written at the suggestion, and partly by the inspiration, of Mrs. Taylor (ib. p. 245). The ‘Political Economy’ succeeded more rapidly than the ‘Logic;’ and the two combined gave the essence of the social and philosophical system of the more educated radicals of the time.
Mill's correspondence now became considerable. He wrote occasional articles, but he began no important work for a time. Mr. Taylor died in July 1849, and in April 1851 Mrs. Taylor became Mill's wife. A serious illness, causing permanent injury to the lungs, forced him to take eight months' holiday in 1854. He rallied, and in 1856 became head of his department in the India House. He drew up a petition in which the company remonstrated against its own extinction, arguing very vigorously against the probable effect upon the natives of the change of system and the evils to be anticipated from making the government of India a prize to be scrambled for by second-rate English officials. On the dissolution of the company at the end of 1858 he retired with a pension of 1,500l. a year, declining a seat on the new council. He left England intending to spend the winter in the south of Europe. His wife was taken ill on the journey and died at Avignon of congestion of the lungs. Mill was deeply affected, and for the rest of his life spent half the year in a house which he bought at Avignon to be near his wife's grave. In England he lived at Blackheath. He returned, however, to intellectual work. His last occupation with Mrs. Mill had been the revision of his ‘Essay on Liberty’ (first written in 1854), the most carefully prepared of his writings. He now published it without further alteration. In 1860 he wrote his essay upon ‘Representative Government,’ and in the same year revised his ‘Utilitarianism’ (first written in 1854), which appeared as three articles in ‘Fraser's Magazine’ in 1861. These books together contain a full, though condensed, exposition of his characteristic political and social views. In 1861 he returned to his metaphysical investigations, having taken up Sir William Hamilton's works for an intended review which soon expanded into a treatise. He read through Hamilton's works thrice and many subsidiary books. Hamilton was taken by Mill as the chief representative of the intuitionists, and the book, which finally appeared in 1865, included an elaborate survey of all the chief points at issue. It produced a very lively controversy. His best-known antagonist was Hamilton's disciple Mansel, whose ‘Limits of Religious Thought’ he had sharply attacked, and which he pronounced in private to be a ‘loathsome book’ (Bain, p. 124). While writing upon Hamilton he contributed to the ‘Edinburgh’ (October 1863) an article upon John Austin, and to the ‘Westminster Review’ in 1864 two articles upon Comte, subsequently republished in a separate volume.
The Hamilton book had hardly appeared when Mill was invited to stand for Westminster. He had taken some part in contemporary political discussions by a pamphlet on parliamentary reform (written some years before), and by articles strongly supporting the cause of the union in the American civil war; and in the beginning of 1865 he published popular editions of his ‘Political Economy,’ ‘Liberty,’ and ‘Representative Government.’ He had declined previous requests to become a candidate, but felt bound to accede to a proposal which met his views of independence. It was understood that he should not canvass or spend money, and he had frankly stated his opinions, especially as to the extension of the franchise to women. He took no part in the contest till the last week, when he attended some public meetings and answered questions. He declined to say anything of his religious opinions, but was perfectly frank upon all other topics. When asked whether he had written a passage stating that the English working classes were ‘generally liars,’ he excited vehement applause by replying simply ‘I did.’ He was elected in 1865. Mill's immense reputation and his previous seclusion made his parliamentary performance the object of very general curiosity. His first speech was upon the bill for prevention of the cattle diseases (14 Feb. 1866), and gave some offence to the country gentlemen. A speech in favour of the second reading of Mr. Gladstone's Reform Bill (12 April 1866) was highly successful. A weak voice, great rapidity of utterance, and a nervous manner—occasionally producing a prolonged full stop—were unfavourable to oratorical success. But his command of copious and precise language was remarkable, and the general effect was that of reading a highly finished and felicitous essay. Bright and Mr. Gladstone welcomed him with especial cordiality, and he had much influence with both. When the first curiosity had been satiated and some of his utterances (especially that upon Hare's scheme) had provoked conservative antipathies, he showed some irritability, but on the whole retained the ear of the house. His speeches, as the speaker is reported to have said, raised the tone of debate, and his general reputation spread through a wider area. He attended
