It frequently happens, both
at school and college, that those who afterwards distinguish themselves in
authorship, give no correspondent promise of the eminence they are destined
to attain; as diligent and ambitious as their class-fellows, they yet pass
on without notice, and are little heard of, until, it may be, they burst out
in full strength, and take the public attention by storm. In such cases,
however, it will generally be found, that the young student has higher aims
than those of his companions; that he is silently training himself for a
great achievement; and that, in such a process, he does not mistake the
gymnasium for the battle-field, or waste his energies upon mere
tyro-skirmishing or prize-fighting. Such seems to have been the case with
the future historian of Scotland, during the course of his early education.
It has been stated by one who was his class fellow for years, that he was of
an amiable temper and greatly beloved by all his companions; and that he
always held a respectable place in the class, without distinguishing himself
in any particular manner.
After having ended his
studies at the university, Mr. Tytler underwent his public examinations, and
was admitted into the faculty of Advocates on the 3d of July, 1813. In his
case, however, the law, as a profession, had few attractions, compared with
those of literature and historical research, and therefore, after some
desultory practice, he finally abandoned the bar for the more congenial work
of authorship. An event also occurred, after he had worn the barrister’s
gown scarcely a twelvemonth, that must have had some influence in confirming
his choice. This was the peace of 1814, by which the Continent, and
especially France, were thrown open to British tourists, and the spirit of
travel set free to wander where it listed. Like many of our young inquirers
who were eager in this way to finish their studies, Mr. Tytler availed
himself of the opportunity, by making a tour through France and Belgium; and
the companions of his journey on this occasion were Mr. (afterwards Sir
Archibald) Alison, the well-known historian of modern Europe, and the
present Lord Justice Clerk Hope. In the year following (1815) a work was
published anonymously in Edinburgh in two volumes, small octavo, under the
title of "Travels in France during the years 1814-5, comprising a residence
at Paris during the stay of the Allied Armies, and at Aix at the period of
the landing of Bonaparte." This work was the production of Mr. Alison, and
in his acknowledgment, that in preparing it, he was "indebted to the
journals of a few friends who had preceded him in their visit to the
capital" (Paris), he is believed to have especial reference to the
communications of Mr. Tytler. After this modest entrance into authorship, by
placing a supply of the raw material in the hands of an able workman, Mr.
Tytler made a bolder advance by adventuring original compositions of his
own, in the pages of the Edinburgh and Blackwood’s Magazine. Of these
anonymous productions, by which he tried his early strength, and put himself
in training for higher efforts, two have been mentioned: these were, a "Life
of Michael Scott," the Merlin or Friar Bacon of North Britain; and a
fragment, under the title of a "Literary Romance," in which as much of a
tale was supplied as gave work to the imagination of the reader, and enabled
him to form a conclusion for himself.
A mind so well stored could
not long remain contented with the transient efforts of journalism; and Mr.
Tytler’s first work, which was published in Edinburgh in 1819, clearly
indicated the course of his studies, while it gave promise of the historical
accessions which he was afterwards to contribute to the annals of his
country. This was his "Life of James Crichton of Cluny, commonly called the
Admirable Crichton"—a personage of whose learning and varied talents such
wonderful tales had been told, that posterity had begun to class him with
King Arthur, and the other mythic heroes of old British history, who people
the fairy regions of Avalon. This work was so favourably received by the
public, that a second edition of it, corrected and enlarged, with an
Appendix of Original Papers, was published in 1823.
The next literary production
of Mr. Tytler was "An Account of the Life and Writings of Sir Thomas Craig
of Riccarton, including Biographical Sketches of the most eminent Legal
Characters from the institution of the Court of Session by James V., till
the period of the Union of the Crowns." This was published in Edinburgh in
1823.
A third work, also
biographical, was published by Mr. Tytler, but anonymously, in 1826. This
was the "Life of John Wicklyff," the English Reformer.
