THE LIFE OF WILLIAM HAMILTON. BY MR. CHALMERS. Of this poet so little is upon record that an apology would be necessary to the reader, if the blame did not rest with those who, with every opportunity to collect information, neglected his personal history while it was within reach. Part of his life appears to have been spent in gaiety, and part in the dangers of civil war; and as he became an exile for an unpopular canse, and passed his latter days in a foreign country which he visited in quest of health, and where he died about half a century ago, little remains among the descendants of his admirers, if we except the information lord Woodhouslee has given, but an indistinct remembrance of a man of a polished mind, of social virtues, and elegant manners. His father was a man of fortune and family in Airshire, where he was born in 1704. He received a liberal education, to which he joined the accomplishments of the man of the world; and amidst the higher dissipations of society cultivated a taste for poetry, of which he exhibited frequent specimens for the amusement of his friends. In 1745 he joined the unfortunate cause of the Pretender, and conceived great hopes from the temporary success of the rebels at Preston-pans: but after the battle of Culloden, which terminated the struggle, he was obliged to provide for his safety in flight; and after many narrow escapes, reached the continent, where he remained until he received a pardon, and was enabled to visit his native land. To recruit his health, however, he was obliged to return to the more genial climate of France, where he died in 1754. Among the revivers of his fame, professor Richardson and lord Woodhouslee are entitled to the highest respect. The latter in his elaborate Life of Lord Kames furnishes what, it is hoped, will atone in some measure for the present scanty article. With the elegant and accomplished William Hamilton of Bangour, whose amiable manners were long remembered with the tenderest recollection by all who knew him, Mr. Home (lord Kames) lived in the closest habits of friendship. The writer of these memoirs has heard him dwell with delight on the scenes of their youthful days: and he has to regret, that many an anecdote to which he listened with pleasure was not conmitted to a better record than a treacherous memory. Hamilton's mind 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 sus ceptible heart, which perpetually owned the dominion of some favourite mistress; but whose passion generally evaporated in song, and made no serious or permanent impression. His poems had an additional charm to his contemporaries, from being commonly addressed to his familiar friends of either sex, by name. There are few minds insensible to the soothing flattery of a poet's record. I question whether his friend Home was ever more highly gratified by the applause he gained for his talents on the success of a legal argument, than by the elegant lines addressed by Hamilton, To H. H, in the Assembly. "Hamilton's letters are, like his verses, the transcript of his feelings. Mr. Home had sent him a few remarks on Horace; of the same tenour, as it would seem, with those observations which, many years afterwards, he gave to the world in his Elements of Criticism. In a letter dated Sept. 1738, to Mr. Home, then passing the autumn vacation at Kames, Hamilton thus writes- I am entirely of your opinion with respect to your observations on Horace. He certainly wanders from his text-but still they are the wanderings of Horace. Why we are never contented with our lot, but still envy the condition of others, was a noble subject, and it were to be wished he had adorned it, as well he could, from his own experience: satisfied, as he seems to have been, with his own pursuits, and the fame they had acquired him. Let me put Horace's question to myself, Why don't I acquiesce in the determination of Heaven, to which I have myself so much contributed? Why don't I rest contented with that, small perhaps indeed, but sincere portion of happiness furnished by my poetry, and a few kind friends? Why concern myself to please Jeanie Stewart, or vex myself about that happier man to whom the lottery of life may have assigned her? Qui fit, Mecenas, qui fit? Whence comes it? Alas, whence indeed? 6 Too long by love, a wandering fire, misled, Day after day, year after year withdrew, Yours, &c.' "To seek the aid of wisdom for the cure of love, is no doubt a prudent resolution; but here the question may be put (as of Glendower's spirits), will Wisdom come when the lover calls for her? His friend Home, who had a deeper knowledge of human nature, saw a better cure for a frivolous and idle passion. The lady mentioned in the letter above quoted had complained to Mr. Home, that she was teased with Hamilton's dangling attentions, which she was convinced had no serious aim, and hinted an earnest wish to get rid of him: You are his friend,' said she, 'tell him he exposes both himself and me to the ridicule of our acquaintance.'No, madam,' said Mr. Home, you shall accomplish his cure yourself; and by the simplest method. Dance with him at to-night's assembly, and show him every mark of your kindness, as if you believed his passion sincere, and had resolved to favour his suit. Take my word for it, you'll hear no more of him.' The lady adopted the counsel, and the success of the experiment was complete. "It appears from Hamilton's letters, that he communicated his poems to his friends for their critical remarks, and was easily induced to alter or amend them by their advice. He had sent the piece entitled Contemplation, one of the most laboured of his productions, to Mr. Home, who suggested some alterations. In a letter from Hamilton, in’ July, 1739, he says, I have made the corrections on the moral part of Contemplation, and in a post will send it to Will. Crawford, who has the rest, and will transmit it to you. I shall write to him fully on the subject.' It is pleasing to remark, that the Will. Crawford here mentioned was the author of the beautiful pastoral ballad of Tweedside, which, with the aid of its charming melody, will