JOHN STUART MILL. 329 



in the first number ; he puts this down as " of little or no value," al- 

 though to himself a most useful exercise in composition ; it is, never- 

 theless, in respect of his biography, an interesting study. No doubt the 

 opinions are for the most part his father's, though independently and 

 freshly illustrated : the demonstration of the truckling of the " Edin- 

 burgh Review " to sentiment and popularity ; the onslaught against 

 lubricated phrases ; the defectiveness of the current morality as reflect- 

 ed in the " Review " ; the denunciation of the pandering to our nation- 

 al egotism : all these were his father redivivus ; yet we may see the 

 beginnings of his own independent start, more especially in the opin- 

 ions with regard to women, and the morality of sex. 



In the third number (July, 1824) he has an article on " War Ex- 

 penditure," the review of a pamphlet by William Blake on the recent 

 fluctuations of prices. In the fourth number (October, 1825) he re- 

 views at length a work on English history, by George Brodie, which 

 is especially devoted to Hume's misrepresentations. He enters fully 

 into the exposure of Hume's disingenuous artifices ; and at the present 

 time, when Hume's metaphysical reputation is so resplendent, his moral 

 obliquity as an historian must not be glossed over. No doubt his Tory- 

 ism was his shelter from the odium of his skepticism. Mill says of 

 him : " Hume possessed powers of a very high order ; but regard for 

 truth formed no part of his character. He reasoned with surprising 

 acuteness ; but the object of his reasonings was not to attain truth, 

 but to show that it was unattainable. His mind, too, was completely 

 enslaved by a taste for literature ; not those kinds of literature 

 which teach mankind to know the causes of their happiness and 

 misery, that they may seek the one and avoid the other, but that 

 literature which, without regard for truth or utility, seeks only to ex- 

 cite emotion." 



In the fifth number (January, 1825) he assails the " Quarterly" for 

 its review of the Essay on Political Economy in the supplement to the 

 " Encyclopaedia Britannica." In the sixth number (October, 1825) 

 there is a long article on the " Law of Libel," the sequel to a previous 

 article on " Religious Prosecutions " (number three), but I have no means 

 of proving them to be his, except that this is one of the topics that he 

 specifies. For the fourth volume, numbers seven and eight, I have no 

 clew. The ninth number (January, 1826) opens with a powerfully 

 written paper on the " Game Laws," which I believe to be his. In the 

 tenth number (April, 1826) there is a short review by him of Mignet's 

 History of the " French Revolution," which is principally occupied with 

 pointing out the merits of the book. I have heard him recommend 

 Mignet as the best for giving the story of the Revolution. He 

 reserves all discussions of the subject ; " it being our intention, at no 

 distant period, to treat of that subject at greater length." In the 

 eleventh number (July, 1826) there is a searching discussion of the 

 merits of the Age of Chivalry, on the basis of Sismondi's " History of 



