Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 4.djvu/265

Rh imperiously requiring an assistant in his lectures, the son undertook that duty, and in 1781, on his father's final resignation, was nominated his successor, a circumstance which enabled his kind friend Dr Hunter to fulfill his former promise, by stating to the marquis of Graham, that he considered it "the interest of Glasgow to give him, rather than his to solicit the appointment." The father died in 1782, and the son was then left the successor to his lucrative and extensive practice, in addition to the duties of the university. During the short period of his enjoyment of these desirable situations, he received from the poorer people of Glasgow, the character, seldom improperly bestowed, of extending to them the assistance, which a physician of talent can so well bestow. He kept for the purpose of his lectures, and for his own improvement, a regular note-book of cases, which he summed up in a tabular digest at the termination of each year. Of these notes, he had before his death commenced such an arrangement as would enable him to form from them a system of surgery which he intended to have published. Some extracts from this collection are preserved by the biographer we have mentioned, as characteristics of the style of his composition, and the extent of his observation. In 1783, he married Miss Elizabeth Stirling, a lady accomplished, and of good connexions in Glasgow. Within a very few years after this event, the marked decay of his constitution alarmed his friends, and his knowledge as a physician enabled him to assure himself that death was steadily approaching. He died on the 13th day of March, 1790, in the 33d year of his age. Few, even of those who have departed in the pride of life in the enjoyment of talents, hopes, and prosperity, seem to have caused greater regret, and it cannot be doubted that it was deserved. His manner as a public instructor is thus described by Mr Cleghorn: "As a lecturer, his manner was remarkably free from pomp and affectation. His language was simple and perspicuous, but so artless, that it appeared flat to those who place the beauty of language in the intricacy of arrangement, or the abundance of figures. His manner of speaking corresponded with his style, and was such as might appear uninteresting to those who think it impossible to be eloquent without violent gestures, and frequent variations of tone. He used nearly the tone of ordinary conversation, as his preceptor Dr Hunter did before him, aiming at perspicuity only, and trusting for attention to the importance of the subjects he treated."

HAMILTON,, of Bangour, a poet of considerable merit, was the second son of James Hamilton, Esq. of Bangour, advocate, and was born at Bangour in 1704. He was descended from the Hamiltons of Little Earnock in Ayrshire; his great-grandfather James Hamilton, (second son of John Hamilton of Little Earnock,) being the founder of the family of Bangour. On the death of his brother (who married Elizabeth Dalrymple) without issue, in 1750, the subject of this memoir succeeded to the estate. Born in elevated circumstances and in polished society, Mr Hamilton received all the accomplishments which a liberal education, with these advantages, could afford; and although exposed, as all young persons of his rank usually are, to the light dissipations of gay life, he resisted every temptation, and in a great measure dedicated his time to the improvement of his mind. The state of his health, which was always delicate, and his natural temperament, leading him to prefer privacy and study to mixing frequently in society, he early acquired a taste for literature, and he soon obtained a thorough and extensive acquaintance with the best authors, ancient and modern. The leaning of his mind was towards poetry, and he early composed many pieces of distinguished merit. Encouraged by the approbation of his friends, as well as conscious of his own powers, he was easily induced to persevere in the cultivation of his poetic powers. Many of his