VI.] Chauncey Wright. 8^ 



that this wonderful equipoise of mind did not come 

 by nature altogether, but was in great part the result 

 of consummate training, — of unremitting watchful- 

 ness over self Some of his smaller political writings 

 and the "Autobiography" entirely confirm this im- 

 pression, 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 illus- 

 tration 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 



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