,,critical   ,,miscellanies    ,,by     
,,john ,,morley    ,,vol4 ,,iii4        
,,essay #b3 ,,the ,,death ,,of ,,mr     
,,mill   ,,essay #c3 ,,mr ,,mill',s     
,,autobiography     ,london             
,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41 ,,limited      
,,new ,,york3 ,,the ,,macmillan         
,,company   #aijd       ,,contents      
,,the ,,death ,,of ,,mr4 ,,mill4        
,peculiar office of the ,teacher        
#cg    ,mill's influence in the         
universities and the press              
#ci    ,his union of science with       
aspiration                              
#dj    ,and of courage with patience    
#db    ,his abstinence from society     
#de    ,sense of the tendency of society
 to relapse                         #df 
,peculiar trait of his authority        
#dg    ,the writer's last day with him  
#dh     ,,mr ,,mill',s ,,autobiography  
,the spirit of search                   
#ec    ,key to ,mill's type of character
 and its value                       #ed
    ,sensibility of his intellect       

#ef    ,yet no reaction against his     
peculiar education                      
#eg    ,quality of the ,autobiography   
#eh    ,one of its lessons--,greek3     
memnso apistein                         
#fj    ,mill's aversion to the spirit of
 sect                               #fj 
,not a hindrance to systematisation     
#fa    ,criticism united with belief    
#fc    ,practical difficulties in the   
union of loyalty with tolerance         
#fd    ,impressiveness of ,mill's       
self-effacement                         
#fe    ,his contempt for socialistic    
declamation                             
#fh    ,yet the social aim paramount in 
him                                 #fi 
,illustrated in his attack on ,hamilton 
#ga    ,and in the ,logic               
#gb    ,the book on the ,subjection of  
,women                                  
#ge    ,the two crises of life          
#gg    ,mill did not escape the second  
of them                              #gh
    ,influence of ,wordsworth           

#gi    ,hope from reformed institutions 
#gi    ,this hope replaced by efforts in
 a deeper vein                      #hj 
,popular opinion of such efforts        
#ha    ,irrational disparagement of     
,mill's hope                            
#hb    ,mill's conception of happiness  
contrasted with his father's         #hd
    ,remarks on his withdrawal from     
society                              #hh
    ,it arose from no moral             
valetudinarianism                       
#ia     ,,the ,,death ,,of ,,mr4 ,,mill4
  7,may #ahgc47   ,the tragic           
commonplaces of the grave sound a fuller
 note as we mourn for one of the greater
 among the servants of humanity4 ,a     
strong and pure light is gone out1 the  
radiance of a clear vision and a        
beneficent purpose4 ,one of those high  
and most worthy spirits who arise from  
time to time to stir their generation   
with new mental impulses in the deeper  
things1 has perished from among us4 ,the
 death of one who did so much to impress

 on his contemporaries that physical law
 works independently of moral law1 marks
 with profounder emphasis the ever      
ancient and ever fresh decree that there
 is one end to the just and the unjust1 
and that the same strait tomb awaits    
alike the poor dead whom nature or      
circumstance imprisoned in mean         
horizons1 and those who saw far and felt
 passionately and put their reason to   
noble uses4 ,yet the fulness of our     
grief is softened by a certain greatness
 and solemnity in the event4 ,the       
teachers of men are so few1 the gift of 
intellectual fatherhood is so rare1 it  
is surrounded by such singular          
gloriousness4 ,the loss of a powerful   
and generous statesman1 or of a great   
master in letters or art1 touches us    
with many a vivid regret4 ,the ,teacher1
 the man who has talents and has        
virtues1 and yet has a further something
 which is neither talent nor virtue1 and
 which gives him the mysterious secret  
of drawing men after him1 leaves a      

deeper sense of emptiness than this2 but
 lamentation is at once soothed and     
elevated by a sense of sacredness in the
 occasion4 ,even those whom ,mr4 ,mill  
honoured with his friendship1 and who   
must always bear to his memory the      
affectionate veneration of sons1 may yet
 feel their pain at the thought that    
they will see him no more1 raised into a
 higher mood as they meditate on the    
loftiness of his task and the           
steadfastness and success with which he 
achieved it4 ,if it is grievous to think
 that such richness of culture1 such    
full maturity of wisdom1 such passion   
for truth and justice1 are now by a     
single stroke extinguished1 at least we 
may find some not unworthy solace in the
 thought of the splendid purpose that   
they have served in keeping alive1 and  
surrounding with new attractions1 the   
difficult tradition of patient and      
accurate thinking in union with         
unselfish and magnanimous living4       
99       99       99       99       99  

,much will one day have to be said as to
 the precise value of ,mr4 ,mill's      
philosophical principles1 the more or   
less of his triumphs as a dialectician1 
his skill as a critic and an expositor4 
,however this trial may go1 we shall at 
any rate be sure that with his          
reputation will stand or fall the       
intellectual repute of a whole          
generation of his countrymen4 ,the most 
eminent of those who are now so fast    
becoming the front line1 as death mows  
down the veterans1 all bear traces of   
his influence1 whether they are avowed  
disciples or avowed opponents4 ,if they 
did not accept his method of thinking1  
at least he determined the questions    
which they should think about4 ,for     
twenty years no one at all open to      
serious intellectual impressions has    
left ,oxford without having undergone   
the influence of ,mr4 ,mill's teaching1 
though it would be too much to say that 
in that gray temple where they are ever 
burnishing new idols1 his throne is     

still unshaken4 ,the professorial chairs
 there and elsewhere are more and more  
being filled with men whose minds have  
been trained in his principles4 ,the    
universities only typify his influence  
on the less learned part of the world4  
,the better sort of journalists educated
 themselves on his books1 and even the  
baser sort acquired a habit of quoting  
from them4 ,he is the only writer in the
 world whose treatises on highly        
abstract subjects have been printed     
during his lifetime in editions for the 
people1 and sold at the price of railway
 novels4 ,foreigners from all countries 
read his books as attentively as his    
most eager ,english disciples1 and      
sought his opinion as to their own      
questions with as much reverence as if  
he had been a native oracle4 ,an eminent
 ,american who came over on an official 
mission which brought him into contact  
with most of the leading statesmen      
throughout ,europe1 said to the present 
writer3--',the man who impressed me most

 of them all was ,stuart ,mill2 you     
placed before him the facts on which you
 sought his opinion4 ,he took them1 gave
 you the different ways in which they   
might fairly be looked at1 balanced the 
opposing considerations1 and then handed
 you a final judgment in which nothing  
was left out4 ,his mind worked like a   
splendid piece of machinery2 you supply 
it with raw material1 and it turns you  
out a perfectly finished product4' ,of  
such a man ,england has good reason to  
be very proud4  ,he was stamped in many 
respects with specially ,english        
quality4 ,he is the latest chief of a   
distinctively ,english school of        
philosophy1 in which1 as has been said1 
the names of ,locke1 ,hume1 ,adam       
,smith1 and ,bentham 7and ,mr4 ,mill    
would have added ,james ,mill7 mark the 
line of succession--the school whose    
method subordinates imagination to      
observation1 and whose doctrine lays the
 foundations of knowledge in experience1
 and the tests of conduct in utility4   

,yet1 for all this1 one of his most     
remarkable characteristics was less     
,english than ,french2 his constant     
admission of an ideal and imaginative   
element in social speculation1 and a    
glowing persuasion that the effort and  
wisdom and ingenuity of men are capable1
 if free opportunity be given by social 
arrangements1 of raising human destiny  
to a pitch that is at present beyond our
 powers of conception4 ,perhaps the sum 
of all his distinction lies in this     
union of stern science with infinite    
aspiration1 of rigorous sense of what is
 real and practicable with bright and   
luminous hope4 ,he told one who was     
speaking of ,condorcet's ,life of       
,turgot1 that in his younger days       
whenever he was inclined to be          
discouraged1 he was in the habit of     
turning to this book1 and that he never 
did so without recovering possession of 
himself4 ,to the same friend1 who had   
printed something comparing ,mr4 ,mill's
 repulse at ,westminster with the       

dismissal of the great minister of      
,lewis the ,sixteenth1 he wrote3--',i   
never received so gratifying a          
compliment as the comparison of me to   
,turgot2 it is indeed an honour to me   
that such an assimilation should have   
occurred to you4' ,those who have       
studied the character of one whom even  
the rigid ,austin thought worthy to be  
called 'the godlike ,turgot1' know both 
the nobleness and the rarity of this    
type4  ,its force lies not in single    
elements1 but in that combination of an 
ardent interest in human improvement    
with a reasoned attention to the law of 
its conditions1 which alone deserves to 
be honoured with the high name of       
wisdom4 ,this completeness was one of   
the secrets of ,mr4 ,mill's peculiar    
attraction for young men1 and for the   
comparatively few women whose           
intellectual interest was strong enough 
to draw them to his books4 ,he satisfied
 the ingenuous moral ardour which is    
instinctive in the best natures1 until  

the dust of daily life dulls or         
extinguishes it1 and at the same time he
 satisfied the rationalistic qualities1 
which are not less marked in the        
youthful temperament of those who by and
 by do the work of the world4 ,this     
mixture of intellectual gravity with a  
passionate love of improvement in all   
the aims and instruments of life1 made  
many intelligences alive who would      
otherwise have slumbered1 or sunk either
 into a dry pedantry on the one hand1 or
 a windy1 mischievous philanthropy on   
the other4 ,he showed himself so wholly 
free from the vulgarity of the sage4 ,he
 could hope for the future without      
taking his eye from the realities of the
 present4 ,he recognised the social     
destination of knowledge1 and kept the  
elevation of the great art of social    
existence ever before him1 as the       
ultimate end of all speculative         
activity4  ,another side of this rare   
combination was his union of courage    
with patience1 of firm nonconformity    

with silent conformity4 ,compliance is  
always a question of degree1 depending  
on time1 circumstance1 and subject4 ,mr4
 ,mill hit the exact mean1 equally      
distant from timorous caution and       
self-indulgent violence4 ,he was        
unrivalled in the difficult art of      
conciliating as much support as was     
possible and alienating as little       
sympathy as possible1 for novel and     
extremely unpopular opinions4 ,he was   
not one of those who strive to spread   
new faiths by brilliant swordplay with  
buttoned foils1 and he was not one of   
those who run amuck among the idols of  
the tribe and the market-place and the  
theatre4 ,he knew how to kindle the     
energy of all who were likely to be     
persuaded by his reasoning1 without     
stimulating in a corresponding degree   
the energy of persons whose convictions 
he attacked4 ,thus he husbanded the     
strength of truth1 and avoided wasteful 
friction4 ,probably no ,english writer  
that ever lived has done so much as ,mr4

