613 he was raised to the peerage by the title of Lord Binning and Byres, and on 15^th June 1616 he succeeded Preston of Fentonbarns as lord-president of the court of session. Mr. Tytler, in his Life of

Sir Thomas Craig, speaking of Lord Binning, says, “For many years he conjoined, with apparent ease to himself and acknowledged advantage to the country, the occupations of these high offices. Nor was this all: he was a friend and patron of learned men; he was deeply read, not only in civil law, but in matters of state policy and in general history. To those who, ignorant of its proper distribution, complain of the want of time, it may form a useful lesson to regard the multitudinous labours of this remarkable man. According to our modern notions of intellectual labour, the various notes and observations collected by him in the course of his studies, and the marginal references yet seen upon his books, would rather appear the relics of a life wholly devoted to literary labour, than the fruits of those scattered hours which must have been stolen from the duties of the bench, the severer labours of the council-board, or the pleasures and intrigues of a court.”

      In 1617 Lord Binning was one of the royal commissioners to the General Assembly at Perth, in which the well-known six articles savouring of episcopacy were passed, to the great delight of James and dismay of the Presbyterians. On 20^th March 1619 he was created by patent earl of Melrose, being then in possession of the lands of that abbacy. After the death of Sir John Ramsay, viscount of Haddington, eight years afterwards, he exchanged his title of Melrose for that of Haddington, judging it more honourable to take his style from a county than from an abbey, the patent of his new creation being dated at Bagshot, August 27, 1627. From his great wealth, being reputed the richest man in Scotland of his time, he was believed to be in possession of the fabulous philosopher’s stone; but as he informed King James on his visit to Edinburgh in 1617, his whole secret lay in never putting off till tomorrow what can be done today, nor ever trusting to another’s hand what his own could execute.

      He resigned the offices of secretary of state and president of the court of session on 15^th February 1626, when he was appointed lord privy seal. He died May 29, 1637, in his 74^th year. His valuable collection of manuscripts and charters are preserved in the Advocates’ Library. Of his shrewdness as a judge, it is related by Forbes, that “in an improbation of a writ, which the lords were convinced was forged, but puzzled for want of clear proof, Lord Binning taking up the writ in his hand, and holding it betwixt him and the light, discovered the forgery by the stamp of the paper, the first paper of such a stamp being posterior to the date of the writ quarrelled, “that is, challenged. On another occasion a Highland witness, in a cause in which he had been cited to give evidence for his chief, thus described him to a clansman. “I began, and was going to tell my own way, when an awful man that sits in the middle broke in upon me with such a multitude of interrogatories, as they call them, that he quite dumbfoundered me, and then I lay at his mercy, and he whirled the truth out of me as easy as ye would wind the thread off a pirn.”

HAMILTON, GEORGE, first Earl of Orkney. See ORKNEY, Earls of.

HAMILTON, Charles, Lord Binning, an ingenious poet, eldest son of Thomas, sixth earl of Haddington, was born in 1697. He served as a volunteer with his father at the battle of Sheriffmuir, 13^th November, 1715, and behaved gallantly against the rebels. A song in praise of Æmilius, supposed to be written by him while a youth, in his own commendation, contains a jocular allusion to his father’s terror during that conflict, in which, on the contrary, his father’s courage was particularly conspicuous. In 1722, he was elected member of parliament for St. Germains in Cornwall, and appointed knight marischal of Scotland. He was also a commissioner of trade. Being attacked with the symptoms of a consumption, in the hope of deriving benefit from a change of climate, he went, with some of his relations, to Naples, where he died, in the lifetime of his father, January 13, 1733, aged 36. He was the author of a pleasing pastoral entitled ‘Ungrateful Nanny,’ originally printed in the Gentleman’s Magazine for 1741, and republished by Ritson. Another ballad of inferior merit, written in the character of colonel Charteris, entitled ‘The Duke of Argyle’s Levee,’ published in the Gentleman’s Magazine for 1740, has been erroneously ascribed to his lordship. From a letter on the subject, believed to be by Lord Hailes, in the Edinburgh Magazine for April 1786, the following paragraph may be quoted: “That Lord

