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William Hamilton (comic poet)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 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. LifeHamilton was born in Ladyland, Ayr (now North Ayrshire), Scotland. 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, 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.
Hamilton tried his hand at epic poetry in an abridgment in 18th century English of Blind Harry's The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace.
This enthused the young Burns, who records, in his Autobiographical Letter, that it
He also served in the army and retired with the rank of Lieutenant. Sources
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