BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. a7
numbers of the Essays were issued in this manner, and were only interrupted in
consequence of other engagements entered into by the author.
Mr,!t‘ytler was known by his previous literary contributions, but his fame
was increased by the publication of his Essays, which were admired not only for
the clearness of their reasoning, but for the extraordinary manner of their
production.
The attention of the booksellers being thus directed towards him, ha was
engaged in 1776 as a contributor, or rather as editor of the second edition of
the Eneyc1opl;edia Britannica, a work which, under his management, was enlarged
from three to eight volumes quarto. Subsequently, he was much employed by
the booksellers in compilations and abridgments j the most important of which
was the Edinburgh GeograThical Grammar. Besides conducting various
periodicals, he published a translation of the four Eclogues of Vi1 into English
verse ; and from his own press, in a similar manner to his Essays, issued the
first volume of a general Histwy of all Nations.
At the commencenient of the ‘(balloon mania,” Tytler’s genius took a new
flight. In 1784, he issued proposals to ascend in a fire-balloon, when a considerable
sum was immediately subscribed to enable him &&proceed with the
experiment. He accordingly constructed a balloon of about forty fGt in heighb,
and thirty in diameter, with stove and other apparatus ; but although he had
contemplated ascending during the week of the races (early in August), it was not
till the 27th of that month that he succeeded in making a decisive attempt. On
this occasion he rose to the height of three hundred and fifty feet. The scene
of the experiment was at Comely Gardens, near the King’s Park. Although he
succeeded in demonstrating the principle of a fire-balloon, all his attempts were
short of success. When Lunardi visited Scotland in 17S5, he was of course
much interested in the aeronaut’s success, and hence Mr, Kay has, with much
propriety, associated him with the “fowls of a feather.” In the volume published
by Lunardi in London (which we have elsewhere noticed), giving an account of
his Scottish aerial voyages, we find a poetical address to that gentleman by Mr.
Tytler, commencing :-
“ Ethereal traveller ! welcome from the skies-
Welcome to earth to feast our longing eyes.”
This effusion was no doubt in compliment to the successful aeronaut; but
as Tytler, in a long note, is careful to explain the principle of his “ fire-balloon,”
and the causes of failure, it is to be presumed that the author was influenced by
a desire to set himself right in the opinion of Lunardi and the public. In this
note Tytler attributes his ill success, in the first instance, to the want of proper
shelter, and the smallness of the stove, which could not supply enough of heat.
In the second, his friends were alarmed at the idea of (‘ dragging into air ” a
cumbrous iron apparatus, and therefore, although Tytler gave directions to have
the stove enlarged, they deceived him by actually making it less. By this time
the public were highly dissatisfied, and he states that he was vili6ed in the
