LITERATURE A^D THE FINE ARTS 397 



Sir William is known to the world chiefly by his contributions to the Edinburgh 

 Review, and his edition of the works of Dr. Thomas Reid. The contributions to 

 the Review extend from the year 1829 to 1S39, and were collected aud republished 

 in 1852. His edition of Eeid, which was the work of many years of patient and 

 profound thought, first appeared in 1846. These writings are known and prized 

 throughout both Europe and America. Among those who take an interest in 

 philosophical pursuits, it has long been matter of regret that the state of Sir Wil- 

 liam's health rendered it doubtful whether he should be able to confer systematic 

 completeness on those incomparable philosophical fragments which he from time to 

 time gave to the world, and unfold even more fully his great stores of learning. 

 There is now but one feeling of unmingled sorrow that the great mind which alone 

 could have worthily filled up the sketch it delineated, has passed for ever from 

 amongst us. 



By the death of Sir William, the University has lost its greatest ornament, and 

 Scotland one of the most illustrious of her sons. His attainments in general erudi- 

 tion were of the highest order; at once so varied and minute as rarely to be 

 equalled, and in these times certainly unsurpassed. His historical learning, espe- 

 cially, was both ample and profound. In the department of speculative science, 

 with which Sir William's name is peculiarly identified, he stood alone in Britain, if 

 not in Europe — remarkable alike for subtle and profound thought, and for breadth 

 and minuteness of erudition. His writings and academic teaching have inaugura- 

 ted a new era in the history of Scottish speculation — an era that reflects in a high 

 degree the qualities of mind and habits of thought of its founder. In the hands 

 of Eeid, Stewart and Brown, Scottish philosophical thinking was comparatively 

 limited in its range, being chiefly psycological, and its relation to other schools, 

 whether preceding or contemporaneous, were but few and ill-defined. By the in- 

 fluence of the great master, who has so recently departed, Scottish thinking, 

 — while it has lost nothing of its manly independence and its sober but elevated 

 spirit, — has widened its sphere and put itself in contact and alliance both with 

 ancient and modern speculation . The wonderful philosophical erudition of Hamil- 

 ton peculiarly fitted him for this task. With ancient, mediaeval, and modern spec- 

 ulation he was thoroughly familiar. And what is a still rarer circumstance, and one 

 more peculiarly distinctive of a powerful and independent mind, the amplitude of 

 his erudition, instead of impeding or fettering the free exercise of his intellect, 

 only lent it additional stimulus. No thinker, perhaps — at least, no modern thinker 

 — has made greater and better use of the historical results of philosophical inquiry, 

 in the way of moulding and sustaining his own thinking, than Hamilton. But in 

 regard to the hi-torical anticipations of the doctrines of this system, it may be 

 truly said that it is only in the illumination which his own independent reflection has 

 cast upon them that they acquire clearness, distinctness or significance. He walk- 

 ed at large through the domain of the history of speculation ; but so obscure in 

 themselves are many of the indications of doctrines which he developed and raised 

 to the highest importance, as at once to impress us with the conviction that what 

 he discovered there was mainly in virtue of the light which lie carried with him, and 

 brought to bear on what would otherwise have been faint and undistinguished. 



Sir William Hamilton ifl no more ; but he has left behind him a name of which 

 Scotland may well be proud, and which will henceforward be a familiar word in 



philosophical schools. The doctrines that are peculiarly identified with his name 

 will doubtless form the chief groundwork of philosophical debate in the future 



