The erudition of Hamilton commenced early, and was extended throughout his life. It was vast, curious, and recondite. It produces amazement by the continual ar- ray of forgotten names and unexplored authors — onine iynotum pro mirabili. But it is needlessly ostentatious and frequently deceptive. It is received without chal- lenge, frorri the inaccessibility of the authorities alleged, and the disinclination to verify citations from unfamiliar works. Hare has shown that the imputations against Luther rest on invaUd quotations taken at second-hand. It is alleged that, in his attack on mathematical studies, he has employed mangled extracts without regarding the context. His references to Aristotle, and his repre- sentations of the doctrines of the Stagyrite, are unrelia- ble, being fragmentary, distorted, or misapprehended, from ignorance of the tenor of his writings. There is too much reason for believing that Hamilton's familiar- itj' with "many a quaint and curious volume of forgot- ten lore" was derived from the diligent consultation of indexes, and the hasty appreciation of passages thus in- dicated.
The young philosopher had been designed for the legal profession. He removed to Edinbiurgh in 1812 to pros- ecute his juridical studies, and was called to the Scotch bar in 1813. In 1820, on the death of Dr. Thomas Brown, he was a candidate for the chair of' moral phi- losophy in the University of Edinbmgh. John Wilson, the poet, and editor of Blachvood's Magazine, was a Tory, and, as such, was preferred by the Tory town council, which constituted the electoral body. In the coiu-se of the ensuing year, the defeated cantlidate, rich in brains and various accomiilishinents,but poor in purse, was ap))()inted by the Faculty of Advocates to the chair of liistory. His lectures on this great branch of knowl- edge, which is philosophy in its concrete and dynamical aspects, are reported to have been vigorous, original, learned, and acute. This period of Sir William's life exemplified his indefatigable industry, patient research,
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versalilitj of talent, and zealous solicitude for truth. George Combe had attracted much attention in Edin- burgii to Phrenolojiiry — a suspicious province of specula- tion lying along the indistinct boundary between intel- lectual and ))hysical science. The profession of Hamil- ton's father, and his own youthfid associations, may have cherished in him some aptitudes for anatcmiical and physiological inquiries. He now engaged in such pur- suits with the earnest pertinacity that had been display- ed by Des Cartes when tracing the mechanism of vision and endeavoring to discover in the pineal gland the domicile of the mind. With saw and scalpel, and tape and balance, he divided skulls, dissected, measured, and weighed their contents. The conclusions thus reached were communicated to the Koyal Society of Edinburgh in 182G and 1827, and dissipated the pretensions of Phrenology by demonstrating the falsity of the facts alleged as its foundation. These researches also recti- fied some physiological misapprehensions, and enabled Sir William to make those delicate observations on the composition and action of the nerves which are intro- duced into his notes on Reid.
In 1829, his friend, professor Napier, requested from him a philosophical article to inaugurate his literary reign as editor of the Edinhurf/h Jieview. The paper furnished in compliance with his request was the first, antl still remains the most satisfactory exposition of Hamilton's metaphysical views. It purj^orted to be a notice of Victor Cousin's eclecticism, but it presented in broken outlines " the Philosophy of the Conditioned." No such tractate had appeared in Britain for centuries. It recalled the ancient glories of the 13th aad 1-lth cen- turies. It united the speculative subtlety of Berkeley with the dialectical skill of the schoolmen. It attract- ed universal admiration at home and abroad, and was promptly translated into foreign languages. It placed its author at once among the sovereigns of thought, and restored the British Isles to their place among the com- batants in the shado-tvy arena of abstract disputation. This remarkable production was followed by others scarcely less remarkable, and similarly distinguished by comprehensive erudition, logical perspicacity, analytic- al precision, breadth of reasoning, and profundity of thought. Thus his claims were immeasurably superior to those of any other aspirant when the professorship of logic and metaphysics in the university became va- cant in 1836. He was not elected, however, to this po- sition without hesitancy, and the hesitancy was removed chiefly by the earnest testimonials of Victor Cousin, and professor Brandis, of Bonn.
In his new domain Sir AA'illiam commenced the re- habilitation of logical studies, and the restoration of the prince of philosophers to the throne from which he had been removed by more than two centuries of ignorant and uninquiring clamor. So far, indeed, as originality appertains to his own logical and metaphysical specula- tions, it is obtained by recurrence to the instructions or to the hints of " the master of the wise." He held his chair for twenty years, fill his death. To the discharge of his academical duties are due the lecfiu-es on logic and on metaphysics. They afford a very imperfect exhibition of either his abilities or his philosophy. They were the first-fruits of his service, hurriedly prepared to satisfy immediate reqmrements, and precariously modified at irregular times. They never received final elaboration or systematic revision, and were published posthiunous- ly from such sketches and loose notes as had been pre- served. Throughout the period of their recurrant de- livery, their development was restrained and tlistorted by the traditions, associations, and expectations of the school. He coidd not renounce allegiance to Reid, or proclaim an independent authority, or render liege-hom- age to Aristotle. Hence there is throughout his career a continual effort to reconcile by ingenious tours-de- force his own more profound and comprehensive views with the narrow, shaUoAv, and timid utterances of the brotherhood. There is nothing in the IV.— D