"I doobt, Mr. Cupples, ye haena come under the pooer o' grace yet.' 666 "But I'm no gaein' to gie in to bein' illnatert for a' that,' said Thomas, as if alarmed at the possible consequences of the conclusion. "A pour o'crey sh (grease)! Na, thank ye. 666 Na, na. Resist ye the deevil, Thamas. I dinna want to come unner a pour o' creysh. Haud at him, man. He's sure to rin at the It wad blaud me a'thegither. Is that the gait lang last. But I'm feared ye'll gang awa' ohn ye baptize i' your conventicle?' tellt me aboot the licht and the water. Whan "There's nane sae deif as them 'at winna I'm sittin' here o' the girse, hearkenin' to the hear, Mr. Cupples,' said Bruce. 'I mean water, as it comes murrin', and souffin', and-ye're no convertit yet.' gurglin', on to me, and syne by me and awa', as gin it war spinnin' and twistin' a lot o' bonnie wee sounies a' intil ae muckle gran' soun', it pits me i'min' o' the text that says, 'His voice was as the sound o' mony waters.' Noo his face is licht-ye ken that, divna ye?-and gin his voice be like the water, there maun be something like atween the licht and the water, ye ken. That's what garred me spier at ye, Thamas.' "Weel, I dinna ken richtly hoo to answer ye, Tibbie; but at this moment the licht 's playin' bonnie upo' the entick-shimmerin' and brakin' upo' the water, as hit braks upo' the stanes afore it fa's. An' what fa's, it luiks as gin it took the licht wi' 't 'i the wame o' t' like. Eh! it's bonnie, woman; and I wiss ye had the sicht o' yer een to see 't wi'; though ye do preten' to think little o' 't.' "Weel, weel! my time's comin', Thamas; and I maun jist bide till it comes. Ye canna help me, I see that. Gin I could only open my my een for ae minute, I wad ken a' aboot it, and be able to answer mysel'.-I think we'll gang into the hoose, for I canna bide it langer."" After Thomas Crann, the best character is probably Cupples, the College librarian, with a great heart and a weak will and a kind of humour, poetry, scholarship, and habits of drinking, which could certainly be found in such singular combination nowhere except in a Scotch university. We are unwilling to leave the book without affording our readers such a glimpse of him as will induce them to make his better acquaintance for themselves; and the following scene will serve the purpose. He has given up drinking by this time, and has come up to Glamerton to look after Alec. "Although Mr. Cupples did go to church at Glamerton for several Sundays, the day arriving when he could not face it again, he did not scruple to set off for the hills. Coming home with a great grand purple fox-glove in his hand, he met some of the missionars returning from their chapel, and amongst the rest Robert Bruce, who stopped and spoke. "I'm surprised to see ye carryin' that thing o' the Lord's day, Mr. Cupples. Fowk 'll think ill o' ye.' "Weel, ye see, Mr. Bruce, it angert me sae to see the ill-faured thing positeevely growin' there upo' the Lord's day, that I pu'd it up maist by the reet. To think o' a weyd like that prankin' itsel' oot in its purple and its spots upo' the Sawbath day! It canna ken what it's aboot. I'm only feared I left eneuch o''t to be up again afore lang.' "Na. I'm no convertit. 'Deed no. I wadna like to be convertit. What wad ye convert me till? A swine? Or a sma' peddlin' crater that tak's a bawbee mair for rowin' up the pigtail in a foul paper? Ca'ye that conversion? I'll bide as I am.' "It's waste o' precious time speikin' to you, Mr. Cupples,' returned Bruce, moving off with a red face. "Deed is't,' retorted Cupples; and I houp ye winna forget the fac'? It's o' consequens to me.' "But he had quite another word on the same subject for Annie Anderson, whom he overtook on her way to Howglen-she likewise returning from the missionar kirk. "Isna that a bonnie ring o' deid man's bells, Annie?' said he, holding out the foxglove, and calling it by its name in that part of the country. Ay is 't. But that was ower muckle a flooer to tak' to the kirk wi' ye. Ye wad gar the fowk lauch.' "What's the richt flooer to tak' to the kirk, Annie?' "Ow! sober floories that smell o' the yird (earth), like.' "Ay! ay! Sic like 's what?' asked Cupples, for he had found in Annie a poetic nature that delighted him. "Ow! sic like's thyme and southernwood, and maybe a bittie o' mignonette.' "Ay! ay! And sae the cowman custom flock? Wadna ye tak' the rose o' Sharon itsel', abuses you young bonnie lammies o' the nor the fire-reid lillies that made the text for the Saviour's sermon? Ow! na. Ye maun be sober, wi' flooers bonnie eneuch, but sinellin' o'the kirkyaird raither nor the blue lift, which same's the sapphire throne o' Him that sat thereon.' "Weel, but allooin' that, ye sudna gar fowk lauch, wi' a bonnie flooer, but ridickleous for the size o 't, 'cep ye gie 't room. A kirk's ower little for 't." "Ye 're richt there, my dawtie. And I haena been