These productions, laborious
though they were, from the antiquarian toil and research they had
occasioned, were considered by him as only light preludes to the far more
important work which he now contemplated. The circumstances that first led
to such an undertaking are worthy of notice. Mr. Tytler having, during the
course of a summer excursion, paid a visit to Abbotsford, was received with
that warm-hearted welcome, and ushered into that choice intellectual
society, for which the illustrious owner and his hall were at all times so
distinguished; and during the hours of that happy evening, tale, and
song, and literary discussion, and old remembrances, followed each other in
rich and rapid succession. Matters, however, of more lasting moment
occupied, as usual, the mind of Sir Walter Scott, and during the evening he
took Mr. Tytler aside for the purpose of some bye-conversation. It was to
advise him to write a HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. He had long, in common
with many of our most distinguished countrymen, felt the want of such a
work; [In a letter written upon this subject, A.D. 1823, Sir Walter
Scott thus summed up our national deficiency:—"We are still but very
indifferently provided with Scotch histories of a general description. Lord
Hailes’ ‘Annals’ are the foundation-stone, and an excellent book, though
dryly written. Pinkerton, in two very unreadable quartos, which yet abound
in information, takes up the thread where Hailes drops it—and then you have
Robertson, down to the union of the crowns. But I would beware of task-work,
which Pinkerton at least must always be, and I would relieve him (his
correspondent’s pupil) every now and then by looking at the pages of old
Pitscottie, where events are told with so much naivete, and even
humour, and such individuality, as it were, that it places the actors and
scenes before the reader. The whole history of James V. and Queen Mary may
be read to great advantage in the elegant Latin of Lesly, bishop of Ross,
and collated with the account which his opponent Buchanan, in language still
more classical, gives of the same eventful reigns. Laing is but a bad guide
through the 17th century, yet I hardly know where a combined account of
these events is to be had, so far as Scotland is concerned."] and
several years before this period he had himself been almost persuaded by the
publishers to undertake so congenial a task, and had thought that, by
interspersing the narrative with romantic anecdotes, illustrative of the
manners of his countrymen, he might produce a work such as the public would
gladly welcome. He had, indeed, he added, made a partial commencement, in
the form of an introductory essay— the same which was afterwards published
in the "Quarterly Review" for January, 1816, as an article upon the Culloden
Papers. But on thinking further on the subject, he found difficulties in his
way which, in his (Sir Walter’s) case, could not easily be surmounted. He
saw that a Scottish history must be something more important than a popular
romance; and that although the materials for it were so abundant in the form
of national records, old Scottish authors, public and private documents, and
other such sources, yet the task of digesting, elucidating, and arranging
these materials, would engross more time than he could spare. He also found
that the task must be pursued not only in Scotland, but in London, among the
national archives, and wherever else such information could be found—a kind
of labour which his official duties and other avocations would completely
prevent. Perceiving these difficulties, he had abandoned the alluring
enterprise, notwithstanding his conviction that a History of Scotland had
still to be written, and his own wish to supply the deficiency; and he had
at last settled into the purpose of attempting nothing more in this way than
a collection of historical anecdotes for the young, such as might impress
upon their memories the brave and good deeds of illustrious Scotsmen, and
inspire them with sentiments of nationality. [This Sir Walter Scott
accomplished by his "Tales of a Grandfather," published in 1827. The precise
year of this interview between Sir Walter and Mr. Tytler, has been
unfortunately forgot; but as the indefatigable author of "Waverley," was not
accustomed to dally with a purpose he had once formed, the conversation
probably occurred in the summer of the previous year.]
All this, as the reader may
perceive, was preparatory to an advice—a request. It was nothing less than
that Mr. Tytler himself should be the historian of Scotland. Here Sir Walter
did not fail to urge upon his young friend such motives as might
incite him to the attempt. It was one that would be most congenial to his
previous studies and pursuits. It would concentrate upon one great aim those
efforts which he had expended upon a variety of subjects. It would gratify
his patriotic feelings as a Scot, as well as his predilections for
historical writing. The work itself would indeed be long and laborious; but
then he had the advantage of youth on his side, so that he might live to
complete it; and if it were written under a deep conviction of the
importance of historical truth, what a permanent benefit it would prove to
his country! Finally, Sir Walter finished his persuasions, in his own kind,
characteristic manner, by offering to Mr. Tytler all the assistance in his
power, not only in obtaining admission to all the repositories in which the
materials were contained, but his best advice in pursuing the necessary
investigations.
This was a memorable
conversation in the life of Mr. Tytler: it was the turning-point of his
literary career, the bias by which his whole after-course was directed.
