BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 79
In 1794, while second in command of the forces in Scotland, in consequence
of a mutiny in the Breadalbane Regiment of Fencibles, then stationed at Glasgow,'
General Leslie, Colonel Montgomerie (afterwards Earl of Eglinton), and
Sir James Stewart, left Edinburgh to take charge of the troops collected for
the purpose of compelling the mutineers to surrender. By the judicious
management, however, of Lord Adam Gordon, then Commander-in-Chief, an
appeal to force was avoided by the voluntary surrender of four of the ringleaders,
who were marched to Edinburgh Castle as prisoners, under a strong
guard of their own regiment. General Leslie and Adjutant M'Lean of the
Fencibles, having accompanied the party a short way out of town, they were
assailed on their return by a number of riotous people, who accused them of
being active in sending away the prisoners. The mob rapidly increased, stones
and other missiles were thrown, by one of which General Leslie was knocked
down, and he and the Adjutant were compelled to take shelter in a house, from
which they were at last rescued by the Lord Provost, with a posse of peaceofficers
and a company of the Fencibles. On his way back to Edinburgh, the
General was seized with a dangerous illness, and died at Beechwood House,
about three miles west of the city, on the 27th December 1794.
General Leslie married in 1760 a daughter of Walter Tullidelph of Tullidelph,
in Forfarshire, who died the year following, leaving a daughter, Mary
Anne, who was married in 1787 to John Rutherford, Esq. of Edgerstown, in
Roxburghshire. The General resided in St. Andriw Square.
No, CXCVIII.
DR. JAMES HAMILTON, SENIOR.
DK HAMILTOwNa s for many years one of the ornaments of Edinburgh.
His grandfather, the Rev. William Hamilton, was a branch of the family of
Preston, and held the honourable station of Principal of the University in the
earlier part of last century j and his father, Dr. Robert Hamilton, afterwards
made a distinguished figure as Professor of Divinity.'
1 The mutiny, which occurred on the 1st December 1794, originated in the rescue of a soldier
who had been confined in the guard-house for some military offence. The party afterwarda would
neither give up the prisoner nor those who had been conspicuoas in effecting his release. The
prisoneis, seven in number, were tried by a court-martial, held in the Castle, at which Colonel
Moutgomerie presided. Sentence of death was recorded against all of them save two, but one only,
Alexander Sutherland, sutfered.
* It may be mentioned, to the honour of the last-named gentleman, and as indicative of that
uprightness and independence, which were afterwards conspicuous in his son, that he led the way to
the abolition of pluralities in the Church, by spontaneously relinquishing his parochial charge of
Lady Yeater's, on being appointed Professor of Divinity-a distinction which was conferred on him
without solicitation. The clergyman
of a neighbouring pariah had withheld the privilege of baptism from a child, the conduct of the
The others were ordered to the West Indies and to America.
Another instance of the same qualities of mind is thus related.
80 B I 0 GRAPH I C A L S I< ETCH E S.
. The subject of our engraving was born in 1749. He was educated at the
High School ; and, after taking his degree at the University, he spent several
years on the Continent. The respect in which his family had long been held
conspired with his own merit to secure for Dr. Hamilton an encouraging reception
on his return to his native city. At an early age he was elected one of
the Physicians to the Royal Infirmary; and he afterwards obtained, in succession,
the same office in George Heriot's-the Merchant Maiden-and the
Trades' Maiden Hospitals. For upwards of fifty years he continued actively
to superintend these benevolent institutions-in the two first of which his portrait
is preserved, in respect for the zeal with which he discharged the trust
reposed in him.
A field of extensive usefulness was thus opened to Dr. Hamilton, which he
cultivated with unremitting assiduity j and while he followed the bent of his
nature in promoting, by every act of kindness, the comfort of t,hose committed
to his care, he accumulated a mass of experience which enabled him, at a later
period, to give to the world his well-known work, entitled " Observations on the
Utility and Administration of Purgative Medicine in several Diseases "-one
of the most elegant professional works which has ever issued from the pressa
work which may be regarded as a model, whether we consider its practical
value, or the conciseness, the perspicuity, and the modesty of its style. The
eighth edition, " Revised and Improved by the Author, with a Chapter on
Cold Bathing, considered in its Purgative Effect," was published in 1836.
The kindliness of Dr. Hamilton's disposition could not fail to procure for
him the affectionate regard of the. numerous children, and of the sick poor, under
his professional charge j and hence he acquired an honoured notoriety among
all classes of our citizens, more general perhaps than ever fell to the lot of any
other individual.
Dr. Hamilton's appearance was so remarkable that it attracted the notice of
the most casual observer. His upright gait, his elastic step, and his dress of
the old scliool, have not yet faded from our recollection. His character presented
a rare union of the amiable with the sterner virtues. His demeanour
was highly polished, with more of what is termed manner-though never passing
the bounds of the strictest propriety-than is now generally met with.
Another prominent trait in Dr. Hamilton was the simplicity and sincerity of
his mind. Himself a stranger to the remotest feeling of meanness or duplicity,
he could ill conceal his abhorrence of these vices, when he discovered them in
others ; but while he possessed an uncommon power of discriminating character,
this was not accompanied by a suspicious disposition-it merely aided him
in selecting those with whom he might indulge in social intercourse ; and with
father having given rise to a suspicion that he was not qualified to discharge the solemn obligation
imposed by that ordinance. A protracted discussion
took place, which promised no satisfactory termination. The Professor retired unobserved ; and,
after holding a private conversation tith the parent, he baptized the child, and returned to his
brethren, whose debate was thus abruptly closed.
The case was brought before the Presbytery.