Binning was the author of that satirical ballad is reported on no better authority than a vague popular rumour. To this, I oppose, first, the mild character of that young nobleman, who was a wit, indeed, but without malice. Secondly, the assertion of his brother, who told me, that Lord Binning, before he went to Naples, where he died, solemnly declared, that it was not he, but one Mitchell, the author of a book of poems, who wrote that ballad.” The person here mentioned is Joseph Mitchell, the dramatist, a memoir of whom is given in a subsequent part of this work. Lord Binning, indeed, seems to have been as much beloved for his amiable disposition, as admired for his lyrical genius. He married Rachel, youngest daughter, and at length sole heiress of George Baillie of Jerviswood and Lady Grizzel Baillie, and by her he had five sons and three daughters. The eldest son, Thomas Hamilton, succeeded his grandfather in 1735, as seventh earl of Haddington.

      A portrait of Lord Binning is subjoined from a rare engraving by A. V. Haccken.

[portrait of Lord Binning]

HAMILTON, WILLIAM, of Gilbert field, Lanarkshire, a poet of some merit, the friend and correspondent of Allan Ramsay, was the second son of Captain William Hamilton of Lady land, Ayrshire, and is supposed to have been born before 1670. The family to which he belonged, proprietors of Ardoch, in the latter county, was a branch of the Hamiltons of Torrance, Lanarkshire, descended from Thomas Hamilton of Darngaber, third son of Sir John Hamilton, lord of Cadyow, ancestor of the ducal family of Hamilton. His father, the second son of William Hamilton of Ardoch, acquired the estate of Lady land about the middle of the seventeenth century, and succeeded his brother in the lands of Ardoch. For refusing to take the test and for nonconformity, he was disarmed in 1684, and severely dealt with by the commissioners for the western shires. In 1686 he was one of the commissioners of supply for the county of Ayr. He was killed in battle against the French during the wars of King William. He had married in 1662, Janet, daughter of John Brisbane of Brisbane, and had two sons, John, his heir, and William the poet. The latter entered the army early in life, and after considerable service abroad, he returned to Scotland, on half pay, with only the rank of a lieutenant. Gilbert field, where he went to reside, seems to have been only rented by him, though designed of that place to distinguish him from Hamilton of Bangour, a contemporary poet. “His time,” says a writer in the Lives of Eminent Scotsmen, London, 1822, 18mo, “was now divided between the sports of the field, the cultivation of several valued friendships with men of genius and taste, and the occasional production of some effusions of his own, in which the gentleman and the poet were alike conspicuous.” In familiar Scottish poetry he excelled. His principal productions were inserted in a work, the first of its kind in Scotland, entitled ‘A Choice Collection of Scots Poems,’ by James Watson, published at Edinburgh in 1706, 8vo, with two additional parts in 1709 and 1711. In 1719 Hamilton addressed from Gilbert field an Epistle in Scottish verse to Allan Ramsay, designating himself “Wanton Willie,” which led to a rhyming correspondence between them. Three of Hamilton’s epistles, with his own replies, and another, on receiving from the lieutenant the compliment of a barrel of Loch fyne herrings, are inserted in the common editions of Ramsay’s works. Ramsay says of him that he “held his commission honourably in my Lord Hyndford’s regiment.” His elegies ‘on Bonny Heck,’ a dog, and ‘on Habby Simpson, Piper of Kilbarchan,’ with his familiar epistles and other poems, are remarkable for their easy versification and vein of humour, and it is thought that both Ramsay and Burns, particularly the latter, formed their own manner on some of Hamilton’s compositions, in some of their most celebrated pieces in the same measure. In 1722 he published at Glasgow, by subscription, an abridgment in modern Scottish, of Henry the Minstrel’s Life of Sir William Wallace, which Dr. Irving styles “an injudicious and useless work.” It has been often reprinted. Towards the close of his life Hamilton resided at Letterick in Lanarkshire, where he died at an advanced age, May 24, 1751. He married a lady of his own name, supposed to be a relation of his own, by whom he had a daughter, Anna. The property of Lady land was, about 1712, sold to his brother to the ninth earl of Eglinton, who disposed of it to William Cochrane of Edge. The brother, John Hamilton, went to the north of Ireland, where he had purchased an estate. His son and successor, William Hamilton, having disposed of the Irish property, returned to Scotland in 1744, and bought the lands of Craighlaw in Wigtonshire from a family of the name of Gordon.