Deeply and anxiously he mused upon it, on his evening ride homeward to the
mansion of Yair, where at that time he was sojourning; and it was after he
had forded the Tweed at Bordside that he gave vent to his imprisoned
feelings, by rehearsing to his friend who accompanied him, the whole tenor
of the dialogue. On being asked how he liked the suggestion, he replied,
that the undertaking had a very formidable appearance—and that though he had
always been attached to historical pursuits, and was ambitious of becoming a
historian, he had never conceived the idea of writing the history of his own
country, from the peculiar difficulties that lay in the way of such an
attempt, and in making it what he thought a History of Scotland ought to be;
now, however, he felt otherwise, and would lay the suggestion to heart, not
only on account of the quarter from which it had come, but the assistance
that had been so kindly promised. The resolution on which he finally settled
he must have arrived at promptly, and followed up with almost immediate
action, by which he stood committed to a lifetime of work in a new sphere of
occupation, and to whatever, in the shape of success or failure, it might
chance to bring him. The devotedness of a hero who saves his country, or of
a legislator who regenerates it, may be matched by the devotedness of him
who records their deeds. The historian who evolves the full truth of a
Marathon or Bannockburn fight from the remote obscurity in which it is
clouded, may have had as hard and heroic a task as he who has achieved it.
It was in the summer of 1828
that the first volume of Tytler’s "History of Scotland" issued from the
press. As it was only the first instalment of a large promise, the public
received it as such; and while its merits were felt, the language of
criticism was cautious and measured, although both commendation and hopeful
encouragement were by no means withheld. The rest of the work followed at
intervals; and as each successive volume appeared, the general approbation
was deepened: it was soon felt and acknowledged that a truly national
history was now in progress, to supersede the fragmentary records in which
the Scottish nationality had been hampered and confined. At length the whole
was completed in the winter of 1843, when the ninth and last volume
appeared. His task was ended, and the author thus gracefully bade it adieu
in the last paragraph:—"It is with feelings of gratitude, mingled with
regret, that the author now closes this work—the history of his country—the
labour of little less than eighteen years: gratitude to the Giver of all
good, that life and health have been spared to complete, however
imperfectly, an arduous undertaking; regret that the tranquil pleasures of
historical investigation, the happy hours devoted to the pursuit of truth,
are at an end, and that he must at last bid farewell to an old and dear
companion." The completed history was now before the world, but it had not
needed to wait thus long to establish the lasting reputation which it now
possesses. The generous labour, the indefatigable research, and lucid order
by which it is so eminently distinguished; the always deepening interest of
the narrative, and increasing eloquence of the style, by which the work
gathers and grows in attractiveness to the last, were felt not only by the
learned and critical, but the reading public at large, so that even those
who could not coincide with the author in his views of the Scottish
Reformation, and the agencies by which it was effected, were yet compelled
to acknowledge the honesty, the modesty, and the disinterestedness with
which his statements were announced, as well as the strong array of evidence
with which they were apparently corroborated. With his Tory and high church
Episcopalian principles, and with the strange documents in his hands, which
he had rescued from the dust of ages, and brought for the first time to the
light of day, they could not well imagine how he could have written
otherwise. Such was the conviction even of those who entered the field
against him, armed with opposite views, and counter-evidence to make them
good. A sublunary history wholly divested of sublunary feelings would not be
worth reading.
Although Tytler’s "History of
Scotland" is complete in itself, as far as the original aim and purpose of
the author are concerned, yet when the whole was concluded, he felt, in
common with many whose opinion he respected, that a still more ample field
should have been comprised. Thus, he commenced with the reign of Alexander
III., the prelude to the wars of Scottish independence, because it is only
from this point that our national history can be properly authenticated.