 ,mill to cut at the very root of the   
theological spirit1 yet there is only   
one passage in the writings published   
during his lifetime--,i mean a          
well-known passage in the               
,liberty--which could give any offence  
to the most devout person4 ,his         
conformity1 one need hardly say1 never  
went beyond the negative degree1 nor    
ever passed beyond the conformity of    
silence4 ,that guilty and grievously    
common pusillanimity which leads men to 
make or act hypocritical professions1   
always moved his deepest abhorrence4    
,and he did not fear publicly to testify
 his interest in the return of an       
atheist to parliament4  ,his courage was
 not of the spurious kinds arising from 
anger1 or ignorance of the peril1 or    
levity1 or a reckless confidence4 ,these
 are all very easy4 ,his distinction was
 that he knew all the danger to himself1
 was anxious to save pain to others1 was
 buoyed up by no rash hope that the     
world was to be permanently bettered at 

a stroke1 and yet for all this he knew  
how to present an undaunted front to a  
majority4 ,the only fear he ever knew   
was fear lest a premature or excessive  
utterance should harm a good cause4 ,he 
had measured the prejudices of men1 and 
his desire to arouse this obstructive   
force in the least degree compatible    
with effective advocacy of any          
improvement1 set the single limit to his
 intrepidity4 ,prejudices were to him   
like physical predispositions1 with     
which you have to make your account4 ,he
 knew1 too1 that they are often bound up
 with the most valuable elements in     
character and life1 and hence he feared 
that violent surgery which in           
eradicating a false opinion fatally     
bruises at the same time a true and     
wholesome feeling that may cling to it4 
,the patience which with some men is an 
instinct1 and with others a fair name   
for indifference1 was with him an       
acquisition of reason and conscience4   
,the value of this wise and virtuous    

mixture of boldness with tolerance1 of  
courageous speech with courageous       
reserve1 has been enormous4 ,along with 
his direct pleas for freedom of thought 
and freedom of speech1 it has been the  
chief source of that liberty of         
expressing unpopular opinions in this   
country without social persecution1     
which is now so nearly complete1 that he
 himself was at last astonished by it4  
,the manner of his dialectic1 firm and  
vigorous as the dialectic was in matter1
 has gradually introduced mitigating    
elements into the atmosphere of opinion4
 ,partly1 no doubt1 the singular        
tolerance of free discussion which now  
prevails in ,england--,i do not mean    
that it is at all perfect--arises from  
the prevalent scepticism1 from          
indifference1 and from the influence of 
some of the more high-minded of the     
clergy4 ,but ,mr4 ,mill's steadfast     
abstinence from drawing wholesale       
indictments against persons or classes  
whose opinions he controverted1 his     

generous candour1 his scrupulous respect
 for any germ of good in whatever       
company it was found1 and his large     
allowances1 contributed positive        
elements to what might otherwise have   
been the negative tolerance that comes  
of moral stagnation4 ,tolerance of      
distasteful notions in others became    
associated in his person at once with   
the widest enlightenment1 and the       
strongest conviction of the truth of our
 own notions4         99       99       
99       99       99  ,his career1      
beside all else1 was a protest of the   
simplest and loftiest kind against some 
of the most degrading features of our   
society4 ,no one is more alive than he  
was to the worth of all that adds grace 
and dignity to human life2 but the      
sincerity of this feeling filled him    
with aversion for the make-believe      
dignity of a luxurious and artificial   
community4 ,without either arrogance or 
bitterness1 he stood aloof from that    
conventional intercourse which is       

misnamed social duty4 ,without either   
discourtesy or cynicism1 he refused to  
play a part in that dance of mimes which
 passes for life among the upper        
classes4 ,in him1 to extraordinary      
intellectual attainments was added the  
gift of a firm and steadfast            
self-respect1 which unfortunately does  
not always go with them4 ,he felt the   
reality of things1 and it was easier for
 a workman than for a princess to obtain
 access to him4 ,it is not always the   
men who talk most affectingly about our 
being all of one flesh and blood1 who   
are proof against those mysterious      
charms of superior rank1 which do so    
much to foster unworthy conceptions of  
life in ,english society2 and there are 
many people capable of accepting ,mr4   
,mill's social principles1 and the      
theoretical corollaries they contain1   
who yet would condemn his manly         
plainness and austere consistency in    
acting on them4 ,the too common tendency
 in us all to moral slovenliness1 and a 

lazy contentment with a little flaccid  
protest against evil1 finds a constant  
rebuke in his career4 ,the indomitable  
passion for justice which made him      
strive so long and so tenaciously to    
bring to judgment a public official1    
whom he conceived to be a great         
criminal1 was worthy of one of the      
stoutest patriots in our                
seventeenth-century history4 ,the same  
moral thoroughness stirred the same     
indignation in him on a more recent     
occasion1 when he declared it 'a        
permanent disgrace to the ,government   
that the iniquitous sentence on the     
gas-stokers was not remitted as soon as 
passed4'         99       99       99   
99       99  ,much of his most striking 
quality was owing to the exceptional    
degree in which he was alive to the     
constant tendency of society to lose    
some excellence of aim1 to relapse at   
some point from the standard of truth   
and right which had been reached by long
 previous effort1 to fall back in height

 of moral ideal4 ,he was keenly sensible
 that it is only by persistent striving 
after improvement in our conceptions of 
duty1 and improvement in the external   
means for realising them1 that even the 
acquisitions of past generations are    
retained4 ,he knew the intense          
difficulty of making life better by ever
 so little4 ,hence at once the          
exaltation of his own ideas of truth and
 right1 and his eagerness to conciliate 
anything like virtuous social feeling1  
in whatever intellectual or political   
association he found it4 ,hence also the
 vehemence of his passion for the       
unfettered and unchecked development of 
new ideas on all subjects1 of           
originality in moral and social points  
of view2 because repression1 whether by 
public opinion or in any other way1 may 
be the means of untold waste of gifts   
that might have conferred on mankind    
unspeakable benefits4 ,the discipline   
and vigour of his understanding made him
 the least indulgent of judges to       

anything like charlatanry1 and          
effectually prevented his unwillingness 
to let the smallest good element be     
lost1 from degenerating into that weak  
kind of universalism which nullifies    
some otherwise good men4         99     
99       99       99       99  ,some    
great men seize upon us by the force of 
an imposing and majestic authority2     
their thoughts impress the imagination1 
their words are winged1 they are as     
prophets bearing high testimony that    
cannot be gainsaid4 ,bossuet1 for       
instance1 or ,pascal4 ,others1 and of   
these ,mr4 ,mill was one1 acquire       
disciples not by a commanding authority1
 but by a moderate and impersonal kind  
of persuasion4 ,he appeals not to our   
sense of greatness and power in a       
teacher1 which is noble1 but to our love
 of finding and embracing truth for     
ourselves1 which is still nobler4       
,people who like their teacher to be as 
a king publishing decrees with herald   
and trumpet1 perhaps find ,mr4 ,mill    

colourless4 ,yet this habitual          
effacement of his own personality marked
 a delicate and very rare shade in his  
reverence for the sacred purity of      
truth4         99       99       99     
99       99  ,meditation on the         
influence of one who has been the       
foremost instructor of his time in      
wisdom and goodness quickly breaks off1 
in this hour when his loss is fresh upon
 us2 it changes into affectionate       
reminiscences for which silence is more 
fitting4 ,in such an hour thought turns 
rather to the person than the work of   
the master whom we mourn4 ,we recall his
 simplicity1 gentleness1 heroic         
self-abnegation2 his generosity in      
encouraging1 his eager readiness in     
helping2 the warm kindliness of his     
accost1 the friendly brightening of the 
eye4 ,the last time ,i saw him was a few
 days before he left ,england4#a ,he    
came to spend a day with me in the      
country1 of which the following brief   
notes happened to be written at the time

 in a letter to a friend3--       ',he  
came down by the morning train to       
,guildford station1 where ,i      was   
waiting for him4 ,he was in his most    
even and mellow humour4 ,we      walked 
in a leisurely way and through          
roundabout tracks for some      four    
hours along the ancient green road which
 you know1 over the      high grassy    
downs1 into old chalk pits picturesque  
with juniper and      yew1 across heaths
 and commons1 and so up to our windy    
promontory1      where the majestic     
prospect stirred him with lively        
delight4 ,you      know he is a fervent 
botanist1 and every ten minutes he      
stooped to      look at this or that on 
the path4 ,unluckily ,i am ignorant of  
the      very rudiments of the matter1  
so his parenthetic enthusiasms were     
lost upon me4  ,footnote #a3 ,april #e1 
#ahgc4  ',of course he talked1 and      
talked well4 ,he admitted that ,goethe  
had added new points of view to life1   
but has a deep dislike of his moral     

character2 wondered how a man who could 
draw the sorrows of a deserted woman    
like ,aurelia1 in ,wilhelm ,meister1    
should yet have behaved so              
systematically ill to women4 ,goethe    
tried as hard as he could to be a       
,greek1 yet his failure to produce      
anything perfect in form1 except a few  
lyrics1 proves the irresistible         
expansion of the modern spirit1 and the 
inadequateness of the ,greek type to    
modern needs of activity and expression4
 ,greatly prefers ,schiller in all      
respects2 turning to him from ,goethe is
 like going into the fresh air from a   
hothouse4  ',spoke of style3 thinks     
,goldsmith unsurpassed2 then ,addison   
comes4 ,greatly dislikes the style of   
,junius and of ,gibbon2 indeed1 thinks  
meanly of the latter in all respects1   
except for his research1 which alone of 
the work of that century stands the test
 of nineteenth-century criticism4 ,did  
not agree with me that ,george ,sand's  
is the high-water mark of prose1 but yet