HAMILTON, WILLIAM, of Bangour, a pleasing and accomplished poet, was born in 1704. He was descended from the ancient family of Little Earnock, ayrshire, and was the second son of James Hamilton of Bangour, Linlithgowshire, advocate, by Elisabeth, daughter of John Hamilton of Muirhouse, or Murrays. His father’s uncle, Sir William Hamilton of Whitelaw, was one of the lords of session, and appointed in 1608 lord justice clerk, The subject of this notice received a liberal education, and began in early life to cultivate a taste for poetry. He was long an ornament of the fashionable circles of Edinburgh. When the rebellion of 1745 broke out he joined the cause of the Pretender, and celebrated his first success at Prestonpans, in the well-known Jacobite ode of “Gladsmuir,” which was set to music by MacGibbon. After the battle of Culloden, which terminated for ever the hopes of the Stuarts, he took refuge in the Highlands, where he endured many perils and privations, but at last succeeded in escaping into France. Through the intercession of his friends at home his pardon was soon procured from government, on which he returned to Scotland.

      In 1750, on the death, without issue, of his elder brother, John, who married Elizabeth Dalrymple, a descendant of the family of Stair, the poet succeeded to the estate of Bangour. His health, however, which was originally delicate, had been injured by the hardships to which he had been exposed, and required the benefit of a warmer climate. He, therefore, returned to the continent, and took up his residence at Lyons, where he died of a lingering consumption, March 25, 1754. A volume of his poems, without his consent or name, appeared at Glasgow in 1748; but the first genuine and correct edition of his works was published by his friends at Edinburgh in 1760, with a head by Strange, from which the subjoined woodcut is taken:

[woodcut of William Hamilton]

      A discriminating criticism by Professor Richardson of Glasgow, in the Lounger, first drew the public attention to his poems, the chief characteristics of which are liveliness of imagination and delicacy of sentiment. “Mr. Hamilton’s mind,” says Lord Woodhouselee, in his life of Lord Kaimes, “is pictured in his verses. They are the easy and careless effusions of an elegant fancy and a chastened taste; and the sentiments they convey are the genuine feelings of a tender and susceptible heart, which perpetually owned the dominion of some favourite mistress, but whose passion generally evaporated in song, and made no serious or permanent impression.” Had he never written anything but the “Braes of Yarrow,’ that ballad, one of the finest in the language, would have been sufficient to have immortalized his name. He married Miss Hall, of the family of Dunglass, and had issue one son, James, who succeeded him.

HAMILTON, GAVIN, a distinguished painter, a descendant of the family of Murdieston, was born at Lanark some time in the first half of the eighteenth century, and being sent to Rome while very young, became a scholar of Augustine Mossuchi. After several years’ absence he returned to Scotland, and, with the exception of a few portraits, he devoted himself entirely to historic composition. Two full lengths of the duke and duchess of Hamilton are spoken of as his best efforts in the department of portrait painting. Returning in the course of a short time to Rome, he made that city his residence for the remainder of his life. From his classical taste and superior style he soon acquired a high reputation as an artist, and was one of the three celebrated painters employed by the Prince Borghese to embellish the saloons of the Villa Borghese. The subject, represented by Hamilton, is the story of Paris, painted in different compartments, and is described as being one of the finest specimens of modern art to be found in Italy. His greatest work, however, was his Homer, consisting of a series of pictures representing scenes in the Iliad. One of these, the parting of Hector and Andromache, was in the possession of the duke of Hamilton; another, the Death of Lucretia, was in that of the earl of Hopetoun; and a third, Achilles dragging the body of Hector round the walls of Troy, was painted for the duke of Bedford. The whole series can now only been seen continuously in the excellent engravings made of them by Cunego.

      In 1773 Mr. Hamilton published at Rome a folio volume, entitled ‘Schola Picturae Italiae,’ or “The Italian School of Painting,’ consisting of a number of fine engravings by Cunego, all the drawings for which were made by Mr. Hamilton himself, forming part of the collection of Piraneisi. He died at Rome about 1775.

