John Millar's historical works have not, since the era of their original publication,
been viewed as such by their principal commentators. Though Millar's Discourse on the
Origin of the Distinction of Ranks (1771) has received acclaim for its perceived
sociological value, his intended masterwork, An Historical View of the English
Constitution (1803) has been almost completely neglected by contemporary scholarship.
The intent of this paper is threefold: first, by viewing Millar in the historiographical
context of late Enlightenment Britain, Millar's texts become recognizable as they were
when they were first read, that is, as works of history. Restoring Millar to this context, a
time when sophisticated new modes of historical writing were being developed to explain
the modern world, also reveals the origins and nature of Millar's characteristic
"conjectural" or "philosophical" approach to the study of the past. Secondly, a
methodological analysis of Millar's major works and his unpublished "Lectures on
Government" will provide insight into how Millar's conjecturalism was reconfigured to
fit different subjects, purposes, and generic norms. Third, a survey of Millar's reception
in the early nineteenth century will illustrate how rapidly and how profoundly the
perceptions of Millar's historiographical approach changed from laudatory to dismissive.
Millar is thus revealed not only as a historical writer, but one who was dedicated to a
sophisticated, systematic program of historical inquiry.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/11892 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Takahashi, Stephen David |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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