 could not name anybody higher1 and     
admitted that her prose stirs you like  
music4  ',seemed disposed to think that 
the most feasible solution of the ,irish
 ,university question is a ,catholic    
,university1 the restrictive and        
obscurantist tendencies of which you may
 expect to have cheeked by the active   
competition of life with men trained in 
more enlightened systems4 ,spoke of     
,home ,rule4  ',made remarks on the     
difference in the feeling of modern     
refusers of ,christianity as compared   
with that of men like his father1       
impassioned deniers1 who believed that  
if only you broke up the power of the   
priests and checked superstition1 all   
would go well--a dream from which they  
were partially awakened by seeing that  
the ,french revolution1 which overthrew 
the ,church1 still did not bring the    
millennium4 ,his radical friends used to
 be very angry with him for loving      
,wordsworth4 ,wordsworth1 ,i used to    
say1 is against you1 no doubt1 in the   

battle which you are now waging1 but    
after you have won1 the world will need 
more than ever those qualities which    
,wordsworth is keeping alive and        
nourishing4 ,in his youth mere negation 
of religion was a firm bond of union1   
social and otherwise1 between men who   
agreed in nothing else4  ',spoke of the 
modern tendency to pure theism1 and met 
the objection that it retards           
improvement by turning the minds of some
 of the best men from social affairs1 by
 the counter-proposition that it is     
useful to society1 apart from the       
question of its truth1--useful as a     
provisional belief1 because people will 
identify serviceable ministry to men    
with service of ,god4 ,thinks we cannot 
with any sort of precision define the   
coming modification of religion1 but    
anticipates that it will undoubtedly    
rest upon the solidarity of mankind1 as 
,comte said1 and as you and ,i believe4 
,perceives two things1 at any rate1     
which are likely to lead men to invest  

this with the moral authority of a      
religion2 first1 they will become more  
and more impressed by the awful fact    
that a piece of conduct to-day may prove
 a curse to men and women scores and    
even hundreds of years after the author 
of it is dead2 and second1 they will    
more and more feel that they can only   
satisfy their sentiment of gratitude to 
seen or unseen benefactors1 can only    
repay the untold benefits they have     
inherited1 by diligently maintaining the
 traditions of service4  ',and so forth1
 full of interest and suggestiveness all
 through4 ,when he got here1 he chatted 
to ,r---- over our lunch1 with something
 of the simple amiableness of a child1  
about the wild flowers1 the ways of     
insects1 and notes of birds4 ,he was    
impatient for the song of the           
nightingale4 ,then ,i drove him to our  
little roadside station1 and one of the 
most delightful days of my life came to 
its end1 like all other days1 delightful
 and sorrowful4'  ,alas1 the sorrowful  

day which ever dogs our delight followed
 very quickly4 ,the nightingale that he 
longed for fills the darkness with      
music1 but not for the ear of the dead  
master3 he rests in the deeper darkness 
where the silence is unbroken for ever4 
,we may console ourselves with the      
reflection offered by the dying         
,socrates to his sorrowful companions3  
he who has arrayed the soul in her own  
proper jewels of moderation and justice 
and courage and nobleness and truth1 is 
ever ready for the journey when his time
 comes4 ,we have lost a great teacher   
and example of knowledge and virtue1 but
 men will long feel the presence of his 
character about them1 making them       
ashamed of what is indolent or selfish1 
and encouraging them to all             
disinterested labour1 both in trying to 
do good and in trying to find out what  
the good is1--which is harder4     ,,mr4
 ,,mill',s ,,autobiography4   ,chercher 
en gmissant--search with many           
sighs--that was ,pascal's notion of     

praiseworthy living and choosing the    
better part4 ,search1 and search with   
much travail1 strikes us as the chief   
intellectual ensign and device of that  
eminent man whose record of his own     
mental nurture and growth we have all   
been reading4 ,everybody endowed with   
energetic intelligence has a measure of 
the spirit of search poured out upon    
him4 ,all such persons act on the       
,socratic maxim that the life without   
inquiry is a life to be lived by no man4
 ,but it is the rare distinction of a   
very few to accept the maxim in its full
 significance1 to insist on an open mind
 as the true secret of wisdom1 to press 
the examination and testing of our      
convictions as the true way at once to  
stability and growth of character1 and  
thus to make of life what it is so good 
for us that it should be1 a continual   
building up1 a ceaseless fortifying and 
enlargement and multiplication of the   
treasures of the spirit4 ,to make a     
point of 'examining what was said in    

defence of all opinions1 however new or 
however old1 in the conviction that even
 if they were errors there might be a   
substratum of truth underneath them1 and
 that in any case the discovery of what 
it was that made them plausible would be
 a benefit to truth1'#b--to thrust out  
the spirit of party1 of sect1 of creed1 
of the poorer sort of self-esteem1 of   
futile contentiousness1 and so to seek  
and again seek with undeviating         
singleness of mind the right            
interpretation of our experiences--here 
is the genuine seal of intellectual     
mastery and the true stamp of a perfect 
rationality4  ,footnote #b3 ,mill's     
,autobiography1 #bdb4  ,the men to whom 
this is the ideal of the life of the    
reason1 and who have done anything      
considerable towards spreading a desire 
after it1 deserve to have their memories
 gratefully cherished even by those who 
do not agree with all their positive    
opinions4 ,we need only to reflect a    
little on the conditions of human       

existence2 on the urgent demand which   
material necessities inevitably make on 
so immense a proportion of our time and 
thought2 on the space which is naturally
 filled up by the activity of absorbing 
affections2 on the fatal power of mere  
tradition and report over the           
indifferent1 and the fatal power of     
inveterate prejudice over so many even  
of the best of those who are not        
indifferent4 ,then we shall know better 
how to value such a type of character   
and life as ,mr4 ,mill has now told us  
the story of1 in which intellectual     
impressionableness on the most important
 subjects of human thought was so       
cultivated as almost to acquire the     
strength and quick responsiveness of    
emotional sensibility4 ,and this1       
without the too common drawback to great
 openness of mind4 ,this drawback       
consists in loose beliefs1 taken up     
to-day and silently dropped to-morrow2  
vacillating opinions1 constantly being  
exchanged for their contraries2 feeble  

convictions1 appearing1 shifting1       
vanishing1 in the quicksands of an      
unstable mind4  ,nobody will impute any 
of these disastrous weaknesses to ,mr4  
,mill4 ,his impressionableness was of   
the valuable positive kind1 which adds  
and assimilates new elements from many  
quarters1 without disturbing the organic
 structure of the whole4 ,what he says  
of one stage in his growth remained     
generally true of him until the very    
end3--',i found the fabric of my old and
 taught opinions giving way in many     
fresh places1 and ,i never allowed it to
 fall to pieces1 but was incessantly    
occupied in weaving it anew4 ,i never in
 the course of my transition was content
 to remain1 for ever so short a time1   
confused and unsettled4 ,when ,i had    
taken in any new idea1 ,i could not rest
 till ,i had adjusted its relations to  
my old opinions1 and ascertained exactly
 how far its effect ought to extend in  
modifying or superseding them' 7p4      
#aef74 ,this careful and conscientious  

recognition of the duty of having       
ordered opinions1 and of responsibility 
for these opinions being both as true   
and as consistent with one another as   
taking pains with his mind could make   
them1 distinguished ,mr4 ,mill from the 
men who flit aimlessly from doctrine to 
doctrine1 as the flies of a summer day  
dart from point to point in the vacuous 
air4 ,it distinguished him also from    
those sensitive spirits who fling       
themselves down from the heights of     
rationalism suddenly into the pit of an 
infallible church2 and from those who1  
like ,la ,mennais1 move violently       
between faith and reason1 between       
tradition and inquiry1 between the      
fulness of deference to authority and   
the fulness of individual               
self-assertion4  ,all minds of the first
 quality move and grow2 they have a     
susceptibility to many sorts of new     
impressions1 a mobility1 a feeling      
outwards1 which makes it impossible for 
them to remain in the stern fixity of an

 early implanted set of dogmas1 whether 
philosophic or religious4 ,in stoical   
tenacity of character1 as well as in    
intellectual originality and            
concentrated force of understanding1    
some of those who knew both tell us that
 ,mr4 ,mill was inferior to his father4 
,but who does not feel in the son the   
serious charm of a power of adaptation  
and pliableness which we can never      
associate with the hardy and more       
rigorous nature of the other8 ,and it   
was just because he had this sensibility
 of the intellect1 that the history of  
what it did for him is so edifying a    
performance for a people like ourselves1
 among whom that quality is so extremely
 uncommon4 ,for it was the sensibility  
of strength and not of weakness1 nor of 
mere over-refinement and subtlety4 ,we  
may estimate the significance of such a 
difference1 when we think how little1   
after all1 the singular gifts of a      
,newman or a ,maurice have done for     
their contemporaries1 simply because    

these two eminent men allowed           
consciousness of their own weakness to  
'sickly over' the spontaneous impulses  
of their strength4  ,the wonder is that 
the reaction against such an education  
as that through which ,james ,mill      
brought his son1--an education so       
intense1 so purely analytical1 doing so 
much for the reason and so little for   
the satisfaction of the affections1--was
 not of the most violent kind4 ,the     
wonder is that the crisis through which 
nearly every youth of good quality has  
to pass1 and from which ,mr4 ,mill1 as  
he has told us1 by no means escaped1 did
 not land him in some of the extreme    
forms of transcendentalism4 ,if it had  
done so the record of the journey would 
no doubt have been more abundant in     
melodramatic incidents4 ,it would have  
done more to tickle the fancy of 'the   
present age of loud disputes but weak   
convictions4' ,and it might have been   
found more touching by the large numbers
 of talkers and writers who seem to     

think that a history of a careful man's 
opinions on grave and difficult subjects
 ought to have all the rapid movements  
and unexpected turns of a romance1 and  
that a book without rapture and effusion
 and a great many capital letters must  
be joyless and disappointing4 ,those of 
us who dislike literary hysteria as much
 as we dislike the coarseness that      
mistakes itself for force1 may well be  
glad to follow the mental history of a  
man who knew how to move and grow       
without any of these reactions and leaps
 on the one hand1 or any of that        
overdone realism on the other1 which may
 all make a more striking picture1 but  
which do assuredly more often than not  
mark the ruin of a mind and the         
nullification of a career4  ,if we are  
now and then conscious in the book of a 
certain want of spacing1 of changing    
perspectives and long vistas2 if we have
 perhaps a sense of being too narrowly  
enclosed2 if we miss the relish of      
humour or the occasional relief of      