probably live as long as the language is understood. "Hamilton may be reckoned among the earliest of the Scotch poets who wrote English verse with propriety and taste, and with any considerable portion of the poetic spirit. Thomson, Mallet, and he were contemporaries'." "The poems of Hamilton," says professor Richardson, "display regular design, just sentiments, fanciful invention, pleasing sensibility, elegant diction, and smooth versification. His genius was aided by taste, and his taste was improved by knowledge. He was not only well acquainted with the most elegant modern writers, but with those of antiquity. Of these remarks, his poem entitled Contemplation, or the Triumph of Love, affords sufficient illustration. "The design of this poem is regular. The poet displays in it the struggles, relapses, recoveries, and final discomfiture of a mind striving with an obstinate and habituated passion. It has, in the language of the critics, a beginning, a middle, and an end. It exhibits an action in its rise, progress, and termination. The poet represents himself as wishing to withdraw his thoughts from inferior subjects, and fix them on such as he holds better suited to a rational, and still more to a philosophical spirit. He must be aided in this high exercise by Centemplation, and the assistance of this august personage must be duly solicited. Accordingly, the poem opens with a fine address to the Voice divine,' the power of poetry: Go forth, invok'd, O Voice divine! Go, search each solitude around Where Contemplation may be found, &c. But Contemplation must not only be duly solicited, but properly received and attended; and therefore a company of various but suitable associates are invited; Bring Faith, endued with eagle eyes, That joins this Earth to distant skies, &c. Devotion, high above that soars, And sings exulting, and adores, &c. Last, to crown all, with these be join'd The decent nun, fair Peace of Mind, Lord Woodhouslee's Life of Kames, vol. 1. p. 64, &c. C. Whom Innocence, ere yet betray'd, "In like manner, such passions as are adverse to Contemplation are very properly prohibited; and in this catalogue are included, among others, Superstition, Zeal, Hypocrisy, Malice, and all inhuman affections. The poet seems chiefly solicitous to prohibit Love. Of him and his intrusion he appears particularly apprehensive. Yet, in the confidence of his present mood, he would disguise his apprehensions, and treats this formidable adversary not only with defiance, but with contempt. But chiefly Love, Love, far off fly, "The action proceeds. The poet attends to solemn objects: engages in important inquiries; considers the diversified condition of human life; dwells on the ample provision made by nature for human happiness; dwells on the happiness of social affec tions; is thus led imperceptibly to think of love; mentions Monimia, and relapses. Ah me! what, hapless, have I said, &c. "He makes another effort, but with equal success; he makes another and another: he will exalt his mind by acts of devotion, or plunge into the gloom of melancholy. But the influences of the predominant passion still return to the charge, and restore their object: on the heights of devotion, or in the shades of melancholy, he still meets with Monimia. Such is the progress of the poem; and in the conclusion we have an interesting view of the poet, yielding to his adversary, but striving to be resigned: "The justness of the poet's sentiments is next to be mentioned. He illustrates the power of habituated passion over reason and reflection. Farther, he illustrates, that, though the attention be engaged with objects of the most opposite kind to that of the reigning passion, yet still it returns. He shows too, that this happens notwithstanding the most determined resolutions and purposes to the contrary. All this he does not formally, but by ingenious and indirect insinuation. He also illustrates a curious process in the conduct of our intellectual powers, when under the dominion of strong emotion. He shows the manner by which prevailing passions influence our thoughts in the association of ideas; that they do not throw their objects upon the mind abruptly, or without coherence, but proceed by a regular progress: for that, how different soever ideas or objects may be from one another, the prevailing or habituated passion renders the mind acute in discerning among them common qualities, or circumstances of agreement or correspondence, otherwise latent or not obvious: that these common qualities are dexterously used by the mind, as uniting links, or means of transition; and that thus, not incoherently, but by the natural connection most commonly of resemblance, the ruling passion brings its own object to the fore ground, and into perfect view. Thus our poet, in the progress of his action, has recourse to friendship. He dwells on the happiness that connection bestows; he wishes for a faithful friend; his imagination figures such a person, On whose soft and gentle breast and then, by easy transition, invests this friend with a female form, with the form of Monimia: Grant, Heaven, if Heaven means bliss for me, "In like manner, having recourse to devotion, in a spirit of rational piety, he solicits the aid of Heaven to render him virtuous. He personifies Virtue; places her in a triumphal car, attended by a suitable train; one of her attendants, a female distinguished by high preeminence, must also be distinguished by superior beauty, must resemble the fairest of human beings, must resemble Monimia: While chief in beauty, as in place, She charms with dear Monimia's grace. O! fatal name; O dubious strain, &c. Far off the glorious rapture flown, In vain, Love's fugitive, I try From the commanding power to fly, &c. Why didst thou, cruel Love, again Well hop'd I, Love, thou wouldst retire Before the bless'd Jessean lyre, But the deaf adder fell, disdains Unlistening to the chanter's strains. The whole poem illustrates the difficulty and necessity of governing our thoughts, no less than our passions. "In enumerating the most remarkable qualities in Hamilton's poetical works, besides |