an eminent Scottish writer on political economy and finance, was born at Edinburgh in 1743. After an excellent education he entered a bank, where he passed the first years of his youth as a clerk, and thus acquired a practical knowledge of financial affairs, which he afterwards turned to good account. In 1760, however, he changed his views, and, resolving to devote himself to teaching, was made rector of the Perth Academy, and ten years later was promoted to the chair of natural philosophy in Marischal College, Aberdeen. In 1780 he exchanged this chair for the more congenial professorship of mathematics in the same university. For some years before his death in 1829, Hamilton had retired from the active business of his chair, and quitted his privacy only at rare intervals to take part in important affairs concerning the college.

Hamilton published a number of minor pieces, but it Hamilton was not till the appearance of his *Essay on the National Debt* in 1813 that he attracted especial attention as a political economist. That work, published under the title of *An Inquiry concerning the Rise and Progress, the Redemption and Present State, and the Management of the National Debt of Great Britain*, was written with a view to expose the inadequacy of the sinking-fund system, which had been received as an axiom in financial science ever since the days of Pitt. In course of time Hamilton's views, regarded at first with disfavour, came to be known and adopted in other countries of Europe than Great Britain. His other works, such as his *Introduction to Merchandise*, his essay on *War and Peace*, exhibit marks of strong common sense, and a vigorous understanding; but as they discuss their subjects solely with reference to the actual state of things and without allusion to the future, their interest has long since died away.

Hamilton, Sir William, a diplomatist and patron of the fine arts, was a native of Scotland, where he was born in 1730. On the threshold of youth he was condemned (to use his own words) to make his way in the world with an illustrious name and a thousand pounds. He took the first step with characteristic caution and boldness, and made his career in life smooth and easy by marrying in 1755 a lady of large fortune, with the additional recommendations of youth, birth, and beauty. Nine years after this Sir William was made ambassador at Naples, and retained that office till 1800. After the death of his first wife he married (in 1791) the beautiful but abandoned Emma Harte, whose name as Lady Hamilton is so painfully associated with that of Nelson. (See Nelson.) Sir William returned to England in the first year of the present century, and died there in very reduced circumstances in 1803.

It is not as a diplomatist but as a lover of art that Sir William Hamilton has a claim to posthumous renown. His great work, the *Campi Phlegraei*, is a noble monument of mingled art and science. It consists of a series of coloured engravings executed with admirable taste and spirit, showing the volcanic actions of Vesuvius, and some of the most remarkable eruptions that occurred in the course of his sojourn at Naples. His collection of vases was one of the best private collections of that day. Engravings and descriptions of the most valuable pieces are given in the famous *Antiquités Étrusques, Grecques, et Romaines, tirées du Cabinet de M. Hamilton*, edited by d'Hancarville. Many of these are now in the Townley Gallery in the British Museum. The interest that Sir William took in art and antiquity is attested by his contributions to the *Philosophical Transactions*, his *Observations on Vesuvius, Mount Etna*, &c., and his zeal in furthering and superintending the excavations made at Herculanum and Pompeii. He even contributed liberally out of his private fortune the means of forming the museum at Portici, and of properly caring for and profiting by the MSS. and other valuable artifacts rescued from the buried cities. The Neapolitan government looked upon his enthusiasm with coldness if not positive suspicion.

Hamilton, William, of Bangour, one of the minor poets of Scotland, was born in Ayrshire in 1704. He is not so much remarkable for original or strong powers of mind as for having been one of the first of native-born Scotchmen who wrote English verse with elegance, correctness, and good taste. One of his ballads, however, that entitled *Beak ye, bask ye, my bonny, bonny bride*, is in its own vein little if at all inferior to the best of the old ballads. Hamilton joined the standard of the young Chevalier in '45, and, after Culloden, was obliged to fly to the continent. On being pardoned he returned to Scotland, but delicate health drove him once more to France, where he died in 1754. There have been numerous editions of his poems.