to the kirk ava'. I hae been to the hills.' "And what got ye there?' "It said to me that I was a foolish man to care about the claiks and the strifes o' the warl'; for a' was quiet aboon, whatever stramash they micht be makin' doon here i' the cellars o' the speeritual creation.' "Annie was silent: while she did not quite understand him, she had a dim perception of a grand meaning in what he said. The fact was "What for that?' returned the librarian, who always repelled first approaches, in which he was only like Thomas himself, and many other worthy people, both Scotch and English. "Weel," said Mr. Cupples, to whom the "A stranger sud aye be welcomed to ony-alloo that. Whaur do ye bide? What's yer nature of Thomas had begun to open itself, 'I body's hoose.' I didna ken it was your hoose.' "Ow na. It's no my hoose. It's the Lord's hoose. But a smile frae the servan'-lass that opens the door 's something till a man that gangs to ony hoose for the first time, ye ken,' returned Thomas, who, like many men of rough address, was instantly put upon his good behaviour by the exhibition of like roughness in another. name? I'll come and see ye the morn's nicht, gin ye 'll lat me.'" "There's a feow signs o' decrepitude, no to say degeneracy, amo' ye, isna there?' "I maun alloo that. At the first, things has a kin' o' a swing that carries them on. But the sons an' the dochters dinna care sae muckle aboot them as the fathers and mithers. Maybe they haena come throw the hards like them. "This answer disarmed Cupples. He looked up into Thomas's face, and saw first a massive chin; then a firmly closed mouth; then a nose, straight as a Greek's, but bulky, and of a rough texture; then two keen grey eyes, and And syne there 'll be ane or twa cruppen lastly a big square forehead supported by the in like that chosen vessel o' grace they ca' two pedestals of high cheek bones-the whole Robert Bruce. I'm sure he's eneuch to ruin looking as if it had been hewn out of his pro-ye i' the sicht o' the warl', hooever you and he fessional granite, or rather as if the look of the may fare at heidquarters, bein' a' called and granite had passed into the face that was so chosen thegither." constantly bent over it fashioning the stubborn substance to the yet more stubborn human will. And Cupples not only liked the face, but felt that he was in the presence of one of the higher natures of the world-made to command, or rather, which is far better, to influence. Before he had time to reply, however, Thomas resumed: Naething mair nor was nateral,' answered Cupples. 666 "He's a fine crater, though. I ken that weel. Is he come back, do you think?' "What do you mean? He's lyin' in 's bed, quaiet eneuch, puir fallow!' "Is he come back to the fold?' "Nae to the missionars, I'm thinkin'.' "Dinna anger me. Ye're nae sae ignorant as ye wad pass for. Ye ken weel eneuch what I mean. What care I for the missionars mair nor ony ither o' the Lord's fowk, 'cep that they are mair like his fowk nor ony ither that I hae seen?' "Sic like's Robert Bruce, for a sample.' "Thomas stopped as if he had struck against a stone wall, and went back on his track. "For God's sake, dinna think that sic as him gies ony token o' bein' ane o' the elec.' "Hoo wan he in than? The say ye 're unco particular. The Elec sud ken an elec.' "It's the siller, man, that blin's the een o' them that hae to sit in jeedgment upo' the applicants. The crater professed, and they war jist ower willin' to believe him.' 666 Weel, gin that be the case, I dinna see that ye 're sae far aheid o' fowk that disna mak' sae mony pretensions.' "Indeed, Mr. Cupples, I fully doobt that the displeesur o' the Almichty is restin' upo' oor kirk; and Mr. Turnbull, honest man, appears to feel the wacht o' 't. We hae maer than ae instance i' the Scriptur o' a haill community sufferin' for the sin o' ane.' "Do ye ken ony instance o' a gude man no bein' able to win in to your set?' “Ay, ane, I think. There was a fule body that wantit sair to sit doon wi''s. But what cud we do? We cudna ken whether he had savin' grace or no, for the body cudna speyk that a body cud unnerstan' him.' "And ye didna lat him sit doon wi' ye?' "Na. Hoo cud we?' "The Lord didna dee for him, did he?' "We cudna tell.' "And what did the puir cratur do?' "He grat' (wept.) "And hoo cam' ye to see that ye wad hae been a' the better o' a wee mair pooer to read the heart?' Whan the cratur was deein' the string o' his tongue, whether that string lap in his mou', or in his brain, was lousened, and he spak' plain, and he praised God.' "Weel, I cannot see that your plan, haudin' oot innocents that lo'e Him, and lattin' in thieves that wad steal oot o' the Lord's ain bag gie them a chance-can be an impruvment upo' the auld fashion o' settin a man to judge himsel', and tak the wyte o' the jeedgment upo' 's ain shouthers."" We have said very little about the story of Alec Forbes