Chambers's cyclopaedia of English literature : a history critical and biographical of authors in the English tongue from the earliest times till the present day, with specimens of their writing . dthe success of Timoleon. From the epoch ofAlexander the Great, Grote dates not only theextinction of Grecian political freedom and self-action, but also the decay of productive genius,and the debasement of that consummate literarjand rhetorical excellence which the fourth centurybefore Christ had seen exhibited in Plato andDemosthenes. There was, however, one branchof intellectual energy which contin
Chambers's cyclopaedia of English literature : a history critical and biographical of authors in the English tongue from the earliest times till the present day, with specimens of their writing . dthe success of Timoleon. From the epoch ofAlexander the Great, Grote dates not only theextinction of Grecian political freedom and self-action, but also the decay of productive genius,and the debasement of that consummate literarjand rhetorical excellence which the fourth centurybefore Christ had seen exhibited in Plato andDemosthenes. There was, however, one branchof intellectual energy which continued to flourish George Grote comparatively little impaired under the prepon-derance of the Macedonian sword —the spirit ofspeculation and philosophy. Grotes learning wassound, his research extensive and minute, but hewas somewhat too confident in his capacity todiscover the causes of all things, too ready toapply to Greek life and speculation his universalBenthamite standard. And his sympathies wereas pronouncedly democratic as Mitfords had beenaristocratic. Sydney Smith sarcastically said : MrGrote is a very worthy, honest, and able man ; andif the world were a chess-board, would be an. GEORGE GROTE. From a Photograph by Messrs MautI & Fox. important politician. His main historic achieve-ment was the explanation and vindication of theAthenian democracy, which most former Britishhistorians had grossly misunderstood. In hisadmiration of Athens, however, he was prone tounderrate other Hellenic developments, and the in-justice of his treatment of Alexander the Great hasbeen noted by later writers like Professor style, like his thought, is vigorous ; his present-ment lucid rather than sympathetic ; and there issome lack of that geniality which draws one to afavourite author. But the History shed much newand clear light on Greek history, marked an epochin the study, and superseded the recently publishedand scholarly work by Thirlwall ; it was careful,comprehensive, acc
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