. No man is fit to encounter him who is not
thoroughly conversant with the moral sciences which he handles;
and remembering what you told me of your own studies under Dugald
Stewart, I cannot but recommend the affair to your own personal
attention. You will find very few men fit to be trusted with it.
You ought to be aware that, although with great circumspection,
not to say timidity, Mill is an opponent of Religion in the
abstract, not of any particular form of it. That is, he evidently
maintains that superhuman influences on the mind of man are but a
dream, whence the inevitable conclusion that all acts of devotion
and prayer are but a superstition. That such is his real meaning,
however darkly conveyed, is indisputable. You are well aware that
it is in direct conflict with my own deepest and most cherished
convictions. Yet to condemn him for holding, and for calmly
publishing such views, is but to add to the difficulties of fair
and full discussion, and to render truth (or supposed truth), less
certain and valuable than if it had invited, and encountered,
and triumphed over every assault of every honest antagonist. I,
therefore, wish Mill to be treated respectfully and handsomely."

Few of Mr. Napier's correspondents seem to have been more considerate.
At one period (1844) a long time had passed without any contribution
from Sir James Stephen's pen appearing in the Review. Mr. Senior
wrote a hint on the subject to the editor, and Napier seems to have
communicated with Sir James Stephen, who replied in a model strain.

"Have you any offer of a paper or papers from my friend John
Austin? If you have, and if you are not aware what manner of man
he is, it may not be amiss that you should be apprised that in
these parts he enjoys, and deservedly, a very high and yet a
peculiar reputation. I have a great attachment to him. He is, in
the best sense of the word, a philosopher, an earnest and humble
lover of wisdom. I know not anywhere a larger minded man, and yet,
eloquent as he is in speech, there is, in his written style, an
involution and a lack of vivacity which renders his writings a
sealed book to almost every one. Whether he will be able to assume
an easier and a lighter manner, I do not know. If not, I rather
fear for him when he stands at your bar. All I ask is, that you
would convey your judg