In this autobiography of his early life (1800-1834), George Bentham, nephew of the great Utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham, offers a lively depiction of the times, both in England and on the Continent, particularly of post-Napoleonic France, where he lived with his family for twelve years. Returning to London as his uncle Jeremy's assistant, he recounts his experiences in this role and his encounters with many of the leading, and the rising, figures of the day, such as Alexander von Humboldt and John Stuart Mill.

An emerging figure himself in the field of botany - where he would...

This volume contains more than 300 letters by John Stuart Mill that have been discovered since the publication of Earlier Letters in 1962 and Later Letters in 1972. The collection covers a vast rangle of topics, and includes three groups of letters of special interest: a series of notes to Henry Cole, friend and ally of Mill, dealing among other things with the disposition of the London and Westminster Review; the full versions of letters to Theodor Gomperz, Mill's leading German disciple and translator, which had been thought destroyed; and, most exceptionally,...