HAMILTON, RIGHT HON. SIR WILLIAM, K.B., an eminent virtuoso, celebrated for his works on the Volcanic Phenomena, and Antiquaries of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, as born December 13, 1730. He was the youngest son of Lord Archibald Hamilton of Riccartoun and Pardovan, Linlithgowshire, a son of the duke of Hamilton, by Lady Jane Hamilton, daughter of 6^th earl of Abercorn. In his youth Mr. Hamilton held a commission in the third regiment of foot guards, and before his accession to the throne, George III. Made him his equery. In 1758, he married the only daughter of Hugh Barlow of Lawrenny-Hall, Pembrokeshire, with whom he got an estate worth £5,000 a-year. In 1761 he was elected member of parliament for Midhurst; and in 1764 was appointed ambassador to the court of Naples, where he resided for 36 years. Having abundance of leisure, the volcanic eruptions of the neighbourhood early engaged his attention, and before the middle of 1767 he had visited Vesuvius no less than 22 times; also Mount Etna and the Eolian Islands. His researches he detailed in several letters to the Royal Society, inserted in the Philosophical Transactions, and published separately in 1770; also in his splendid work, ‘Campi Phlegraei.’ 2 vols. Folio, published at Naples in 1776-7; a Supplement to which appeared in 1779, containing an account of the great eruption of Vesuvius in August of that year.

      Always indefatigable in bringing to light the buried treasures of antiquity, he promoted the publication of the magnificent account of Herculaneum, and drew up a description of the discoveries made in Pompeii, which was printed in the fourth volume of the “Archaeologia.’ He also collected a Cabinet of Greek and Etruscan vases and other antiquities, of which an account was edited by D’Hancarville, and published in 4 volumes, under the title of ‘Antiquities Etrusques, Grecques, et Romaines, tirees du Cabinet de M. Hamilton.’ In 1766 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society; and January 3, 1772, he was created a knight of the Bath. About 1775 he lost his only daughter, and in 1782 he was deprived by death of his lady. In February 1783 he undertook a journey through Calabria, to observe the effects produced by the dreadful earthquakes which had just before desolated that beautiful province, and transmitted the result of his investigations to the Royal Society. His portrait is subjoined:

[portrait of Sir William Hamilton]

      In 17911791 Sir William was sworn a privy councillor; and the same year he married a second time Emma Harte, originally a servant in a low tavern, afterwards the goddess Hygeia of the eccentric Dr. Graham [see GRAHAM, JAMES], better known as the fascinating and licentious Lady Hamilton, celebrated for her connexion with Lord Nelson. In December 1798, when the French invaded the kingdom of Naples, Sir William accompanied his Sicilian majesty to Palermo. His connexion with the stirring events of that period belong to history. By his exertions in getting the English fleet refitted at Palermo, Lord Nelson was speedily enabled to pursue the French, and achieve the glorious victory of Aboukir. The English nobility and gentry who visited Naples expressed the warmest acknowledgments for the splendid hospitality he exercised towards them. He was recalled in 1800, when he returned to England, and died in London, April 8, 1803, in his 73d year. He bequeathed what property remained to him to his nephew, the Hon. C. F. Greville, son of the earl of Brooke and Warwick. It was in trying to save this nephew from the wiles of Emma Harte, that Sir William himself fell a victim to her arts. After his death, his collection of Antique Vases was purchased by parliament for the British Museum, to which he had made some valuable presents of books, manuscripts, and mineralogical curiosities.

      His works are:

      Observations on Mount Vesuvius, Mount Etna, and other Volcanoes of the two Sicilies; with explanatory Notes. Lond. 1772, 1774, 8vo.

      Campi Phlegraei; or, Observations on the Volcanoes of the two Sicilies. English and French; with 54 plates, illuminated by Mr. Peter Fabris. Napl. 1776-7, 2 vols. Atlas fol. Supplement: being an Account of the great Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, in August, 1779. Napl. 1779. Fol. A most splendid and curious work.

      Lettersa sul Monte Volture. Napol. 1780, 8vo.

      Account of the last Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, Phil. Trans. 1767. Abr. xii. 417.

      On the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1767. Ib. et 494. 1769, 592.