irony2 we ought to remember that we are 
busy not with a work of imagination or  
art1 but with the practical record of   
the formation of an eminent thinker's   
mental habits and the succession of his 
mental attitudes4 ,the formation of such
 mental habits is not a romance1 but the
 most arduous of real concerns4 ,if we  
are led up to none of the enkindled     
summits of the soul1 and plunged into   
none of its abysses1 that is no reason  
why we should fail to be struck by the  
pale flame of strenuous self-possession1
 or touched by the ingenuousness and    
simplicity of the speaker's accents4 ,a 
generation continually excited by       
narratives1 as sterile as vehement1 of  
storm and stress and spiritual          
shipwreck1 might do well1 if it knew the
 things that pertained to its peace1 to 
ponder this unvarnished history--the    
history of a man who1 though he was not 
one of the picturesque victims of the   
wasteful torments of an uneasy spiritual
 self-consciousness1 yet laboured so    

patiently after the gifts of            
intellectual strength1 and did so much  
permanently to widen the judgments of   
the world4  ,if ,mr4 ,mill's            
,autobiography has no literary grandeur1
 nor artistic variety1 it has the rarer 
merit of presenting for our             
contemplation a character that was      
infested by none of the smaller         
passions1 and warped by none of the more
 unintelligent attitudes of the human   
mind4 ,we have to remember that it is   
exactly these1 the smaller passions on  
the one hand1 and slovenliness of       
intelligence on the other1 which are    
even worse agencies in spoiling the     
worth of life and the advance of society
 than the more imposing vices either of 
thought or sentiment4 ,many have told   
the tale of a life of much external     
eventfulness4 ,there is a rarer         
instructiveness in the quiet career of  
one whose life was an incessant         
education1 a persistent strengthening of
 the mental habit of 'never accepting   

half-solutions of difficulties as       
complete2 never abandoning a puzzle1 but
 again and again returning to it until  
it was cleared up2 never allowing       
obscure corners of a subject to remain  
unexplored1 because they did not appear 
important2 never thinking that ,i       
perfectly understood any part of a      
subject until ,i understood the whole'  
7p4 #abc74 ,it is true that this mental 
habit is not so singular in itself1 for 
it is the common and indispensable merit
 of every truly scientific thinker4 ,mr4
 ,mill's distinction lay in the         
deliberate intention and the systematic 
patience with which he brought it to the
 consideration of moral and religious   
and social subjects4 ,in this region    
hitherto1 for reasons that are not      
difficult to seek1 the empire of        
prejudice and passion has been so much  
stronger1 so much harder to resist1 than
 in the field of physical science4      
,sect is so ready to succeed sect1 and  
school comes after school1 with constant

 replacement of one sort of orthodoxy by
 another sort1 until even the principle 
of relativity becomes the base of a set 
of absolute and final dogmas1 and the   
very doctrine of uncertainty itself     
becomes fixed in a kind of authoritative
 nihilism4 ,it is1 therefore1 a signal  
gain that we now have a new type1 with  
the old wise device1 ,greek3 memnso     
apistein--be sure that you distrust4    
,distrust your own bias2 distrust your  
supposed knowledge2 constantly try1     
prove1 fortify your firmest convictions4
 ,and all this1 throughout the whole    
domain where the intelligence rules4 ,it
 was characteristic of a man of this    
type that he should have been seized by 
that memorable passage in ,condorcet's  
,life of ,turgot to which ,mr4 ,mill    
refers 7p4 #aad71 and which every man   
with an active interest in serious      
affairs should bind about his neck and  
write on the tablets of his heart4      
',turgot1' says his wise biographer1    
'always looked upon anything like a sect

 as mischievous4444 ,from the moment    
that a sect comes into existence1 all   
the individuals composing it become     
answerable for the faults and errors of 
each one of them4 ,the obligation to    
remain united leads them to suppress or 
dissemble all truths that might wound   
anybody whose adhesion is useful to the 
sect4 ,they are forced to establish in  
some form a body of doctrine1 and the   
opinions which make a part of it1 being 
adopted without inquiry1 become in due  
time pure prejudices4 ,friendship stops 
with the individuals2 but the hatred and
 envy that any of them may arouse       
extends to the whole sect4 ,if this sect
 be formed by the most enlightened men  
of the nation1 if the defence of truths 
of the greatest importance to the common
 happiness be the object of its zeal1   
the mischief is still worse4 ,everything
 true or useful which they propose is   
rejected without examination4 ,abuses   
and errors of every kind always have for
 their defenders that herd of           

presumptuous and mediocre mortals1 who  
are the bitterest enemies of all        
celebrity and renown4 ,scarcely is a    
truth made clear1 before those to whom  
it would be prejudicial crush it under  
the name of a sect that is sure to have 
already become odious1 and are certain  
to keep it from obtaining so much as a  
hearing4 ,turgot1 then1 was persuaded   
that perhaps the greatest ill you can do
 to truth is to drive those who love it 
to form themselves into a sect1 and that
 these in turn can commit no more fatal 
mistake than to have the vanity or the  
weakness to fall into the trap4'  ,yet  
we know that with ,mr4 ,mill as with    
,turgot this deep distrust of sect was  
no hindrance to the most careful        
systematisation of opinion and conduct4 
,he did not interpret many-sidedness in 
the flaccid watery sense which flatters 
the indolence of so many of our         
contemporaries1 who like to have their  
ears amused with a new doctrine each    
morning1 to be held for a day1 and      

dropped in the evening1 and who have    
little more seriousness in their        
intellectual life than the busy insects 
of a summer noon4 ,he says that he      
looked forward 'to a future which shall 
unite the best qualities of the critical
 with the best qualities of the organic 
periods2 unchecked liberty of thought1  
unbounded freedom of individual action  
in all modes not hurtful to others2 but 
also convictions as to what is right and
 wrong1 useful and pernicious1 deeply   
engraven on the feelings by early       
education and general unanimity of      
sentiment1 and so firmly grounded in    
reason and the true exigencies of life1 
that they shall not1 like all former and
 present creeds1 religious1 ethical1 and
 political1 require to be periodically  
thrown off and replaced by others' 7p4  
#aff74 ,this was in some sort the type  
at which he aimed in the formation of   
his own character--a type that should   
combine organic with critical quality1  
the strength of an ordered set of       

convictions1 with that pliability and   
that receptiveness in face of new truth1
 which are indispensable to these very  
convictions being held intelligently and
 in their best attainable form4 ,we can 
understand the force of the eulogy on   
,john ,austin 7p4 #aed71 that he        
manifested 'an equal devotion to the two
 cardinal points of ,liberty and ,duty4'
 ,these are the correlatives in the     
sphere of action to the two cardinal    
points of ,criticism and ,belief in the 
sphere of thought4  ,we can in the light
 of this double way of viewing the right
 balance of the mind1 the better        
understand the combination of           
earnestness with tolerance which        
inconsiderate persons are apt to find so
 awkward a stumbling-block in the scheme
 of philosophic liberalism4 ,many people
 in our time have so ill understood the 
doctrine of liberty1 that in some of the
 most active circles in society they now
 count you a bigot if you hold any      
proposition to be decidedly and         

unmistakably more true than any other4  
,they pronounce you intemperate if you  
show anger and stern disappointment     
because men follow the wrong course     
instead of the right one4 ,mr4 ,mill's  
explanation of the vehemence and        
decision of his father's disapproval1   
when he did disapprove1 and his refusal 
to allow honesty of purpose in the doer 
to soften his disapprobation of the     
deed1 gives the reader a worthy and     
masculine notion of true tolerance4     
,james ,mill's 'aversion to many        
intellectual errors1 or what he regarded
 as such1 partook in a certain sense of 
the character of a moral feeling4444    
,none but those who do not care about   
opinions will confound this with        
intolerance4 ,those1 who having opinions
 which they hold to be immensely        
important1 and their contraries to be   
prodigiously hurtful1 have any deep     
regard for the general good1 will       
necessarily dislike1 as a class and in  
the abstract1 those who think wrong what

 they think right1 and right what they  
think wrong3 though they need not be1   
nor was my father1 insensible to good   
qualities in an opponent1 nor governed  
in their estimation of individuals by   
one general presumption1 instead of by  
the whole of their character4 ,i grant  
that an earnest person1 being no more   
infallible than other men1 is liable to 
dislike people on account of opinions   
which do not merit dislike2 but if he   
neither himself does them any ill       
office1 nor connives at its being done  
by others1 he is not intolerant3 and the
 forbearance which flows from a         
conscientious sense of the importance to
 mankind of the equal freedom of all    
opinions is the only tolerance which is 
commendable1 or to the highest moral    
order of minds1 possible' 7p4 #ea74     
,this is another side of the            
co-ordination of ,criticism and ,belief1
 of ,liberty and ,duty1 which attained  
in ,mr4 ,mill himself a completeness    
that other men1 less favoured in        

education and with less active power of 
self-control1 are not likely to reach1  
but to reach it ought to be one of the  
prime objects of their mental           
discipline4 ,the inculcation of this    
peculiar morality of the intelligence is
 one of the most urgently needed        
processes of our time4 ,for the         
circumstance of our being in the very   
depths of a period of transition from   
one spiritual basis of thought to       
another1 leads men not only to be       
content with holding a quantity of      
vague1 confused1 and contradictory      
opinions1 but also to invest with the   
honourable name of candour a weak       
reluctance to hold any one of them      
earnestly4  ,mr4 ,mill experienced in   
the four or five last years of his life 
the disadvantage of trying to unite     
fairness towards the opinions from which
 he differed1 with loyalty to the       
positive opinions which he accepted4    
',as ,i had showed in my political      
writings1' he says1 'that ,i was aware  

