(William, Esq.), so well known in the literary world as one of the ablest, and certainly the most gentlemanly, of the defenders of the fame of Mary Queen of Scots, was born at Edinburgh, October 12, 1711. He was the son of Mr Alexander Tytler, writer (or attorney) in Edinburgh, by Jane, daughter of Mr William Leslie, merchant in Aberdeen, and granddaughter of Sir Patrick Leslie of Idan, provost of that city. He received his education at the grammar school (or, as it is there called, the High School) and the university of his native city, and distinguished himself by an early proficiency in those classical studies, which, to the latest period of his life, were the occupation of his leisure hours, and a principal source of his mental enjoyments.
In the year 1731, he attended the academical lectures of Mr Alexander Bayne, Professor of municipal law in the university of Edinburgh, a gentleman distinguished alike for his professional knowledge, his literary accomplishments, and the elegance of his table. The Professor found in his pupil a congenial spirit; and their connection, notwithstanding the disparity of their years, was soon ripened into all the intimacy of the closest friendship. So strong indeed became at length that tie of affection, that the worthy Professor, in his latter years, not only made him the companion of his studies, but when at length the victim of a lingering disease, chose him as the comforter of those many painful and melancholy hours which preceded his death.
At the age of 31, Mr Tytler was admitted into the Society of Writers to his Majesty's Signet, and continued the practice of that profession with very good success, and with equal respect from his clients and the public, till his death, which happened on the 12th of September, 1792. He married, in September 1745, Anne Craig, daughter of Mr James Craig of Dalnair, writer to the signet, by whom he has left two sons, Alexander Fraser Tytler, his Majesty's Judge advocate for Scotland, and Professor of civil history in the university of Edinburgh; and Patrick Tytler, Lieutenant colonel of a regiment of fencible infantry, and Fort-major of the castle of Stirling; together with one daughter, Miss Christina Tytler. His wife died about nine years before him; and, previously to that period, he had lost a son and a daughter, both grown to maturity.
The most remarkable feature of Mr Tytler's character was an ardour and activity of mind, prompted always by a strong sense of rectitude and honour. He felt with equal warmth the love of virtue and the hatred of vice; he was not apt to disguise either feelings, nor to compromise, as some men more complying with the world might have done, with the fashion of the time, or the disposition of those around him. He seldom waved an argument on any topic of history, of politics, or literature; he never retreated from one on any subject that touched those more important points on which he had formed a decided opinion. Decided opinions he always formed on subjects of importance; for on such subjects he formed no opinions rashly; and what he firmly believed he avowed with confidence, and sometimes with warmth. Nor was it in opinion or argument only that this warmth and ardour of mind were conspicuous. They prompted him equally in action and conduct. His affection to his family, his attachment to his friends and companions, his compassion for the unfortunate, were alike warm and active. He was in sentiment also what Johnson (who felt it strongly in himself, and mentions it as the encomium of one of his friends) calls a "good hater"; but his hatred or resentment went no further than opinion or words; his better affections only rose into action. In his opinions, or in his expression of them, there was sometimes a vehemence, an appearance of scrimony, which his friends might regret, and which strangers might censure; but he had no asperity in his mind to influence his actual conduct in life. He indulged opposition, not enmity; and the world was just to him in return. He had opponents; but two of his biographers, who knew him well, as well as the people with whom he most associated, declare their belief that he had not a single enemy. His contests were on opinions, not on things; his disputes were historical and literary. In conversation, he carried on these with uncommon interest and vivacity; and the same kind of impulse which prompted his conversation (as is justly observed by an author, who published some notices of his life and character in the periodical work intitled The Bee) induced him to become an author. He wrote not from vanity or vain-glory, which Rousseau holds to be the only inducement to writing; he wrote to open his mind upon paper; to speak to the public those opinions which he had often spoken in private; opinions on the truth of which he had firmly made up his own conviction, and was sometimes surprised when he could not convince others: it was fair to try, if, by a fuller exposition of his arguments, he could convince the world.
With this view, he published, in 1759, his "Inquiry, historical and critical, into the Evidence against Mary Queen of Scots," and an Examination of the Histories of Dr Robertson and Mr Hume with respect to that Evidence;" in which he warmly espoused the cause of that unfortunate Princess, attacked with severity the conduct of her enemies, and exposed the fallacy, in many parts the fabrication, of those proofs on which the charges against her had been founded.
