Auld springs wad ding the new, But ye wad never trow me. Which I should conjecture to be part of a song, prior to the affair of Williamson. Bob o' Dumblane. Ramsay, as usual, has modernized this song. The original, which I learned on the spot, from my old hostess in the principal inn there, is: Lassie, lend me your braw hemp heckle, Twa gaed to the wood, to the wood, to the wood, Twa gaed to the wood-three came hame; An' it be na weel bobbit, weel bobbit, weel bobbit, An' it be na weel bobbit, we 'll bob it again. I insert this song to introduce the following anecdote, which I have heard well authenticated. In the evening of the day of the battle of Dumblane* (Sheriff-Muir), when the action was over, a Scots officer in Argyle's army, observed to his grace, that he was afraid the rebels would give out to the world that they had gotten the victory. "Weel, weel," returned his grace, alluding to the forego The battle of Dumblane, or Sheriff-Muir, was fought the 13th of November, 1715, between the the earl of Mar, for the chevalier, and the duke of Argyle, for the government. Both sides claimed the victory, the left wing of either army being routed. Ritson observes, it is very remarkable that the capture of Preston happened on the same day. ing ballad, "if they think it be nae weel bobbit, we 'll bob it again." Note referred to in page 140. A short Account of James Tytler. JAMES TYTLER was the son of a country clergyman, in the presbytery of Brechin, and brother to Dr. Tytler, the translator of Callimachus. He was instructed by his father in classical learning and school divinity, and attained an accurate knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages, and an extensive acquaintance with biblical literature and scholastic theology. Having discovered an early predilection for the medical profession, he was put apprentice to a surgeon in Forfar, and afterwards sent to attend the medical classes at Edinburgh. While a medical student he cultivated experimental chemistry and controversial theology with equal assiduity. Unfortunately his religious opinions, not deemed orthodox, or calvinistical, connected him with a society of Glassites, and involved him in a marriage with a member of the society, which terminated in a separation. He now settled at Leith, as an apothecary, depending on the patronage of his religious connections; but his separation from the society, which happened soon after, with an unsteadiness that was natural to him, disappointed his expectations. When he ceased to be a Glassite, he ceased not to be a firm believer in the Christian revelation, and a zealous advocate of genuine Christianity; but he never afterwards held communion with any denomination of Christians, The neglect of his business was the unavoidable consequence of his attention to religious dissentions; and having contracted debts to a considerable amount, he was obliged to remove to Berwick, and afterwards to Newcastle. In both places he was employed in preparing chemical medieines for the druggists; but the liberality of his employers being insufficient to preserve an encreasing family from the evils of penury, he returned to Edinburgh, in the year 1772, in extreme poverty, and took refuge from the molestation of his creditors within the precincts of the sanctuary of Holyrood House, where debtors are privileged from arrests. At this period his wife deserted him and their five children, the youngest only six months old, and returned to her relations. He solaced himself, for the privation of domestic happiness, by composing a humorous ballad entitled "The Pleasures of the Abbey," which was his first attempt in poetry. In a description of its inhabitants, the author himself is introduced in the 16th and 17th stanzas. In the avocation of an author by profession, which he was now compelled to assume, he displayed a versatility of talent and a facility in writing, unexampled in the transactions of the press. He commenced his literary career by a publication entitled " Essays on the most impor tant Subjects of natural and revealed Religion," which issued from the asylum for debtors, under the peculiar circumstances of being composed by himself, at the printing case, from his own conceptions, without a manuscript before him, and wrought off at a press of his own construction, by his own hands. He left this singular work, which was to be completed in two volumes 8vo. unfinished, and turned aside, to attack the opinions of a new religious sect called Bereans, in a Letter to Mr. John Barclay onthe Doctrine of Assurance, in which he again performed the functions of author, compositor, and pressman. He next set forth, with such assistance as he could find, a monthly publication, entitled The Gentleman and Lady's Magazine, which was soon abandoned for The Weekly Review, a literary miscellany, which, in its turn, was discontinued in a very short time. These publications, unavoidably disfigured with many typographical deformities, made him known to the booksellers; and from them he afterwards found constant employment in compilations, abridgments, A translations, and miscellaneous essays. He now ventured to leave the miserable apartments which he had long occupied in the sanctuary for debtors, for more comfortable lodgings, first at Restalrig, and afterwards in the city, and if his prudence and steadiness had been equal to his talents and industry, he might have earned by his labours a complete maintenance, which never fell to his lot. As he wrote for subsistence, not from the vanity of authorship, he was engaged in many works which were anonymous, and in others which appeared with the names of his employers. He is editor or author of the following works: The Weekly Mirror, a periodical publication which began in 1780. A System of Geography, in 8vo. A History of Edinburgh, 12mo. A Geographical, Historical, and Commercial Grammar, 2 vols. 8vo. A Review of Dritchken's Theory of Inflammation, 12mo. with a practical dedication. Remarks on Mr. Pinkerton's Introduction to the History of Scotland, 8vo. A poetical Translation of Virgil's Eclogues, 4to. general Index to the Scots Magazine. of Chemistry, written at the expense of a gentleman who was to put his name to it, unpublished. He gave his assistance in preparing the System of Anatomy published by A. Bell, and was an occasional contributor to the Medical Commentaries, and other periodical publications of the times. He was the principal editor of the second edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, and finished, with incredible labour, a large proportion of the more considerable scientific treatises and histories, and almost all the minor articles. He had an apartment assigned him in the printing-house, where he performed the offices of compiler, and corrector of the press, at a salary of sixteen shillings a week! When the third edition was undertaken, he was engaged as a stated contributor, upon more liberal terms, and wrote a larger share in the early volumes than is ascribed to him in the general preface. It was his misfortune to be continually drawn aside from the business of his employers by A System the delight he took in prosecuting experiments in chemistry, electricity, and mechanics, which consumed a large portion of his time and money. He conducted for some time, with success, a manufacturing process of which he was the inventor; but after he had disclosed his secret to the gentlemen at whose expence it was carried on, he was dismissed, without obtaining either a share in the business, or a suitable compensation for his services. He was the first in Scotland who adventured in a fire balloon, constructed upon the plan of Montgolfier. He ascended from Comely Garden, Edinburgh, amidst the acclamations of an immense multitude, and descended at a distance of a quarter of a mile, owing to some unforeseen defect in the machinery. The failure of this adventure deprived him of the public favour and applause, and encreased his pecuniary difficulties. He again had recourse to his pen for subsistence, and amidst the drudgery of writing, and the cares which pressed upon him daily, he exhilarated his spirits, at intervals, with a tune on the Irish bagpipe, which he played with much sweetness, interposing occasionally a song of his own composition, sung with great animation. A solace of this kind was well suited to the simplicity of his manners, the modesty of his disposition, and the integrity of his character, such as they were before he suffered his social propensities to violate the rules of sobriety. Forgetting his old friends, he associated with discontented persons, and entered into a deliberate exposition of the abuses of government, in "A Pamphlet on the Excise," and more systematically in a periodical publication, entitled The Historical Register, which gratified malignity by personal invective and intemperance of language. He was concerned in the wild irrational plans of the British Convention, and published " A Hand Bill addressed to the People," written in so inflammatory a style, as rendered him obnoxious to government. A warrant was issued to apprehend him, and he left his native country and crossed the |