From The Saturday Review. VEITCH'S MEMOIR OF SIR WILLIAM HAM ILTON.* (First Notice.) SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON's reputation is at the present moment suffering excessive depreciation. This is to be attributed, as its immediate cause, to Mr. Mill's critical review. The more remote, but original, cause lies in the circumstance that his celebrity 66 the dent. He was born in 1788, and died in 1856, in his sixty-eighth year. The span of life thus allotted to him was laid out with a rare consistency of pursuit. It was divided between his study and his lecture-room; between the acquisition and the dispensation of knowledge. It was not till 1836, in his forty-eighth year, that he was able to obtain position for which he was so eminently qualified, and to which he may be said to have had a natural right—namely, a University chair. It is impossible, indeed, to read the record of his fruitless attempts to obtain a professorship, and his final success by a majority of four (eighteen to fourteen) over a very inferior competitor, without a interests of the higher education. Sir Wilbitter feeling of our national neglect of the tioner of Balliol, and was in the First Class liam was an Oxford man, a Snell Exhibiin 1810. For six-and-twenty years after this he was competing unsuccessfully for poorly paid chairs in Scotland. By the time he was forty he had become widely his day in the history of philosophy. And recognized as the most learned scholar of all this while the richly-endowed chairs and headships of his own University were filled founder of a system, or of an innovator on by men who neither taught nor knew any established modes of thought, but that of a transmitter of what has been thought and science; while fellowships-life-pensions said. As a scholar and a man of learning, better than many a Scotch professorship his acquirements were unequalled, in this were given away in batches to young men country, in our time. And a unique posi-knowledge consisted of half a dozen Greek of five-and-twenty, whose whole stock of tion is not only apprehended with difficulty, but is especially liable to misconstruction and detraction. was, not too great, but one of indefinite 66 Hamilton and Latin authors. During these twenty-six years Hamilton, who had inherited no private fortune with The present Memoir will do much towards reinstating Sir W. Hamilton in his the baronetcy, had to trust to the Bar for legitimate place in general estimation. It support. His professional practice was reis not very long. For though it might have spectable, though not large. His legal acbeen compressed, yet it contrasts favoura-quirements were not inconsiderable, includbly in this respect with the two-volume bi-ing a thorough knowledge of the civil law. ographies in which the affection of sorrow- the history of teinds, was esteemed. But His opinion in antiquarian cases, including ing relatives is apt to entomb the memory while his political views, as a Whig, excluof the departed. It is interesting. The ded him from any share in the numerous blending the domestic with the intellectual legal appointments at the disposal of Governlife of Sir W. Hamilton in one graphic pic-ment, his intellectual pursuits and his scholture, as biographers rarely do succeed. It arly repute were positive disrecommendais in the proper key; respectful towards its tions to the agents who have the making of subject, while free from the panegyrical and advocate. The wearisome pacing young honorifical excesses into which the zeal of to and fro of the Parliament House was discipleship so frequently hurries the pen of of a brief, for those underground recesses soon abandoned, and with it the best chance the chronicler who is at once pupil and fam-in which were then stored the choice treaily friend. writer, Professor Veitch, has succeeded in Sir W. Hamilton's was not a life of inci * Memoir of Sir W. Hamilton, Bart., Professor of Logic and Metaphysics in the University of Edinburgh. By John Veitch, M. A., Professor of Logic and Rhetoric in the University of Glasgow. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood & Son. 1869. the sures of the Advocates' Library. There was open to him literature. But periodical writing was not then the regular and paying profession it has since become. And Hamilton's acquirements were of that solid kind that were not easily minted into current coin. Under compulsion he could write 66 with great rapidity, yet he took up his pen | Black's indignation was roused by the with great reluctance, and required an out- attempt to make the election one of theoward stimulus to engage him in composition. logical party, and he came to the rescue. Such a stimulus was supplied by his mar- Professor Veitch also hints that, though riage in 1829, and, as a Whig, the Edinburgh Sir William was unflinching in his abstiReview was open to him. The Edinburgh nence from personal canvass, his friends occupied then a high position, being in the were more worldly-wise. hands of a man of distinct literary taste, Sir William occupied the Logic chair for and a personal interest in questions of twenty years. From his appointment bespeculative philosophy - Mr. Macvey Na- gan a new epoch, not only in the University pier. Mr. Napier lost no time in applying to of Edinburgh, but far beyond its limits. Sir William, or rather compelling him to Fresh active thought on philosophical write against his inclination. He even se- themes had ceased as a power in Scotland. lected the subject, the Cours de Philosophie of The impetus which Hume and Reid had M. Cousin, then at the head of the first philo- given to speculation, and which Dugald sophical movement in France after the Stewart had propagated, was apparently discouragements