A corrected three-day sequence
Sarah Austin dated the letter Tuesday evening, 4 November 1828. The day numeral in the manuscript was corrected by the writer. The envelope bears a London postal cancellation of 5 November, while Sarah's parenthetical note records that the letter was received only on 6 November. The manuscript date, postal date and receipt date therefore document three different stages in the letter's passage.[1]
A lecture not yet ready to begin
John Austin had been appointed Professor of Jurisprudence and the Law of Nations at the new University of London in 1827. UCL records that he did not begin lecturing until 1829. Sarah's letter captures the delay from inside the Austin household: her husband's health was improving, he had read most of his first lecture to her, but an announcement had appeared without his knowledge or agreement and he would not begin until he felt beyond the reach of further accidents.[1, 2, 3]
When Austin's course finally opened in 1829, John Stuart Mill was among the students. Mill later recalled that Austin had introduced him to Roman law years earlier. The first six lectures were published in 1832 as The Province of Jurisprudence Determined; Sarah Austin later prepared a larger body of her husband's lectures for posthumous publication.[2, 3, 4]
The people named in the letter
The addressee, written simply as Mrs George Grote, was Harriet Grote, née Lewin. John Mill is John Stuart Mill. Eyton Tooke is William Eyton Tooke, one of Mill's closest early intellectual companions. The separate reference to Mr Mill very probably means James Mill, but the letter gives no first name and that identification remains qualified.[1, 4, 5, 6]
Evidence and limits
The corrected date is visible in the manuscript and is independently consistent with the postal and receipt evidence. The identification of Mr Mill as James Mill is a contextual inference, not an explicit statement in the letter. This context does not claim that the lecture Sarah heard was later printed without revision.[1, 3, 4]
Sources & evidence (6)
- Primary source · manuscript Neruda Archives, NRA-L-000002, letter from Sarah Austin to Mrs George Grote, manuscript, address panel and postal evidence, 4-6 November 1828. View the archive record Supports the corrected manuscript date, postal sequence, named correspondents and Sarah Austin's report of John Austin's health and first lecture.
- Institutional history University College London, Faculty of Laws, “UCL200 at Laws: milestones that have shaped us,” entries for 1827, 1829 and 1832. Read the UCL chronology Confirms Austin's appointment, the opening of his lectures in 1829 and the institutional chronology.
- Institutional catalogue Andrew D. E. Lewis, Law at UCL: The Early Years, an annotated catalogue, UCL Faculty of Laws, pp. 7-10. Open the UCL catalogue Documents the delayed course, Austin's preparations, the first class and the publication history of the lectures.
- Published primary source John Stuart Mill, Autobiography, chapter III. Read Mill's Autobiography Supports Mill's personal and intellectual connection with John Austin and identifies William Eyton Tooke as one of Mill's close companions.
- Archival authority University College London Special Collections, Grote Papers, MS ADD 266. View the UCL archive record Confirms Harriet Grote's identity, dates and archival role within the Grote family papers.
- Archival authority The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, vol. XII, The Earlier Letters of John Stuart Mill 1812-1848. Open Mill's earlier letters Identifies William Eyton Tooke and documents his place among Mill's closest early friends.