he annotated. He was better employed in commenting upon the book of Psalms, which, however, he did not finish. He also wrote commentaries upon some of the works of Aristotle. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs may be found in the Orthodoxographa, 1555, and Fabricius' Codex Apocryphus V. T., 1713, where, besides the Latin, we have the Greek text, and a preface by Grabe. The commentary on Dionysius was published in 1502. Grosseteste, who was frank and straightforward, was somewhat irate, and often became involved in angry disputations both with the unruly ecclesiastics of his diocese and with the pope. He forbade the clergy to act plays and to communicate with Jews; urged the friars to preach, and read lessons to the pope on the sin of avarice. In 1247 his holiness sent into England for money, and demanded 6000 marks from the see of Lincoln, which its bishop refused to pay. In 1248 he obtained papal letters authorizing him to carry on the work of monastic reform; but the monks appealed to the pope, and to Lyons Grosseteste had to go to meet him, and to receive an adverse decision. Leaving Innocent IV. he returned to his see, but in 1253 that pontiff nominated as canon of Lincoln an Italian youth, his nephew, a mere stupid boy, and declared that any other disposal of the canonry would be null and void, and that he would excommunicate any one who dared to disobey. Grosseteste, however, resolved upon resistance, and wrote his famous epistle to the pope, which roused him to unbounded wrath. This epistle, which has been often printed, is a splendid protest against the tyranny and venality of Rome, and nothing but the European reputation of its writer saved him from degradation and a prison. As it was, Grosseteste was excommunicated and superseded, but the sentence was not carried out. It was towards the end of summer, 1253, that Grosseteste fell sick and died at Buckden, where his palace was; but he was buried at Lincoln. (Dr. Pegge in 1793 published an excellent life of Grosseteste or Grosthead, of which an admirable abstract appears in Milner's Church History, cent. 13, chap, vii.) The works of Grosseteste are very numerous, and on a variety of subjects; many of them have been published, but others, including sermons and essays in English, remain in manuscript. There is also extant a poem in French verse, which treats of the fall and redemption of man, and is entitled "Roman des Romans." His character may be readily inferred from the activity and earnestness he showed, and from his countless occupations.—B. H. C.
GROSSI, Tommaso, the author of "Marco Visconti," a historical novel which has been translated into almost every European language, was born at Bellano, a village near Como, on the 20th of January, 1791, Having been destined for the church, he entered the seminary at Lecco, and afterwards prosecuted his studies at Rezzonico and Milan. A distaste for clerical life induced Grossi to study for the bar in the university of Pavia, where he took his doctor's degree in the year 1810. Grossi is considered an elegant poet, and in 1848 he wrote a poem on the deliverance of his country, that induced the Sardinian government to appoint him director of public instruction in Lombardy. His principal works are "La Fuggitiva," an elegy full of pathos; "I Lombardi alia prima Crociata;" "Maria Visconti," a tragedy. He published a great number of sonnets and other minor compositions, highly appreciated for purity of diction and elegance of style. The city of Milan, where Grossi died, 10th December, 1853, has erected a fine statue to his memory.—A. C. M.
GROSSMAN, Gustav Friedrich Wilhelm, a German actor and dramatic author, born at Berlin in 1744; died at Hanover in 1796. He was a very popular actor, although quite devoid of those physical advantages believed to be necessary for the stage. Of his numerous plays some three or four have kept their place on the German stage.—F. M.
