seriesofarticlescalled，TheSpiritoftheAge，inthispaperledtohisacquaintancewithCarlyle，whotookhimtobea’newMystic。’24*In1830and1831hewrotehisessaysonSomeUnsettledQuestionsofPoliticalEconomy，thefruitofthediscussionswithGrahamnotpublishedtill1844，andin1832
wrotearticlesuponfoundationsanduponthe’currencyjuggle，’
whicharethefirstofhiscollecteddissertations。
IhavenowfollowedMill’smentalhistoryuntiltheperiodatwhichthefollowerwasfullycompetenttobecometheguide。Itwouldbedifficulttomentionanythinkerwhohasgonethroughamorestrenuousandcontinuousdiscipline。Fromhisearliestinfancytillthefulldevelopmentofhispowershehadbeengoingthroughakindoflogicalmill。Nostudentintheoldschoolsemployingeverywakinghourin，syllogising，couldhavebeenmoreassiduouslytrainedtotheuseofhisweapons。Ifhisboyishyearshadbeenpassedinakindofintellectualgymnasium，hehadasayouthprovedandperfectedhisskillilltheopenarena。Hisofficialpositionwasmakinghimfamiliarwithbusinessandwiththeordinarystateofmindofthecommonplacepolitician。HehadbeeninterestedinfreshlinesofthoughtthroughthewritingsofFrenchLiberals，andespeciallytheSt。Simonians，andthroughhisargumentswiththeSocialistswhofollowedOwen，andwiththeyoungmenwholookeduptoColeridgeastheirgreatteacher。HisownexperiencehadbroughthometohimthesenseofacertainnarrownessandrigidityintheUtilitarians；hisfriendlycontroversieshadledhimtoregardopponentswithmoretolerationthanhispartygenerallydisplayed，andhewassincerelyanxioustowidenthefoundationsofhiscreed，andtoassimilatewhateverwasvaluableinconflictingdoctrines。
Meanwhilehispracticeasawriterhadbythistimeenabledhimtoexpresshimselfwithgreatclearnessandvigour；andyoungashestillwas，hewasbetterqualifiedthananyofhiscontemporariestoexpoundtheviewsofhisparty。