Alexander Tytler was born at Edinburgh, 15th October 1747. He was the eldest son of our late venerable associate William Tytler, Esq. of Woodhouselee, in the county of Mid-Lothian, and of Anne Craig, daughter of James Craig, Esq. of Costerton, in the same county.

If the most important education is that which is received beneath the paternal roof,—if it is there that the principles and tastes of future life are chiefly formed, the education of Mr Tytler began under fortunate auspices. His father was a man of high honour, of generous affections, of cultivated taste, and of distinguished eminence in his profession.