* GROTE, George, an eminent historian and politician, was born in 1794 at Clay Hill, near Beckenham, in Kent. He is the grandson of the gentleman who founded in the metropolis, with Mr. George Prescott, the well-known private bank of Prescott, Grote, & Co.; and having received an excellent education at the Charter-house, he entered in his sixteenth year his father's banking-house as a clerk. He early imbibed the views of, and formed a personal friendship with, the late James Mill and other founders of the school of philosophical radicalism represented by the old Westminster Review, to which, later, he became an occasional contributor. In the course of the studies pursued during the leisure which he could snatch from business avocations, he was led to examine the truth of the antidemocratic deductions drawn by Mr. Mitford in his History of Greece, and to convince himself that they were based on misapprehensions and misstatements of facts. The idea of writing a history of Greece, which should confirm instead of refute the doctrines of philosophical radicalism, seems to have taken hold of him so far back as 1823. At any rate we find Niebuhr in 1827 speaking of Mr. Grote's history as something well under way, and advising his friend Lieber to make the acquaintance of the author and his book, and undertake its translation into German. "I expect a great deal from his production," wrote the illustrious historian of Rome. Many years, however, were destined to elapse before the work thus heralded was to appear. As the political excitement of the decade, 1820-30, deepened, Mr. Grote entered more and more ardently into the political arena; and in 1832 (having published the year before a pamphlet entitled "Essentials of Parliamentary Reform") he had the honour of being elected one of the members for the city of London, a seat which he retained up to his withdrawal from public life. In the house of commons Mr. Grote worked and spoke energetically in behalf of the principles of philosophical radicalism. But the question which he made particularly his own was the ballot, a motion for the application of which to voting for members of parliament he brought forward annually, while he sat in the house of commons, and urged every year with new and elaborate ingenuity. Perhaps a little disheartened by the apparent triumph of conservatism in 1841, and certainly desirous to execute his long-cherished enterprise in Greek history, he retired into private life in that year, and the fruits of his laborious leisure were made apparent in 1846, when he published the first two volumes of his "History of Greece." Completed in twelve volumes in 1856, this monument of learning and original thought was saluted with acclamation during its progress by critics of the most varying of political schools, and it already ranks as a magnum opus in the English literature of the nineteenth century. Only once when grappling with it, did Mr. Grote turn aside to handle the affairs of the day. This was in 1847 when the future of the Helvetic republic became a European question, and then Mr. Grote published his "Seven Letters on the Recent Politics of Switzerland." Mr. Grote has announced his intention of composing a separate work devoted to an account of the Greek speculative philosophy in the fourth century b.c.; and the new course of his studies has been recently indicated by his publication of a little tractate on Plato's and Aristotle's Doctrine of the Sphere.—F. E.
GROTEFEND, Georg Friedrich, one of the most distinguished philologists of the present century, was born in 1775 at Münden, between Göttingen and Cassel. After receiving some instruction at Ilfeld, in 1795 he went to Göttingen, where he attracted the notice of Heyne, Tychsen, &c. In 1803 he removed from Göttingen to Frankfort-on-the-Maine, where he continued as professor till 1821, when he became director of the gymnasium at Hanover, where he continued till his retirement in 1849. He died on December 15, 1853. The works of this eminent scholar are many and important, revealing a profound insight into the nature of language and its written forms of expression. In two departments especially he will always be remembered with honour—his researches into the languages of Italy, and his studies in the interpretation of cuneiform characters. As early as 1802 he published an essay on the explanation of the cuneiform writing, and in particular that of the Persepolitan inscriptions. Münter had four years before contributed something towards an alphabet, but Grotefend was the first to suggest anything like a clue to these mysterious symbols. These studies he pursued with unwearied diligence for many years; and between the years 1837 and 1851 he published several works bearing upon the subject, besides miscellaneous articles in learned journals. His writings on the ancient history and languages of Italy are numerous and valuable. His knowledge of these subjects was the result of laborious original investigation, and he is deservedly regarded as one of the greatest promoters of scientific philology in modern times.—B. H. C.
GROTHUSEN, Christian Albert, Baron von, son of the military governor of Hamburg, was born in the latter part of the seventeenth century. He entered into the service of Charles XII. of Sweden, whom he accompanied into Poland, and soon became a favourite of that prince, who made him his treasurer. Grothusen's extreme generosity frequently emptied the royal coffers; but Charles, who was himself munificent) liked him the