for its real value consists in its characters, and not in plot. So far as there is any story at all, its interest is in the history of the growth of character. His men and women are alive, and go through a continual process of development. This is a rare merit in modern novels, and we might have illustrated it at greater length. But our space is exhausted. We have given a very inadequate account of a very original writer. But we have said enough, and quoted enough, to show what a rich and delicate imagination, informed by a moral thoughtfulness how profound, Mr. Mac Donald has brought to the art of writing fiction. ART. II. SIR WILLIAM ROWAN HAMILTON. WITH the din of controversy ringing in our ears, as the battle of intellectual giants sways now onward and anon back, it is soothing to turn to something of a loftier character. When Homer has had enough of ghastly gashes, described with sickening fidelity and most impartial relish, whether they be inflicted by Achæan or Trojan, his fancy soars to Olympus, where a more imposing but less numerous group, withal strangely resembling in their peculiarities the inferior race, are employed in those calmer discussions which suit their exalted nature. Let us for a while forsake the task of following the keen intellect of a Lowe or a Newman (too often employed in merely bewildering minds of a stamp inferior to their own), and seek repose in the contemplation of something far more elevated and much more subtle,—the character and works of a man of genius. This term we use, of course, in the most trict and exclusive sense. Unfortunately, like such terms as "gentleman," " esquire," etc., etc., it has in modern days been far too venience in this had we any higher term to laxly employed. There would be no inconapply to those extraordinary instances which are above everyday comparisons, and in fact furnish themselves the only standard by which they can be measured. We think we may assume that real genius always makes itself known; for it is scarcely conceivable that when, as happens some score or two of times in a century, a human being is endowed with it, he should fail to make his way to the very foremost rank, not merely in his own country, but in the world. For genius is something of a loftier order than the lucid, logical, and quick-witted intelligence of the barrister or the mathematician; it involves essentially an unusual amount of the creative or originative power, and it was in this sense that the ancients regarded the higher flights of the imagination; as the term "poet" remains to testify in most civilized languages. But if to genius be added enormous erudition and untiring energy, we can hardly set limits to our expectations of what its possessor may achieve, if but life and health be granted to him. When such a phenomenon (as he may well be called) occurs, it behooves us common mortals to study and examine him. Everything about him, even, or perhaps especially, his peculiarities, is deserving of the most careful attention. Scotland has had such men. In the words of one of the most remarkable of them"Yet Caledonia claims some native worth, As dull Boeotia gave a Pindar birth;" few, of course, in actual number, because they are everywhere rare; but many, when her small population is considered. Such a list as Napier, Watt, Scott, Hunter, Black, Maclaurin, and Cochrane, though perhaps not including even all of the very first rank, forms a galaxy nowhere to be surpassed. But, besides these undoubted Scotsmen, there are others, such as Byron for instance, who are only not Scottish by a sort of legal fiction. This was the case with Hamilton, whose name will not only rank with any in the foregoing list, but will undoubtedly be classed with those of the grandest of all ages and countries, such as Lagrange and Newton. His grandfather came over from Scotland to Dublin with two young sons, of whom Archibald became a solicitor in Dublin, James the curate of Trim, county Meath. A branch of the Scottish family to which they belonged had settled in the north of Ireland in the time of James I., and this seems to have given rise to the common im metic that a relative of his refers when she says: "I remember him a little boy of six, when he would answer a difficult mathematical question, and run off gaily to his little cart." At twelve he engaged Colburn, the American "calculating boy," who was then being exhibited as a curiosity in Dublin, and he had not always the worst of the encounter. But, two years before, he had accidentally fallen in with a Latin copy of Euclid, which he eagerly devoured; at twelve he attacked Newton's Arithmetica Universalis. This was his introduction to modern analysis. He soon commenced to read the Principia, and at sixteen he had mastered a great part of that work, besides some more modern works on Analytical Geometry and the Differential Calculus. We give an extract