of the weak points in democratic        
opinions1 some ,conservatives1 it seems1
 had not been without hopes of finding  
me an opponent of democracy3 as ,i was  
able to see the ,conservative side of   
the question1 they presumed that like   
them ,i could not see any other side4   
,yet if they had really read my         
writings1 they would have known that    
after giving full weight to all that    
appeared to me well grounded in the     
arguments against democracy1 ,i         
unhesitatingly decided in its favour1   
while recommending that it should be    
accompanied by such institutions as were
 consistent with its principle and      
calculated to ward off its              
inconveniences' 7p4 #cji74 ,this was    
only one illustration of what constantly
 happened1 until at length1 it is hardly
 too much to say1 a man who had hitherto
 enjoyed a singular measure of general  
reverence because he was supposed to see
 truth in every doctrine1 became        
downright unpopular among many classes  

in the community1 because he saw more   
truth in one doctrine than another1 and 
brought the propositions for whose      
acceptance he was most in earnest       
eagerly before the public4  ,in a       
similar way the ,autobiography shows us 
the picture of a man uniting profound   
self-respect with a singular neutrality 
where his own claims are concerned1 a   
singular self-mastery and justice of    
mind1 in matters where with most men the
 sense of their own personality is wont 
to be so exacting and so easily         
irritated4 ,the history of intellectual 
eminence is too often a history of      
immoderate egoism4 ,it has perhaps      
hardly ever been given to any one who   
exerted such influence as ,mr4 ,mill did
 over his contemporaries1 to view his   
own share in it with such discrimination
 and equity as marks every page of his  
book1 and as used to mark every word of 
his conversation4 ,knowing as we all do 
the last infirmity of even noble minds1 
and how deep the desire to erect himself

 ,pope and ,sir ,oracle lies in the     
spirit of a man with strong convictions1
 we may value the more highly1 as well  
for its rarity as for its intrinsic     
worth1 ,mr4 ,mill's quality of          
self-effacement1 and his steadfast care 
to look anywhere rather than in his own 
personal merits1 for the source of any  
of those excellences which he was never 
led by false modesty to dissemble4      
,many people seem to find the most      
interesting figure in the book that     
stoical father1 whose austere1          
energetic1 imperious1 and relentless    
character showed the temperament of the 
,scotch ,covenanter of the seventeenth  
century1 inspired by the principles and 
philosophy of ,france in the eighteenth4
 ,no doubt1 for those in search of      
strong dramatic effects1 the lines of   
this strenuous indomitable nature are   
full of impressiveness4#c ,but one ought
 to be able to appreciate the           
distinction and strength of the father1 
and yet also be able to see that the    

distinction of the son's strength was in
 truth more really impressive still4 ,we
 encounter a modesty that almost speaks 
the language of fatalism4 ,pieces of    
good fortune that most people would     
assuredly have either explained as due  
to their own penetration1 or to the     
recognition of their worth by others1 or
 else would have refrained from dwelling
 upon1 as being no more than events of  
secondary importance1 are by ,mr4 ,mill 
invariably recognised at their full     
worth or even above it1 and invariably  
spoken of as fortunate accidents1 happy 
turns in the lottery of life1 or in some
 other quiet fatalistic phrase1         
expressive of his deep feeling how much 
we owe to influences over which we have 
no control and for which we have no     
right to take any credit4 ,his saying   
that 'it would be a blessing if the     
doctrine of necessity could be believed 
by all quoad the characters of others1  
and disbelieved in regard to their own' 
7p4 #afi71 went even further than that1 

for he teaches us to accept the doctrine
 of necessity quoad the most marked     
felicities of life and character1 and to
 lean lightly or not at all upon it in  
regard to our demerits4 ,humility is a  
rationalistic1 no less than a ,christian
 grace--not humility in face of error or
 arrogant pretensions or selfishness1   
nor a humility that paralyses energetic 
effort1 but a steadfast consciousness of
 all the good gifts which our           
forerunners have made ready for us1 and 
of the weight of our responsibility for 
transmitting these helpful forces to a  
new generation1 not diminished but      
augmented4  ,footnote #c3 ,in an        
interesting volume 7,the ,minor ,works  
of ,george ,grote1 edited by ,alexander 
,bain4 ,london3 ,murray71 we find ,grote
 confirming ,mr4 ,mill's estimate of his
 father's psychagogic quality4 ',his    
unpremeditated oral exposition1' says   
,grote of ,james ,mill1 'was hardly less
 effective than his prepared work with  
the pen2 his colloquial fertility in    

philosophical subjects1 his power of    
discussing himself1 and stimulating     
others to discuss1 his ready responsive 
inspirations through all the shifts and 
windings of a sort of ,platonic         
dialogue1--all these accomplishments    
were to those who knew him1 even more   
impressive than what he composed for the
 press4 ,conversation with him was not  
merely instructive1 but provocative to  
the observant intelligence4 ,of all     
persons whom we have known1 ,mr4 ,james 
,mill was the one who stood least remote
 from the lofty ,platonic ideal of      
,dialectic--,greek3 tou didonai kai     
dechesthai logon 7the giving and        
receiving of reasons7--competent alike  
to examine others or to be examined by  
them in philosophy4 ,when to this we add
 a strenuous character1 earnest         
convictions1 and single-minded devotion 
to truth1 with an utter disdain of mere 
paradox1 it may be conceived that such a
 man exercised powerful intellectual    
ascendancy over youthful minds1'        

etc4--,minor ,works of ,george ,grote1  
p4 #bhd4         99       99       99   
99       99  ,in more than one          
remarkable place the ,autobiography     
shows us distinctly what all careful    
students of ,mr4 ,mill's books supposed1
 that with him the social aim1 the      
repayment of the services of the past by
 devotion to the services of present and
 future1 was predominant over any merely
 speculative curiosity or abstract      
interest4 ,his preference for deeply    
reserved ways of expressing even his    
strongest feelings prevented him from   
making any expansive show of this       
governing sentiment4 ,though no man was 
ever more free from any taint of that   
bad habit of us ,english1 of denying or 
palliating an abuse or a wrong1 unless  
we are prepared with an instant remedy  
for it1 yet he had a strong aversion to 
mere socialistic declamation4 ,perhaps1 
if one may say so without presumption1  
he was not indulgent enough in this     
respect4 ,i remember once pressing him  

with some enthusiasm for ,victor        
,hugo1--an enthusiasm1 one is glad to   
think1 which time does nothing to       
weaken4 ,mr4 ,mill1 admitting1 though   
not too lavishly1 the superb imaginative
 power of this poetic master of our     
time1 still counted it a fatal drawback 
to ,hugo's worth and claim to           
recognition that 'he has not brought    
forward one single practical proposal   
for the improvement of the society      
against which he is incessantly         
thundering4' ,i ventured to urge that it
 is unreasonable to ask a poet to draft 
acts of parliament2 and that by bringing
 all the strength of his imagination and
 all the majestic fulness of his        
sympathy to bear on the social horrors  
and injustices which still lie so thick 
about us1 he kindled an inextinguishable
 fire in the hearts of men of weaker    
initiative and less imperial gifts alike
 of imagination and sympathy1 and so    
prepared the forces out of which        
practical proposals and specific        

improvements may be expected to issue4  
,that so obvious a kind of reflection   
should not have previously interested   
,mr4 ,mill's judgment in favour of the  
writer of the ,outcasts1 the ,legend of 
the ,ages1 the ,contemplations1 only    
shows how strong was his dislike to all 
that savoured of the grandiose1 and how 
afraid he always was of everything that 
seemed to dissociate emotion from       
rationally directed effort4 ,that he was
 himself inspired by this emotion of    
pity for the common people1 of divine   
rage against the injustice of the strong
 to the weak1 in a degree not inferior  
to ,victor ,hugo himself1 his whole     
career most effectually demonstrates4   
,it is this devotion to the substantial 
good of the many1 though practised      
without the noisy or ostentatious       
professions of more egoistic thinkers1  
which binds together all the parts of   
his work1 from the ,system of ,logic    
down to his last speech on the ,land    
,question4 ,one of the most striking    

pages in the ,autobiography is that in  
which he gives his reasons for composing
 the refutation of ,hamilton1 and as    
some of these especially valuable       
passages in the book seem to be running 
the risk of neglect in favour of those  
which happen to furnish material for the
 idle1 pitiful gossip of ,london        
society1 it may be well to reproduce it4
  ',the difference1' he says1 'between  
these two schools of philosophy1 that of
 ,intuition and that of ,experience and 
,association1 is not a mere matter of   
abstract speculation2 it is full of     
practical consequences1 and lies at the 
foundation of all the greatest          
differences of practical opinion in an  
age of progress4 ,the practical reformer
 has continually to demand that changes 
be made in things which are supported by
 powerful and widely spread feelings1 or
 to question the apparent necessity and 
indefeasibleness of established facts2  
and it is often an indispensable part of
 his argument to show how those powerful

 feelings had their origin1 and how     
those facts came to seem necessary and  
indefeasible4 ,there is therefore a     
natural hostility between him and a     
philosophy which discourages the        
explanation of feelings and moral facts 
by circumstances and association1 and   
prefers to treat them as ultimate       
elements of human nature2 a philosophy  
which is addicted to holding up         
favourite doctrines as intuitive truths1
 and deems intuition to be the voice of 
,nature and of ,god1 speaking with an   
authority higher than that of our       
reason4 ,in particular1 ,i have long    
felt that the prevailing tendency to    
regard all the marked distinctions of   
human character as innate1 and in the   
main indelible1 and to ignore the       
irresistible proofs that by far the     
greater part of those differences1      
whether between individuals1 races1 or  
sexes1 are such as not only might but   
naturally would be produced by          
differences in circumstances1 is one of 

the chief hindrances to the rational    
treatment of great social questions1 and
 one of the greatest stumbling-blocks to
 human improvement4 ,this tendency has  
its source in the intuitional           
metaphysics which characterised the     
reaction of the nineteenth century      
against the eighteenth1 and it is a     
tendency so agreeable to human          
indolence1 as well as to conservative   
interests generally1 that unless        
attacked at the very root1 it is sure to
 be carried to even a greater length    
than is really justified by the more    
moderate forms of the intuitional       
philosophy4444 ,considering then the    
writings and fame of ,sir ,w4 ,hamilton 
as the great fortress of the intuitional
 philosophy in this country1 a fortress 
the more formidable from the imposing   
character1 and the1 in many respects1   
great personal merits and mental        
endowments of the man1 ,i thought it    
might be a real service to philosophy to
 attempt a thorough examination of all  

