'' (an elaboration of his previous "Statement"), and, after refusing to stand as parliamentary candidate for the
City of London in 1831, changed his mind and was elected head of the poll, with three other Liberals, in December 1832. As an MP, Grote spent much of his time unsuccessfully advocating for the
secret ballot. After serving in three parliaments, he resigned in 1841, by which time his party ("the
Philosophical Radicals") had dwindled away. During these years of active public life, his interest in
Greek history and philosophy had increased, and after a trip to Italy in 1842, he severed his connection with the bank and devoted himself to literature. In 1846 the first two volumes of the
History appeared. The remaining ten appeared between 1847 and the spring of 1856. In 1845, with
William Molesworth and
Raikes Currie, he gave money to
Auguste Comte, then in financial difficulties. The formation of the
Sonderbund (20 July 1847) led him to visit Switzerland and study for himself a condition of things in some sense analogous to that of the
ancient Greek states. This visit resulted in the publication in
The Spectator of seven weekly letters, collected in book form at the end of 1847 (see a letter to
de Tocqueville in Mrs Grote's reprint of the
Seven Letters, 1876). Grote was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1853. In 1856, Grote began to prepare his works on
Plato and
Aristotle.
Plato and the Other Companions of Sokrates (3 vols.) appeared in 1865. That work made him known by some as "the greatest nineteenth-century Plato scholar". The work on Aristotle he did not complete. He had finished the
Organon and was about to deal with the
metaphysical and physical treatises when he died at his home in
Mayfair, London, and was buried in
Westminster Abbey. A marble bust of Grote was subsequently placed in the Abbey. The house, No. 12
Savile Row, now has a commemorative brown plaque on it. He is said, in some estimations, to have been a man of strong character and self-control, unfailing courtesy and unswerving devotion to what he considered the best interests of the nation. Other historians, such as
Guy MacLean Rogers, consider he can reasonably be accused of
anti-clerical bias. Grote's time on the Council at University College London was characterised by his contentious approach to two liberal
nonconformists:
John Hoppus and
James Martineau, both of whom found ways to work around his opposition. Grote's life has attracted a wide variety of biographical comment due to his strong views. ==Principal works==