SMITH, Adam - HAMILTON, William.

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Poems on several Occasions. First edition of Hamilton's poems, edited and with a preface by Adam Smith, marking his first appearance in print.Hamilton (1704-1754) had been an army officer in the Jacobite risings, during which time his poetry aroused considerable interest. His poem 'Ode to the Battle of Gladsmuir', set to music by McGibbon, became a popular Jacobite ballad. Hamilton went into exile in France after the failure of the risings. A group of his friends, likely including Adam Smith's patron Lord Kames, feared that his sudden fame would lead to pirated and shoddy editions, and consequently prepared the current collection (see preface). Smith, then twenty-five years old, was entrusted with its editorship, his first enterprise in publication, which indicates that his circle held his literary taste in high regard following his lecture series of 1748-9 (lectures given at the suggestion of Kames). When Hamilton was pardoned and returned to Scotland in 1750, he and Smith became intimate friends. In 1758, Foulis published a second edition, giving the author's name, for which Smith added the dedication to the poet's great friend, the Glasgow merchant William Crawford.

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