his most important doctrines1 and an    
estimate of his general claims to       
eminence as a philosopher2 and ,i was   
confirmed in this resolution by         
observing that in the writings of at    
least one1 and him one of the ablest1 of
 ,sir ,w4 ,hamilton's followers1 his    
peculiar doctrines were made the        
justification of a view of religion     
which ,i hold to be profoundly          
immoral--that it is our duty to bow down
 and worship before a ,being whose moral
 attributes are affirmed to be          
unknowable by us1 and to be perhaps     
extremely different from those which1   
when speaking of our fellow-creatures1  
we call by the same name' 7pp4          
#bgc-bge74  ,thus we see that even where
 the distance between the object of his 
inquiry and the practical wellbeing of  
mankind seemed farthest1 still the      
latter was his starting point1 and the  
doing 'a real service to philosophy'    
only occurred to him in connection with 
a still greater and more real service to

 those social causes for which1 and     
which only1 philosophy is worth         
cultivating4 ,in the ,system of ,logic  
the inspiration had been the same4      
',the notion that truths external to the
 mind1' he writes1 'may be known by     
intuition or consciousness1             
independently of observation and        
experience1 is1 ,i am persuaded1 in     
these times1 the great intellectual     
support of false doctrines and bad      
institutions4 ,by the aid of this theory
 every inveterate belief and every      
intense feeling of which the origin is  
not remembered1 is enabled to dispense  
with the obligation of justifying itself
 by reason1 and is erected into its own 
all-sufficient voucher and              
justification4 ,there never was an      
instrument better devised for           
consecrating all deep-seated prejudices4
 ,and the chief strength of this false  
philosophy in morals1 politics1 and     
religion1 lies in the appeal which it is
 accustomed to make to the evidence of  

mathematics and of the cognate branches 
of physical science4 ,to expel it from  
these is to drive it from its           
stronghold4444 ,in attempting to clear  
up the real nature of the evidence of   
mathematical and physical truth1 the    
,system of ,logic met the intuitive     
philosophers on ground on which they had
 previously been deemed unassailable2   
and gave its own explanation from       
experience and association of that      
peculiar character of what are called   
necessary truths1 which is adduced as   
proof that their evidence must come from
 a deeper source than experience4       
,whether this has been done effectually 
is still sub judice2 and even then1 to  
deprive a mode of thought so strongly   
rooted in human prejudices and          
partialities of its mere speculative    
support1 goes but a very little way     
towards overcoming it2 but though only a
 step1 it is a quite indispensable one2 
for since1 after all1 prejudice can only
 be successfully combated by philosophy1

 no way can really be made against it   
permanently1 until it has been shown not
 to have philosophy on its side' 7pp4   
#bbe-bbg74  ,this was to lay the basis  
of a true positivism by the only means  
through which it can be laid firmly4 ,it
 was to establish at the bottom of men's
 minds the habit of seeking explanations
 of all phenomena in experience1 and    
building up from the beginning the great
 positive principle that we can only    
know phenomena1 and can only know them  
experientially4 ,we see1 from such      
passages as the two that have been      
quoted1 that with ,mr4 ,mill1 no less   
than with ,comte1 the ultimate object   
was to bring people to extend positive  
modes of thinking to the master subjects
 of morals1 politics1 and religion4 ,mr4
 ,mill1 however1 with a wisdom which    
,comte unfortunately did not share1     
refrained from any rash and premature   
attempt to decide what would be the     
results of this much-needed extension4  
,he knew that we were as yet only just  

coming in sight of the stage where these
 most complex of all phenomena can be   
fruitfully studied on positive methods1 
and he was content with doing as much as
 he could to expel other methods from   
men's minds1 and to engender the        
positive spirit and temper4 ,comte1 on  
the other hand1 presumed at once to draw
 up a minute plan of social             
reconstruction1 which contains some     
ideas of great beauty and power1 some of
 extreme absurdity1 and some which would
 be very mischievous if there were the  
smallest chance of their ever being     
realised4 ',his book stands1' ,mr4 ,mill
 truly says of the ,system of ,positive 
,polity1 'a monumental warning to       
thinkers on society and politics of what
 happens when once men lose sight in    
their speculations of the value of      
,liberty and ,individuality' 7p4 #bac74 
99       99       99       99       99  
,it was his own sense of the value of   
,liberty which led to the production of 
the little tractate which ,mr4 ,mill    

himself thought likely to survive longer
 than anything else that he had written1
 'with the possible exception of the    
,logic1' as being 'a kind of philosophic
 text-book of a single truth1 which the 
changes progressively taking place in   
modern society tend to bring out into   
ever stronger relief2 the importance to 
man and society1 of a large variety in  
types of character1 and of giving full  
freedom to human nature to expand itself
 in innumerable and conflicting         
directions' 7p4 #bec74 ,it seems to us1 
however1 that ,mr4 ,mill's plea for     
,liberty in the abstract1 invaluable as 
it is1 still is less important than the 
memorable application of this plea1 and 
of all the arguments supporting it1 to  
that half of the human race whose       
individuality has hitherto been blindly 
and most wastefully repressed4 ,the     
little book on the ,subjection of       
,women1 though not a capital performance
 like the ,logic1 was the capital       
illustration of the modes of reasoning  

about human character set forth in his  
,logic applied to the case in which the 
old metaphysical notion of innate and   
indelible differences is still nearly as
 strong as ever it was1 and in which its
 moral and social consequences are so   
inexpressibly disastrous1 so            
superlatively powerful in keeping the   
ordinary level of the aims and          
achievements of life low and meagre4    
,the accurate and unanswerable reasoning
 no less than the noble elevation of    
this great argument2 the sagacity of a  
hundred of its maxims on individual     
conduct and character1 no less than the 
combined rationality and beauty of its  
aspirations for the improvement of      
collective social life1 make this piece 
probably the best illustration of all   
the best and richest qualities of its   
author's mind1 and it is fortunate that 
a subject of such incomparable          
importance should have been first       
effectively presented for discussion in 
so worthy and pregnant a form4  ,it is  

interesting to know definitely from the 
,autobiography1 what is implied in the  
opening of the book itself1 that a      
zealous belief in the advantages of     
abolishing the legal and social         
inequalities of women was not due to the
 accident of personal intimacy with one 
or two more women of exceptional        
distinction of character4 ,what has been
 ignorantly supposed in our own day to  
be a crotchet of ,mr4 ,mill's was the   
common doctrine of the younger          
proselytes of the ,benthamite school1   
and ,bentham himself was wholly with    
them 7,autobiography1 p4 #aje1 and also 
#bdd72 as1 of course1 were other        
thinkers of an earlier date1 ,condorcet 
for instance4#d ,in this as in other    
subjects ,mr4 ,mill did not go beyond   
his modest definition of his own        
originality--the application of old     
ideas in new forms and connections 7p4  
#aai71 or the originality 'which every  
thoughtful mind gives to its own mode of
 conceiving and expressing truths which 

are common property' 7p4 #bed74 ,or     
shall we say that he had an originality 
of a more genuine kind1 which made him  
first diligently acquire what in an     
excellent phrase he calls plenary       
possession of truths1 and then transfuse
 them with a sympathetic and contagious 
enthusiasm8  ,footnote #d3 ,condorcet's 
arguments the reader will find in vol4  
i4 of the present series of these       
,critical ,miscellanies1 p4 #bdi4  ,it  
is often complained that the book on    
,women has the radical imperfection of  
not speaking plainly on the question of 
the limitations proper to divorce4 ,the 
present writer once ventured to ask ,mr4
 ,mill why he had left this important   
point undiscussed4 ,mr4 ,mill replied   
that it seemed to him impossible to     
settle the expediency of more liberal   
conditions of divorce1 'first1 without  
hearing much more fully than we could   
possibly do at present the ideas held by
 women in the matter2 second1 until the 
experiment of marriage with entire      

equality between man and wife had been  
properly tried4' ,people who are in a   
hurry to get rid of their partners may  
find this very halting kind of work1 and
 a man who wants to take a new wife     
before sunset1 may well be irritated by 
a philosopher who tells him that the    
question may possibly be capable of     
useful discussion towards the middle of 
the next century4 ,but ,mr4 ,mill's     
argument is full of force and           
praiseworthy patience4         99       
99       99       99       99  ,the     
union of boundless patience with        
unshaken hope was one of ,mr4 ,mill's   
most conspicuous distinctions4 ,there   
are two crises in the history of grave  
and sensitive natures4 ,one on the      
threshold of manhood1 when the youth    
defines his purpose1 his creed1 his     
aspirations2 the other towards the later
 part of middle life1 when circumstance 
has strained his purpose1 and tested his
 creed1 and given to his aspirations a  
cold and practical measure4 ,the second 

crisis1 though less stirring1 less      
vivid1 less coloured to the imagination1
 is the weightier probation of the two1 
for it is final and decisive2 it marks  
not the mere unresisted force of        
youthful impulse and implanted          
predispositions1 as the earlier crisis  
does1 but rather the resisting quality1 
the strength1 the purity1 the depth1 of 
the native character1 after the many    
princes of the power of the air have had
 time and chance of fighting their      
hardest against it4 ,it is the turn     
which a man takes about the age of forty
 or five-and-forty that parts him off   
among the sheep on the right hand or the
 poor goats on the left4 ,this is the   
time of the grand moral climacteric2    
when genial unvarnished selfishness1 or 
coarse and ungenial cynicism1 or        
querulous despondency1 finally chokes   
out the generous resolve of a fancied   
strength which had not yet been tried in
 the burning fiery furnace of           
circumstance4  ,mr4 ,mill did not escape

