but his attention being drawn, somewhere about thirty years ago, to the writings of Mr. Bentham, he speedily devoted to their study the greater part of his time; and, becoming acquainted with their celebrated author, was soon received into his entire confidence, and cooperated with him until his decease in the propagation of his philosophy. It is in the valuable dissertations which Mr. Mill contributed to the Encyclopædia Britannica that the fruits of his labours in this field are stored for public use; and no one can rise from the perusal of them without being convinced that a more clear and logical understanding was never brought to bear upon an important subject, than he lent to the diffusion of his master's doctrines. His admirable works on the Principles of Political Economy, and of Moral Philosophy, entitle him perhaps to a higher place among the writers of his age; but neither these nor his History of British India, the greatest monument of his learning and industry, can vie with his discourses on Jurisprudence in usefulness to the cause of general improvement, which first awakened the ardour of his vigorous mind, and on which its latest efforts reposed. His style was better adapted to didactic works, and works of abstract science, than to history; for he had no powers of narrative, and was not successful in any kind of ornamental composition. He was slenderly furnished with fancy, and far more capable of following a train

† To his son, Mr. John Mill, we owe the preparation of Mr. Bentham's second work, the Rationale of Evidence, which is admirably executed.

of reasoning, expounding the theories of others, and pursuing them to their legitimate consequences, than of striking out new paths, and creating new objects, or even adorning the creations of other men's genius. With the single exception that he had something of the dogmatism of the school, he was a person of most praiseworthy candour in controversy, always of such self-denial that he sunk every selfish consideration in his anxiety for the success of any cause which he espoused, and ever ready to the utmost extent of his faculties, and often beyond the force of his constitution, to lend his help for its furtherance. In all the relations of private life he was irreproachable; and he afforded a rare example of one born in humble circumstances, and struggling, during the greater part of his laborious life, with the inconveniences of restricted means, nobly maintaining an independence as absolute in all respects as that of the first subject in the land -an independence, indeed, which but few of the pampered children of rank and wealth are ever seen to enjoy. For he could at all times restrain his wishes within the limits of his resources; was firmly resolved that his own hands alone should ever minister to his wants; and would, at every period of his useful and virtuous life, have treated with indignation any project that should trammel his opinions or his conduct with the restraints which external influence, of whatever kind, could impose.

In Parliament the principles of Law Reform made at first a slower, but afterwards a rapid progress. Although Sir Samuel Romilly had at all times habitually applied his mind to the abuses in our system, had been all his life a student of general jurisprudence, and had accordingly been always a Law Reformer, yet he never hesitated in admitting his deep obligations to Mr. Bentham, whose friendship he had so long and so intimately enjoyed; and he would have at once acknowledged himself to be of his school, although his speculations, independently of Mr. Bentham, had taken their natural course. With Mr. Dumont his habits of intercourse through life were still more constant and close; they might, in fact, be said to have passed the greater part of their lives together. When the world sustained the irreparable loss of Sir Samuel's untimely death, his labours in improving the criminal code were most happily continued by Sir James Mackintosh; and it becomes a matter of duty to pass no occasion which presents itself for rendering justice to the exertions strenuously and successfully made by this distinguished and excellent person. There are, however, prudential reasons which might seem to dissuade any one from attempting to sketch a character that has already been touched by the masterhands of those to whom the features of the original were so familiarly known.* Nor could anything excuse such temerity, but the consideration that the historical nature of the present work at once requires such an addition, and forbids its being made by resorting to writings more or less professedly panegyrical.

To the great subject of the Criminal Law, Sir James Mackintosh brought a mind well versed in the general principles of legal science; an acquaintance with ethical philosophy, indeed with every department of philosophy, perhaps unequalled among his contemporaries; and the singular advantage of having devoted the best years of his life to the administration of justice. His mind was, besides, stored with various knowledge, as well practical as scientific, and, although he had never cultivated the exacter sciences since his early years, yet his original profession of a physician made the doctrines of Natural Philosophy familiar to him; and if it has been said, and justly said, that no man can be thoroughly acquainted with any one branch of knowledge without having some skill in the others also, to no department of study is this remark so applicable as to that of jurisprudence, which pushes its roots into all the grounds of human science, and spreads its branches over every object that concerns mankind. He was the better prepared for successfully accomplishing the task which he undertook, by the singular absence of all personal virulence, and even factious vehemence, which had uniformly marked his course both in public and private life: it reconciled to him those from whom he most widely differed in his opinions, and tended greatly to disarm the opposition with which his efforts as a Reformer were sure to meet, especially among the members of his own profession. This quality, together with his long experience as a Criminal judge, more than compensated for his inferiority in weight as a legal authority, to his illustrious predecessor, who, although he stood so far at the head of the Bar as to have nothing like a competitor, had yet confined his practice chiefly to the Courts of Equity, and whose superior influence as a statesman and a debater, might suffer some diminution from the opposition his more severe demeanour was apt to raise.

On the opposite side of the account were to be set the weaknesses, most of them amiable or accidental in their origin, some of which enfeebled his character, while others crippled his exertions. His constitution, never robust, had suffered materially from his residence in India. He entered Parliament late in life, and, although always a most able and well-informed speaker, occasionally capable of astonishing his audience by displays of the most brilliant kind, he never showed any powers as a debater, and, being more of a rhetorician than an orator, was not even calculated to produce the impression which eloquence alone makes; while, as a practical man of business, in all that related to the details of measures, or the conducting them through Parliament, he was singularly helpless and inefficient. It must also be admitted that his mild deportment, his candid turn of mind, and the gentleness of his nature, while they might disarm the anger of some adversaries, were calculated to relax the zeal of many friends; and he was extremely deficient both in that political courage which inspires confidence in allies, while it bears down the resistance of enemies, and in that promptitude, the gift of natural quickness, combined with long practice, which never suffers an advantage to be lost, and turns even a disaster to account. His style of speaking, too, was rather of the epideictic, or exhibitory, than of the argumentative kind; and, as his habitual good nature led him not only to avoid vehement attacks, but to indulge in a somewhat lavish measure of commendation, offence was given to friends more than ever enemies were won over. Even his most celebrated performances were less remarkable for reasoning