mechanical engineer at the Wanlockhead lead mines, to make a steam-engine capable of driving the two paddle-wheels of a double pleasure-boat which he had on Dalswinton loch, near his mansion. The engine having been finished and fitted in the boat, the first experiment was made on Dalswinton loch in October, 1788, when the boat was propelled at five miles an hour. In 1789 Miller, assisted by Taylor and Symington, built a larger steam-vessel on the same plan, to be used on the Forth and Clyde canal. She was tried in November and December, 1789, but immediately afterwards dismantled by order of Miller; partly because he began at that time to devote his attention chiefly to the care of his estate and the improvement of agriculture, and partly because, as he stated in a letter to Taylor, he had become satisfied that Symington's engine was "the most improper of all steam-engines for giving motion to a vessel." The cause of his coming to that conclusion will be readily understood at the present time. In Symington's engine, such as it was applied to Miller's vessels, the motion was communicated from the pistons to the revolving shafts by a combination of chains, pulleys, and ratchet wheels, producing a jerking and jarring motion fatal at once to economy of power and to durability—the very same defect which had made unavailing the partial success of similar experiments by the Marquis de Jouffroy in 1781 and 1783—(see Jouffroy d'Abbans)—and which would have been equally fatal to the practical working of the steam-boat which Jonathan Hulls invented in 1736, had it been tried. That defect was not overcome until Symington in 1801, made wise by former failures, adapted Watt's double-acting engine with its crank to the paddle-wheel, and thus produced the first practical steam-boat, the Charlotte Dundas.—(See Fulton, and Symington; also Woodcroft On the Origin of Steam Navigation.) Miller was from 1788 till 1791 the landlord of Burns, who during that time occupied his farm of Ellisland.—W. J. M. R.
MILLER, Philip, an eminent horticulturist, lived from about 1700 to 1770. He superintended the garden at Chelsea, and published a catalogue of the officinal plants in it. He also wrote the "Gardener's Kalendar;" the "Gardener's Dictionary;" "Figures of Plants described in the Dictionary," and the "Method of Cultivating Madder."—J. H. B.
MILLER, William, General in the service of Peru, was born in 1795 in Kent. Entering the army, he served through the Peninsular war, and in 1817 proceeded to Buenos Ayres to offer his sword to the cause of South American independence. He distinguished himself throughout the struggle, and was one of the two generals by whom, in the absence of Bolivar, the decisive victory of Ayacucho was gained over the Spaniards, 9th December, 1824. He returned to England in 1826. The Memoirs of General Miller, by his brother John Miller, published in 1828, is a very instructive contribution to the history of the South American struggle for independence.—F. E.
* MILLER, William Allen, an eminent English chemist, was born at Ipswich in 1817. He studied medicine at the medical school of Birmingham, and took out his degree of M.D. in London. After having been for some time engaged in the laboratory of the celebrated Liebig at Giessen, he became in 1840 demonstrator, and in 1845 professor of chemistry, at King's college, London. In 1851 he was chosen assayer to the bank of England. He is president of the Chemical Society, and one of the vice-presidents of the Royal Society. Miller has published "Elements of Chemistry, theoretical and practical;" and several memoirs upon chemical subjects in the Philosophical Transactions and in the Philosophical Magazine.—W. B—d.
* MILLER, William Hallows, F.R.S., an eminent mineralogist and physicist, was educated at St. John's college, Cambridge. In 1832 he succeeded Mr. Whewell in the chair of mineralogy in that university, where he still remains. Mr. Miller is the author of a work which forms a new edition of Phillips' Elementary Introduction to Mineralogy, and which is considered to be perhaps the most philosophically valuable treatise on the subject in the English language. He has also contributed several excellent memoirs to the Philosophical Transactions and Philosophical Magazine. He has acted on two commissions appointed by government to restore the standards of weight and measure, the national standards having been lost in the fire which destroyed the houses of parliament in 1834; and the subsequent construction and verification of the new parliamentary standard of weight, has been entirely effected by him. The standard pound he has decided to base on platinum.—W. B—d.
