Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 24.djvu/217

 that he would be restored to them without injury. At the meeting of the council the charges were again read, and the judgment of their heretical character announced. Friar Campbell then engaged in a disputation with Hamilton upon the articles seriatim. His argument was little more than denunciation, to which Hamilton replied by reasserting them. When he came to the last, which concerned the authority of the pope, Campbell turned to the assembly and said, 'My lord archbishop, you hear he denies the institutions of Holy Kirk and the authority of the pope. I need not to accuse him any more,' Beaton, in name of the council, at once pronounced final sentence, declaring him a heretic, depriving him of all ecclesiastical orders, offices, and benefices, and delivering him over to the secular arm. No time was lost in executing this sentence. The young king was absent at a pilgrimage to Tain in Ross-shire, and Angus, who exercised the chief authority during his absence, was not likely to interfere to save a Hamilton. But his brother, Sir James Hamilton, had collected a force in Lothian, and several of the gentry of Fife, in particular his friend Duncan of Airdrie, were known to be eager to strike a blow on his behalf. It is not known what official gave the necessary warrant, but it was procured the same day (29 Feb.), and a little before noon the captain of the castle brought hinrfrom it to the place of execution on the high ground adjoining and facing the sea. Before being bound to the stake he gave his clothes to his executioner, and his Bible, probably one of Tyndale's version, of which many had reached Scotland, to a friend. The fagots and powder had in the hurry not been brought in sufficient quantity, and at first only his right arm and side were burnt. Some zealots a baker, Myrton, is mentioned by name brought more straw, and others fresh billets and powder. Vain attempts were made to get him to repeat the Ave Maria, to which his only reply was to ask his accusers to prove the truth of their religion 'by putting a little finger into the fire with which I am burning with my whole body.' To the taunt of heresy addressed to him by Campbell, he answered calmly, ' Brother, you do not in your heart believe that I am a heretic.' His death was slow. According to Alesius, it was six o'clock before the body was reduced to ashes. Hamilton was, according to one account, only twenty-four years old, certainly under thirty, when he suffered. His youth, his noble blood, his recent marriage, and his unflinching courage moved the hearts of the spectators;' the reek of Patrick Hamilton infected all it blew on.' Several witnesses of the scene, some sooner, some later, embraced the principles of the Reformation. It was the distinguishing mark of Hamilton that he represented in Scotland the Lutheran rather than the earlier Wycliffite or the later Calvinist phase of the Reformation.  HAMILTON, RICHARD (fl. 1688), Jacobite lieutenant-general, was fifth son of Sir George Hamilton of Dunalong, fourth son of James, first earl of Abercorn [q. v.], by his wife Mary, sister of James Butler, first duke of Ormonde. He was younger brother of Anthony Hamilton [q. v.], and of 'La belle Hamilton,' Countess de Grammont [see ]. Like the rest of his family he was a Roman catholic. He served with distinction in the French army (for which his father raised a regiment of Irish foot in 1673). An observation of Louvois, quoted by Macaulay (Hist. of England, iii. 198, footnote), indicates that his service was passed in the regiment of Royal Rousillon. His wit and politeness were remarked, even in the brilliant circl e at Versailles. He was banished from that court, owing, it was whispered, to his having aspired to the affections of a very exalted lady, a natural daughter of the king and wife of a legitimate prince of the house of Bourbon, the Princess de Conti, who was supposed to favour his advances. He went to Ireland. Richard Talbot, earl (afterwards duke) of Tyrconnel, who replaced the Duke of Ormonde in the Irish command soon after the accession of James II in 1685, had married the widow of Hamilton's elder brother, George, the beautiful Frances Hamilton (nee Jennings), sister of Sarah, duchess of Marlborough. Tyrconnel appears to have been much attached to Hamilton and his brother (Hist. MSS. Comm. 8th Rep. viii. (ii.) 490) ; and in the list of the army in Ireland for 1687-8 Richard Hamilton appears as one of the brigadier-generals, on the annual pay of 497l. 10s. (, i. 190). Hamilton arrived in England with the troops sent over by Tyrconnel on the rumour of a Dutch invasion, and which were disbanded by William of Orange after James's flight. Hamilton was known to possess great influence in Ireland, and had the confidence of John Temple, who declared that he would answer for his friend Hamilton as for himself. Hamilton was accordingly sent on a special mission to 