1818.] Lord Woodhouselee. 407 



returned from them without feeling his taste improved, his ardour 

 in study animated by the memories of illustrious men, and his 

 love of his country increased, both by the monuments of its 

 former glory, and the appearances of its progressive prosperity. 



In the year 1770 Mr. Tytler was called to the bar ; and in the 

 spring of the succeeding year, he accompanied his friend and 

 relation Mr. Kerr, of Blackshiels, on a tour to Paris, from which 

 they returned by Flanders and Holland. 



The year 1776 was marked by the most important as well as 

 the most fortunate event of his life, by his marriage to Miss Ann 

 Fraser, eldest daughter of William Eraser, Esq. of Balnain — an 

 union which had long been the object of his secret wishes — 

 which now accomplished all the hopes he had formed of domestic 

 happiness ; and which, after the long period of 36 years, un- 

 clouded almost by misfortune or distress, closed at last in more 

 grateful and profound affection than it at first began. 



At this period, when the business and the duties of life were 

 opening fully upon him, Mr. Tytler seems to have made a very 

 deliberate estimate of the happiness that was suited to his 

 character, and to have marked out to himself, with a very firm 

 hand, the course he was afterwards to pursue. His profession 

 opened the road both to professional fame and to civil distinc- 

 tion ; and the circumstances of the times were of a kind to 

 animate all his ambition of literary distinction. The period to 

 which I allude was, perhaps, indeed, the most remarkable that 

 has occurred in the literary history of Scotland. The causes 

 which, since the era of the Union, had tended to repress the 

 spirit of literature in this country, had now ceased to operate : 

 the great field of England was now opening to the ambition of 

 the learned ; and the ardour with which they advanced into it, 

 instead of being chilled by national prejudice or jealousy, was 

 hailed by the applause of that generous people. The fame of 

 Mr. Hume was now at its summit of celebrity. After the 

 honours with which the Histories of Mary and Charles V. were 

 crowned, Dr. Robertson was laying the foundation of new 

 claims to historical reputation ; and in the solitude of his native 

 village, Mr. Smith was preparing that illustrious work which was 

 afterwards to direct the laws and to regulate the welfare of nations. 

 The different Universities of the country were vying with each 

 other in the ardour of scientific pursuit and in the dissemination 

 of useful knowledge ; and from them there were annually advanc- 

 ing into life some of those men who have since supported or 

 extended the reputation of their country. The profession of law 

 partook in the general spirit of improvement : the pleadings of 

 the bar began to display a more cultivated taste, and the deci- 

 sions of the bench to be directed by a more enlightened philo- 

 sophy. The eloquence of Mr. Lockhart was still occasionally 

 heard ; and Mr. Erskine was beginning that brilliant career 

 which so lately only has been closed. Lord Hailes was carrying 



