The dismantling of Hamilton Palace recalls the fate of Canons and Stowe; but the treasures accumulated by "the princely Chandos," and his great-great-grandson, the late Duke of Buckingham, bore no comparison with the wonders of the palatial residence of the Premier Duke of Scotland. How vividly and yet how painfully does the scattering of these grand collections tell of the instability of human things! The reckless extravagance of one single inheritor, in a long line of succession, ofttimes overthrows an ancient and illustrious house, just as a hurricane levels in an hour the old oak that has stood for ages safe against the storm. Thirty years have barely come and gone since the death of Alexander, tenth Duke of Hamilton and seventh Duke of Brandon, K.G., whose exquisite taste and vast expenditure made his Scottish home, like the Palace of the Medici, one of the noblest residences in Europe; and now the magnificence of this glorious edifice has passed away, leaving but a memory of what it once contained.
Source: The Illustrated London News, No.2254—Vol. LXXXI, Saturday, July 15, 1882, p.70