of the Empire and the spent. Logic had ceased to be taught in Restoration. The famous essay on The the chairs nominally assigned to it, and the Philosophy of the Unconditioned," which higher problems of metaphysics were enfirst made Continental thinkers aware that tirely strange. The aim of philosophical speculative knowledge was not extinct in teaching had come to be regarded, as in the Scotland, was hastily written under pressure English Universities, as a discipline of the from without. M. Čousin himself, of whose faculties by means of composition on general doctrine it was a refutation, admitted that themes. Philosophy had died of inanition. it was a masterpiece, procured its transla- With Sir W. Hamilton began a new life for tion into French, and commenced a corres- speculation, and a fresh impulse to the pondence which led to a warm friendship students. He had the art of inspiring and imbetween him and Sir William. pressing young minds, opening up to them From 1829 to 1836, Hamilton's biography new fields of thought and vision, and giving is the history of his contributions to the principles and convictions which passed into Edinburgh. Each of them was an event. their intellectual and religious life, to an exHis article on Oxford, 1831, contributed tent which has very rarely been equalled by not a little to the fact of the Oxford Com- any academic teacher. In class drill, or discimission of 1852, and in one important plinal exercises, he was surpassed by many. particular determined the direction of the He did little by way of interrogation, and Report of that Commission. In 1836 came had not even much power of oral explanahis successful attempt on the Chair of tion or illustration. Formal discipline lay Logic. Instead of entreating his accept- in an inferior sphere. Hamilton's power ance of this not very distinguished post- consisted in inspiring in the students the it had been held for some years by a Dr. interest he himself felt in the problems of Ritchie Hamilton was under the necessity philosophy. The Scottish speculation of of propitiating a body of thirty-three res- the last century, when it is considered to pectable citizens of Edinburgh, chiefly have been most flourishing, had been too engaged in trade. His testimonials, in- ignorant of the past. A superficial accluding an inflated one from Victor Cousin, quaintance with Aristotle, probably gained were overwhelming. But they did not, it from a Latin version, was the utmost that was complained by the Town Council, either Reid or Brown had possessed. In afford evidence of his being a religious Sir W. Hamilton the relation of present to man. He was reputed to be a great reader past thought found, for the first time, a of German philosophy." His philoso- living exponent. He did not select striking phical style was "obscure" to the Town Council of Edinburgh. He declined to mendicate the votes" of the patrons by the personal solicitation either of himself or friends. It might have been thought that his candidature was as hopeless as it had been in 1820, when the author of the Noctes Ambrosiana was preferred to him as a Professor of "Moral Philosophy." It would have been so, but that a powerful champion was raised up in the person of Adam Black, then City Treasurer. Mr. 66 or favorite parts of his subject, but was able to mark out from the outset the various departments of philosophy, and to develop each branch in its due subordination to the whole. He made a strong demand on the attention of every student. But when once this was given, the listener was naturally carried on from the more elementary to the more advanced parts of the subject. Those who had an aptitude for it were aroused even to enthusiasm. The style of his lectures was naturally not so condensed as that of his published writings. It was a combi- Hamilton had thus far found his way, late nation of passages of precise, technical, in life, to his proper work. But the day exactly correct expositions, with inter- was too far spent, and the happiness of spersed passages of mingled eloquence and unimpeded energy was broken up by failing quotation from Plato, or Pascal, or Male- power. In 1844 the strong man was struck branche, from Boethius, or Sir John down by paralysis. Though only in his Davies. fifty-sixth year, he had taxed his strength But Hamilton's class were not let off with to the utmost, not to say abused it. His the mere passive exercise of listening. enormous accumulation of knowledge had There was plenty of work for them. He been purchased by midnight study. At did not follow the usual practice of cate- Oxford, in 1808, he had made a resolution chetical repetition. He required gach stu- to rise always at six. But it was not addent to prepare the last lecture in such a hered to. Late hours and prolonged work way as to be ready, if called up, to give an at night became the rule. During session abstract of any part of it which might be he gave three lectures a week, and each selected by the Professor, without the lecture was written the night before. The promptings of consecutive questions. They lecture-hour was one o'clock, and the lecwere encouraged to add of their own, on turer seldom got to bed before five or six. these occasions, what was called "addition- Frequently he had to be up before nine in al information," i. e., subjects connected order to attend the Teind Court. This with the lectures. There were often was too great a tax upon the strongest several lectures in arrear, and the student had to be prepared to take up at any point. Some of the lectures contained long series of minute and extremely subtle discriminations, such as the thirty-three distinctions between mediate and immediate knowledge, and the thirty-one between the primary