Amidst his other avocations, Mr. Millar found time for some limited practice as a lawyer, giving opinions, as a counsel, previous to the commencement of law-suits, and acting occasionally as an arbiter. He was also in the habit, for many years, of acting as counsel for cri minals at the circuit courts of justiciary, where he ex hibited uncommon skill and acuteness in the cxamina tion of witnesses, and a powerful and manly eloquence in his addresses to the jury.
Mr. Millar paid two visits to London, one in 1774, and another :n 1792 ; at which latter period he arrived in sufficient time to be present at several very important debates in both houses of parliament ; and he also en joyed the satisfaction of becoming acquainted with Mr. Fox, and the other leaders of opposition, to whose prin ciples he was warmly attached. The chief part of his time, however, was spent in the society of his former pupils, Lord Lauderdale and Mr. Adam, now Lord Chief Commissioner of the Jury Court in Scotland, and in the family of his old and much esteemed friend, Dr. Moore, author of Zeluco and Edward.
Mr. Millar had been uniformly zealous in his attachment to the party of the Whigs ; and the French Revolution, at its commencement, rivetted his attention, and in its early progress excited his fondest hopes. When a similar spirit seemed to be called into action in this country, by the force of example, Mr. Millar became a mem ber of the association known by the name of the Society of the Friends of the People, and he took a warm interest in all the political discussions of the times. Of course, he was decidedly hostile to all the measures of Mr. Pitt's administration, and in particular to those con nected with the contest between this country and revo lutionary France, which, with many other individuals, he regarded as injurious to the cause of liberty.
In 1791, he lost his second daughter, who was carried off by consumption ; and in 1795, his wife died, after a long and painful illness. In the spring of the last men tioned year, his son, who had passed advocate, and got into business at the bar, emigrated to America ; but soon after his arrival, he was struck with a coup-de-solcil, of which he almost instantly expired. This succession of melancholy events in his family, could not fail to pro duce a deep impression on the sensible mind of Mr. but after the first shock, he seemed to have re covered his self-possession. About the end of the year 1799, he was himself seized with a very dangerous in flammatory complaint, from which, however, after a few weeks of severe indisposition, he appeared perfectly re ‘..overed. In the month of May, 1801, he was again taken
Al, after having exposed himself for several hours to a hot sun ; and his complaint soon assumed the appear ance of the most dangerous pleurisy, which terminated his life on the 30th of that month, in the 66th year of his age.
In his person, Professor Millar was about the middle stature ; of a strong, active, and athletic, rather than an elegant form ; and his countenance was uncommonly ani mated and expressive. He was very temperate in his mode of living, and regular in his habits • of exercise. His manner, upon first entering a room, was not altoge ther free from formality and constraint ; but this was only of momentary continuance. He possessed a wide range of information ; and his conversation, whether upon sub jects of a lighter or a graver kind, was lively, animated, and improving. He was completely conversant with literature and the belles lettres, took great delight in the Classics, and was familiarly acquainted with English, French, and Italian poetry. Ile was fond of argument, and exhibited great skill and. dexterity in debate. On political subjects he always argued with zeal ; and, to wards the latter end of his life, with a considerable de gree of keenness. In his political professions he was sincere, consistent, and disinterested; and the open and decided expression of his sentiments excited no feeling of personal hostility, even in the breasts of those who dif fered most widely from him in their opinions.
The style of his writings is very different from what might have been expected by those who had felt the vi vacity of his conversation, and the copious diction of his extemporary eloquence. His language, as has been well observed by one of his friends, is the expres sion, rather than the ornament of his thoughts. Clear, accurate, and precise, it never fails to convey his ideas with a distinctness which precludes all misapprehension; but it frequently conveys them in a manner neither the most striking, nor the most alluring to the reader. Simple correctnessand accuracy seem to be the only quali ties he aimed at, and attained ; even when he rises from plain narration to warmth and energy, the force is al most always in the principal idea, seldom in the acces saries. It is owing to this cause, perhaps, that his works are less popular than they would otherwise have been, had the style of the author been a little more attractive.
See Mr. Craig's account of the life of Professor Mil lar, prefixed to the edition of his treatise On the Origin of the Distinction of Ranks, published in 1806. (z)