May 28, I860.] OBITUARY.— HAMILTON. 129 



are comparatively easy in civilized countries, Mr. Hamilton thus 

 proceeds : *' But the real geographer becomes at once an ardent 

 traveller, indifferent whether he plunges into the burning heats of 

 tropical deserts, plains, or swamps, launches his boat on the un- 

 known stream, or endures the hardship of an Arctic climate, amidst 

 perpetual snows or ice, or scales the almost inaccessible heights 

 of the Chimborazo or the Himalaya. Buoyed up in his greatest 

 difficulties by the consciousness that he is labouring for the good 

 of his fellow-creatures, he feels delight in the reflection that he is 

 upon ground untrodden by man, that every step he makes will 

 serve to enlarge the sphere of human knowledge, and that he is 

 laying up for himself a store of gratitude and fame." * 



These stirring words were followed up by such clear and precise 

 analyses of all the prominent geographical researches of the year 

 as to fix a high standard for the discourses of all future Presi- 

 dents. When indeed those researches had reference to Archaaology 

 and Numismatics, or to any point of ancient history, then it 

 was above all that Mr. Hamilton shone out as the most powerful 

 comparative geographer, and then it was that we felt the true value 

 of the application of his learning. 



Let it also be said that our deceased member was equally fervid 

 in his appreciation of geography in its newest phases. Whilst the 

 "world known to Homer" and the ancients had charms for him 

 which he thoroughly enjoyed, his capacious mind revelled in that 

 spirit of modern discovery which he characterised as " the happy 

 spell which changed the destiny of nations, and without which we 

 should long have remained immersed in the darkness in which our 

 ancestors groped their way in the pursuit of knowledge, and should 

 have lived on upon the ill-digested remnants which the ancients 

 had left us." 



Although he preserved a clear and unruffled mind to the last, 

 Mr. Hamilton retired a year before his decease (then in his eighty- 

 second year) from the active duties of life, resigning in succession 

 his offices as trustee of the British Museum and of our Body ; it 

 having been a dominant feature in his character never to take part 

 in any occupation to which he could not thoroughly devote all 

 his powers. One body only, — that club of lovers of the fine arts 

 called the " Dilettanti," — he continued to manage with efficiency to 

 within a week of his decease. 



* Journal of the Geographical Society, Vol. VIII. President's Address, p. xxxix. 



