John Stuart Mill of his own free will?

A taste for wormwood & gall by Anthony Daniels - The New Criterion:

Nevertheless, Mill had it in him to become a many-sided thinker, subtle rather than a battering-ram. He was, after all, the first literary critic to recognize the genius of Tennyson; he was a pianist of accomplishment; he was not always unaware of psychological complexities; he was not insensitive to visual beauty; he once almost made a joke.

Mill's autobiographical account of  the education provided by his father is fascinating and sad.