respecting the historian of British India. It ought to be known
that Mr Mill had the generosity, not only to forgive, but to
forget the unbecoming acrimony with which he had been assailed,
and was, when his valuable life closed, on terms of cordial
friendship with his assailant."

Under these circumstances, considerable doubt has been felt as to
the propriety of republishing the three Essays in the present
collection. But it has been determined, not without much
hesitation, that they should appear. It is felt that no
disrespect is shown to the memory of Mr Mill, when the
publication is accompanied by so full an apology for the tone
adopted towards him; and Mr Mill himself would have been the last
to wish for the suppression of opinions on the ground that they
were in express antagonism to his own. The grave has now closed
upon the assailant as well as the assailed. On the other hand,
it cannot but be desirable that opinions which the author
retained to the last, on important questions in politics and
morals, should be before the public.

Some of the poems now collected have already appeared in print;
others are supplied by the recollection of friends. The first
two are published on account of their having been composed in the
author's childhood. In the poems, as well as in the prose works,
will be occasionally found thoughts and expressions which have
afterwards been adopted in later productions.

No alteration whatever has been made from the form in which the
author left the several articles, with the exception of some
changes in punctuation, and the correction of one or two obvious