 the second crisis1 any more than he had
 escaped the first1 though he dismisses 
it in a far more summary manner4 ,the   
education1 he tells us1 which his father
 had given him with such fine           
solicitude1 had taught him to look for  
the greatest and surest source of       
happiness in sympathy with the good of  
mankind on a large scale1 and had fitted
 him to work for this good of mankind in
 various ways4 ,by the time he was      
twenty1 his sympathies and passive      
susceptibilities had been so little     
cultivated1 his analytic quality had    
been developed with so little balance in
 the shape of developed feelings1 that  
he suddenly found himself unable to take
 pleasure in those thoughts of virtue   
and benevolence which had hitherto only 
been associated with logical            
demonstration and not with sympathetic  
sentiment4 ,this dejection was dispelled
 mainly by the influence of             
,wordsworth--a poet austere yet         
gracious1 energetic yet sober1          

penetrated with feeling for nature1 yet 
penetrated with feeling for the homely  
lot of man4 ,here was the emotional     
synthesis1 binding together the energies
 of the speculative and active mind by  
sympathetic interest in the common      
feelings and common destiny of human    
beings4  ,for some ten years more       
7#ahbf-ahcf7 ,mr4 ,mill hoped the       
greatest things for the good of society 
from reformed institutions4 ,that was   
the period of parliamentary changes1 and
 such hope was natural and universal4   
,then a shadow came over this           
confidence1 and ,mr4 ,mill advanced to  
the position that the choice of         
political institutions is subordinate to
 the question1 'what great improvement  
in life and culture stands next in order
 for the people concerned1 as the       
condition of their further progress8'   
7p4 #agj74 ,in this period he composed  
the ,logic 7published #ahdc7 and the    
,political ,economy 7#ahdh74 ,then he   
saw what all ardent lovers of           

improvement are condemned to see1 that  
their hopes have outstripped the rate of
 progress2 that fulfilment of social    
aspiration is tardy and very slow of    
foot2 and that the leaders of human     
thought are never permitted to enter    
into that ,promised ,land whither they  
are conducting others4 ,changes for     
which he had worked and from which he   
expected most1 came to pass1 but1 after 
they had come to pass1 they were        
'attended with much less benefit to     
human wellbeing than ,i should formerly 
have anticipated1 because they had      
produced very little improvement in that
 which all real amelioration in the lot 
of mankind depends on1 their            
intellectual and moral state4444 ,i had 
learnt from experience that many false  
opinions may be exchanged for true ones1
 without in the least altering the habit
 of mind of which false opinions are the
 result' 7p4 #bci74 ,this discovery     
appears to have brought on no recurrence
 of the dejection which had clouded a   

portion of his youth4 ,it only set him  
to consider the root of so disappointing
 a conclusion1 and led to the conviction
 that a great change in the fundamental 
constitution of men's modes of thought  
must precede any marked improvement in  
their lot4 ,he perceived that society is
 now passing through a transitional     
period 'of weak convictions1 paralysed  
intellects1 and growing laxity of       
principle1' the consequence of the      
discredit in the more reflective minds  
of the old opinions on the cardinal     
subjects of religion1 morals1 and       
politics1 which have now lost most of   
their efficacy for good1 though still   
possessed of life enough to present     
formidable obstacles to the growth of   
better opinion on those subjects 7p4    
#bci74  ,thus the crisis of             
disappointment which breaks up the hope 
and effort of so many men who start     
well1 or else throws them into poor and 
sterile courses1 proved in this grave1  
fervent1 and most reasonable spirit only

 the beginning of more serious          
endeavours in a new and more arduous    
vein4 ,hitherto he had been1 as he says1
 'more willing to be content with       
seconding the superficial improvements  
which had begun to take place in the    
common opinions of society and the      
world4' ,henceforth he kept less and    
less in abeyance the more heretical part
 of his opinions1 which he began more   
and more clearly to discern as 'almost  
the only ones1 the assertion of which   
tends in any way to regenerate society' 
7p4 #bcj74 ,the crisis of middle age    
developed a new fortitude1 a more       
earnest intrepidity1 a greater boldness 
of expression about the deeper things1  
an interest profounder than ever in the 
improvement of the human lot4 ,the book 
on the ,subjection of ,women1 the       
,liberty1 and probably some pieces that 
have not yet been given to the world1   
are the notable result of this ripest1  
loftiest1 and most inspiring part of his
 life4  ,this judgment does not appear  

to be shared by the majority of those   
who have hitherto published their       
opinions upon ,mr4 ,mill's life and     
works4 ,perhaps it would have been odd  
if such a judgment had been common4     
,people who think seriously of life and 
its conditions either are content with  
those conditions as they exist1 or else 
they find them empty and deeply         
unsatisfying4 ,well1 the former class1  
who naturally figure prominently in the 
public press1 because the press is the  
more or less flattering mirror of the   
prevailing doctrines of the day1 think  
that ,mr4 ,mill's views of a better     
social future are chimerical1 utopian1  
and sentimental4 ,the latter class      
compensate themselves for the           
pinchedness of the real world about them
 by certain rapturous ideals1 centring  
in ,god1 a future life1 and the long    
companionship of the blessed4 ,the      
consequence of this absorption either in
 the immediate interests and aims of the
 hour1 or in the interests and aims of  

an imaginary world which is supposed to 
await us after death1 has been a hasty  
inclination to look on such a life and  
such purposes as are set forth in the   
,autobiography as essentially jejune and
 dreary4 ,it is not in the least        
surprising that such a feeling should   
prevail4 ,if it were otherwise1 if the  
majority of thoughtful men and women    
were already in a condition to be       
penetrated by sympathy for the life of  
'search with many sighs1' then we should
 have already gone far on our way       
towards the goal which a ,turgot or a   
,mill set for human progress4 ,if       
society had at once recognised the full 
attractiveness of a life arduously      
passed in consideration of the means by 
which the race may take its next step   
forward in the improvement of character 
and the amelioration of the common      
lot1--and this not from love of ,god nor
 hope of recompense in a world to come1 
and still less from hope of recompense  
or even any very firm assurance of      

fulfilled aspiration in this            
world1--then that fundamental renovation
 of conviction for which ,mr4 ,mill     
sighed1 and that evolution of a new     
faith to which he had looked forward in 
the far distance1 would already have    
come to pass4  ,mr4 ,mill has been      
ungenerously ridiculed for the eagerness
 and enthusiasm of his contemplation of 
a new and better state of human society4
 ,yet we have always been taught to     
consider it the mark of the loftiest and
 most spiritual character1 for one to be
 capable of rapturous contemplation of a
 new and better state in a future life4 
,why1 then1 do you not recognise the    
loftiness and spirituality of those who 
make their heaven in the thought of the 
wider light and purer happiness that1 in
 the immensity of the ages1 may be      
brought to new generations of men1 by   
long force of vision and endeavour8     
,what great element is wanting in a life
 guided by such a hope8 ,is it not      
disinterested1 and magnanimous1 and     

purifying1 and elevating8 ,the countless
 beauties of association which cluster  
round the older faith may make the new  
seem bleak and chilly4 ,but when what is
 now the old faith was itself new1 that 
too may well have struck1 as we know    
that it did strike1 the adherent of the 
mellowed pagan philosophy as crude1     
meagre1 jejune1 dreary4  ,then ,mr4     
,mill's life as disclosed to us in these
 pages has been called joyless1 by that 
sect of religious partisans whose       
peculiarity is to mistake boisterousness
 for unction4 ,was the life of ,christ  
himself1 then1 so particularly joyful8  
,can the life of any man be joyful who  
sees and feels the tragic miseries and  
hardly less tragic follies of the earth8
 ,the old ,preacher1 when he considered 
all the oppressions that are done under 
the sun1 and beheld the tears of such as
 were oppressed and had no comforter1   
therefore praised the dead which are    
already dead more than the living which 
are yet alive1 and declared him better  

than both1 which hath not yet been1 who 
hath not seen the evil work that is done
 under the sun4 ,those who are willing  
to trick their understandings and play  
fast and loose with words may1 if they  
please1 console themselves with the     
fatuous commonplaces of a philosophic   
optimism4 ,they may1 with eyes tight    
shut1 cling to the notion that they live
 in the best of all possible worlds1 or 
discerning all the anguish that may be  
compressed into threescore years and    
ten1 still try to accept the ,stoic's   
paradox that pain is not an evil4 ,or1  
most wonderful and most common of all1  
they may find this joy of which they    
talk1 in meditating on the moral        
perfections of the omnipotent ,being for
 whose diversion the dismal panorama of 
all the evil work done under the sun was
 bidden to unfold itself1 and who sees  
that it is very good4 ,those who are    
capable of a continuity of joyous       
emotion on these terms may well complain
 of ,mr4 ,mill's story as dreary2 and so

 may the school of ,solomon1 who        
commended mirth because a man hath no   
better thing than to eat and to drink   
and to be merry4 ,people1 however1 who  
are prohibited by their intellectual    
conditions from finding full            
satisfaction either in spiritual        
raptures or in pleasures of sense1 may  
think the standard of happiness which   
,mr4 ,mill sought and reached1 not      
unacceptable and not unworthy of being  
diligently striven after4  ,mr4 ,mill's 
conception of happiness in life is more 
intelligible if we contrast it with his 
father's4 ,the ,cynic element in ,james 
,mill1 as his son now tells us 7pg4     
#dh71 was that he had scarcely any      
belief in pleasures2 he thought few of  
them worth the price which has to be    
paid for them2 and he set down the      
greater number of the miscarriages in   
life as due to an excessive estimate of 
them4 ',he thought human life a poor    
thing at best1 after the freshness of   
youth and of unsatisfied curiosity had  

gone by4444 ,he would sometimes say that
 if life were made what it might be1 by 
good government and good education1 it  
would be worth having2 but he never     
spoke with anything like enthusiasm even
 of that possibility4' ,we should shrink
 from calling even this theory dreary1  
associated as it is with the rigorous   
enforcement of the heroic virtues of    
temperance and moderation1 and the      
strenuous and careful bracing up of     
every faculty to face the inevitable and
 make the best of it4 ,at bottom it is  
the theory of many of the bravest souls1
 who fare grimly through life in the    
mood of leaders of forlorn hopes1       
denying pleasures1 yet very sensible of 
the stern delight of fortitude4 ,we can 
have no difficulty in understanding     
that1 when the elder ,mill lay dying1   
'his interest in all things and persons 
that had interested him through life was
 undiminished1 nor did the approach of  
death cause the smallest wavering 7as in
 so strong and firm a mind it was       

