Newburgh Hamilton

Newburgh Hamilton (1691–1761) was born in County Tyrone, Ireland and entered Trinity College, Dublin, in 1708, aged sixteen, but (as was common in those days) he left without obtaining a degree. He is known to have been Handel’s librettist for three works: Alexander’s Feast (1736), Samson (1743) and the Occasional Oratorio (1746). In writing the libretto for Handel’s Samson (1743), he followed John Milton's Samson Agonistes rather than creating it from the story found in the Book of Judges.