462 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
much respected minister of the parish of Airth ; and another held a sitnation in
the Custom-House, Liverpool.
No. CCCXXVI.
TWELVE ADVOCATES,
WHO PLEAD WITHOUT WIGS.
THE Portraits in the present Etching, beginning at the top, and ranging from
left to right, are-
1.-ADAM GILLIES, afterwards LORDG ILLIEofS w,h om a short notice has
been given at page 418.
11.-ALEXANDER IRVING, aftenvwds LORD NEWTON, was the son
of George Irving of Newton. He was admitted to the bar in 1’788 ; and for
many years held the office of Treasurer to the Faculty of Advocates. He was
distinguished for extensive legal acquirements ; and in 1800 was appointed
assistant and successor to Mr. John Wilde, Professor of Civil Law in the University
of Edinburgh. On the retirement of Lord Robertson, in 1826, he was
promoted to the bench, when he assumed the title of Lord Newton. His lordship
filled the judicial seat only a few years. He died on the 23d of March
1832. During the short period he sat as a judge he gave general satisfaction.
Though a very indifferent speaker, he was an excellent lawyer, and his decisions
were seldom altered in the Inner-House. He was mild and gentle in his manners.
He was fond of music, and was an excellent performer on the violincello.
Lord Newton married Miss Irving, a relation of his own, by whom he left an
only son.
111.-JAMES MILLAR, admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates in
1788, was proprietor of the estate of Halhill, in Lanarkshire, which he sold
some time before his death. From his ruddy complexion, and short round
figure, he was known at the bar by the soubriquet of “ Cupid.” He was much
devoted to the Lanarkshire pastime of curling ; and on one ozcasion, when he
was engaged to plead a case before Charles Hay, the first Lord Newton, he left
the Parliament House to pursue his favourite amusement. When the opposite
counsel insisted on taking decree, the good-natured judge said--“ No, no j the
cause may wait till to-morrow, but there is no security that the frost will wait
for Mr. Malar.”