peculiarity that they were sometimes rather surprised to find how
ludicrous it appeared to strangers.

Hamilton was fortunate in finding, while still at a very early age, a
career open before him which was worthy of his talents. He had not
ceased to be an undergraduate before he was called to fill an
illustrious chair in his university. The circumstances are briefly
as follows.

We have already mentioned that, in 1826, Brinkley was appointed
Bishop of Cloyne, and the professorship of astronomy thereupon became
vacant. Such was Hamilton's conspicuous eminence that,
notwithstanding he was still an undergraduate, and had only just
completed his twenty-first year, he was immediately thought of as a
suitable successor to the chair. Indeed, so remarkable were his
talents in almost every direction that had the vacancy been in the
professorship of classics or of mathematics, of English literature or
of metaphysics, of modern or of Oriental languages, it seems
difficult to suppose that he would not have occurred to every one as
a possible successor. The chief ground, however, on which the
friends of Hamilton urged his appointment was the earnest of original
power which he had already shown in a research on the theory of
Systems of Rays. This profound work created a new branch of optics,
and led a few years later to a superb discovery, by which the fame of
its author became world-wide.

At first Hamilton thought it would be presumption for him to apply
for so exalted a position; he accordingly retired to the country, and
resumed his studies for his degree. Other eminent candidates came
forward, among them some from Cambridge, and a few of the Fellows