Historical and genealogical memoirs of the House of Hamilton

NOTICE.
In offering this Work to the public, the author deems it proper to state, that, in the
latter part of the Memoirs of the Ducal Family, from Anne, Duchess of Hamilton, to
the present period, he has chiefly copied from Wood's edition of Douglas's Peerage,
lately published ; only such additions and alterations have been made as, it is hoped,
will give that part of it further interest and value.
In his account of the branches of the family, he regrets that he has not always been
able to be so full and complete as he could have wished. This has been owing to vari-
ous causes ; partly to the documents and papers of some of the more ancient families
having been lost or destroyed ; to other families having decayed or become extinct, and
their title-deeds having passed into the hands of strangers ; and to a very few of the
gentlemen of the name, either through inadvertency or indifference, having neglected
to furnish him with the requisite assistance.
As will be seen from the marginal references, these genealogies have been compiled
from a variety of sources. The author has endeavoured, as far as possible, to found
upon the most authentic testimony ; but, as, in a work of this kind, statements must
be made on evidence, varying from the absolute certainty of original deeds to the sus-
picious assertions of family vanity and doubtful tradition, he can only leave the reader
to estimate the credit due to the averment in the text by the character of the docu-
ments quoted on the margin. He is not responsible for statements in support of which
no authority is given.
The author considers it incumbent on him to notice the particular assistance af-
forded to him in carrying on this work.
To Thomas Thomson, Esq. advocate, Deputy Clerk Register of Scotland, his thanks
are due for favouring him with the perusal of some valuable original documents, and
for furnishing him with some papers of importance to the work.