Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 4.djvu/272

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Again, speaking of mutual affection, he calls it

Can any thing be finer than the following couplet, with which he concludes an ardent aspiration for her happiness ! " Such," he says, " be thy happy lot," is the fond wish of him,

The poem of " Contemplation" itself is full of beauties. Among his odes there is one " to fancy," in which his lively imagination and exquisite delicacy of sentiment, shine out to the greatest advantage. His descriptions of female loveliness are worthy of the subject they are characterized by sweetness, beauty, and truth. What can surpass this image?

And in recording in his verses the name and the beauty of another of his mistresses, he says that " his song "will" make her live beyond the grave :"

But with all this praise of his quieter and more tngaging style, we must admit that his poems, even the most perfect, abound in errors. Many of his questions are very strange, nay some of them ludicrous:

What is the meaning of these questions, or have they any ?

Mr Hamilton's correspondence with his friends was varied and extensive, but seldom very important. He wrote for writing's sake, and his letters, therefore, are just so many little pieces of friendly gossip. Of those poets who were his contemporaries, or who immediately succeeded him, some have taken notice of him in their works. The most distinguished of those is the unfortunate Fergusson, who in his " Hame Content," thus alludes to Hamilton on his death: