tice in his earlier
productions, vigorous and clear as their language always was, the
occurrence of faults against which he afterwards most anxiously guarded
himself. A much greater interest will undoubtedly be felt in tracing the
date and development of his opinions.

The articles published in Knight's Quarterly Magazine were composed
during the author's residence at college, as B.A. It may be remarked
that the first two of these exhibit the earnestness with which he
already endeavoured to represent to himself and to others the scenes and
persons of past times as in actual existence. Of the Dialogue between
Milton and Cowley he spoke, many years after its publication, as that
one of his works which he remembered with most satisfaction. The article
on Mitford's Greece he did not himself value so highly as others thought
it deserved. This article, at any rate, contains the first distinct
enunciation of his views, as to the office of an historian, views
afterwards more fully set forth in his Essay, upon History, in the
Edinburgh Review. From the protest, in the last mentioned essay, against
the conventional notions respecting the majesty of history might perhaps
have been anticipated something like the third chapter of the History
of England. It may be amusing to notice that in the article on Mitford,
appears the first sketch of the New Zealander, afterwards filled up in
a passage in the review of Mrs Austin's translation of Ranke, a passage
which at one time was the subject of allusion, two or three times a
week, in speeches and leading articles. In this, too, appear, perhaps
for the first time, the author's views on the representative system.
These he retained to the very last; they are brought forward repeatedly
in the articles published in this collection and elsewhere, and in his
speeches in parliament; and they coincide with the opinions expressed in
the letter to an American correspondent, which was so often cited in the
late debate on the Reform Bill.

Some explanation appears to be necessary as to the publication of the
three articles "Mill on Government," "Westminster Reviewer's Defence of
Mill" and "Utilitarian Theory of Government."

In 1828 Mr James Mill, the author of the History of British India,
reprinted some essays which he had contributed to the Supplement to the
Encyclopaedia Britannica; and among these was an Essay on Government.
The method of inquiry and reasoning adopted in this essay appeared
to