this poor man's labours, were, in the next ensuing edition, no less than forty-two thousand pounds. It is proper, however, to mention that the poverty of Tytler was chiefly attributable to his own imprudence and intemperate habits.
A highly characteristic anecdote, related by an anonymous biographer,[1] will make this sufficiently clear. "As a proof," says this writer, "of the extraordinary stock of general knowledge which Mr Tytler possessed, and with what
ease he could write on any subject almost extempore, a gentleman in the city
of Edinburgh once told me that he had occasion to apply to this extraordinary
man for as much matter as would form a junction between a certain history and its continuation to a later period. He found him lodged in one of
those elevated apartments called garrets, and was informed by the old woman
with whom he resided, that he could not see him, as he had gone to bed rather
the worse- of liquor. Determined, however, not to depart without his errand,
he was shown into Mr Tytler's apartment by the light of a lamp, where he
'found him in the situation described by the landlady. The gentleman having
acquainted him with the nature of the business which brought him at so late an
hour, Mr Tytler called for pen and ink, and in a short time produced about a
page and a half of letter-press, which answered the end as completely as if it
had heen the result of the most mature deliberation, previous notice, and a mind
undisturbed by any liquid capable of deranging its ideas." A man who has so
little sense of natural dignity as to besot his senses by liquor, and who can so
readily make his intellect subservient to the purposes of all who may choose to
employ its powers, can hardly expect to be otherwise than poor; while his very
poverty tends, by inducing dependence, to prevent him from gaining the proper reward for his labours. Tytler, moreover, had that contentment with poverty, if not pride in it, which is so apt to make it permanent. "It is said," proceeds his biographer, after relating the above anecdote, " that Mr Tytler
was perfectly regardless about poverty, so far as to feel no desire to conceal it
from the world. A certain gentleman who had occasion to wait upon him on
some particular business, found him eating rv cold potatoe, which he continued to devour with as much composure, as if it had been the most sumptuous repast upon earth." It is mentioned elsewhere by the same writer that poor Tytlet never thought of any but present necessities, and was as happy in the possession of a few shillings as a miser could be with all the treasures of India.
Besides his labours in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, to the third edition of which he is said to have also contributed, (particularly the article "Electricity," which was allowed to be excellent,) he was employed in the compilation of many miscellaneous books of an useful character, and also in abridgments. At one time, while confined within the precincts of the sanctuary of Holyrood, he had a press of his own, from which he threw off various productions, generally without the intermediate use of manuscript In a small mean room, amidst the squalling and squalor of a number of children, this singular genius stood at a printer's case, composing pages of types, either altogether from his own ideas, or perhaps with a volume before him, the language of which he was condensing by a mental process little less difficult. He is said to have, in this manner, fairly commenced an abridgment of that colossal work, the Universal History: it was only carried, however, through a single volume. To increase the surprise which all must feel regarding these circumstances, it may be mentioned, that his press was one of his own manufacture, described by his biographer, as being "wrought in the direction of a smith's bellows;" and probably, therefore, not unlike that subsequently brought into use by the ingenious John Rutli-
- ↑ See "a Biographical Sketch of the Life of James Tytler" Edinburgh, printed by and for Denovan, Lawnmarket, 1805.
