Born sometime in the reign of David II., he was chosen prior of the monastery of St. Serf’s Inch in Loch Leven, before the close of the fourteenth century, for his name appears in the “Chartulary of St. Andrews,” under the date 1395, as “Andreas de Wynton, prior insule lacus de Levin.” He was also a canon regular of St. Andrews. The year of his death has not been ascertained, but it is probable he did not long survive the completion of his work, which was finished after the death of Albany and before the return of James I to Scotland, or between 1420 and 1424.

  His genius is certainly inferiour to that of his predecessor, Barbour; but, at least, his versification is easy, his language pure, and his style often animated. As an historian he is highly valuable.

  Though his work in general partakes little or nothing of the nature of poetry, unless ryme can be said to constitute poetry, yet he now and then throws in some touches of true poetic description, and paints the scenery of his battles with so exact a pencil, that a person, who is on the spot, may point out the various scenes of each particular action.

  In enumerating the merits of Wynton, the first place ought undoubtedly to be given to his historical accuracy…. Next to his value as a historical authority, Wynton possesses great merit in the fresh and curious pictures which he has preserved to us of the manners and superstitions of the times.

  As Wynton wrote about the year 1420, Hugh may have flourished at the close of the fourteenth century. He is certainly the oldest English poet, born north of Tweed, whose works have reached us. His stave is peculiar to him; and consists of an irregular number of verses, separated by a kind of wheel, or burthen.

  His simple pages present to our view many curious prospects of society; and with a perseverance of industry which had numerous difficulties to encounter, he has collected and preserved many anecdotes that tend to illustrate the history of his native country. Rude and unadorned as his composition may appear, it is not altogether incapable of interesting a reader of the present age of refinement. Here we discover the rudiments of good sense and of literary excellence; but his good sense is often enveloped in the mist of ignorance and superstition; and those talents which in another age might have ranked their possessor with Robertson, Hume, or Ferguson, appear without that lustre which arises from a participation of the general refinement incident to more happy times.

  The Cronykil is principally interesting in an historical point of view, and in that respect it is of considerable value and authority, for Wynton, besides his merits as a distinct narrator, had evidently taken great pains to obtain the best information within his reach with regard to the events both of his own and of preceding times.

  From the view which he took of his task, he would probably have been as little grateful for compliments to his poetic power as any historian of later times is to those who call him flowery and imaginative.

  The reader will look through the “Cronykil of Scotland” almost in vain for the excitement of a dramatic situation, the contrast and climax of human emotion. Hardly at all will he find that focusing of objects to their most interesting point of view which distinguishes a picture from a map, the work of the artist from the work of the artizan. Nowhere, it may safely be said, will he taste the breath of that ethereal wine, strangely stirring the heart, which is the vintage of great poetic genius…. It is nearly five hundred years since Wyntoun laid down his pen. During that time, though never popular with the popularity of Barbour and Blind Harry, he has probably never been quite forgotten. His position as a national chronicler accounts to a large extent for this. But the reader who grows familiar with his pages to-day discovers what may perhaps be another reason. He finds himself making the acquaintance, not only of a teller of quaint historic tales, but of a gentle and pious soul.