402 Biographical Account of [Dec. 



In the year 1755, he was sent by his father to the High 

 School, then under the direction of Mr. Matheson. In that 

 school he remained five years, distinguished to his school-fellows 

 by the gaiety and playfulness of his manners, and to his teach- 

 ers by his industry and ability ; and when he left it he left it with 

 the highest honours which the school can bestow, as Dux of the 

 Rector's, or highest class. 



The High School, however, although then a respectable semi- 

 nary of education, had not yet acquired the eminence which it 

 has since attained, by the zealous activity of the late Dr. Adam, 

 and more recently by the enlightened improvements of the present 

 rector, Mr. Pillans. To complete the classical education of his 

 son, Mr. Tytler, therefore, determined to send him to one of the 

 academies of England ; and for this purpose he chose the aca- 

 demy at Kensington, then under the care of Mr. Elphinston, a 

 man of learning and of worth, and distinguished by the friend- 

 ship of Dr. Samuel Johnson. It was in the year 176'3, when he 

 was 15 years of age, that Mr. Tytler went to Kensington. He 

 was himself at that time conscious of the imperfection of his 

 classical knowledge ; he felt that he had yet much to learn, par- 

 ticularly in the articles of prosody and of composition, and he 

 entered the academy with the ambition of returning an accom- 

 plished scholar. The progress of youth and the instructions of 

 his father had now awakened him to a sense of the beauties of 

 classical composition ; and the names of Johnstone and Buchanan 

 reminded him that the accomplishments which he now travelled 

 to acquire were once the produce of his own country. 



With this ambition, he soon distinguished himself among his 

 school-fellows of the academy. He became the favourite pupil 

 of Mr. Elphinston, and received from that worthy man all that 

 cordial assistance and encouragement which knowledge has so 

 fortunate a pleasure in affording to the ardent and aspiring mind 

 of youth. A little incident at this time too occurred which 

 served to confirm Mr. Tytler in his love of Latin poetry, and in 

 his ambition to excel in it. 



The celebrated Dr. Jortin was at that period vicar of Kensing- 

 ton. Upon some occasion, when Mr. Tytler had particularly 

 gratified Mr. Elphinston by a copy of Latin verses, the good 

 man carried them in exultation to Dr. Jortin. The verses pleased 

 Dr. Jortin so much that he requested to be made acquainted with 

 the author. Mr. Tytler was accordingly introduced to him. He 

 received him with the greatest kindness, and after praising the 

 composition and encouraging his assiduity, he took down a copy 

 of his own Latin poems, and requested Mr. Tytler to accept of 

 it as a memorial of his approbation and regard. This volume, 

 with a little inscription in the author's hand-writing, Mr. Tytler 

 ever afterwards preserved with veneration, and often acknow- 

 ledged that much of his attachment to Latin verse was owing to 

 this little incident. 



