W. Tytkr, El'i; 



APPENDIX. (27) 



violent means, he firft obtained the privilege, and then the legal ^r°™{^"*j 

 charadler of a hufband. 



I HAVE placed this Differtadon next in order to the Enquiry^ 

 becaiife both relate to the fame hiftorical fadl, though in point 

 of time it was the laft of Mr Tytler's compofitions. Before 

 that DifTertation, he had produced feveral other works on hifto- 

 rical and Hterary fubjedls, namely, 



I. 'the Poetical Remains of James the Firjl, King of Scotland^ 



In one volume 8vo, publiftied at Edinburgh in 1783. The vo- 

 lume, of which the above is the general title, contains a DilTer- 

 tation on the Life and Writings of King James the Firft, one 

 of thofe Princes, in whofe lives, difaftrous rather than unfortu- 

 nate, adverfity was the parent of wifdom and of virtue, and 

 was cheared by religion, philofophy, and the mufes. This Dif- 

 fertation introduces two well known ancient poems, which Mr 

 Tytler, on very ftrong grounds, afcribes to the King, viz. The 

 King's ^air, and Cbrijl^s Kirk on the Green. The poem of 

 The King's ^air, or in modern Enghfli the King's book, is a 

 very ftriking proof, not only of the poetical genius and imagi- 

 nation of its author, but of a tafte cultivated and refined by an 

 acquaintance with the claflical poetry of the ancients, and the 

 works of thofe eminent bards who were his cotemporaries, 

 Chaucer, Gower and Lydgate. The fubjeA of tlie poem 

 is the paflion of James for his lovely miftrefs Jane, daughter 

 of the Earl of Somerfet, who afterwards became his Queen ; 

 and the chief cixcumftances of the poet's life, the misfortunes 

 of his youth, his long captivity, the incident which gave rife 

 to his love, its purity, conftancy, and faccefs, are well defcribed 

 vmder the quaint, but at that time fafliionable figure of poetry, 

 allegorical vifion. Tliis work, wliich is mentioned by John 

 Major as the compofition of James, and which in later times 

 had been feen by Bilhop Tanner in an ancient MS. among 



(D 2) the 



