GROTE, GEORGE (1794-1871). An English historian of Greece, born in Kent in 1794. At the age of sixteen, after acquiring an elementary education in Latin and Greek, he entered the bank in which his father was a partner. He not only continued his classical studies, however, but gradually drifted into philosophy. He sided with the liberal school of thought, to which his crea= tive mind made important contributions. After the passage of the Reform Bill of 1832, in favor of which he had zealously written and spoken, he entered the House of Commons as 'a representa tive of London. In the beginning of his public career he commanded a large following, but in time his-advanced democratic ideas alienated all supporters with the exception of a few 'philo sophic radicals.' He retired from Parliament in 1841, and two years later from the banking busi ness, to give all his attention to study and writ ing. Before entering public life he had published (Westminster Review, April, 1826) a scathing criticism of Mitford's History of Greece, a recent work from an extreme Tory's point of view. It was partly to right the wrong done by Mitford to the spirit of free institutions, and partly to teach his countrymen a lesson in democracy, that Grote conceived and wrote his magnificent History of Greece. As early as 1822 he had begun planning the work, but his duties as statesman and banker compelled him to defer it till his retirement into private life. The first two volumes appeared in
1845, the twelfth and last in 1856. The work is pervaded by an intense enthusiasm for Greek democracy, which sometimes leads the author to underrate other forms of government; at the same time it aims to present all the known facts, that the reader may be able to form his own judg ment. In 1865 he completed in three volumes a work on Plato and the Other Companions of Socrates. A thorough realist, the author could not fully appreciate the idealism of Plato, and yet these volumes have a value in presenting cer tain aspects of Platonic thought which down to his time had passed unnoticed. Grote imme diately began a similar treatise on Aristotle, but did not live to complete it. Meantime he was taking an active interest in education. He was president of University College, vice-chancellor of the University of London—two great non-sec tarian institutions—and a trustee of the British Museum. He died in 1871 at an advanced age. Consult: Mrs. Grote, Personal Life of George Grote (London. 1873) ; his Minor Works, with Critical Remarks on His Intellectual Character, Writings, and Speeches, ed. by Alexander Bain (London, 1873) ; his Aristotle, also ed. by Bain (London, 1872).