      An Account of a Journey to Mount Etna, Ib. 1770, xiii. 1.

      Remarks on the Nature of the ?Soil of Naples, and its neighbourhood. Ib. 1771. 92.

      On the Effects of a Thunder Storm on the House of Lord Tylney, at Naples. Ib. 1773. 453.

      On certain Traces of Volcanoes on the Banks of the Rhine. Ib. 1778. 618.

      On the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in August, 1779. Ib. 1780. 618.

      Of the Earthquakes which happened in Italy, from February to May, 1783. Ib. 1783, xv. 373.

      Some particulars of the Present State of Mount Vesuvius; with the Account of a Journey into the province of Abruzzo, and a Voyage to the Island of Ponzo. Ib. 1786, xvi. 131.

      Account of the late Eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Ib. 1795, xvii. 492.

      Account of the Discoveries at Pompeii. Archaeol. iv. p. 160. 1777.

      Antiquites Etrusques, Grecques, et Romaines, tirees du Cabinet de Mr. Hamilton; with Introductory Dissertations in English and French, by M. D’Hancarville. Napl. 1765, 2 vols. Large fol. To which two other volumes were added. Napl. 1775. The figures are beautifully coloured after the vases from which they were copied. The two first volumes of this scientific and magnificent work were reduced to a smaller size by M. David, and published at Paris, 1787.

HAMILTON, ALEXANDER, M.D., an eminent physician and professor of midwifery in the university of Edinburgh, was born in 1739 at Fourdoun, in Kincardineshire, where his father, who had been a surgeon in the army, was established as a medical practitioner. In 1758 he was appointed assistant to Mr. John Straiton, a surgeon in Edinburgh, and on that gentleman’s death in 1762, having been induced to remain in that city, he was admitted, on application, a member of the College of Surgeons, and commenced practice for himself. He afterwards obtained a medical degree, and was admitted a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, being, at a suitable interval, chosen a fellow of the college. In 1780 he was appointed joint professor of midwifery in the university of Edinburgh with Dr. Thomas Young, o whose death in 1783, he became sole professor. He resigned his professorship on the 26^th March 1800, and on the 9^th April, his son, who had been his assistant for two years, was elected his successor. Dr. Hamilton was a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He died on 23d May 1802. His works are:

      Elements of the Practice of Midwifery. Lond. 1775, 8vo.

      A treatise of Midwifery; comprehending the whole management of Female complaints, and the treatment of Children in early infancy. Edin. 1780, 8vo. Translated into German by J. P. Ebeling.

      Outlines of the Theory and Practice of Midwifery. Edin. 1784, 8vo.

      In 1786 he brought out a new and corrected edition of Dr. William Smellie’s Anatomical Tables, with Explanations, and an Abridgment of the Practice of Midwifery.

      Letters to Dr. William Osborne, on certain Doctrines contained in his Essays on the Practice of Midwifery. Edin. 1792, 8vo.

      Case of an Inverted Uterus; with Practical Remarks on its Reduction. Med. Com. xvi. 315. 1791.

HAMILTON, Robert, LL.D., an eminent mathematician and political economist, was the eighth son of Gavin Hamilton, bookseller, Edinburgh, and grandson of Dr. William Hamilton, professor of divinity, and afterwards principal of Edinburgh college. He was born June 11, 1743, and studied at the university of his native city. Though in early life subject to constitutional weakness of health, he displayed remarkable proficiency in mathematics, and a singular application in the acquisition of knowledge. After leaving college, being intended for a commercial profession, he spent some time in the banking establishment of Messrs. William Hogg and Son, where he obtained that practical information on money matters which afterwards enabled him to expose, with so much effect, the ruinous nature of the then financial system of the country. In 1766, when only twenty-three years of age, he was induced, by the advice of his friends, to offer himself as a candidate for the mathematical chair in Marischal college, Aberdeen, then vacant by the death of Professor John Stuart. Though unsuccessful in his application, Dr. Trail being the fortunate competitor, he left a very high impression of his abilities on the minds of the examinators. Thereafter he became partner in a paper-mill, established by his father, but which he relinquished in 1769, on being appointed rector of the academy at Perth. In 1771 he married Miss Anne Mitchell of Ladath, who died seven years afterwards.

