a breathing interval, after the nine volumes of his history had been finished.
But that interval, in his case so needed, could not restore the active brain and
buoyant spirit that had already accomplished their appointed duty, and accom-
plished it so well! He had also purposed to terminate his history, not at the
union of the two crowns of England and Scotland under James I., but of the
two kingdoms under Anne; but here he found the incidents so voluminous,
and withal so difficult to sift, condense, and arrange, as would have formed a
task equal to all his past labours, and required a new lifetime for its fulfilment, so that the design was abandoned.
During the long space of nearly eighteen years, in which Mr. Tytler was employed in the "History of Scotland," this, although his greatest, was not his only literary production; and during occasional intervals he published the following works, which of themselves would have been reckoned a considerable amount of authorship:—
"Lives of Scottish Worthies," in three volumes 12mo. Published in Murray's "Family Library.*' London, 1831-33.
"Historical View of the Progress of Discovery on the more Northern Coasts of America." Published in the "Edinburgh Cabinet Library" of Messrs. Oliver & Boyd. 1832.
"Memoirs of the War carried on in Scotland and Ireland, 1689-91, by Major-General Hugh Mackay." This volume, which he edited in conjunction with Mr. Hog of Newliston, and Mr. Adam Urquhart, was presented to the Bannatyne and Maitland Clubs in 1833.
"Life of Sir Walter Raleigh." Published in the " Edinburgh Cabinet Library." 12mo. 1833.
"Life of King Henry the Eighth." London, 1837.
"England under the Reigns of Edward VI. and Mary, with the Contemporary History of Europe; in a Series of Original Letters, never before published; with Historical Introductions," &c. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1839.
The article " Scotland," in the seventh edition of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica," which was afterwards published in a separate form, as a History of Scotland for the use of Schools.
While Mr. Tytler thus occasionally unbent his mind with what to others would have proved a serious burden, he was also alive to the stir of the world around him, and felt sufficient interest in the passing events of the day. This was especially the case when that important ecclesiastical movement, the Disruption, occurred in Scotland in 1843. As a Christian, a Scotchman, and a historian, it was especially calculated to arrest his attention ; while the fact of his being an Episcopalian removed him from the turmoil, and enabled him to regard it with a cool, dispassionate eye. The sentiments, therefore, of one so situated, and so conversant with the historical facts and principles which were appealed to by the contending parties on this occasion, are well worthy of notice. These he fully and distinctly delivered in a letter, dated June 6th, 1843, to a friend, who had abandoned the Establishment, and joined himself to the Free Church. "I do not see," he writes, "how, consistently with your principles, and belief in what constitutes a true Presbyterian Kirk, you could have acted otherwise. In our conversations on the subject, I remember often saying, that had I been a Presbyterian, I must have done the same. Popular election of their ministers, and complete spiritual independence, were, from the first, the two great principles laid down by Knox as the foundation on which
