fore 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
