often visited by De Quincey. On 31 March 1828 he married his cousin, Janet Marshall, who had lived with his mother for the ten last years of her life. Lady Hamilton not only relieved her husband from household cares, but was his regular amanuensis, induced him to bring some, at least, of his work to completion, and cheered him through his long period of declining powers. In 1832 he was appointed to the small office of the solicitorship of the teinds.
In 1829 Macvey Napier succeeded Jeffrey as editor of the 'Edinburgh Review,' and with much difficulty succeeded in extorting from Hamilton a contribution to the first number under the new editorship. This article, upon Cousin's course of philosophy, appeared in October 1829. From this period until his election to a professorship in 1836 Hamilton contributed a series of articles, collected in his 'Discussions.' One appeared afterwards in 1839. In October 1830 appeared the article upon the 'Philosophy of Perception,' and in 1833 an article upon 'Logic.' These writings at once made Hamilton's reputation. Recent German philosophy had been entirely neglected ty the recognised teachers, such as Thomas Brown and Dugald Stewart. Coleridge's influence had drawn the attention of younger men to the subject ; but it was a novelty to find a writer in a leading review criticising the theories of Kant and his successors in the tone of an equal, and as one at home in their mysterious terminology. Jeffrey was horror-struck at his successor's acceptance of the 'most unreadable thing that ever appeared in the review' (the article on Cousin), denounced it as 'sheer nonsense,' and said that the writer could not be a 'very clever man' (Macvey Napier, Corresp., 1879, p. 70). Cousin, on the other hand, expressed the highest admiration of- his critic in spite of their antagonistic views, and on hearing the author's name from Mrs. Sarah Austin [q. v.], wrote his warm acknowledgments. They exchanged mutual expressions of admiration for many years, although they never met. Hamilton's articles were translated into French and German (Veitch, p. 260), and made his name known in America. Of Hamilton's other articles one upon the 'Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum' (March 1831) showed his wide knowledge of the early Reformation period. In others he attacked the Oxford system, chiefly by an historical account of the absorption of the university by the colleges, which he held to have led to the grossest abuses. He advocated the admission of dissenters to the university. A bill brought in by Lord Radnor in 1835 to give effect to these principles was rejected in the House of Lords (14 July) by 163 to 57. An incidental remark upon Luther in one of his articles brought him into collision with Julius Hare [q.v.] Hare attacked him in a note in the * Mission of the Comforter '(1846), and Hamilton retorted in notes to his 'Discussions.' Hamilton made large collections upon this topic, which were never used (see Veitch, p. 335, for an account of them). In an article upon the 'Study of Mathematics' (January 1836) he made a sharp attack upon Whewell, and in a previous article (April 1834) criticised severely the mode of appointment to university offices. Hamilton's tone in controversy was anything but conciliatory and certainly not free from pedantry, but his aim was always high, and he stirred some important questions.
In 1835 he resigned his membership of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, because it would not accept his views as to its constitution ; a characteristic proceeding which, as his biographer says, showed not 'self-seeking' but 'intense individuality,' which sometimes has very similar results.
In 1836 David Ritchie resigned the chair of logic and metaphysics in the university of Edinburgh. Hamilton became a candidate, his opponents being Isaac Taylor [q. v.], George Combe [q. v.], and Patrick Campbell Macdougall, afterwards professor of moral philosophy at Edinburgh. Hamilton produced the highest testimonials from Cousin, Professor Brandis of Bonn, Jeffrey, the elder Alison, Brewster, Wilson, and others. He refused indignantly to canvass personally, and was accused of obscurity and of doubtful orthodoxy. On 15 July 1836, however, he was elected by the town council, receiving eighteen votes against fourteen for Isaac Taylor, and delivered his inaugural lecture on 21 Nov. Hamilton gave two courses of lectures, one upon psychology and philosophy, the other upon logic. The lectures were written during the first two sessions, each lecture generally on the night preceding its delivery, and were afterwards only verbally altered. His biographer therefore warns us that the most authoritative exposition of his views is to be found in the 'Discussions' and in the 'Dissertations' appended to his edition of Reid. In the session of 1838-9 he added lectures on 'Speculative Philosophy' to a senior class. For this he charged an extra fee,to which the town council objected. Controversy followed, not the gen tier because Hamilton had spoken with great severity of the rights of the council to university patronage. He was supported by its professors, but ultimately had to give up the fee. He afterwards delivered courses of lectures on logic and metaphysics in alternate years. Napier told him
