374 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



on this point, because, where better things might have been expected, 

 there has been, not only a grudging recognition of intellectual rank, 

 but a marked blindness to those fine traits of character which, in the 

 valuation of men, must go for more than superiority of intelligence. 



It might, indeed, have been supposed that even those who never 

 enjoyed the pleasure of personal acquaintance with Mr. Mill, would 

 have been impressed with the nobility of his nature as indicated in his 

 opinions and deeds. How entirely his public career has been deter- 

 mined by a pure and strong sympathy for his fellow-men how entire- 

 ly this sympathy has subordinated all desires for personal advantage 

 how little even the fear of being injured in reputation or position 

 has deterred him from taking the course which he thought equitable 

 or generous ought to be manifest to every antagonist, however bit- 

 ter. A generosity that might almost be called romantic was obvious- 

 ly the feeling prompting sundry of those courses of action which have 

 been commented upon as errors. And nothing like a true conception 

 of him can be formed unless, along with dissent from them, there goes 

 recognition of the fact that they resulted from the eagerness of a 

 noble nature, impatient to rectify injustice, and to further human welfare. 



It may, therefore, perhaps, be that my own perception of this per- 

 vading warmth of feeling has been sharpened by seeing it exemplified, 

 not in the form of expressed opinions only, but in the form of private 

 actions. For Mr. Mill was not one of those who, to sympathy with 

 their fellow-men in the abstract, join indifference to them in the con- 

 crete. There came from him generous acts that corresponded with his 

 generous sentiments. I say this not from second-hand knowledge, but 

 having in mind a remarkable example known only to myself and a few 

 friends. I have hesitated whether to give this example ; seeing that 

 it has personal implications. But it affords so clear an insight into 

 Mr. Mill's character, and shows so much more vividly than any de- 

 scription could do how fine were the motives swaying his conduct, that 

 I think the occasion justifies disclosure of it. 



Some seven years ago, after bearing as long as was possible the 

 continued losses entailed on me by the publication of the " System of 

 Philosophy," I notified to the subscribers that I should be obliged to 

 cease at the close of the volume then in progress. Shortly after the 

 issue of this announcement, I received from Mr. Mill a letter, in which, 

 after expressions of regret, and after naming a plan which he wished 

 to prosecute for reimbursing me, he went on to say : " In the next 

 place .... what I propose is, that you should write the next of your 

 treatises, and that I should guarantee the publisher against loss, i. e., 

 should engage, after such length of time as may be agreed on, to make 

 good any deficiency that may occur, not exceeding a given sum, that 

 sum being such as the publisher may think sufficient to secure him." 

 Now, though these arrangements were of kinds that I could not bring 

 myself to yield to, they none the less profoundly impressed me with 



