William Hamilton (1665? – 24 May 1751) was a Scottish poet. He wrote comic, mock-tragic poetry such as "''The Last Dying Words of Bonny Heck''" - a once-champion hare coursing greyhound in the

East Neuk The East Neuk () or East Neuk of Fife is an area of the coast of Fife, Scotland. "Neuk" is the Scots word for nook or corner, and the East Neuk is generally accepted to comprise the fishing villages of the most northerly part of the Firth of ...

of Fife who was about to be hanged, for growing too slow. It is written in anglified Scots, with a sprightly narrative and wry comic touches.

Life

Hamilton was born in Gilbertfield, Cambuslang,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. In the ''Familiar Epistles'' he exchanged with Allan Ramsay, he modestly acknowledges the limitations of his own muse. Ramsay singles out ''Heck'' as he suggests there is room for all sorts in poetry. Ramsay's ''Epistles'' in return are certainly more skillful, more self-consciously Scots and with lots more allusions to other authors, Ancient and Modern, but they are consequently, less direct than those of Hamilton. Another of Hamilton's poems, ''Willie was a Wanton Wag'', - about a young man who appears at a wedding feast, and enraptures bride and bridesmaids by his "leg" at dancing - appeared in Ramsay's ''Tea-Table Miscellany''. The references in the ''Familiar Epistles'' to their delight in drinking in the taverns of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

, and references to thinly disguised mutual acquaintances, point up how well Hamilton was integrated into the literary world of the capital. He is praised by Burns in one of his poems. In his ''Epistle to William Simpson'', Burns mentions ''Ramsay, Gilbertfield'' and Fergusson, as poets in whose company fame would be a pleasure.

My senses wad be in a creel
Should I but dare a hope to speel
Wi’ Allan, or wi Gilbertfield,
The braes o fame;
Or Fergusson, the writer chiel
A deathless name

/blockquote> Hamilton tried his hand at epic poetry in an abridgment in 18th century English of
Blind Harry Blind Harry ( 1440 – 1492), also known as Harry, Hary or Henry the Minstrel, is renowned as the author of ''The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace'', more commonly known as '' The Wallace''. This wa ...
's ''
The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace ''The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace'' (Modern ), also known as ''The Wallace'', is a long "romantic biographical" poem by the fifteenth-century Scottish ''makar'' of the name Blind Harry, probably ...
''.
''"...wherein the Old, obsolete words are rendered more intelligible and adapted to the understanding of such who have not leisure to study the Meaning and Import of such Parases (sic) without the aid of a Glossary."''
This enthused the young Burns, who records, in his Autobiographical Letter, that it
''"...poured a Scottish prejudice in my veins which will boil along there till the flood gates of life shut in eternal rest''."
He also served in the army and retired with the rank of Lieutenant.

Sources
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Duncan Glen Professor Duncan Munro Glen (11 January 1933 – 20 September 2008) was a Scottish poet, literary editor and Emeritus Professor of Visual Communication at Nottingham Trent University. He became known with his first full-length book, ''Hugh MacDia ...
''Four Scottish Poets of Cambuslang and Dechmont Hill 1626-1990: Patrick Hamilton, Minister at Cambuslang 1626-1645; Lieutenant William Hamilton of Gilbertfield, ... '' (Paperback) Akros Publications (Mar 1996) * See the online Burns Encyclopaedia i

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, William 1665 births, Hamilton of Gilbertfield, William Hamilton of Gilbertfield, William People from Cambuslang Scottish poets