a traveller who has lost his way in a mist, or a navigator
who is steering his ship without a compass. The
influence exercised by Mr. Mill does not chiefly depend
upon the originality of his writings. He did
not make any great discovery which will form an epoch
in the history of human thought; he did not create
a new science, or become the founder of a new system
of philosophy. There is perhaps not so much originality
in his “Political Economy” as in Ricardo’s;
but there are thousands who never thought of reading
Ricardo who were so much attracted by Mr. Mill’s
book, that its influence might be traced throughout
the rest of their lives. No doubt one reason of
his attractiveness as a writer, in addition to other
circumstances to which allusion has already been made,
is the unusual power he possessed in applying philosophical
principles to the facts of ordinary life. To
those who believe that the influence Mr. Mill has
exercised at the universities has been in the highest
degree beneficial,—to those who think that
his books not only afford the most admirable intellectual
training, but also are calculated to produce a most
healthy moral influence,—it may be some
consolation, now that we are deploring his death,
to know, that, although he has passed away, he may
still continue to be a teacher and a guide. I
believe he never visited the English universities:
it was consequently entirely through his books that
he was known. Not one of those who were his greatest
admirers at Cambridge, when I was an undergraduate,
ever saw him till many years after they had left the
University. I remember that we often used to
say, that there was nothing we should esteem so great
a privilege as to spend an hour in Mr. Mill’s
society. There is probably no bond of attachment
stronger than that which unites a pupil to one who
has attracted him to new intellectual pursuits, and
has awakened in him new interests in life. Some
four or five years after taking my degree, I met Mr.
Mill for the first time; and from that hour an intimate
friendship commenced, which I shall always regard
as a peculiarly high privilege to have enjoyed.
Intimacy with Mr. Mill convinced me, that, if he had
happened to live at either of the universities, his
personal influence would have been no less striking
than his intellectual influence. Nothing, perhaps,
was so remarkable in his character as his tenderness
to the feelings of others, and the deference with
which he listened to those in every respect inferior
to himself. There never was a man who was more
entirely free from that intellectual conceit which
breeds disdain. Nothing is so discouraging and
heart-breaking to young people as the sneer of an
intellectual cynic. A sarcasm about an act of
youthful mental enthusiasm not only often casts a
fatal chill over the character, but is resented as
an injury never to be forgiven. The most humble
youth would have found in Mr. Mill the warmest and
most kindly sympathy.