impossible that it should71 in his      
convictions on the subject of religion4 
,his principal satisfaction1 after he   
knew that his end was near1 seemed to be
 the thought of what he had done to make
 the world better than he found it2 and 
his chief regret in not living longer1  
that he had not had time to do more' 7p4
 #bjc74e  ,footnote #e3 ,for the mood in
 which death was faced by another person
 who had renounced theology and the     
doctrine of a future state of           
consciousness1 see ,miss ,martineau's   
,autobiography1 ii4 #dce1 etc4  ,mr4    
,mill1 however1 went beyond this        
conception4 ,he had a belief in         
pleasures1 and thought human life by no 
means a poor thing to those who know how
 to make the best of it4 ,it was        
essential both to the stability of his  
utilitarian philosophy1 and to the      
contentment of his own temperament1 that
 the reality of happiness should be     
vindicated1 and he did both vindicate   
and attain it4 ,a highly pleasurable    

excitement that should have no end1 of  
course he did not think possible2 but he
 regarded the two constituents of a     
satisfied life1 much tranquillity and   
some excitement1 as perfectly attainable
 by many men1 and as ultimately         
attainable by very many more4 ,the      
ingredients of this satisfaction he set 
forth as follows3--a willingness not to 
expect more from life than life is      
capable of bestowing2 an intelligent    
interest in the objects of mental       
culture2 genuine private affections2 and
 a sincere interest in the public good4 
,what1 on the other hand1 are the       
hindrances which prevent these elements 
from being in the possession of every   
one born in a civilised country8        
,ignorance2 bad laws or customs1        
debarring a man or woman from the       
sources of happiness within reach2 and  
'the positive evils of life1 the great  
sources of physical and mental          
suffering--such as indigence1 disease1  
and the unkindness1 worthlessness1 or   

premature loss of objects of            
affection4'#f ,but every one of these   
calamitous impediments is susceptible of
 the weightiest modification1 and some  
of them of final removal4 ,mr4 ,mill had
 learnt from ,turgot and ,condorcet--two
 of the wisest and noblest of men1 as he
 justly calls them 7#aac7--;among many  
other lessons1 this of the boundless    
improvableness of the human lot1 and we 
may believe that he read over many a    
time the pages in which ,condorcet      
delineated the ,tenth ,epoch in the     
history of human perfectibility1 and    
traced out in words of finely reserved  
enthusiasm the operation of the forces  
which should consummate the progress of 
the race4 ',all the grand sources of    
human suffering1' ,mr4 ,mill thought1   
'are in a great degree1 many of them    
almost entirely1 conquerable by human   
care and effort2 and though their       
removal is grievously slow--though a    
long succession of generations will     
perish in the breach before the conquest

 is completed1 and this world becomes   
all that1 if will and knowledge were not
 wanting1 it might easily be made--yet  
every mind sufficiently intelligent and 
generous to bear a part1 however small  
and unconspicuous1 in the endeavour1    
will draw a noble enjoyment from the    
contest itself1 which he would not for  
any bribe in the form of selfish        
indulgence consent to be without'       
7,utilitarianism1 #bb74  ,footnote #f3  
,for this exposition see                
,utilitarianism1 pp4 #ah-bd4  ,we thus  
see how far from dreary this wise and   
benign man actually found his own life2 
how full it was of cheerfulness1 of     
animation1 of persevering search1 of a  
tranquillity lighted up at wholesome    
intervals by flashes of intellectual and
 moral excitement4 ,that it was not     
seldom crossed by moods of despondency  
is likely enough1 but we may at least be
 sure that these moods had nothing in   
common with the vulgar despondency of   
those whose hopes are centred in        

material prosperity in this world and   
spiritual prosperity in some other4     
,they were1 at least1 the dejection of a
 magnanimous spirit1 that could only be 
cast down by some new hindrance to the  
spread of reason and enlightenment among
 men1 or some new weakening of their    
incentives to right doing4         99   
99       99       99       99  ,much has
 been said against ,mr4 ,mill's         
strictures on society1 and his          
withdrawal from it4 ,if we realise the  
full force of all that he says of his   
own purpose in life1 it is hard to see  
how either his opinion or his practice  
could have been different4 ,he ceased to
 be content with 'seconding the         
superficial improvements' in common ways
 of thinking1 and saw the necessity of  
working at a fundamental reconstitution 
of accepted modes of thought4 ,this in  
itself implies a condemnation of a      
social intercourse that rests on the    
base of conventional ways of looking at 
things4 ,the better kind of society1 it 

is true1 appears to contain two classes2
 not only the class that will hear      
nothing said hostile to the greater     
social conventions1 including among     
these the popular theology1 but also    
another class who will tolerate or even 
encourage attack on the greater social  
conventions1 and a certain mild         
discussion of improvements in           
them--provided only neither attack nor  
discussion be conducted in too serious a
 vein4 ,a new idea about ,god1 or       
property1 or the family1 is handed round
 among the company1 as ladies of quality
 in ,queen ,anne's time handed round a  
black page or a ,china monster4 ,in     
,bishop ,butler's phrase1 these people  
only want to know what is said1 not what
 is true4 ,to be in earnest1 to show    
that you mean what you say1 to think of 
drawing blood in the encounter1 is      
thought1 and perhaps very naturally     
thought1 to be a piece of bad manners4  
,social intercourse can only exist      
either pleasantly or profitably among   

people who share a great deal of common 
ground in opinion and feeling4 ,mr4     
,mill1 no doubt1 was always anxious to  
find as much common ground as he        
honestly could1 for this was one of the 
most characteristic maxims of his       
propagandism4 ,but a man who had never  
been brought up in the popular religion1
 and who had been brought up in habits  
of the most scrupulous fair dealing with
 his own understanding2 who had never   
closed his mind to new truths from      
likely sources1 but whose character was 
formed1 and whose mind was made up1 on  
the central points of opinion1 was not  
in a position to derive much benefit    
from those who in all respects represent
 a less advanced stage of mental        
development4 ,on the other hand1 all the
 benefit which they were in a position  
to derive from him could be adequately  
secured by reading what he wrote4       
,perhaps there is nothing wiser among   
the wise things written in the          
,autobiography than the remarks on the  

fact that persons of any mental         
superiority1 who greatly frequent       
society1 are greatly deteriorated by it4
 ',not to mention loss of time1 the tone
 of their feelings is lowered3 they     
become less in earnest about those of   
their opinions respecting which they    
must remain silent in the society they  
frequent3 they come to look on their    
most elevated objects as unpractical1 or
 at least too remote from realisation to
 be more than a vision or a theory3 and 
if1 more fortunate than most1 they      
retain their higher principles          
unimpaired1 yet with respect to the     
persons and affairs of their own day1   
they insensibly adopt the modes of      
feeling and judgment in which they can  
hope for sympathy from the company they 
keep' 7p4 #bbh74 ,that a man loses      
something1 nay1 that he loses much1 by  
being deprived of animating intercourse 
with other men1 ,mr4 ,mill would        
probably have been the first to admit4  
,where that intercourse can be had1     

nothing is more fit to make the judgment
 robust1 nothing more fit to freshen and
 revive our interests1 and to clothe    
them with reality4 ,even second-rate    
companionship has some clear advantages4
 ,the question is1 whether these        
advantages outweigh the equally clear   
disadvantages4 ,mr4 ,mill was persuaded 
that they do not4  ,those whom disgust  
at the aimlessness and insignificance of
 most of our social intercourse may     
dispose to withdrawal from it--and their
 number will probably increase as the   
reaction against intellectual flippancy 
goes on--will do well to remember that  
,mr4 ,mill's retirement and his         
vindication of it sprang from no moral  
valetudinarianism4 ,he did not retire to
 gratify any self-indulgent whim1 but   
only in order to work the more          
uninterruptedly and definitely4 ,the    
,autobiography tells us what pains he   
took to keep himself informed of all    
that was going on in every part of the  
world4 ',in truth1 the modern facilities

 of communication have not only removed 
all the disadvantages1 to a political   
writer in tolerably easy circumstances1 
of distance from the scene of political 
action1 but have converted them into    
advantages4 ,the immediate and regular  
receipt of newspapers and periodicals   
keeps him au courant of even the most   
temporary politics1 and gives him a much
 more correct view of the state and     
progress of opinion than he could       
acquire by personal contact with        
individuals2 for every one's social     
intercourse is more or less limited to  
particular sets or classes1 whose       
impressions and no others reach him     
through that channel2 and experience has
 taught me that those who give their    
time to the absorbing claims of what is 
called society1 not having leisure to   
keep up a large acquaintance with the   
organs of opinion1 remain much more     
ignorant of the general state either of 
the public mind1 or of the active and   
instructed part of it1 than a recluse   

who reads the newspapers need be4 ,there
 are1 no doubt1 disadvantages in too    
long a separation from one's country--in
 not occasionally renewing one's        
impressions of the light in which men   
and things appear when seen from a      
position in the midst of them2 but the  
deliberate judgment formed at a         
distance1 and undisturbed by            
inequalities of perspective1 is the most
 to be depended on1 even for application
 in practice4 ,alternating between the  
two positions1 ,i combined the          
advantages of both4' ,those who knew him
 will perhaps agree that he was more    
widely and precisely informed of the    
transactions of the day1 in every       
department of activity all over the     
world1 than any other person of their   
acquaintance4 ,people should remember1  
further1 that though ,mr4 ,mill saw     
comparatively little of men after a     
certain time1 yet he was for many years 
of his life in constant and active      
relations with men4 ,it was to his      

experience in the ,indian ,office that  
he attributed some of his most          
serviceable qualities1 especially this3 
',i learnt how to obtain the best ,i    
could1 when ,i could not obtain         
everything2 instead of being indignant  
or dispirited because ,i could not have 
entirely my own way1 to be pleased and  
encouraged when ,i could have the       
smallest part of it2 and when even that 
could not be1 to bear with complete     
equanimity the being overruled          
altogether' 7pp4 #he1 #hf74 ,in these   
words we seem almost to hear the modest 
and simple tones of the writer's own    
voice4