This was a cause worthy of an advocate who loved truth better than popular applause; and Mr Tytler evinced himself to be such an advocate. The problem of Mary's guilt or innocence, if considered merely as a detached historical fact, would appear an object which, at this distance of time, seems hardly to merit that laborious and earnest investigation to which it has given rise; though, even in this point of view, the mind is naturally stimulated to search out the truth of a dark mysterious event, disgraceful to human nature; and our feelings of justice and moral rectitude are interested to fix the guilt upon its true authors. But when we consider that this question involves a discussion of the politics of both England and Scotland during one of the most interesting periods of their history, and touches the characters, not only of the two sovereigns, but of their ministers and statesmen, it must then be regarded in the light of a most important historical inquiry, without which our knowledge of the history of our own country must be obscure, confused, and unsatisfactory. In addition to these motives of inquiry, this question has exercised some of the ablest heads both of earlier and of latter times; and it is no mean pleasure to engage in a contest of genius and of talents, and to try our strength in the decision of a controversy which has been maintained on both sides with consummate ability.
As we have elsewhere (see Mary, Encycl.) given an abstract of the arguments on both sides of this disputed question, it would be altogether improper to repeat them here; but justice to the subject of this memoir requires us to say, that by his manner of discussing it he acquired high reputation in the republic of letters. Before the appearance of the Inquiry, says an ingenious writer, it was the fashion for literary disputants to attack each other like miscreants and banditti. The person was never separated from the cause; and whatever attacked the one, was considered as equally attacking the other; so that ferocity and abuse bloated the pages even of a Bentley and a Ruddiman. The Historical Inquiry was free from every thing of that sort; and though the highest name produced not a mitigation of the force of any argument, the meanest never suffered the smallest abuse. He considered it as being greatly beneath the dignity of a man contending for truth, to overstretch even an argument in the smallest degree, far more to pervert a fact to answer his purpose on any occasion. In the course of his argument, he had too often occasion to show that this had been done by others; but he disdained to imitate them. His reasoning was forcible and elegant; impartially severe, but always polite, and becoming the gentleman and the scholar.
When this book appeared, it was universally read in Britain, and very well translated into French, under the title of "Recherches Historiques et Critiques sur les Principales Preuves d'Accusation intentée contre Marie Reine d'Ecosse." The interest it excited among literary men may be judged of from the character of those by whom it was reviewed on its publication, in the periodical works of the time. Dr Douglas, now bishop of Salisbury, Dr Samuel Johnson, Dr John Campbell, and Dr Smollet—all wrote reviews of Mr Tytler's book, containing very particular accounts of its merits, and elaborate analyses of the chain of its arguments. As an argument on evidence, no suffrage could perhaps be more decisive of its merit than that of one of the greatest lawyers, and indeed one of the ablest men that ever sat on the woolpack of England, the late Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, who declared Mr Tytler's Inquiry to be the best concatenation of circumstantial proofs brought to bear upon one point that he had ever perused. What effect that body of evidence, or the arguments deduced from it, ought to have upon the minds of those to whom the subject may become matter of investigation, we do not presume to determine. The opinion of the late Dr Henry, author of the History of Great Britain on a New Plan, may perhaps be thought neither partial nor confident. He says, in a letter to Mr Tytler, published in the first volume of Transactions of the Antiquarian Society of Scotland, That he would be a bold man who should now publish an history of Queen Mary in the same strain with the two historians (Mr Hume and Dr Robertson), whose opinions on the subject the Inquiry had examined and controverted.
The most exceptionable part of Mary's conduct, which, though it may admit of an apology, cannot be vindicated, vindicated, is her marriage to Bothwell; and for that marriage Mr Tytler made an apology, founded on facts, which he would be a daring or very bigotted man who would attempt to controvert. See the article already referred to.
Besides the Historical Inquiry, and the Dissertation on the Marriage of Queen Mary with the Earl of Bothwell; our author published several other works on historical and literary subjects; of which the first was, the Poetical remains of James I. King of Scotland, consisting of the King's Quair, in six cantos, and Christ's Kirk on the Green; to which is prefixed a dissertation on the Life and Writings of King James, in one volume 8vo, printed at Edinburgh in 1784. This dissertation forms a valuable model of the literary history of Europe; for James ranked still higher in the literary world as a poet, than in the political world as a prince (a). Great justice is done to his memory in both respects in this dissertation; and the two models of poetry here refused from oblivion will be esteemed by men of taste as long as the language in which they are written can be understood.
