Simon Evans on JS Mill
Great Lives
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The Crisis in Mill's Mental History
The only account of Mill's breakdown or whatever it might be is the one in his autobiography. Nobody else saw it happen. I was in a dull state of nerves, such as everybody is occasionally liable to,. unceceptible to enjoyment or pleasurable excitement. He had what might truly be called an object in life, to be a reformer of the world. My conception of my own happiness was entirely identified with this object but the time came when I awakened from this as from a dream. And an irrepressible self-consciousness distinctly answered, no. At this, my heart sank within me.
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