Hector MacMillan

This is an oddly chaotic little book. It’s coherence is not helped by the fact that my copy is missing most of the fourth chapter (which covers Muir’s trial), having instead a second copy of pages 1-32. MacMillan places the Scots radicals of the 1790s in the context of the early revolutionaries in France, and portrays them as the voice of a widespread democratic upsurge among the people, against that “Handful of Rogues”, their leaders. The origin and source for this book seems to have been an unpublished manuscript by George Pratt Insh, which is in the National Library of Scotland. MacMillan discovered it when he was researching a historical novel in the 1960s. Though the account of Muir’s life and beliefs appears to be sound, it is impossible to be sure what MacMillan’s sources are at any point. The text contains many quotes, some credited with footnotes, but the majority not. Many appear to be dramatic recreations in the imagined voices of the participants—MacMillan is primarily a playwright and dramatist.… (mehr)