2. "A Dissertation on Scottish Music," first joined to Arnot's history of Edinburgh. The simple melodies of Scotland have been long the delight of the natives, many of which, to them, convey an idea of pathos that can be equalled by none other; and are much admired by every stranger of musical talents who has visited this country. They have a powerful effect, indeed, when properly introduced, as a relief, into a musical composition of complicated harmony. There are of two kinds, pathetic and humorous. Those who wish to receive information concerning this curious subject, will derive much satisfaction from the perusal of this dissertation. There is yet another kind of music peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland, of a more wild, irregular, and animating strain, which is but lightly treated here, and requires to be full more fully elucidated.
3. "Observations on the Vision, a poem," first published in Ramsay's Evergreen, now also printed in the Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. This may be considered as a part of the literary history of Scotland.
4. "On the Fashionable Amusements in Edinburgh during the last century," &c. It is unnecessary to dwell on the light that such dissertations as these, when judiciously executed, throw upon the history of civil society and the progress of manners. Mr Tytler was likewise the author of No. 16. of the Lounger, a weekly paper, published at Edinburgh in the year 1786. His subject is the Defects of Modern Female Education in teaching the Duties of a Wife; and he treats that subject like a matter.
On all Mr Tytler's compositions the character of the man is strongly impressed, which never, as in some other instances, is in the smallest degree contradicted by, or at variance with, the character of the author. He wrote what he felt, on subjects which he felt, on subjects relating to his native country, to the arts which he loved, to the times which he revered. His heart, indeed, was in everything which he wrote, or said, or did. He had, as his family and friends could warmly attest, all the kindness of benevolence; he had its anger too; for benevolence is often the parent of anger. There was nothing neutral or indifferent about Mr Tytler. In philosophy and in history, he could not bear the coldness, or what some might call the temperance of skepticism; and what he firmly believed, it was his disposition keenly to urge.
His mind was strongly impressed by sentiments of religion. His piety was fervent and habitual. He believed in the doctrine of a particular Providence, superintending all the actions of individuals as well as the great operations of Nature; he had a constant impression of the power, the wisdom, and the benevolence of the Supreme Being; and he embraced, with thorough conviction, the truths of Christianity.
His reading was various and extensive. There was scarcely a subject of literature or taste, and few even of science, that had not at times engaged his attention. In history he was deeply versed; and what he had read his strong retentive memory enabled him easily to recall. Ancient as well as modern story was familiar to him; and, in particular, the British history, which he had read with the most minute and critical attention. Of this, besides what he has given to the public, a great number of notes, which he left in MS., touching many controverted points in English and Scottish history, afford the most ample proof.
In music as a science he was uncommonly skilled. It was his favourite amusement; and with that natural partiality which all entertain for their favourite objects, he was apt to assign to it a degree of moral importance which some might deem a little whimsical. He has often been heard to say, that he never knew a good taste in music associated with a malevolent heart; and being asked, What prescription he would recommend for attaining an old age as healthful and happy as his own? "My prescription (said he) is simple—short but cheerful meals, music, and a good conscience."
In domestic life, Mr Tytler's character was particularly amiable and praiseworthy. He was one of the kindest husbands and most affectionate fathers. At the beginning of this account, we mentioned his having lost, at an advanced period of life, an excellent wife, and a son and a daughter both grown to maturity, who merited and polished his warmest affections. The temper of mind with which he bore these losses, he has himself expressed in a MS. note, written not long before his death; with which, as it conveys a sentiment equally important in the consideration of this life, and in the contemplation of that which is to come, we shall conclude the present memoir: "The lenient hand of time (says he, after mentioning the death of his wife and children); the lenient hand of time, the affectionate care of my remaining children, and the duty which calls on my exertions for them, have by degrees restored me to myself. The memory of those dear objects gone before me, and the soothing hope that we shall soon meet again, is now the source of extreme pleasure to me. In my retired walks in the country I am never alone; those dear shades are my constant companions! Thus what I looked upon as a bitter calamity, is now become to me the chief pleasure in life."
(a) There is a beautiful historical picture of this prince playing on the harp, with his queen and a circle of his courtiers listening to the music, by Graham, in London; one of the most eminent artists of the age.