84 Darwinism and Other Essays. 



but was in great part the result of consummate 

 training, of unremitting watchfulness over self. 

 Some of his smaller political writings and the 

 " Autobiography " entirely confirm this impres- 

 sion, and show that in Mr. Mill's mind there were 

 not only immense enthusiasms, but even a slight 

 tinge of mysticism. All the more praiseworthy 

 seems his remarkable self-discipline in view of 

 such circumstances. 



Mr. Wright, though so nearly in harmony with 

 Mr. Mill in methods and conclusions, was very 

 different in native mental temperament. An 

 illustration of the difference is furnished by the 

 striking remarks in which Mr. Mill acknowledges 

 in common with his father a preference for 

 the experience-philosophy on utilitarian grounds : 

 it obliges men to try their beliefs by tests that 

 are perpetually subject to criticism, and thus 

 affords no room for doctrines which, by reason of 

 some presumed sanctity, men may find an excuse 

 for trying to impose on one another. That there 

 is profound truth in this no one can deny ; but 

 prejudice and partisanship are liable to grow out 

 of any such practical preference for a given form 

 of philosophy, and one cannot readily imagine 

 Mr. Wright as influenced, even slightly, in his 

 philosophic attitude by such a consideration of 



