[A composite volume : containing The ballads and songs of Ayrshire ...

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stories, with sklates," in lieu of the old castle of Ladyland, which he de-
\
molished ; and which had been the residence of Hew Barclay, who, entering
into a conspiracy to overturn the Protestant religion in Britain, and j
having taken possession of Ailsa Ci*aig, about 1593 or 1597, as a prelim- \
inary step towards effecting his object, rushed from the rock into the sea \
and was drowned, rather than allow himself to be captured. A portion >
of the "new house" now the old mansion—still remains, bearing the
name of the proprietor, with the date, 1669. Captain Hamilton was one
of those who refused the Test Act in 1684, and was in consequence disarmed.
He fell in action against the French, during the wars of King
William. He married, in 1662, Janet, daughter of John Brisbane of that |
Ilk, by whom he left two sons, John, his heii-, and William, the subject of
|
our brief memoir. The precise date of either of their births is not known. |
It is presumable, however, that the latter was born sometime between I
1665 and 1670. He entered the army early in life, and served many years i
abroad. He rose, however, no higher than the rank of Lieutenant, which j
commission he held " honourably in my Lord Hyndford's regiment."
retiring on half-pay, he resided at Gilbertfield, in the parish of Cambus- \
On
lang. Whether the property was his own does not appear. His being
|
styled "of Gilbertfield" would imply that it did belong to him, though it
may have been adopted merely in contradistinction to Hamilton of Ban- I
gour, who was a contemporary. " His time," says a writer in the " Lives i
of Eminent Scotsmen,"* " was now divided between the sports of the field,
i
the cultivation of several valued friendships with men of genius and taste,
|
I
and the occasional productions of some effusions of his own, in which the
gentleman and the poet were alike conspicuous. His intimacy with the
author of the Gentle Shepherd, three of his epistles to whom are to be
found in the common editions of Ramsay's works, conjmenced in
an admii-ation,
on Ramsay's part, of some pieces which bad found their way into
circulation from Hamilton's pen." This was not the case. At all events
the correspondence began with Hamilton.
These famihar epistles, as they
are termed, are highly creditable to the poetical talent of both parties ; yet,
without depreciating the merit of Ramsay, we think the superiority may
* 18mo., London, 1822.