Note 251 — Chapter XI

Memoir of Sir William Hamilton, by John Veitch, p. 136 et seq., Edinburgh, 1869.

It is frequently said that women, unlike men, are indifferent to fame. This may be true so far as they are personally concerned; but it is certainly not true of them in regard to their husbands, or the men for whom they have a genuine affection. This is abundantly proved by the lives of Mme. Huber, Mme. Pasteur, Caroline Herschel and Lady Hamilton, not to name others who have been mentioned in the foregoing pages. After Sir William Hamilton, at the age of fifty-six, had been stricken by hemiplegia on the right side, as the result of over-work, his faithful wife became for twelve years eyes, hands and even mind for him. She read and consulted books for him, and helped him to prepare his lectures and the works which have given him such celebrity. "Everything that was sent to the press and all the courses of lectures were written by her, either to dictation or from copy." And when we remember that the lectures and books were of the most abstruse character and that Lady Hamilton was associated with her husband in his recondite work throughout his long and brilliant career, we must confess that her conduct was not only heroic to a degree, but also that the fame of the one she loved was to her a matter of the deepest concern.