, professor of law in the university of Glasgow, was born in 1735, in the
, professor of law in the university of
Glasgow, was born in 1735, in the parish of Shotts, in Lanerkshire. He received his grammar-education at the
school of Hamilton, whence he was removed, at the age of
eleven, to the university of Glasgow. He was designed
for the church, but having early conceived a dislike to that
profession, and turned his attention to the study of the
law, he was invited by lord Kames to reside in his family,
and to superintend, in the quality of preceptor, the education of his son, Mr. George Drummond Home. Lord
Kames found in young Millar a congenial ardour of intellect, a mind turned to philosophical speculation, a considerable fund of reading, and what above all things he delighted in, a talent for supporting a metaphysical argument in conversation, with much ingenuity and vivacity.
The tutor of the son, therefore, became the companion of
the father: and the two years before Millar was called to
the bar, were spent, with great improvement on his part,
in acquiring those enlarged views of the union of law with
philosophy, which he afterwards displayed with uncommon ability in his academical lectures on jurisprudence. At
this period he contracted an acquaintance with David
Hume, to whose metaphysical opinions he became a convert, though he materially differed from him upon political
topics. In 1760 Mr. Millar began to practise at the bar,
and was regarded as a rising young lawyer, when he thought
proper to become a candidate for the vacant professorship
of law at Glasgow, and supported by the recommendation
of lord Kames and Dr. Adam Smith, he was appointed in
1761, and immediately began to execute its duties. The
reputation of the university, as a school of jurisprudence,
rose from that acquisition, and although, says lord Woodhouselee, the republican prejudices of Mr. Millar gave his
lectures on politics and government a character justly considered as repugnant to the well-attempered frame and
equal balance of our improved constitution; there were
few who attended those lectures without at least an increase
of knowledge. He lectured in English, and spoke fluently
with the assistance of mere notes only. By this method
his lectures were rendered full of variety and animation,
and at the conclusion of each he was accustomed to explain the difficulties and objections that had presented
themselves to his pupils, in a free and familiar conversation. In 1771, he published a treatise on “The Origin of
the Distinction of Ranks, 17 in which he shews himself a
disciple of the school of Montesquieu, and deals much in
that sort of speculation which Mr. Dugald Stewart, in his
Life of Smith, called theoretical or conjectural history. This
work however was well received by the public, and has gone
through several editions. His inquiries into the English
government, which made an important part of his lectures, together with a zealous attachment to what he
thought the genuine principles of liberty, produced in
1787 the first volume of an
” Historical View of the English Government," in which he traces the progressive
changes in the property, the state of the people, and the
government of England, from the settlement of the Saxons to the accession of the house of Stuart. In this work
we observe the same spirit of system, and the same partiality to hypothetical reasoning, as in the former: though
resting, as may be supposed, on a more solid foundation
of facts: and the less dangerous in its tendency, as being
every where capable of scrutiny from actual history. It is
impossible, however, to peruse this, or his other works,
without meeting with much valuable information, and facts
placed in those new lights which excite inquiry, and ultimately promote truth. Mr. Millar’s researches were by no
means confined to politics, law, or metaphysics. His acquaintance with the works of imagination, both ancient
and modern, was also very extensive, and his criticisms
were at once ingenious and solid, resulting from an acute
understanding and a correct taste. He died May 30, 1801,
at the age of sixty-nine, leaving behind him several manuscripts, from which, in 1803, were printed, in two volumes,
his posthumous works, consisting of an historical view of
the English government from the accession of the house of
Stuart, and some separate dissertations connected with the
subject.