and secondary qualities of body. The effort of preparation for these oral examinations was a most invigorating one to those who made it, for it was impossible to remember the lectures without understanding them. The mere memoriter men were sure to break down. Besides this, essays might be sent in, extracts from which, strictly limited to five minutes, might be read before the class. Prizes for essays were also given, and awarded at the end of the session by the votes of the class. physique. Few students who have ventured on the practice have lived, like Leibnitz, to be seventy-eight. The seizure- hemiplegia of the right side was sudden and severe. Though speech was rendered difficult, the mental faculties were untouched; his wonderful memory, in particular, remaining unimpaired. Though he rallied from the attack, he never became again the man he had been. Though he resumed not only the labours of the study, but the work of the classes, it was evident that the mind alone sustained the failing body in the effort. He had to be carried or assisted up the stairs to the class-room. He would have been glad to retire. But a Scotch Professorship is attended with no retiring pension, and Sir William had no private means. Application was made under these circumThe power of the teacher was seconded stances to Lord Palmerston, to place Sir by the fascination of the man. He was un-William on the list of Sir Robert Peel's pretending, even silent, in general society. fund, by which 1,2007. is annually granted He did not shine as a talker. His manner to persons eminent in science and literaas a lecturer was characterized by dignity, ture. The application was refused by both earnestness, simplicity. He did not assume the Whig Premiers, not without circumthe pomp of learned pedantry. His supe- stances of indignity. Lord Palmerston riority was felt by the students, but not characteristically thought that novelists had because he made it felt. Courteous and a better claim to relief. Lord Russell unaffected, ready to answer difficulties, he was warmly loved by pupils who never saw him but in the chair, and never exchanged more than a few unimportant words with him. During the session it was his custom to invite parties of students to his house in Great King Street. Dr. Cairns remembers one of these evenings when, assailed by successive groups of querists, he stood for hours with his back against his bookshelves, and met all comers with that unconsciousness of his greatness which was the charm of his society. offered Sir William 1007., at the same time He imposed. Even with the professorship, it 66 In 1853 he had an accident; he fell and broke his arm, and his system received a shock from which it never completely recovered. He dragged himself painfully through the work of the session 1854-5, and spent his last summer, 1855, at Auchtertool, a retired spot in Fifeshire. The depression of health and spirits was now become sadly evident. The Memoir of Dugald Stewart, which he had engaged to write for his edition of the Works, weighed heavily on his mind. He returned to Edinburgh, and made a desperate effort to get through the work of the session. He succeeded. But the work had exhausted all his remaining force. He died on May 5, 1856, of congestion of the brain, aged sixty-eight. Sir William Hamilton was not a sayer of good things, but characteristic traits of the man are scattered in abundance over the pages of Professor Veitch's interesting vol ume. once before he could be made to hear. He established himself on a sofa, with the books he required for the day within easy distance. There he made his first notes in pencil, and dictated what he wished to write afterwards to an amanuensis. The amanuensis was usually his daughter. In earlier years Lady Hamilton had alone discharged this fatiguing office. No account, however brief, of Sir William Hamilton ought to omit to pay a tribute to the devoted love and care by which he was attended, in sickness and in health, by Lady Hamilton. Without her he never would have done what he did. She had been much to him before his illness. In his helpless state she became well-nigh all to him. He did not talk on politics, though in the Crimean campaign he had the newspapers read straight through to him. Otherwise his relaxation was having novels or travels read to him. He was particularly fond of works of the imaginative type - Frankenstein, the Ancient Mariner, and Mrs. Radcliffe's novels. He was as fond of fairy tales as a child. He was easily moved by the pathetic and the comic. Even in the class-room, his sense of the ludicrous sometimes overcame professional propriety, and the fit of laughter was for the time absolutely uncontrollable. His reading had supplied him with rich bits of pathos, which he was fond of repeating with enjoyment. There was a tenderness about him which enhanced even slight words of affection. His family were attached to him, and people who stayed in the house were always fond of him. Nothing made him more angry than ill-treatment of animals; in driving, he was very careful of horses. We conclude with the odd fact that he could take laudanum in almost any quantity-500 drops-without being sensibly affected. FOE.