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Rh afterwards at the siege of Vigo, he was presented with a service of plate by Queen Anne, and George I. raised him to the peerage as Viscount Boyne. He died 16th September 1723, aged 84. 175 196 216

Hamilton, Hugh, an artist, was born in Dublin the first half of the i8th century. He studied at the Dublin Society House, then in Grafton-street, and commenced his career as an artist in crayons. He settled for a time in London, where he was over- whelmed with orders, and then for twelve years resided in Italy, where, by the advice of Flaxman, he turned his attention to oils. He painted the likenesses of many dis- tinguished Irishmen. His picture in the Royal Dublin Society of Dean Kirwan preaching is one of the best known of his works. Hamilton died about 1809. 145

Hamilton, Hugh, Bishop of Ossory, an eminent mathematician, was born in the County of Dublin, 26th March 1729, and was educated at Trinity College, of which he afterwards became Fellow. In 1758 he published a Treatise on Conic Sections. Wills says: "Dr. Hamilton was the first to deduce the properties of the conic sec- tion from the properties of the cone, by demonstrations which were general, unen- cumbered by lemmas, and proceeding in a more natural and perspicuous order." In 1759 he was appointed Erasmus Smith's Professor of Natural Philosophy. From the Vicarage of St. Anne's, Dublin, he was promoted to the Deanery of Armagh. In 1796 he was consecrated Bishop of Clon- fert, whence he was translated to Ossory in 1799. He died at Kilkenny, 1st De- cember 1805, aged 76. His works were collected and published by his son. His brother was a judge. Baron Hamilton of Hamilton, Balbriggan. 34 42 118 196

Hamilton, Sir James, Viscount Claneboy, a Scotch gentleman, was, in 1587, with his friend James Fullerton, sent to Ii land by James VI. of Scotland (afterwards James I.), " in order to hold a correspondence with the English of that kingdom," writes Lodge, " and inform his Majesty, from time to time, of the state, condition, inclinations, and designs of the Irish in case of Queen Elizabeth's death; they disguised the cause of their errand (that they might execute it the better) by taking upon them to teach school." Their place of instruction was the Corporation City Free School, possibly for the children of freemen only; it was situated in School- house-lane, near Christ Church. James Ussher, afterwards the celebrated Arch- bishop, was one of their pupils. [In 1603, Fullerton was appointed Clerk of the Cheque and Muster-Master General; with- in a couple of years he was made Commis- sioner of Wards and Liveries, was knighted, made Ambassador to France, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, in 1630.] Hamilton was made a Senior Fellow of Trinity College, and received still higher honours and rewards than his companion, being made a Sergeant-at-Law, Privy- CounciUor, and named Commissioner of Wards and Liveries and Commissioner for the plantation of Longford. " In 1622, he was raised to the peerage with the titles of Claneboy and Hamilton. He lived to be 84 years old, having had 'three ladies, the two first of whom proved but little comfort to him.' He had large estates at Bangor, County Down, where he built a church in- side the ruins of the old abbey, in which he was buried in 1643. He had on his estates six parishes, which he planted with 'pious Scotch ministers;' and while he sheltered his own chaplains from the Epis- copal constables, it is remarkable that he continued the persecution of the other Irish northern Puritans." 233 His son James was created Earl of Clanbrassil. 216 233

Hamilton, William, D.D., an eminent divine and naturalist, was born in the County of Antrim, 16th December 1755 or '57. He took his degree at Trinity College, and was elected to a fellowship in 1779. His geological Letters on the Coast of the County of Antrim attracted considerable attention, and he occasionally contributed to the Transactions of the Royal Irish Aca- demy. As rector of Clondavaddog, or Fanet, in Donegal, his best exertions were devoted to the welfare, good order, and improvement of that remote and little- frequented district. He was appointed a magistrate; and it is believed it was be- cause of his exertions in that capacity to suppress revolutionary movements that he was brutally murdered at the residence of a friend on the shores of Lough Swilly, 2nd March 1797 — the house being surrounded by armed men and he being pusillani- mously given up to them by the servants. His family was provided for by a vote of the House of Commons. 146 217 349

Hamilton, Sir William Rowan, mathematician and astronomer, was born in Dublin, 9th August 1805, His father was an attorney ; his mother was related to Hutton, the mathematician. Intended for an Indian appointment, he was, when a mere child, sent to study with an uncle at Trim. At four he had made some progress in Hebrew, and in the two succeeding years he acquired the elements of Greek and Latin. At the age of fourteen he was familiar with the rudiments of Hebrew, Latin, Greek, French, Italian, Spanish,