Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mylne, James
MYLNE, JAMES (d. 1788), poet, was laird of Lochill or Loch-hill, a small estate near Prestonpans, Haddingtonshire. His ‘Poems, consisting of Miscellaneous Pieces and two Tragedies,’ were published posthumously (Edinburgh, 8vo, 1790) by his son George, who obtained a very long list of subscribers. Some of the verses are in dialect, and all show taste and reading; the best is perhaps an invitation from the poet to Robert Burns to visit him on his farm. The two tragedies, ‘The British Kings’ and ‘Darthula,’ dealing respectively with prehistoric Britain and prehistoric Ulster, are not so well inspired. Mylne died at Lochill on 9 Dec. 1788.
[Scots Magazine, 1788, p. 623; Baker's Biog. Dramatica, 1812, p. 537; Advocates' Library and Brit. Museum Library Catalogues.]