The great volume of "Lectures on Quaternions" had been issued, and
the author had received the honours which the completion of such a
task would rightfully bring him. The publication of an immortal work
does not, however, necessarily provide the means for paying the
printer's bill. The printing of so robust a volume was necessarily
costly; and even if all the copies could be sold, which at the time
did not seem very likely, they would hardly have met the inevitable
expenses. The provision of the necessary funds was, therefore, a
matter for consideration. The Board of Trinity College had already
contributed 200 pounds to the printing, but yet another hundred was
required. Even the discoverer of Quaternions found this a source of
much anxiety. However, the board, urged by the representation of
Humphrey Lloyd, now one of its members, and, as we have already seen,
one of Hamilton's staunchest friends, relieved him of all liability.
We may here note that, notwithstanding the pension which Hamilton
enjoyed in addition to the salary of his chair, he seems always to
have been in some what straitened circumstances, or, to use his own
words in one of his letters to De Morgan, "Though not an embarrassed
man, I am anything rather than a rich one.
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