theory of morals was concerned;
and a Cynic in that he cared little for pleasure. He thought life a
'poor thing' after the freshness of youth had passed; and said that
he had never known an old man happy unless he could live over again in
the pleasures of the young. Temperance and self-restraint were
therefore his favourite virtues. He despised all 'passionate
emotions'; he held with Bentham that feelings by themselves deserved
neither praise nor blame; he condemned a man who did harm whether the
harm came from malevolence or from intellectual error. Therefore all
sentiment was objectionable, for sentiment means neglect of rules and
calculations. He shrank from showing feeling with more than the usual
English reserve; and showed his devotion to his children by drilling
them into knowledge with uncompromising strictness. He had no feeling
for the poetical or literary side of things; and regarded life, it
would seem, as a series of arguments, in which people were to be
constrained by logic, not persuaded by sympathy. He seems to have
despised poor Mrs. Mill, and to have been unsuccessful in concealing
his contempt, though in his letters he refers to her respectfully.
Mill therefore was a man little likely to win the hearts of his
followers, though his remarkable vigour of mind dominated their
understandings.

The amiable and kindly, whose sympathies are quickly moved, gain an
unfair share of our regard both in life and afterwards. We are more
pleased by an ineffectual attempt to be kindly, than by real kindness
bestowed ungraciously. Mill's great qualities should not be overlooked
because they were hidden by a manner which seems almost deliberately
repellent. He devoted himself through life to promote the truth as he
saw it; to increase the scanty amounts of pleasures enjoyed by
mankind; and to discharge all the duties which he owed to his
neighbours. He succeeded beyond all dispute in forcibly presenting one
set of views which profoundly influenced his countrymen; and the very
narrowness of his intellect enabled him to plant his blows more
effectively.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The chief authority for James Mill is _James Mill: a Biography_,
by Alexander Bain, Emeritus Professor of Logic in the University of
Aberdeen, London, 1882. The book contains very full materials; and, if
rather dry, deals with a dry subject.

[2] Wallas's _Francis Place_, p. 70 _n._

[3] Bain's _James Mill_, p. 166.

[4] Gifford's real name was Jo