by the bestowal of the distinction of C.I.E. on the institution of the order in 1878. On 20 June 1855 he was created D.C.L. at Oxford University (Foster, Alumni Oxon. 1715-1886, p. 995), and in 1861 LL.D. at Edinburgh.
On leaving India Muir took up his residence in Edinburgh, and devoted himself there to the furtherance of higher education and research. He was the main originator of a society known as the Association for the better Endowment of Edinburgh University, and himself exemplified its aims by founding in 1862 the academical chair of Sanskrit and comparative philology, as well as conjointly with his brother, Sir William Muir, the Shaw fellowship for moral philosophy. He likewise instituted the Muir lectureship in comparative religion, and offered several prizes, mainly for oriental studies, both at Edinburgh and Cambridge.
Muir died unmarried, on 7 March 1882, at 10 Merchiston Avenue, Edinburgh.
Muir's earlier works were mainly addressed to the native reading public of India, and as such were chiefly written in Sanskrit with or without a vernacular rendering. The first work, ' Matapariksha' (Calcutta, 1839), was a missionary brochure, partly directed against Hinduism, and appears to have attracted some notice, as it was answered, likewise in Sanskrit, by a Bengal pandit. The treatise was rewritten by the author, and appeared in a new edition in 1852-4. In 1839 also appeared a somewhat mysterious work, containing 'A Description of England [on the basis of Miss Bird's] in Sanskrit' verse, which has been attributed to Muir, but of which neither author nor adapter can now with certainty be traced. In the years next following he published both in India and in London several other Sanskrit works, dealing both with Indian history and with his favourite topics of Christian apologetics and biography, the most noteworthy of the latter class being his lives of Our Lord and of St. Paul, suggested by the similar works of Dr. W. H. Mill [q. v.] But by far the greatest of Muir's works are his 'Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and History of the People of India' (five vols., 1858-70; 2nd ed., 1868-1873), which are still (in the words of one of the best living authorities on early Indian culture) 'eine wahre Fundgrube fur Jeden, der sich iiber die Fragen auf dem Gebiete der alteren indischen Geschichte unterrichten will' (H. Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. xi).
In later life he was busied with translations mainly oriental and theological. To the former class belong his 'Sentiments metrically rendered from the Sanskrit' (London, 1875, 8vo) and his 'Metrical Translations from . . . Sanskrit Writers, with an Introduction, many Prose Versions and Parallel Passages from Classical Authors' (London, 1879, 8vo). To theology belong his several versions from the works of Dr. Kuenen of Leyden; 'A Brief Examination of Prevalent Opinions on the Inspiration of the Scriptures, by a Lay Member of the Church of England,' London, 1861, 8vo; and his 'Notes on Bishop Butler's Sermons,' 1867. He also published 'Notes of a Trip to Chinee in Kanawar in October 1851,' 8vo (anon.); 'Notes of a Trip to Kedarnath,' 1855; and 'Hymn to Zeus from Cleanthes,' London, 1875, 8vo (a translation); and contributed eleven articles chiefly on Indian philosophy and mythology to the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.
[Athenæum, 1882, i. 318, 346; Academy, 1882, i. 196; Journal of Royal Asiatic Soc. new ser. vol. xiv. p. ix; Edinburgh Courant; works cited.]
MUIR, THOMAS (1765–1798), parliamentary reformer, was born at Glasgow on 24 Aug. 1765, being the only son of Thomas Muir, a flourishing tradesman, who in 1753 published a pamphlet on England's foreign trade. He was educated at Glasgow grammar school and at the university, intending at first to enter the church, but ultimately deciding on the bar, for which he prepared himself under John Millar. In the session of 1783-4 he was charged with writing a lampoon on professors who had quarrelled with their colleague, John Anderson (1726-1796) [q. v.], and was expelled with twelve other malcontents. Migrating to Edinburgh he completed his studies there, and on 24 Nov. 1787 was admitted into the Faculty of Advocates. He was an elder of the church at Cadder, Lanarkshire, sat in the general assembly, and had good prospects at the bar, where he sometimes pleaded gratuitously for those whom he thought oppressed. The formation of the London Society of the Friends of the People led to a meeting at Glasgow, 16 Oct. 1792, for the creation of a kindred society for obtaining parliamentary reform. Muir took part in it, and being a good speaker attended similar meetings at Kirkintilloch and Milton, as well as the convention of delegates held at Edinburgh. At one of the sittings of the latter he read an address from United Irishmen, transmitted to him by Archibald Hamilton Rowan, which expressed satisfaction at seeing that 'the spirit of freedom moves on the face of Scotland, and that light seems to break from the chaos of her internal government.' On