from a letter written by him about this period to his cousin, a young lady, as it shows not only what he was then engaged upon, but how his work impressed him, and prepares us for some of the more striking qualities which he manifested at a later period:- pression that Hamilton was an Irishman. Archibald married a relative of the celebrated Dr. Hutton, and their son, WILLIAM ROWAN HAMILTON, was born in Dublin on the 4th of August 1805. He displayed great talent at a very early age, and when barely three was given in charge to his uncle, who seems to have at once commenced to teach him Hebrew. He made such progress that, at the age of seven, he was pronounced by one of the Fellows of Trinity College, Dublin, to have shown a greater knowledge of the language than many candidates for a Fellowship. At the age of thirteen he had acquired considerable knowledge of at least thirteen languages. Among these, besides the classical and the modern European languages, were included Persian, Arabic, Sanscrit, Hindustani, and even Malay. This singular direction seems to have been given to his studies, partly by the natural bent of his teacher, and partly because his father intended him for the service of the East India Company. He wrote, at the age of fourteen, a complimentary letter to the Persian Am bassador, who happened to visit Dublin; and the latter said he had not thought there was a man in Britain who could have written such a document in the Persian language. Some idea of the nature of his knowledge of these languages may be gathered from the following extract from a letter of his, dated 1859: "I never learned the [German] language as accurately as I did Greek, or Latin, or Hebrew, or Syriac, or Persian (when I was a boy), and am always fancying that I have quite forgotten it (the German aforesaid), until I take up some book or article, and become interested. I have to think of the difference between the significations of the words Kegel "If, therefore, within the very domain of and Kugel!" From this time his mathe- that Science which is most within the grasp of matical tastes seem to have considerably in-human Reason-which rests on the firm pillars terfered with his study of languages; and though to the end of his life he retained much of the extraordinary learning of his childhood and youth, often reading Persian and Arabic in the intervals of sterner pursuits, he had long abandoned them as a study, and employed them merely as a relaxation. TRIM, October 9, 21. Since I came down I have been principally employed in reading Science. In studying Conic Sections and other parts of Geometry, I have often been struck with the occurrence of what may be called demonstrated Mysteries,-since, though they are proved by rigidly mathematical proof, it is difficult, if not impossible, to conceive how they can be true. For instance, it is proved that the most minute line can be divided into an infinite number of parts; and that there can be assigned two lines (the Hyperbola and its asymptote), which shall continually approach. without ever meeting, although the distance between them shall diminish within any assign able limits. of Demonstration, and is totally removed from doubt or dispute, there be truths which we cannot comprehend, why should we suppose that we can understand everything connected with For, if ye understand not Earthly things, how the Nature and Attributes of an Infinite Being! shall ye those that are Heavenly?" His mathematical studies seem to have About this time he was also engaged in been undertaken and carried to their full de- preparation for entrance at Trinity College, velopment without any assistance whatever, Dublin, and had therefore to devote a conand the result is that his writings belong to siderable portion of his time to classics. In no particular "school," unless, indeed, we the summer of 1822, in his seventeenth year, consider them to form, as they are well en- he began a systematic study of Laplace's titled to do, a school by themselves. As an Mécanique Céleste. Nothing could be better arithmetical calculator he was not only won- fitted to call forth such mathematical powers derfully expert, but he seems to have occa- as those of Hamilton, for Laplace's great sionally found a positive delight in working work, rich to profusion in analytical processes out to an enormous number of places of deci- alike novel and powerful, demands from the mals the result of some irksome calculation. most gifted student careful and often laboriIt is probably to his powers of mental arith-ous study. It was in the successful effort to open this treasure-house that Hamilton's his career there was perhaps unexampled. mind received its final temper. "Dès-lors il commença à marcher seul," to use the words of the biographer of another great mathematician. From that time he appears to have devoted himself almost wholly to original