iv 



philosophy and the democratic institutions of Greece : Grote was affected 

 with the like sentiments. They were further agreed in bringing the ancients 

 into comparison with the best modern thinking. 



In 1820 Mr. Grote married Miss Harriet Lewin (second daughter of 

 Thomas Lewin, Esq., of the Hollies, Bexley, Kent), who, both in coopera- 

 tion with him and by her separate works, will leave a mark behind her. 

 The year succeeding his marriage saw his first publication, an anonymous 

 pamphlet entitled f< Statement of the Question of Parliamentary Reform : 

 with a reply to the objections of the Edinburgh Review, No. 61." The 

 article in the c Review' was written by Sir James Mackintosh. The 

 pamphlet is a clear and forcible argumentative statement of the Reform 

 question, then beginning to be seriously canvassed. About 1824 he formed 

 the purpose of writing a ' History of Greece,' his own inclinations being 

 strengthened both by Mr. Mill and by Mrs. Grote. In the ' AYestminster 

 Review' for April 1826, he published an article of sixty pages on Grecian 

 History, containing a minute criticism of the misrepresentations of Mitford. 

 He afterwards acknowledged in the preface to his own History that the 

 first idea of it was conceived " at a time when ancient Hellas was known 

 to the English public chiefly through the pages of Mitford." 



About this time a small Society was formed for readings in philosophical 

 subjects, the meetings of which took place at Mr. Grote' s house, in Thread- 

 needle Street, on certain days, from half-past eight till ten in the morning, 

 when the members had to repair to their respective occupations. The 

 members were Grote, John Stuart Mill, Roebuck, William Ellis, William 

 and Henry Prescott, Eyton Tooke, Charles Buller, two brothers Whilmore, 

 and George John Graham (afterwards assignee in bankruptcy). The 

 mentor of their studies was the elder Mill. The readings embraced the 

 logical treatises of Hobbes, Du Trieu, cind Whately ; Hartley on Man ; 

 and, at a later period, Mill's c Analysis of the Mind.' These works were 

 read out paragraph by paragraph, commented upon by each member in 

 turn, discussed and reJiscussed, until no one had any thing further to sav. 



The logical discipline thus imparted to these }'outhful students has un- 

 questionably told in various ways upon the mind and literature of this 

 country and the world. 



The death of his father in 1830 made him one of the two chief partners 

 in the banking-house. Although strongly sympathizing with the Reform 

 agitation which had then commenced, he had not as yet taken a public 

 part in it. He now came into prominence in the City of London move- 

 ment. In 1831 appeared his work entitled " Essentials of Parliamentary 

 Reform," which was characterized by his thoroughness and vigourof thought 

 and language. His "essentials" were as follows: — The first was an ex- 

 tension of the suffrage, to commence with enfranchising whoever gave 

 evidence of possessing .£100 a year, to be followed by further extensions 

 according to the advancement of education. The second essential was the 

 Ballot ; the others were, — reduction in the number of the House (to about 