* From The Saturday Review. Of the contributors of reminiscences NEWLY DISCOVERED WRITINGS OF DEthe best are Dr. Cairns and Professor Spencer Baynes. Dr. Cairns suppresses, A RECENT discovery has been the means however, what we should most have liked not only of adding a new chapter to the histo have had his opinions on men and tory of Defoe, but of bringing about little things uttered in perfect freedom. His less than a revolution in the estimate in daughter's record of his domestic habits is a which his character has been popularly held. most melancholy one, on account of the The thanks of the public are due to Mr. struggles of the vigorous mind with the pris-Lee for the pains with which he has followed on-house of the body. To go up or down the clue thus unexpectedly afforded. His stairs was a labour to him, and he carried own partiality or admiration makes him inon his study in the room used by all the family. His power of absorption was so great that he had often to be spoken to more than Writings, extending from 1716 to 1729. By William deed scarcely sensible of the havoc which Mist's Weekly Journal. He was thence led his revelations must inevitably play with the to extend his investigations to others of reputation of his idol. He would otherwise Defoe's hitherto unknown journalistic writhardly have ceased from his labours with so ings. Travelling, with the aid of the clue complacent an impression that he had re- thus attained, over the general field of newsmoved every stain and speck from the sur- paper and pamphlet literature spread over face of the image. Nevertheless, whatever fifty years, he has succeeded in identifying critical value we may attach to his judgment and collecting a series of essays, letters, in this respect, there can be no two opinions and articles from the fertile pen of this great as to the importance of the materials which writer, amounting, after much selection and his industry and zeal have placed at our omission, to upwards of three hundred and disposal. It has generally been taken for fifty. These he has now had printed in two granted, on the authority of the biographers octavo volumes of goodly size. He has of Defoe, that for seventeen years before omitted much of a transitory or personal his death he had altogether retired from the character that might have illustrated the political world. Having stood for a whole political history of the period, from a belief generation in the foremost rank of polemics, that " party contention would not necessahe was supposed to have spent the remain- rily be acceptable merely because it had der of his years in peaceful literary seclu- been written by Defoe." His extracts are, sion, absorbed in the composition of the consequently, more historical than political. works of fiction which have made his name Their contents are highly miscellaneous, famous throughout the world. An acci- both in style and subject - imaginative, dental discovery has done much to fill up humorous, amatory, ironical, religious, and this hiatus in the career of this most inde- moral. Writing, as Defoe did, on topics fatigable of writers. Half a dozen letters of popular interest as they daily arose, unexpectedly came to light, in Defoe's hand- there is, as his editor fairly urges, a pecuwriting, in the State Paper Office, four years liar freshness in the author's relation of inago. They were all seemingly addressed cidents, and his comments thereon. Artito Charles De la Fay, Esq., of the Secre- cles and narratives are accumulated here in tary of State's Office. Of their genuineness the most graphic and charming style-on there appears to be no doubt. Their dates the Rebellion of 1715 and the subsequent range from the 12th of April to the 13th proceedings of the Pretender and his adheof June, 1718, and they demonstrate con- rents, on commerce and trade, the South clusively that the political life of Defoe had Sea scheme and the bursting of the bubble, not closed at that period. These letters, with other epidemic economical and social on their discovery, appeared in the London delusions; on the plague in France, and on Review, forming the text for some dispar- offences political and criminal, with their aging reflections on the character and con- punishment. Interspersed throughout will duct of Defoe. They were subsequently be found a multitude of anecdotes, answers printed in Notes and Queries at the instance to correspondents, and scraps of current of Mr. William Lee, by whom they were news, all eminently characteristic of the followed up in a series of articles, pointing writer's mental fertility and sense of huout the historical and political bearing of mour. The notices and advertisements of these new facts in the writer's career, and new books or pamphlets in these newspavindicating the morality of his conduct. pers furnished a key to the exact dates when With these materials at his command, it is the greater part of his works, whether acnot surprising that, to the mind of so ardent knowledged or not, were written. an admirer of Defoe's genius, there should the catalogue of Defoe's writings had to be have appeared at once the occasion for revised throughout. The new list included an entirely new chapter in the History of by Mr. Lee in his first volume may be proDefoe's Life and Times." Not only was a nounced by far the most exhaustive and clear light thrown upon a point hitherto trustworthy that has ever been compiled, dimly apprehended, viz., the nature of De- both with respect to the authenticity of each foe's secret or official employment under piece and its place in order of chronology. the Government, but also upon the fact of From the list in Lowndes Mr. Lee seems to his connection with several political journals reject more than sixty; from that prefixed and his authorship of many pamphlets not by Mr. Wilson to his Life of Defoe, thirty, before suspected to be his. Mr. Lee's at- including three duplicates with altered titles tention was immediately drawn to the serial -a common habit with Defoe entered publications upon which Defoe had thus by him as distinct works. From Mr. Hazavowedly engaged himself-namely, Mer- litt's series of works, believed by him to be curius Politicus, Dormer's News-Letter, and genuine, twelve have been rejected, while 66 Thus |