investigation (so far at least as regards mathematics), though he ever kept himself well acquainted with the progress of science both in this country and abroad. Having detected an important defect in one of Laplace's demonstrations, he was induced by a friend to write down his remarks, that they might be shown to Dr. Brinkley (afterwards Bishop of Cloyne, but) who was then Royal Astronomer of Ireland, and an accomplished mathematician. Brinkley seems at once to have perceived the vast talents of young Hamilton, and to have encouraged him in the kindest manner. He is said to have remarked, in 1823, of this lad of eighteen, "This young man, I do not say will be, but is, the first mathematician of his age." And their regard was mutual, for Hamilton always mentions his predecessor with esteem and gratitude. Thus, at the conclusion of the earliest paper he presented to the Royal Irish Academy, he says: "Whatever may be the opinion of others as to its value, I have the pleasure to think that my paper is inscribed to the one who will best be able to perceive and appreciate what is original; whose kindness has encouraged, whose advice has strengthened me; to whose approbation I have ever looked as to a reward sufficient to repay me for industry however laborious, for exertion however arduous." We shall presently see how well these terms are applicable to the grand investigation to which they are appended. Hamilton laid before Dr. Brinkley, at their first interview, besides the observations on Laplace already mentioned, some original investigations in analytical geometry, connected with the contact of curves and surfaces, and with pencils of rays. He writes to a friend, in 1858, as follows:-"In one of those unpublished papers, which (when I was quite a boy) attracted the notice of Dr. Brinkley, and won for me a general invitation to breakfast here (the Observatory), which I often walked out from Dublin to avail myself of .; " and from this we see how genially this intimacy was commenced. It was of very great consequence to Hamilton, for Brinkley read his papers carefully, approved especially of the optical one, and requested him to develop it further. This was done about a month after, but neither of these papers has yet been published. Hamilton had now entered college, and Amongst a number of competitors of more than ordinary merit, he was first in every subject, and at every examination. His is said to be the only recent case in which a student obtained the honour of an optimé in more than one subject. This distinction had then become very rare, not being given unless the candidate displayed a thorough mastery over his subject. Hamilton received it for Greek and Physics. How many more such honours he might have attained it is impossible to say; but he was expected to win both the gold medals at the Degree Examination, had his career as a student not been cut short by an unprecedented event. This was his appointment to the Andrews Professorship of Astronomy in the University of Dublin, vacated by Dr. Brinkley in 1827. The chair was not exactly offered to him, as has been sometimes asserted; but the electors, having met and talked over the subject, authorized one of their number, who was Hamilton's personal friend, to urge him to become a candidate, a step which his modesty had prevented him from taking. Thus, when barely twenty-two, he was established at the Dublin Observatory. He was not specially fitted for the post, for, although he had a profound acquaintance with theoretical astronomy, he had paid but little attention to the regular work of the practical astronomer. And it must be said that his time was better employed for himself, his university, and his race, in grand original investigations, than it would have been had he spent it in meridian observations made even with the best of instruments; infinitely better than if he had spent it on those of the Observatory, which, however good in their day, are totally unfit for the delicate requirements of modern astronomy. Indeed there can be little doubt that Hamilton was intended, by the University authorities who elected him to the professorship of Astronomy, to spend his time as he best could for the advancement of science, without being tied down to any particular branch. Had he devoted himself to practical astronomy, they would assuredly have furnished him with modern instruments and an adequate staff of assistants. But the official duties of the Andrews professor are not confined to the Observatory. He lectures and examines in Trinity College. And in this part of his work Hamilton was unsurpassed, and perhaps unsurpassable. His lectures, sometimes on astronomy, even in its most popular form, anon on his own grand inventions of the hodograph and the quaternion, were admirably lucid, and are said to have almost fascinated his audience. And his examination papers were the despair of |