Edward I., who made such wild havoc with the Scottish muniments, so that no
trace of Scotland as an independent kingdom should ever be found, was unable
to annihilate the memory of the prosperity he had destroyed, the cruelties
he had perpetrated, and the gallantry with which his usurpation had been
overthrown; these were burnt in, as with a branding-iron, upon Scottish
memory to the end of time, and Edward, by his work of demolition, only
erected himself into a notorious pillar, to form a new starting-point for
the national history to commence its glorious career. Tytler, however, knew
that a stirring and eventful era had gone before, and that the early boyhood
and youth of Scotland was not only full of interest, but a subject of
intense curiosity; and doubly difficult though the task would have been, he
had resolved, even long before the history was ended, to explore this mythic
period, and avail himself of such facts and probabilities as it afforded, in
the form of a preliminary dissertation. Such was his purpose, which his
previous investigations had well fitted him to effect; and all that he
required was only a breathing interval, after the nine volumes of his
history had been finished. But that interval, in his case so needed, could
not restore the active brain and buoyant spirit that had already
accomplished their appointed duty, and accomplished it so well! He had also
purposed to terminate his history, not at the union of the two crowns of
England and Scotland under James I., but of the two kingdoms under Anne; but
here he found the incidents so voluminous, and withal so difficult to sift,
condense, and arrange, as would have formed a task equal to all his past
labours, and required a new lifetime for its fulfilment, so that the design
was abandoned.
During the long space of
nearly eighteen years, in which Mr. Tytler was employed in the "History of
Scotland," this, although his greatest, was not his only literary
production; and during occasional intervals he published the following
works, which of themselves would have been reckoned a considerable amount of
authorship:—
"Lives of Scottish Worthies,"
in three volumes 12mo. Published in Murray’s "Family Library." London,
1831-23. Volume 1 |
Volume 2 |
Volume 3
"Historical View of the
Progress of Discovery on the more Northern Coasts of America." Published in
the "Edinburgh Cabinet Library" of Messrs. Oliver & Boyd. 1832.
"Memoirs of the War carried
on in Scotland and Ireland, 1689-91, by Major-General Hugh Mackay." This
volume, which he edited in conjunction with Mr. Hog of Newliston, and Mr.
Adam Urquhart, was presented to the Bannatyne and Maitland Clubs in 1833.
"Life of Sir Walter Raleigh."
Published in the "Edinburgh Cabinet Library." 12mo. 1833.
"Life of King Henry the
Eighth." London, 1837.
"England under the Reigns of
Edward VI. and Mary, with the Contemporary History of Europe; in a Series of
Original Letters, never before published; with Historical Introductions,"
&c. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1839.
The article "Scotland," in
the seventh edition of the "Encyclopedia Britannica," which was afterwards
published in a separate form, as a History of Scotland for the use of
Schools.
While Mr. Tytler thus
occasionally unbent his mind with what to others would have proved a serious
burden, he was also alive to the stir of the world around him, and felt
sufficient interest in the passing events of the day. This was especially
the case when that important ecclesiastical movement, the Disruption,
occurred in Scotland in 1843. As a Christian, a Scotchman, and a historian,
it was especially calculated to arrest his attention; while the fact of his
being an Episcopalian removed him from the turmoil, and enabled him to
regard it with a cool, dispassionate eye. The sentiments, therefore, of one
so situated, and so conversant with the historical facts and principles
which were appealed to by the contending parties on this occasion, are well
worthy of notice. These he fully and distinctly delivered in a letter, dated
June 6th, 1843, to a friend, who had abandoned the Establishment, and joined
himself to the Free Church. "I do not see," he writes, "how, consistently
with your principles, and belief in what constitutes a true Presbyterian
Kirk, you could have acted otherwise. In our conversations on the subject, I
remember often saying, that had I been a Presbyterian, I must have done the
same. Popular election of their ministers, and complete spiritual
independence, were, from the first, the two great principles laid down by
Knox as the foundation on which their whole superstructure rested, and,
indeed, without the last, no church could stand. With the first—the right of
the people to choose their ministers—I have no sympathies: with the last,
every feeling of my heart and reason is on your side—and no one knows how
soon the Church of England may have to contend for it. Let us hope that if
it does come to this, there may be as much courage and conscience in England
as across the border."
In his mode of study, Mr.
Tytler, although so deeply immersed in the absorbing research of history and
antiquarianism, was no peevish recluse student, sheltering himself within
the innermost recesses of his hermitage, and quarreling with every sound
above a gentle whisper: instead of this, his favourite place of work was the
parlour or the drawing-room, surrounded by the society of his family and
friends; and there he consulted his authorities, arranged his notes, and
wrote out his copy for the printer, animated and cheered onward rather than
disturbed by the society around him; listening to the music that might be
going on, to which he was very partial, and mingling in the subjects of
conversation. In this cheerful, genial fashion, he embodied into living form
the materials of his anxious research, which he had gleaned among the MSS.
of the British Museum, or the State Paper Office. That he might be near
these fountain-heads also, he resided for a considerable period during the
latter part of his life in the metropolis. During the present reign, he was
oftener than once a guest at Windsor, where he was received with honourable
distinction; and during the administration of Sir Robert Peel, when literary
merit was not thought unworthy of state recognition and reward, his high
services as a national historian were attested by a pension of £200 per
annum.