      In 1779 Dr. Hamilton was presented by the Crown to the chair of natural philosophy in Marischal college, Aberdeen, which, in the subsequent year, he exchanged with Dr. Copland for the mathematical professorship, as being better suited to his inclination and ability. It was not, however, till 1814 that he was formally appointed to the mathematical chair in the same university.

      In 1782 Dr. Hamilton married a second time Jane, daughter of James Morison, Esq. of Elsick, and sister of the Rev. Dr. Morison, minister of Banchory-Devenick.

      Dr. Hamilton’s principal work, the ‘Inquiry concerning the Rise and Progress, the Redemption and Present State of Management of the National Debt of Great Britain,’ was published at Edinburgh in 1813, when he had passed his seventieth year. The greater part of this celebrated Treatise is devoted to the consideration of the various measures which had heretofore been adopted for reducing the national debt. In opposition to the views advocated by Dr. Price in his treatise ‘Of Reversionary Annuities,’ published in 1771, Dr. Hamilton proves the utter uselessness of a borrowed sinking fund, like that of Mr. Pitt, and the fallacy, as well as folly, of continuing its operations during war, or when the expenditure of the country overbalances the revenue. His arguments are supported and illustrated by tables of practical calculation; and he satisfactorily shows that the excess of revenue above expenditure is the only real method by which the national debt, or any other debt, can be discharged. His principles have not only been sanctioned by the most eminent political economists, but have gradually been adopted by the government.

      In 1814 Dr. Hamilton’s increasing infirmities rendering it necessary that he should have an assistant in the duties of his chair, Dr. John Cruickshank was appointed to that office, and became his successor. He died, July 14, 1829, at the advanced age of eighty-six. By his first wife he had three daughters, of whom, the second, Helen, was married to the late Mr. Thomson of Banchory, and the youngest, Marion, to the Rev. Robert Swan of Abercrombie, in Fife. By his second wife, who died in 1825, he had no family.

      His works are:

      Introduction to Merchandise; containing a complete system of Arithmetic, a system of Algebra, Book-keeping in various forms, an account of the Trade of Great Britain, and the Laws and Practices which Merchants are chiefly interested in. Edin. 1777-9, 2 vols. 8vo.

      System of Arithmetic and Book-keeping. Lond. 1778, 12mo. Several editions.

      Essay on Peace and War. 1790. This essay, published anonymously, was written with the benevolent view of inculcating doctrines favourable to universal peace. Having become scarce, it was reprinted in 1831, by his family, along with a small pamphlet on the Poor Laws, first published in 1822; and to these were added an unfinished fragment of an Essay on Government, written during the progress of the French Revolution.

      A set of Mathematical Tables, for the use of his pupils, first printed in 1790, reprinted with great accuracy and care in 1807.

      Heads of a Course of Mathematics. An elementary work intended for the use of his Students. 1800.

      Inquiry into the Rise and Progress, the Redemption and Present State of Management of the National Debt of Great Britain. Edin. 1813, 8vo.

HAMILTON, WILLIAM, an eminent historical painter, the son of a Scotch gentleman, who resided many years at Chelsea, was born in 1750. He was sent to Italy when very young, and studied under Zucchi, the painter of arabesque ornaments at Rome. On his return to England he became a pupil in the Royal Academy, and acquired considerable employment. He was engaged by Alderman Boydell for his Shakspeare, and by Macklin for his edition of the Bible and of the Poets. One of his best works was a picture of the ‘Queen of Sheba entertained at a Banquet by Solomon,’ a design for a window in Arundel castle. He was elected associate of the Royal Academy November 8, 1784, and a Royal Academician February 10, 1789. He died December 2, 1801.

HAMILTON, WILLIAM, D.D., an eminent minister of the church of Scotland, the son of a farmer, was born in 1780, at Longridge, parish of Stonehouse, Lanarkshire. He was early sent to the parish school, and in Nov. 1796 was enrolled a student in the university of Edinburgh. In addition to his ordinary studies, he attended also the classes of anatomy, chemistry, and materia medica.

