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the vacant Presidency. One was Humphrey Lloyd, the son of the late Provost, and the two
others were Hamilton and Archbishop Whately. Lloyd from the first urged strongly the claims
of Hamilton, and deprecated the putting forward of his own name. Hamilton in like manner
desired to withdraw in favour of Lloyd. The wish was strongly felt by many of the Fellows of
the College that Lloyd should be elected, in consequence of his having a more intimate
association with collegiate life than Hamilton; while his scientific eminence was world-wide.
The election ultimately gave Hamilton a considerable majority over Lloyd, behind whom the
Archbishop followed at a considerable distance. All concluded happily, for both Lloyd and the
Archbishop expressed, and no doubt felt, the pre-eminent claims of Hamilton, and both of
them cordially accepted the office of a Vice-President, to which, according to the constitution
of the Academy, it is the privilege of the incoming President to nominate.
In another chapter I have mentioned as a memorable episode in astronomical history, that Sir
J. Herschel went for a prolonged sojourn to the Cape of Good Hope, for the purpose of
submitting the southern skies to the same scrutiny with the great telescope that his father had
given to the northern skies. The occasion of Herschel's return after the brilliant success of his
enterprise, was celebrated by a banquet. On June 15th, 1838, Hamilton was assigned the high
honour of proposing the health of Herschel. This banquet is otherwise memorable in
Hamilton's career as being one of the two occasions in which he was in the company of his
intimate friend De Morgan.
In the year 1838 a scheme was adopted by the Royal Irish Academy for the award of medals
to the authors of papers which appeared to possess exceptionally high merit. At the institution
of the medal two papers were named in competition for the prize. One was Hamilton's
"Memoir on Algebra, as the Science of Pure Time." The other was Macullagh's paper on the
"Laws of Crystalline Reflection and Refraction." Hamilton expresses his gratification that,
mainly in consequence of his own exertions, he succeeded in having the medal awarded to
Macullagh rather than to himself. Indeed, it would almost appear as if Hamilton had procured
a letter from Sir J. Herschel, which indicated the importance of Macullagh's memoir in such a
way as to decide the issue. It then became Hamilton's duty to award the medal from the chair,
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and to deliver an address in which he expressed his own sense of the excellence of
Macullagh's scientific work. It is the more necessary to allude to these points, because in the
whole of his scientific career it would seem that Macullagh was the only man with whom
Hamilton had ever even an approach to a dispute about priority. The incident referred to took
place in connection with the discovery of conical refraction, the fame of which Macullagh made
a preposterous attempt to wrest from Hamilton. This is evidently alluded to in Hamilton's letter
to the Marquis of Northampton, dated June 28th, 1838, in which we read:--
And though some former circumstances prevented me from applying to the person thus
distinguished the sacred name of FRIEND, I had the pleasure of doing justice...to his high
intellectual merits...I believe he was not only gratified but touched, and may, perhaps, regard
me in future with feelings more like those which I long to entertain towards him."
Hamilton was in the habit, from time to time, of commencing the keeping of a journal, but it
does not appear to have been systematically conducted. Whatever difficulties the biographer
may have experienced from its imperfections and irregularities, seem to be amply
compensated for by the practice which Hamilton had of preserving copies of his letters, and
even of comparatively insignificant memoranda. In fact, the minuteness with which apparently
trivial matters were often noted down appears almost whimsical. He frequently made a
memorandum of the name of the person who carried a letter to the post, and of the hour in
which it was despatched. On the other hand, the letters which he received were also carefully
preserved in a mighty mass of manuscripts, with which his study was encumbered, and with
which many other parts of the house were not unfrequently invaded. If a letter was laid aside
for a few hours, it would become lost to view amid the seething mass of papers, though
occasionally, to use his own expression, it might be seen "eddying" to the surface in some
later disturbance.
The great volume of "Lectures on Quaternions" had been issued, and the author had received
the honours which the completion of such a task would rightfully bring him. The publication of
an immortal work does not, however, necessarily provide the means for paying the printer's
bill. The printing of so robust a volume was necessarily costly; and even if all the copies could
be sold, which at the time did not seem very likely, they would hardly have met the inevitable
expenses. The provision of the necessary funds was, therefore, a matter for consideration.
The Board of Trinity College had already contributed 200 pounds to the printing, but yet
another hundred was required. Even the discoverer of Quaternions found this a source of
much anxiety. However, the board, urged by the representation of Humphrey Lloyd, now one
of its members, and, as we have already seen, one of Hamilton's staunchest friends, relieved
him of all liability. We may here note that, notwithstanding the pension which Hamilton
enjoyed in addition to the salary of his chair, he seems always to have been in some what
straitened circumstances, or, to use his own words in one of his letters to De Morgan, "Though
not an embarrassed man, I am anything rather than a rich one." It appears that,
notwithstanding the world-wide fame of Hamilton's discoveries, the only profit in a pecuniary
sense that he ever obtained from any of his works was by the sale of what he called his
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Icosian Game. Some enterprising publisher, on the urgent representations of one of Hamilton's
friends in London, bought the copyright of the Icosian Game for 25 pounds. Even this little
speculation proved unfortunate for the purchaser, as the public could not be induced to take
the necessary interest in the matter.
After the completion of his great book, Hamilton appeared for awhile to permit himself a
greater indulgence than usual in literary relaxations. He had copious correspondence with his
intimate friend, Aubrey de Vere, and there were multitudes of letters from those troops of
friends whom it was Hamilton's privilege to possess. He had been greatly affected by the
death of his beloved sister Eliza, a poetess of much taste and feeling. She left to him her many
papers to preserve or to destroy, but he said it was only after the expiration of four years of
mourning that he took courage to open her pet box of letters.
The religious side of Hamilton's character is frequently illustrated in these letters; especially is
this brought out in the correspondence with De Vere, who had seceded to the Church of
Rome. Hamilton writes, August 4, 1855:--
"If, then, it be painfully evident to both, that under such circumstances there CANNOT
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