John Stuart Mill: A Criticism with Personal Recollections

ENCOMIUMS AFTER HER DEATH. 167
He did not again, in her lifetime, bring her name promi
nently forward. It was after her death that he made her the
subject of his extraordinary encomiums. The first occasion
was in the dedication to the Liberty ; this was followed, soon
after, by the note in the second volume of the Dissertations,
in connexion with her own article on the Enfranchisement of
Women. Grote used to say,
"
only John Mill s reputation
could survive such ". displays Finally, came the Auto
biography*
The love attachment between the sexes, in its extreme
instances, is hardly reducible to any of the laws of human
feeling in general. Its occasions and causes seem often out of
all proportion to the effects. On what seems a very minute
physical feature often turns an overpowering preference for
one individual, a fascination stronger than anything that life
affords. The description given by Heine is a typical instance :
- "
Her voice was delightful to me beyond all that I had ever
heard. Yes : or have since heard ; or ever shall hear." The
effects of personal beauty upon human beings generally are far
from being accounted for ; the special likings for individuals
are still less explicable. A few circumstances have been
noticed as more or less prevailing in their sweep. The
influence of contrasted peculiarities
is perhaps
the most
notable ; the liking of fair for dark complexions is very
to admire very much. He was introduced, I believe, by Charles Buller, a
great favourite with her ladyship, herself remarkable for wit and brilliancy.
He broke off this connexion abruptly ; various reasons were afloat. Of course,
Mrs. Taylor s name came up in the explanation.
* The inscription on the tomb at Avignon is worded thus :" Her great
and loving heart, her noble soul, her clear, powerful, original, and compre
hensive intellect, made her the guide and support, the instructor in wisdom, and
the example in goodness, as she was the sole earthly delight of those who had
the happiness to belong to her. As earnest for all public good as she was
generous and devoted to all who surrounded her, her influence has been felt in
many of the greatest improvements of the age, and will be in those still to come.
Were there even a few hearts and intellects like hers, this earth would already
become the hoped-for heaven." The wordiness of the composition is more
suggestive of intense feeling than a polished elegy could have been.