HES: RE: QUERY--Mill and music

[Mason Gaffney]

Anthony Waterman writes:

"The young JSM grew up in Bentham's circle, and would
have imbibed from early childhood the utilitarian doctrine that poetry and
pushpin are pretty much on a level. It is unlikely that Bentham and James
Mill would have had any more time for music: hence the young JSM probably
didn't know very much about it at the time of his reported 'then state'."


Mill's Autobio relates, pp. 124-27, that he found restorative tonic in
Wordsworth, disliked Byron, and debated about it in his circle.

Mason Gaffney