Hamilton , a city, port of entry, and the capital of Wentworth co., Ontario, Canada, situated at the S. W. extremity of Burlington bay, at the W. end of Lake Ontario, 36 m. S. S. W. of Toronto, and 42 m. W. by N. of Niagara Falls; pop. in 1836, 2,846; in 1846, 6,822; in 1851, 10,248; in 1861,19,096; in 1871, 26,716. The city is built on sloping ground, extending from the foot of a hill about 1 1/2 m. to the shore of the bay, and is laid out with considerable regularity. The principal thoroughfare, King street, runs E. and W. The commercial quarter is about a mile back from the bay. There are several public squares, on which the government buildings generally front, Court House square and Market square being among the finest. The city is lighted with gas, intersected by a system of sewers, and supplied with water from Lake Ontario (6 m. distant), by means of a magnificent system of works, which cost about $800,000. The public and private buildings are mostly either of brick or of freestone or limestone, brought from quarries in the neighborhood. The most elevated sites are occupied by residences and gardens. The banks, public offices, churches, hotels, and some of the stores, are good specimens of architecture.

The Great Western and Hamilton and Lake Erie railways furnish communication with the principal points of Canada and the United States. Its situation at the head of naviga-tion on the lake, and in a rich and populous district, affords excellent commercial advantages. The Desjardins canal, 4 m. in length, connects it with Dundas; and the Burlington Bay canal, which cuts through the beach dividing the bay from the lake, shortens its communication with Lake Ontario. The imports for the year ending June 30, 1872, amounted to $5,665,259; exports, $805,526, of which $597,820 was the value of agricultural products. The number of entrances from the United States was 207, with an aggregate tonnage of 33,584; clearances for American ports, 240, of 39,G21 tons. Hamilton is the second city of Ontario in population, and the first in manufacturing industry. The manufactures embrace iron castings, machinery, agricultural implements, sewing machines, musical instruments, glassware, wooden ware, cotton and woollen goods, soap and candles, boots and shoes, leather, brooms, brushes, etc. There are also several saw and grist mills, a bank, and five branch banks. The city is divided into five wards, and is governed by a mayor and a board of 15 aldermen.

It contains a deaf and dumb institution, two orphan asylums, a house of refuge, a city hospital, a convent, a boys' home, home for the friendless, and an industrial school. There are a female college, a business college, a grammar school, several primary schools, a mechanics' institute, a reading room, three daily and six weekly newspapers, and two monthly periodicals. The Great Western railway company has a library of 2,000 volumes. Hamilton is the seat of an Episcopal and a Roman Catholic bishop, and contains 23 churches. The city was laid out in 1813.

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Hamilton , a municipal and parliamentary borough of Lanarkshire, Scotland, near the junction of the Avon with the Clyde, 10 m. S. E. of Glasgow, with which it is connected by railway; pop. in 1871, 11,299. The most important public buildings are two fine parish churches. Manufactories of lace and muslins give employment to several thousand hands. Separated from the town by a wall and park is Hamilton palace, the seat of the duke of Hamilton. The surrounding grounds between the town and the Clyde comprise 1,460 acres, and are accessible to the public. A portion of the palace was built in 1591; but the greater part is comparatively modern. The interior decorations are magnificent, and the picture gallery is unsurpassed in Scotland. In the vicinity, on a rock 200 ft. above the Avon, are the ruins of Cadzow castle, the original seat of the Hamiltons; and near by are the remains of Cadzow forest, in which a herd of the original breed of wild cattle of Britain is still kept.