TYTLER, Alexander Fraser, the eldest son of William Tytler, noticed in the preceding article, was born at Edinburgh on the 15th of October 1747. In his eighth year, he was sent to the High School, where he became the dux of the rector's class. In 1763, he was placed under the care of Mr Elphinstone, who then kept an academy at Kensington. Here he enlarged his stock of classical knowledge, and cultivated his talent for Latin versification. One of his poems was communicated to Dr Jortin, an excellent judge, who encouraged the youthful writer by his commendation, and presented him with a copy of his own
Latin poems. After a residence of two years he quitted Kensington, and in 1765 entered the university of Edinburgh, where he had the advantage of prosecuting his studies under Dr Ferguson and Dr Blair. His range of enquiry was sufficiently ample, but his chief efforts were directed to literature and jurisprudence. He continued to increase his familiarity with the Greek and Latin writers, nor did he neglect the study of modern languages. Music and drawing were added to his other accomplishments. Natural history became, and long continued to be, one of his favourite recreations.
He was called to the bar in 1770; and in the spring of the ensuing year, he accompanied his relation Mr Kerr of Blackshiel on a tour to Paris, from which they returned by Flanders and Holland. At the age of twenty-four he published "Piscatory Eclogues, with other Poetical Miscellanies, by Phineas Fletcher: illustrated with notes, critical and explanatory." Edinb. 1771, 8vo. In 1776 he married Anne, the eldest daughter of William Fraser, Esq. of Balnain. When the Works of John Gregory, M.D. were published in 1778, he contributed the preliminary account of the author's life and writings. During the same year, he published a folio volume, supplementary to Lord Kames's Dictionary of Decisions. Although he never rose to high practice at the bar, he did not neglect the learning of his profession; but soon after this period he sought and obtained an academical office. In 1780 he was appointed conjoint professor with Mr Pringle, and in 1786 he became sole professor of civil history. From his first appointment till the year 1800, he devoted his attention almost exclusively to the duties of his professorship; and ten years of assiduous study were employed in the composition and improvement of the course of lectures which he annually read in the university. His lectures were considered as valuable, and they continued to attract a very respectable auditory. For the use of his students, he printed a "Plan and Outlines of a Course of Lectures on Universal History, Ancient and Modern." Edinb. 1782, 8vo. This compendium was afterwards enlarged, and published under the title of "Elements of General History, Ancient and Modern." Edinb. 1801, 2 vols. 8vo. In 1822 a supplementary volume was added by Dr Nares, professor of modern history at Oxford. Mr Tytler's next, and, according to our judgment, his best work, bears the title of an "Essay on the Principles of Translation." Lond. 1791, 8vo. The third edition, with large additions, appeared at Edinburgh in 1813. This essay, originally published without the author's name, experienced a very favourable reception, and still continues to be regarded as a judicious and learned work.
In 1790 he was appointed judge-advocate of Scotland. On the death of his father in 1792, he succeeded to the estate of Woodhouselee near Edinburgh; and on the death of his father-in-law, he had previously succeeded to that of Balnain in the county of Inverness. In 1795 he was seized with a dangerous fever, which was of long continuance, and was accompanied with delirium. When he was sufficiently recovered, he resumed his favourite pursuits, and occupied himself with preparing an edition of Dr Derham's Physico-Theology, including an account of the life and writings of the author, and a short dissertation on final causes, together with notes. This edition was printed in 1799. During the same year he wrote a pamphlet, which was published at Dublin under the title of "Ireland profiting by Example; or the Question considered, whether Scotland has gained or lost by the Union." Of this well-timed tract, three thousand copies were sold on the day of its publication. His next production was "An Essay on Military Law, and the Practice of Courts Martial." Edinb. 1800, 8vo. A second edition was printed at London in 1806. He contributed the critical remarks, inserted without his name in an edition of the Poems of Allan Ramsay. Lond. 1800, 2
vols. 8vo. The biographical account of the poet was contributed by a writer greatly inferior to Mr Tytler.
The literary, professional, and, we may add, political merits, of the learned professor, were too conspicuous to be overlooked. On the second of February 1802 he took his seat in the Court of Session, with the title of Lord Woodhouselee. To the duties of his new station he devoted himself with scrupulous assiduity; but the long vacations left him abundant leisure for his literary pursuits. He devised several projects which he did not live to execute. One of these was a life of George Buchanan; "in which," as we are informed, "he proposed to do ample justice to his genius as a poet, and his merits as a historian, but to examine, with firmness and accuracy, his conduct as a man and as a politician." It is easy to conjecture that Buchanan's politics could not be very highly approved by Lord Woodhouselee. He however found another subject for his biographical labours, and published a very copious work, under the title of "Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Hon. Henry Home of Kames." Edinb. 1807, 2 vols. 4to. This work, which was reprinted in octavo, contains an ample store of historical and literary information, and in various respects is very creditable to the author. Like all other works, however, it is not without its defects. The author's manner of writing is too diffuse; his muster-roll of great men is much too great; and not a few subjects and characters seem to be viewed through the dim and narrow expanse of political prejudice. In this modern judge, the conduct of Sir George Mackenzie found a zealous defender. His lordship, we are inclined to think, was more laudably employed in preparing for the press "An Historical and Critical Essay on the Life and Character of Petrarch: with a Translation of a few of his Sonnets." Edinb. 1810, 8vo. The greater part of this work had appeared in two separate publications; the one a small pamphlet, printed with a similar title twenty-five years before; the other a dissertation or an historical hypothesis of the Abbé de Sade, printed in the fourth volume of the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In the year 1811, he was appointed a judge of the Court of Justiciary. This new preferment he did not long enjoy. For some time he laboured under a disease which he himself contemplated as fatal, but the termination of his earthly career was very sudden. He died at his house in Prince's-street, on the 5th of January 1813, in the sixty-sixth year of his age.
Lord Woodhouselee appears to have been an amiable as well as an accomplished man. He was gentle and polished in his manners. At every period of his life, he was distinguished by his love of elegant literature. He had cultivated classical learning with perseverance and success; and even during his advanced years he continued to seek a change of tasteful recreation in the composition of Latin verses. Some specimens have been printed. In the Mirror and the Lounger he wrote various papers, and he was likewise a contributor to the Transactions of the Royal Society. He left a widow, with four sons and two daughters. The eldest son succeeded to the estate of Balnain, and the second to that of Woodhouselee. Another son, Alexander, published a work entitled "Considerations on the present Political State of India." Lond. 1815, 2 vols. 8vo. His youngest son is the author of the History of Scotland, and other performances well known to the public.