Life or Macmillan. 17 



Confession of Faitli, in a fly-leaf of which I deciphered an inscrip- 

 tion by Alexander M'Millan, dated 27th December, 1732, bearing- 

 that certain persons (presumably his own children) were Ijorn at 

 certain dates, as under : — 



1. [Pait torn or burned off] ... ... 1GG4 



2. John M'Millan 1G82 



;J. James M-Mil Ian 1692 



4. Mary M'Millan 1715 



On another leaf is a note as follows : — 



■• James M'Millan aught this book, God give him g-race 

 thereon to look ; and I grant it may be restored to my son, John 

 M'Millan, at my death ; as witnesseth my hand this 12 of 

 Febuorrie, 1732. James M'Millan." 



I at once thought of the minister of Balmaghie, and it 

 occurred to me to inquire whether the commonly received state- 

 ment of his liirthplaco and date was settled by any conclusive 

 authority. Mr Thomson of Hightae gives the statement without 

 citing any authority : so does Mr Hutchison. The monument at 

 Dalserf says : " Died December first, 1753, ag'ed eighty-four." 

 The rare tract, called '• Observations on a Wolf in a Sheepskin," 

 published in 1753, says " in the eighty-fourth year of his age." 

 But we know how often ages are misstated. If the John Mac- 

 millan of this fly-leaf is our man, he was born at Glenhead in 

 1082, about ten miles from Barncauchlaw farm-bouse, as the 

 crow flies ; and he was 71 years old, not 84, when he died at 

 Broomhill, Bothwell. 



I consulted the registers of Edinburgh University, and found 

 that John M'Millan matriculated there in 1695, and graduated two 

 years after A.M., in June, 1697. In 1695 the Glenhead John 

 would be 1.') years old, at which ag-e, and even earlier, Scottish 

 students then Avent to college. A tw^o-years' course was probably 

 enough to secure the Master's degree, being a certificate chiefly of 

 knowledge of the classics. Three years more for divinity studies 

 bring us to 1700, when he was licensed by the Presbytery of Kirk- 

 cudbright. Here the question of age emerges ag-ain. If born in 

 1G82 he would at license be only eighteen. Nowadays license 

 to preach is not granted till the ag'e of twenty-one. Principal 

 TuUodi, as Mrs Oliphant* relates, was kept back because he was 



*Life, \i. 20. 



