410 Biographical Account of [Dec. 



soon occurred, which Mr. Tytler willingly embraced. The late 

 John Pringle, Esq. had been recently appointed to the Professor- 

 ship of Universal History and Roman Anticpiities in the Univer- 

 sity of Edinburgh ; but finding the discharge of the duties of it 

 incompatible with his other employments, had expressed his 

 inclination to resign it. The class (I believe) in its original 

 institution, in this and in other Universities of Scotland, had 

 been intended as subsidiary to the study of the civil law. It 

 had been taught always by members of the Faculty of Advo- 

 cates, and attended by students of that description : and it had, 

 therefore, that degree of relation to Mr. Ty tier's own profession, 

 that forfeited none of the hopes or expectations he might form 

 of its future distinctions. An arrangement was soon made with 

 Mr. Pringle. In 1780, Mr. Tytler was appointed Conjunct 

 Professor; and in 1786, sole Professor of Universal History. 



From that period until the year 1800, Mr. Tytler devoted his 

 life almost exclusively to the duties of his Professorship ; and 

 ten years of assiduous study were employed in the composition 

 and improvement of the course of lectures which he annually 

 read in the University. 



Of the character and value of that course of lectures I should 

 have felt it a duty to have attempted some slight description if 

 I were not prevented by the presence of many, to whom every 

 attempt of this kind would be superfluous, and by the recollec- 

 tion that while they remain unpublished they cannot be the 

 objects of public criticism. I may be permitted, however, to 

 otter to the Society a few observations upon, the views with 

 which Mr. Tytler entered upon his Professorship, and upon the 

 plan he pursued in the conduct of his lectures. 



The class had hitherto been taught chiefly in relation to the 

 science of law, to which it was considered as subsidiary. It 

 was not so much Universal History that was the subject of pre- 

 lection as the History of Rome ; and the views that were exhi- 

 bited of Roman antiquities were chiefly those that were illustrative 

 of the principles or progress of the civil law. Mr. Tytler felt 

 that it became him to take a more comprehensive view of the 

 subject ; to aim at higher utilities than those of a single profes- 

 sion ; to adapt his lectures to the more liberal opinions which 

 had arisen with regard to education, and the increasing celebrity 

 of the University where they were to be delivered ; and " in the 

 course of them (as he has himself expressed it) to exhibit a 

 progressive view of the state of mankind from the earliest ages, 

 of which we have any account ; to delineate the origin of states 

 and empires ; the great outlines of their history ; the revolutions 

 which they have undergone ; and the causes which have contri- 

 buted to their rise and grandeur, or operated to their decline and 

 extinction." 



In the execution of a design so extensive, Mr. Tytler's atten- 

 tion was first directed to the choice of a plan, or to the foraa- 

 o 