      In the summer of 1802 Mr. Hamilton went to reside, as chaplain, in the family of Mr. Colquhoun of Killermont, lord register of Scotland, and in Dec. 1804 he was licensed to preach the gospel by the presbytery of Hamilton. Shortly after he became assistant to the minister of Broughton, in Tweeddale, where he laboured for about 16 months. By the influence of the lord register he subsequently obtained the appointment of assistant and successor to the Rev. Mr. Maconochie, minister of Crawford, which, however, he was induced to relinquish in favour of another, and accepted the office of assistant to Mr. Sym at New Kilpatrick. He officiated at the latter place for a year and a half, when he was chosen minister of St Andrew’s chapel, Dundee, to which charge he was ordained Dec. 23, 1807. After he had been about 20 months in that town, his friend, Mr. Colquhoun, procured for him the presentation to the parish of Strathblane, Stirlingshire, to which he was inducted September 14, 1809. He died April 16, 1835. He was the author of the following works:

      Treatise on Assurance.

      Young Communicant’s Remembrancer.

      Mourner in Zion Comforted.

      He wrote also a most excellent and edifying autobiography, published with his ‘Life and Remains,’ edited by his son, the Rev. James Hamilton, D.D., minister of the Scottish National church, London.

HAMILTON, SIR WILLIAM, Baronet, one of the greatest metaphysicians of modern times, was born in Glasgow in March 1788. His grandfather, Thomas Hamilton, professor of Anatomy in the university of that city (who died in 1781) by his wife, Isabella, daughter of Dr. William Anderson, had a son, William (who died in 1793), the father of the subject of this notice. His mother was Elizabeth, second daughter of William Stirling, Esq., heir male of the ancient family of Calder. Sir William was the elder of two sons. His brother, Thomas Hamilton, Esq., at one time an officer in the army, was the author of ‘The Youth and Manhood of Cyril Thornton,’ a novel, published in 1827, one of the most vigorously written fictious of its day; ‘Men and Manners in America,’ published in 1833; ‘Annals of the Peninsular Campaigns,’ and other popular works.

      After his father’s death, he was boarded for some time with Rev. Dr. Summers at Mid Calder, and at the age of 12, entered the university of Glasgow. He was afterwards sent to a school at Bromley, and returned to Glasgow College. Having obtained one of the Snell exhibitions, he went, in 1809, to Baliol College, Oxford, where he took first-class honours. The profession which he made, it is stated, on going in for his degree, was unprecedented for its extent. It embraced all the classics of mark, and under the head of science, it took in the whole of Plato, the whole of Aristotle, with his early commentators, the Neo-Platonists, and the fragments of the earlier and later Greek schools. His examination in philosophy lasted two days, and two hours each day, and he came forth from it, showing that his knowledge was both accurate and extensive.

      In 1812 he went to Edinburgh, and having devoted himself to the study of the law, he passed advocate at the Scottish bar in 1813. The representation of the family of Hamilton of Preston, East Lothian, and Fingalton, Renfrewshire, the oldest branch of the noble house of Hamilton, having in 1799 devolved upon him, he took the necessary steps to have his right acknowledged, and on July 24, 1816, was by a most respectable jury, before the Sheriff of Mid-Lothian, served heir male in general to Sir Robert Hamilton, the second baronet of the family, who died, unmarried, October 20, 1701, and proved himself to be of the house of Preston and Fingalton, the twenty-fourth in lineal male descent from Sir John Fitz Gilbert de Hamilton, of Rossaven and Fingalton, who lived about 1330, and was the second son of Sir Gilbert, the founder of the house of Hamilton in Scotland. The lands of Rossaven, here mentioned, are in Lanarkshire, and afforded an occasional title to the heir apparent of the family. Ross, in the Gaelic, signifies a promontory or peninsula. Rossaven, therefore, is the promontory or peninsula formed by the confluence of the Aven and the Clyde, near the town of Hamilton. Sir William was, also, of the family of Airdrie, the twelfth male representative.