MILLES, Jeremiah, an English antiquary, born in 1714; died 13th February, 1784. He was a nephew of Thomas Milles, bishop of Waterford, known for his edition of St. Cyril. He entered the church, and in 1762 became dean of Exeter. In 1742 he was admitted a member of the Royal Society, and in 1769 member of the Royal Antiquarian Society. In addition to papers on antiquarian subjects, he published an annotated edition of the poems of Rowley, London, 1782, which he regarded as authentic—P. E. D.
MILLEVOYE, Charles Hubert, a French poet, born at Abbeville, 24th December, 1782. He began to publish verses when eighteen years of age, and was the author of numerous works The most successful is entitled "L'amour maternel." He died at Paris, 26th August, 1816.—D. W. R.
MILLIN, Aubin Louis, a French antiquary, born 19th July, 1759; died at Paris, 14th August, 1818. He was first intended for the church, but his passion for science induced him to change his career. He was one of the first to introduce the Linnæan system into France, and he aided in founding the Linnæan Society, of which for a long period he was perpetual secretary. He made a journey to Italy, and was present at Naples in 1812 when the tombs of Canosa were opened. Of these he published a description, and many other works.—P. E. D.
MILLINGEN, James, son of a Dutch merchant settled in London, was born there in 1774, and received his education at Westminster school. Having subsequently removed with his father to Paris, he acted as clerk in a banking-house, and at the same time prosecuted the antiquarian studies which have gained him celebrity. Having been imprisoned for some time as a British subject during the French revolution, he ultimately retired into Italy, and died there in 1845. Among the works published by him may be mentioned his medallic history of Napoleon, "Peintures Antiques inedites de Vases Grecs," and "Remarks on the State of Learning and the Fine Arts in Britain."—W. B.
MILLOT, Charles Francis Xavier, the author of many historical works, was born at Ornans, 5th March, 1726. In early life he was admitted a jesuit, but afterwards withdrew from the order. In 1768 he obtained a professorship of history at Parma. In 1777 he was admitted a member of the French Academy, and the year following was appointed preceptor to the Duc D'Enghien. He died at Paris in 1785.—D. W. R.
MILLS, Charles, whose brief career gave promise of great eminence in historical literature, was born in 1788 at Greenwich, where his father practised as a surgeon. He was intended for the law and articled to an attorney, but abandoned that profession for literature. In 1817 he published "A History of Mohammedanism," which attracted great attention, and reached a second edition in the following year. In 1818 he also published "The History of the Crusades," 2 vols., which in the course of a few years passed through four editions, and was translated into French by M. Paul Tilby, 1835. Mr. Mills, having his attention directed to Italian literature, produced in 1822 an amusing imaginary voyage, written with great spirit, and entitled "The Travels of Theodore Ducas in various countries in Europe at the Revival of Letters and Arts," 2 vols. The first part only of the projected work, that which referred to Italy, was published. At the invitation of the publishers, Messrs. Longman & Co., he contemplated a "History of Rome," which was not, however, proceeded with. His "History of Chivalry," 2 vols., which appeared in 1825, created so much interest that the first edition was sold in a few weeks, and not long before his death he issued a second edition. It led to a friendly correspondence with Sir Walter Scott, as the Theodore Ducas had excited the admiration of Mr. (afterwards Lord) Jeffrey. Mr. Mills died at Southampton on the 9th of October, 1826, at the early age of thirty-eight.—R. H.
MILMAN, Henry Hart, Dean of St. Paul's, historian, poet, and divine, was born in London in 1791, one of the sons of Sir Francis Milman, Bart. From Dr. Burney's well-known school at Greenwich he went to Eton, where he distinguished himself as a maker of verse. On leaving Eton he proceeded to Brazennose college, Oxford, gaining the Newdegate prize for an English poem on the Apollo Belvedere in 1812, and in 1813 the chancellor's prize for a Latin poem on Alexander visiting the tomb of Achilles; in the latter year he took a first class in classics. At Oxford he wrote his tragedy of "Fazio," which was published soon after he took his first degree. In those days the law of dramatic copyright was more vague than now.
