John Stuart Mill: A Criticism with Personal Recollections

SOURCES OF HIS ACTIVITY.
149
viewed apart from strength of motives the pure spontaneous
activity was high in him too ; without that he could not have
been such a persistent worker. At the same time, I am dis
posed to believe that his superabundant energy and activity had
its largest source in the strength of his feelings. I once made
the remark to him, regarding the sources of energy of character,
that these were either natural fulness of vigour, or else excite
ment through stimulation. He said, quickly
lation is what people never sufficiently allow for ".
"
There : stimu
It
is usually
easy enough to determine which of the two sources is operative
in any marked case. The extreme dependence on stimulation
is shown by the tendency to total quiescence when motives are
wanting. Mill no doubt had a good, but not excessive, spon
taneity ; and he had very large emotional susceptibilities that
made him pre-eminently a worker. We are now to see what
these were.
I am not singular in the opinion that in the so-called sensual
feelings, he was below average ; that, in fact, he was not a good
representative specimen of humanity in respect of these ; and
scarcely did justice to them in his theories. He was not an
ascetic in any sense ; he desired that every genuine suscepti
so far as it did
bility to pleasure should be turned to account,
not interfere with better pleasures ; but he made light of the
difficulty of controlling the sexual appetite. He was exceed
ingly temperate as regarded the table ; there was nothing of
the gourmand superadded to his healthy appetite. To have
seen his simple breakfast at the India House, and to couple
with that his entire abstinence from eating or drinking till his
plain dinner at six o clock,
would be decisive of his moderation
in the pleasures of the palate.
Of his pleasures through the ear and the eye, not much can be
said, until we take into account all the associated circumstances
that render these two senses the avenues of the greater part of
our chief gratifications. He had a musical ear, and gave some