Editing William Rowan Hamilton (section)

===Personal life and poetry===
In 1824, Hamilton was introduced at [[Edgeworthstown]] to the novelist [[Maria Edgeworth]], by the Rev. [[Richard Butler (Irish priest)|Richard Butler]], the vicar of [[Trim, County Meath]] to whom his uncle James Hamilton was curate.<ref name="alox">{{alox2|title=Butler, Richard (3)}}</ref><ref name="Hankins">Hankins (1980)</ref>{{rp|5, 34}} During the same period, his uncle introduced him to the Disney family at [[Summerhill House]], County Meath. The Disney sons attended Trinity College, and Hamilton had friends among them. At Summerhill, he met Catherine Disney, their sister.<ref name="Hankins">Hankins (1980)</ref>{{rp|37}}<ref name="Brown">{{cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=Daniel |title=William Rowan Hamilton and William Wordsworth: the Poetry of Science |journal=Studies in Romanticism |date=2012 |volume=51 |issue=4 |pages=475–501 |jstor=24247229 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24247229 |issn=0039-3762}}</ref>

Hamilton was attracted to Catherine Disney, but her family did not approve and Catherine was required to marry the Rev. William Barlow, a brother of her elder sister's husband. The wedding took place in 1825.<ref name="Hankins">Hankins (1980)</ref>{{rp|109, 113}} Hamilton wrote in 1826 about his feelings for her in an extended poem, "The Enthusiast". Over twenty years later, in 1847, he confided in [[John Herschel]] that during this period he might have become a poet.<ref name="Brown"/>

In 1825, Hamilton met [[Arabella Lawrence (educator)|Arabella Lawrence]], younger sister of [[Sarah Lawrence (educator)|Sarah Lawrence]], a significant correspondent and frank critic of his poetry. It was a contact he made through Maria Edgeworth's circle.<ref name="Hankins"/>{{rp|26}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=Daniel |title=William Rowan Hamilton and William Wordsworth: the Poetry of Science |journal=Studies in Romanticism |date=2012 |volume=51 |issue=4 |page=490 |jstor=24247229 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24247229 |issn=0039-3762}}</ref>