In everyday life, unconnected
with his intellectual pursuits, the high moral worth, amiable gentle temper,
and conversational powers of Mr. Tytler, endeared him to a wide circle of
friends, by whom these qualities are still most affectionately remembered.
But the characteristic by which he was especially distinguished, was the
deep-seated religious principle for which he was noted from his earliest
youth, and by which his whole course of life was regulated to the close,
both in his private and literary relationships. In subservience to this were
his hilarity and wit, which were so pervaded with his own amiable
temperament, that instead of repelling, they attracted all around him, and
mesmerized the company for the time into happy beings like himself. In this
way the historian, amidst the throngs and events of centuries, maintained
and preserved to the end his own personal identity, instead of losing it
among past ages—a trait of intellectual independence, hard indeed to
compass, and very rarely to be found among those who have won for themselves
a high literary reputation, especially among the more crabbed and abstruse
departments of intellect. In the earlier part of his life Mr. Tytler served
in the troop of the Mid-Lothian Yeomanry Cavalry--a corps in which not only
the highest rank but the best talent of Scotland was enrolled; and among
such congenial spirits he soon took the lead, not only on account of the
fascinating wit and cheerfulness of his conversation, but the songs which he
composed and sung—for he was also a poet of no common mark; and the lyrics
with which he was wont to charm the mess-table, were connected with the
military affairs of the regiment, and the duties with which his comrades
were occupied. On one occasion, being desirous of retirement, probably for a
holiday’s recreation, and aware how his furlough would be apt to be invaded,
he stole away to the house of his brother, at Woodhouselee. But his absence
was instantly felt in the next merry meeting of his comrades, at their
headquarters of Musselburgh, and a corporal’s troop, with a led horse, and a
mock warrant for seizure, were despatched to apprehend and bring back the
deserter. Tytler, who espied the coming of this band, escaped by a
back-door, and took shelter in the wood above Woodhouselee. After he had
remained there for such a length of time that he thought the danger must be
over, he ventured to return to the house; but ill had he calculated upon the
double sharpness of the lawyer-soldiers of the Lothian Yeomanry. He was
captured at the very threshold by the ambush that awaited his return,
deprived of his arms, mounted upon the led horse, and carried off in triumph
to the military encampment. This diverting pantomime, of what in the stern
realities of war is often a moving tragedy, so greatly tickled his fancy,
that on the same evening he composed a song, detailing, in most comic
fashion, the circumstances of his capture, which he sang at the mess-table
on the following day, amidst the applauding peals of his companion; who were
thus well requited for their trouble. This song ever after continued to be
the most popular of all his lyrical productions.
But we must hasten to the
mournful termination—"the last scene of all." In 1843 Mr. Tytler had
finished his "History of Scotland;" and although he had already written so
much, and this, too, upon subjects where the apparent quantity of labour
bears but a small proportion to the toil and research that have produced it,
he was still earnest to accomplish more, and hopeful, after a period of
rest, to be enabled to resume those occupations which had now become the
chief element of his existence. But even already his literary life had drawn
to a close. Although of a healthy vigorous constitution, active habits, and
cheerful temperament, his over-wearied mind and exhausted frame had no
longer power to rally; and after wandering over the Continent in a hopeless
pursuit of health, he returned home to die. His death occurred on the
morning of Christmas Eve (24th December), 1849, after several years of
sickness and suffering, and when he had entered his fifty-ninth year.
Mr. Tytler was twice married.
His first wife, who died in 1835, was Rachel Elizabeth, daughter of the late
Thomas Hog, Esq., of Newliston, by whom he had two sons, Alexander and
Thomas Patrick, both in the East India Company’s military service, and one
daughter. His second wife, who still survives him, was Anastasia, daughter
of the late Thomson Boner, Esq., of Camden Place, Kent.