Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/226

Rh arranging them, lie published them anonymously in a small 8vo volume, entitled Analysis of the Influence of Natural Religion on the Temporal Happiness of Mankind, by Philip Beauchamp. Meanwhile the quiet course of life went on in Threadneedle Street The scanty leisure of each day was devoted to the joint studies of husband and wife, for &quot; Mrs George Grote was habitually studious, after her fashion, under the direction of her husband, who laid great stress upon her cultivating the ratiocinative vein of instruc tion above all, logic, metaphysics, and politics; and she accordingly strove to master these subjects, out of deference to his wish, and in order to qualify herself to be associated with his intellectual tastes and labours as time wore on.&quot; Their pleasures were likewise in common ; the wife, who was an accomplished musician, learnt the violoncello to accompany her husband ; but he dropped his music in 1330. A circle of congenial minds frequented the house in Threadneedle Street from 1822 to 1830. Within that choice society there was a narrower circle of students, who met there twice a week at half-past eight in the morning for an hour or two s reading. Among others were John Stuart Mill, Charles Buller, and John Arthur Roebuck. They read the most recent works on metaphysics and kindred subjects in the light of their adored teachers, Benthatn and James Mill, beyond whom they believed all to be in Cimmerian darkness. The year 1823 marks the epoch of the first conception of Grote s great work; and an extant letter shows the spirit in which he approached it. On January 14th he writes : &quot; I am at present engaged in the fabulous ages of Greece, which I find will be required to be illustrated by bringing together a large mass of analogical matter from other early histories, in order to show the entire uncertainty and worthlessness of tales to which early associations have so long familiarized all classical minds. I am quite amazed to discover the extraordinary greediness and facility with which men assert, believe, re-assert, and are believed. The weakness appears to be next to universal, and I really think that one ought to write on the walls of one s dressing-room the caution of the poet Epicharmus : TOUT a TUV The subject ever present to his thoughts came up so often in the discussions with his friends as to suggest to his wife s sympathy and ambition for his fame the definite work of his future life. One day she said to him &quot; You are always studying the ancient authors whenever you have a moment s leisure, now here would be a fine subject for you to treat. Suppose you try your hand ! &quot; &quot; The idea&quot; (she adds) &quot; proved acceptable to the young student, and, after reflecting for some time, he came to the resolution of enter ing upon the work.&quot; Henceforth this definite aim prevailed amidst the still wide range of reading which threw new light from all quarters upon the central object, and the mass of notes and extracts still preserved attest the diligence with which he prepared for it, Happily for himself and for the world, he was diverted from the work till he could resume it, not only with that clearer mental perspective in which a long meditated object appears when we return to it afresh, but with the enlarged experience of nearly twenty years occupied in practical politics and converse with statesmen, abroad as well as at home. Mean while he gave the world an earnest of his work in an ex haustive review of Mitford s History of Greece in the West minster Review for April 1826, one result of which was a letter from Niebuhr, clearly designating Grote as the historian of Greece, and inviting him to a visit which events never permitted him to pay. From 1825 to 1827 Grote took part in the scheme of founding the &quot; University of London &quot; in Gower Street, with the management of which institution he became after wards intimately connected. As the political crisis of 1830 approached, public and private events conspired to draw Grote into the vortex of politics. The failure of his father s health gave him a new position in the bank ; and in the spring of 1830 he was able to arrange for a visit to the Continent, which brought him into connexion with the liberal politicians of Paris on the eve of the revolution. An interesting record of the state of affairs and of the impressions of this visit are preserved in Mrs Grote s Life of Ary Scheffer, published in 1860. The travellers were recalled in Jane by the illness of Grote s father, who died before their arrival, at the age of 70. Thus, in his 36th year, George Grote, now the head of the family, found himself master of his own affairs, and of about ,40,000 personal property, besides the family estates in Lincolnshire and Oxfordshire. His business and studies alike led him to fix his residence in London ; and the first use he made of his wealth was to subscribe &amp;lt;500 to the revolutionary committee of the Hotel de Yille, with an offer to come himself to Paris if his presence would be of any use. The pressure of business as his father s executor kept him, in spite of strong solicitations, out of any active part in the agitation for reform, but did not prevent the steady progress of the History, which Mrs Grote writes (February 1, 1831), &quot; must be given to the public before he can embark in any active scheme of a political kind.&quot; He refused an invitation to stand for the city in 1831 ; but he made an able contribution to the argument in a statement of the Essentials of Parliamentary Reform, published this year, to which reference has already been made. His reluctance to enter parliament was overcome after the passing of the Reform Act in 1832 ; and, being returned at the head of the poll, he appeared as one of the members for the city of London in the first reformed parliament, which met on February 4, 1833, He at once gave notice of a motion for the vote by ballot in parliamentary elections, which he brought before the house on the 25th of April following. His speech on that occasion was prepared with great care, and displayed that cogent reason and calm earnest eloquence which marked all his efforts in debate. The substance of the argument, and a notice of his principal speeches in parliament, will be found in Professor Bain s sketch of his character and writings prefixed to his &quot; minor works.&quot; Earnest as were his political convictions, and faithfully as he discharged the duties which he had undertaken, Grote s parliamentary career forms only an episode in his life, but an episode which contributed to refresh and qualify him for his main work. He sat in three succes sive parliaments, from 1833 to 1841, witnessing the gradual passage from the first triumphs of reform to the Conser vative reaction under Sir Robert Peel, and the steady decay of his own sect of philosophic radicalism, which never had a root in popular opinion. He was returned the last time by a bare majority of six, and his party numbered just the same figure. Charles Buller said to him one evening : &quot; I see what we are coming to, Grote ; in no very long time from this, you and I shall be left to tell Molesworth.&quot; During the eight years and a half of his parliamentary life, Grote kept up his varied reading, and formed a growing desire for a knowledge of physical science. But the staff of his mental diet, and his refuge from all meaner objects of thought, was still the same. In the weary intervals of attendance on parliament a Tauchnitz copy of Plato was ready in his pocket, and when snowed up in the country during the vacation he writes &quot;A Greek book is the only refuge.&quot; His hospitalities expanded with his social position ; and among his new friendships the one he most valued was that formed in 1835 with Mr (afterwards Sir) George Cornewall Lewis, the letters exchanged with whom on various points in classics and philosophy enrich