Priestley was a correspondent and strong influence. Ricardo and James Mill were among the thinkers who gathered around Bentham. Smith, a regular correspondent, was persuaded by Bentham that interest-rates should be free. Dumont, a disciple and collaborator, published his writings and thus broadcast his ideas. Leigh Hunt was a friend, the irascible Hazlitt rented his house and publicly suggested that his ideas were over-rated, while Roget, invited to develop Bentham’s plans for a new design of ice-house, found his unconventional life too hard to stomach. George Bentham was his nephew, J. S. Mill his godson.