      In 1821, Sir William was elected by the Faculty of Advocates and the Town council, with whom the patronage then lay, to the chair of Universal History in the University of Edinburgh. He first distinguished himself by a remarkable series of contributions to the Edinburgh Review, extending from 1826 to 1839. From 1826 to 1828 he wrote elaborate papers against Phrenology and George Combe and Dr. Spurzheim, and in preparing for them he dissected several hundred different brains. In 1829, he wrote his famous article on Cousin and the Philosophy and Literature, Education and University Reform.’ By these he became known, on their appearance in the Review, to philosophers on the Continent, and his fame abroad at the time was higher than even in his own country. These essays are, in an especial degree, distinguished for vigour and originality of thought, not less than for vast and varied learning, and on their publication a collected form, the work was translated into French.

      In 1836, on the death of Dr. David Ritchie, one of the ministers of St. Andrew’s church, Edinburgh, professor of logic in the university of that city, Sir William was appointed by the Town Council, the then patrons, his successor in the chair. For this professorship, more than for any other, he was particularly qualified, and he attained in it a reputation equal to that of any of the deepest thinkers yet known. Under him, the class, which had long been a mere appendage to the theological course, assumed a new importance, and Scotland as a school of metaphysics, regained the renown it had enjoyed in the days of Dugald Stewart. Having begun to prelect on Dr. Thomas Reid in his class, he was led to prepare an edition of Reid’s works, which, with selections from his unpublished letters, was published in 1846.

      Sir William also held the office of her majesty’s solicitor of teinds for Scotland. He was a corresponding member of the Institute of France; honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the Latin Society of Jena, and a doctor in philosophy. Previous to his death he was engaged upon the works of Dugald Stewart. His Lectures, edited by Professor Mansel, Oxford, and Professor Veitch, St. Andrews, were also published after his decease. For a number of years previous to his death he was oppressed with infirmities, and obliged to employ an assistant, and it was characteristic of him that he was in the habit of selecting for the office some one of those who had been his more distinguished students.

      Sir William Hamilton has been described as “the most learned of all the Scottish metaphysicians.” “When he was alive,” says one who knew him, “he could always be pointed to as redeeming Scotland from the reproach of being without high scholarship. Oxford had no man to put on the same level. Germany had not a profounder scholar, or one whose judgment, in a disputed point, could be relied on.” Unlike Brown, who, notwithstanding his wide reputation and many admirers, founded no school, Hamilton has numerous professed disciples, and is an established authority in metaphysics. “His articles in the Edinburgh Review were above the comprehension,” says a writer in the ‘North British Review’ for November, 1857, who understood what he was writing about, “and still further above the tastes of the great body even of metaphysical students in this country when they appeared. But they were translated by M. Peisse into the French language, and there were penetrating minds in Britain, America, and the continent, which speedily discovered the learning and capacity of one who could write such Dissertations. By the force of his genius he raised up a body of pupils ready to defend him and to propagate his influence. He has, at this present time, a school and disciples, as the Greek philosophers had in ancient times, and as such men as Descartes, Leibnitz, and Kant, have had in modern times.

      Sir William Hamilton died at Edinburgh May 6, 1856, of congestion of the brain. He had married, in 1829, his cousin, the daughter of Hubert Marshall, Esq., and had three sons, 1^st William, his successor in the baronetcy; 2d, Hubert, who in 1860 passed advocate at the Scottish bar; 3d, Thomas; and one daughter, Elizabeth.

      A memoir of Sir William Hamilton, by his pupil, thomas Spencer Baynes, LL.B., is given in the “Edinburgh University Essays” for 1856, and in an ably written article on “Scottish Metaphysicians” in the North British Review for November 1857, an account is given of his system and philosophy. His works are:

      Be not Schismatics. Be not Martyrs by Mistake. A pamphlet on the Non-Intrusion Controversy. Edin., 1843.

      Works of Thomas Reid, with Selections from his Unpublished Letters. Preface, Notes, and Supplementary Discussion (unfinished). 1846.

      Discussions on Philosophy and Literature, Education and University Reform. London, 1852, 8vo.

      Collected works of Dugald Stewart, 10 vols. 1854-60, 8vo, with supplementary volume.

      Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic, edited by the Rev. H. L. Mansel, B.D., LL.D., Waynflete Professor of Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy, Oxford, and John Veitch, M.A., Professor of Logic, Rhetoric, and Metaphysics, St. Andrews, 4 vols., (Posthumous).

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