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WRITING FOR PERIODICALS.

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CHAPTER VIII.

(1823-1832.)

Tytler at Abbotsford-His History of Scotland undertaken-His marriageLetters to his wife-Settles in Edinburgh-His History begins to appearHis literary pursuits, and domestic happiness-A visit to London.

THE time had arrived when Mr. Tytler was to exemplify what was with him in after years a favourite literary precept namely, that an author, instead of frittering away his energies on a multitude of subjects of minor interest, should, as soon as practicable, take up some large inquiry, and then make it the business of his literary life to prosecute that inquiry with exclusive attention; making his other studies subsidiary to his one great master study, and reading every book with a constant reference to this one ruling object of his ambition. To periodical literature especially he had a rooted dislike. The systematic contribution to such publications he not only thought derogatory to the dignity of an author, but he regarded it as a most injurious practice. It is fatal, he would say, to the habit of sustained investigation; and diminishes the sense of responsibility. It induces carelessness of statement and a slip-shod style of writing. What is worst of all, if a man has a great pursuit before him, the task of writing on any other subject for one of our great periodicals, (he spoke from experience,) entails a degree of labour to which the proposed remuneration must be wholly disproportionate, while it carries a man

into fields of inquiry alike irrelevant and distracting. If a man is without such a great and engrossing subject, he is confirming himself in those desultory habits which my friend discouraged in others as well as avoided himself. From this time forward, he steadily resisted the many applications which were made to him to contribute papers to literary journals. I am aware of only one article in the Quarterly,— and another in the Foreign Quarterly Review,—which were from his pen. The advantage of recognizing one great object of study, to which other pursuits may be made subsidiary, I have since experienced so sensibly, that it is but right to bear testimony to the value of advice which he so often and so affectionately urged upon me. He told me that he had himself received the precept from the late Sir James Mackintosh.

Tytler's Law studies had unavoidably introduced him to the history of his country under one of its most instructive, if not one of its most attractive aspects. His biographical works had already accustomed him to patient application and research, as well as given him those habits of minute inquiry which are of paramount importance to the historian. He was ripe for some greater effort, as well as inclined by literary ambition and probably by a deepening conviction that at the Bar he could scarcely any longer hope to attain that eminence, which in some department of enterprize he was yet conscious that he had a right to command. An evening at Abbotsford decided what was to become the great business of his literary life. "I forget the exact year in which the occurrence took place," (writes his old friend Mr. Alexander Pringle of Whytbank, in 1854, on being requested by Mr. James Tytler to state the circumstances of that memorable visit ;) "but it must have been not long before Sir Walter Scott first published his Tales of a Grandfather. It was in the month of July, soon after the rising of

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HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

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the Court of Session, when my late valued friend happened to be on a visit here for some days, that we one day rode down to dine at Abbotsford. We met there a small, but very agreeable party. One circumstance which I particularly remember was that your brother then for the first time made the acquaintance of Sir Adam Ferguson, who met him very cordially, and spoke to him of happy days, which at an early period of his life he had spent at Woodhouselee, when your brother was but a child. He enjoyed much Sir Adam's songs and entertaining anecdotes, especially those of his adventures in the Spanish war; and one song I remember particularly caught his fancy. It was an old Jacobite one, 'Charlie is my darling,'-then little known, but which soon became very popular from its being a favourite at Abbotsford.

"While we were riding home at night,-(I remember well the place it was just after we had forded the Tweed at Boldside,)-your brother told me that in the course of that evening, Sir Walter Scott had taken him aside, and suggested to him the scheme of writing a History of Scotland. Sir Walter stated that some years before, the booksellers had urged him to undertake such a work, and that he had at one time seriously contemplated it. The subject was very congenial to his tastes; and he thought that by interspersing the narrative with romantic anecdotes illustrative of the manners of his countrymen, he could render such a work popular. But he soon found, while engaged in preparing his materials, that something more was wanted than a popular romance; that a right history of Scotland was yet to be written; but that there were ample materials for it in the national records, in collections of documents, both private and public, and in Scottish authors whose works had become rare, or were seldom perused. The research, however, which would be required for bringing to light, arranging

and digesting these materials, he soon saw would be far more than he had it in his power to give to the subject; and it would be a work of tedious and patient labour, which must be pursued, not in Scotland only, but amongst the national collections of records in London, and wherever else such documents may have been preserved. But such a labour, his official duties and other avocations would not allow him to bestow upon it. He had therefore ended in a resolution to confine his undertaking to a collection of historical anecdotes, for the amusement of the rising generation; calculated to impress upon their memories the worthy deeds of Scottish heroes, and inspire them with sentiments of nationality. He also mentioned that the article on the Culloden Papers, published in the January number of the Quarterly Review for 1816, which I have always considered as one of the most attractive as well as characteristic of all his writings, had been originally conceived in the form of a portion of an introductory Essay to the contemplated historical work, which was now likely to go no further.

"He then proposed to your brother to enter on the undertaking; and remarked to him that he knew his tastes and favourite pursuits lay so strongly in the line of history, and the history of his native country must have such peculiar interest for him, that the labour could not fail to be congenial to him: that though the requisite researches would consume a great deal of time and thought, he had the advantage of youth on his side, and might live to complete the work, which, if executed under a deep sense of the importance of historical truth, would confer a lasting benefit on his country: and he ended with offering all the aid in his power for obtaining access to the repositories of information, as well as advice in pursuing the necessary investigations.

"I asked my friend if the suggestion pleased him? He replied, that the undertaking appeared very formidable; that

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MR. PRINGLE'S LETTER.

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I knew he had always been fond of historical pursuits; and though he confessed he had frequently cherished an ambition for becoming an historical author, yet it had never entered into his mind to attempt a history of his own country, as he knew too well the difficulties which he would have to encounter, especially those of attaining accuracy, and realising his own conception of what a history of Scotland ought to be; but that the suggestion coming from such a quarter, as well as the offered assistance, was not to be disregarded. You may be sure that I encouraged him to the best of my power; for though I knew how much it was likely to withdraw his attention from his professional avocations, yet I also knew how much more congenial a pursuit it would prove, and how much more he was likely to attain to excellence, and establish his reputation in this channel. It was therefore with much satisfaction that I soon afterwards learned from him that he had entered seriously on the undertaking."*

The Tales of a Grandfather' were published in 1827; and certainly it was neither in the July of 1826 nor of 1825 that Mr. Tytler was a guest at Abbotsford: for Sir Walter Scott spent the summer of 1825 in Ireland. Tytler, in July of the same year, visited the English lakes, in company with Mr. James Hog and Mr. Coventry. The three friends travelled on foot, with their knapsacks on their back,-delighted with one another, and with the exquisite scenery of Westmoreland. In 1826, Tytler was very differently occupied, as will be seen by and by. So alas! was Sir Walter Scott, for it was the year of his commercial difficulties. In short, it must have been in 1823 that the visit to which Mr. Pringle alludes, took place. Writing in that year to Lord Montagu, Sir Walter Scott made the following observations:-"We are still but very indifferently provided with

*To James Tytler, Esq. The letter is dated, Yair 19th Aug. 1854.

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