7), which was received with
great favour. He was an officer in the army, and, on his retirement,
settled in Edin., and became a contributor to _Blackwood_. He was also
the author of _Annals of the Peninsular Campaign_ (1829), and _Men and
Manners in America_ (1833).

HAMILTON, WILLIAM (OF BANGOUR) (1704-1754).--Poet, was _b._ at the family
seat in Linlithgowshire. Cultivated and brilliant, he was a favourite of
society, and began his literary career by contributing verses to Allan
Ramsay's _Tea Table Miscellany_. He joined the Pretender in 1745, and
celebrated the Battle of Prestonpans in _Gladsmuir_. After Culloden he
wandered in the Highlands, where he wrote his _Soliloquy_, and escaped to
France. His friends, however, succeeded in obtaining his pardon, and he
returned to his native country. In 1750, on the death of his brother, he
succeeded to the family estate, which, however, he did not long live to
enjoy. He is best remembered for his fine ballad of _The Braes of
Yarrow_. He also wrote _The Episode of the Thistle_. He _d._ at Lyons.

HAMILTON, WILLIAM (OF GILBERTFIELD) (1665?-1751).--Poet, served in the
army, from which he retired with the rank of Lieutenant. He wrote
poetical _Epistles_ to Allan Ramsay, and an abridgment in modern Scotch
of Blind Harry's _Life of Sir William Wallace_.

HAMILTON, SIR WILLIAM (1788-1856).--Metaphysician, _b._ in Glasgow, in
the Univ. of which his _f._ and grandfather successively filled the Chair
of Anatomy and Botany, _ed._ there and at Balliol Coll., Oxf., was called
to the Scottish Bar, at which he attained little practice, but was
appointed Solicitor of Teinds. In 1816 he established his claim to the
baronetcy of H. of Preston. On the death of Dr. Thomas Brown in 1820, he
was an unsuccessful candidate for the Chair of Moral Philosophy in Edin.,
but in the following year he was appointed Prof. of History. It was not
until 1829 that he gave full proof of his remarkable powers and
attainments as a philosopher in a famous article in the _Edinburgh
Review_, a critique of Victor Cousin's doctrine of the Infinite. This
paper carried his name over Europe, and won for him the homage of
continental philosophers, including Cousin himself. After this H.
continued to contribute to the _Review_, many of his papers being
translated into French, German, and Italian. In 1852 they were _coll._
with notes and additions, and _pub._ as _Discussions in Philosophy and
Literature_, _etc._ In 1