MILLAR, JOHN, Professor of law in the university of Glasgow, was born on the 22d of June, 1735, in the parish of Shotts, of which his father, Mr. James Millar, was then minister. His mother was the daughter of Mr. Hamilton of \Vestburn, a gentleman of considera ble estate in Lanarkshire. He received the I udiments of his education at the grammar-school of Hamilton; and, in 1746, he repaired to the college of Glasgow, where he formed an acquaintance with the celebrated Mr. Watt, afterwards of Birmingham, Dr. Adam Smith, and other eminent characters.
Mr. Millar was originally destined for the church, but he afterwards resolved to devote himself to the profes sion of the law. About the time he had finished his studies at Glasgow, he received an invitation from Lord Karnes to reside in his family, and superintend the edu cation of his son. In this situation he continued about two years ; during which period he had an opportunity of cultivating the acquaintance of Mr. Hume, the histo rian, and was entrusted with the education of his ne phew, the present very eminent professor of Scotch law in the university of Edinburgh.
In 1760, Mr. Millar was called to the bar ; and he was soon looked upon as a very rising young lawyer. Cir cumstances, however, soon afterwards induced him to abandon his prospects at the bar, and to solicit the va cant appointment of professor of law in the university of Glasgow, which he obtained in 1761. About the same time, he married Miss Craig, a lady nearly of his own age, to whom he had formed a strong attachment. In the discharge of his duties as a professor, Mr. Millar delivered several courses of lectures in the university on the Roman law,—on the general principles of jurispru dence,—on government,—on Scotch law ; to which, a few years before his death, he added a course of lectures on the law of England. He never wrote his lectures, but was accustomed to speak from notes, containing merely his arrangement, his chief topics, and some of his principal facts and illustrations. For the transi tions from one part of his subject to another, the occa sional allusions, the minor embellishments, and the whole of the expression, he trusted to that extemporaneous eloquence, which seldom fails a speaker who is well in formed and deeply interested in his subject. The ability he displayed as a public teacher soon attracted a nume rous concourse of students to his lectures, and contri buted to raise the character of the university, of which he was a member, to a high degree of celebrity.
On his coming to Glasgow, Professor Millar became a member of the Literary Society, consisting chiefly of professors, together with some clergymen of the city and neighbourhood, which had been instituted in 1752 ; and he immediately proved himself a very active and zealous promoter of its views. He continued to attend its meet ings with a punctuality of which there are few examples, during a period of forty years ; reading discourses in his turn, and taking a lively interest in all its discussions. Having employed himself, for some years, principally in collecting materials for his various lectures, he after wards found, that, notwithstanding his public duties, it was in his power to do justice to such young men as might be entrusted to his care as domestic pupils ; and to their instruction he accordingly dedicated a very con siderable part of his time.
Such were his regular and stated occupations during the winter. For some years after he was settled at Glas gow, he was in the habit of spending a great part of the summer with his father at Hamilton; but as his family increased, this plan became more inconvenient ; and his uncle, Mr. Millar of Milheugh, ever attentive to the comfort of his nephew, gave him the small farm of White moss, near the village of Kilbride, about seven miles from Glasgow, where he amused himself with agricul tural improvements.
In the year 1785, Mr. Millar lost both his uncle and his father, who died within a few days of each other, and in consequence, he succeeded to the property of Milheugh, where he had an opportunity of gratifying his taste for agricultural pursuits and rural embellishment. During his residence in the country, however, he also employed a great part of his leisure in perusing such books as his other avocations in winter prevented him from reading, and in preparing his own works for the press. In 1771, he published his treatise On the Origin of the Distinction of Ranks, which was very favourably received, both in this country and on the continent ; and in 1787, he gave to the world his Historical View of the English Government, from the Settlement of the Saxons in Britain to the Accession of the House of Stewart. These two are the only works to which Mr. Millar pre fixed his name ; nor does it appear that he published any other tracts, except one or two anonymous pamphlets on political subjects, and a few articles in the Analytica' Review.