GIBBON. 281 



he possessed so large an influence that -his son repre- 

 sented it in Parliament. Edward the historian was born 

 at Putney, April 27, 1737, his mother being a daughter 

 of Mr. Porten, a merchant in London, who lived near the 

 church of that village. Mr. Gibbon afterwards sat for 

 Southampton, and continued in Parliament until 1747. 

 Edward's infancy was exceedingly delicate, and his life 

 with difficulty preserved. He was treated with unceasing 

 care by his maternal aunt, Mrs. Catharine Porten ; and it 

 was not easy to teach him reading, writing, and accounts, 

 though quick enough of capacity. At seven years of age 

 he was placed under John Kirkby, a poor Cumberland 

 curate, as private tutor, and author of some popular 

 works; and two years after, he was sent to a private 

 academy, kept by a Dr. Wooddeson, at Kingston. Next 

 year his mother died, and soon after her father became 

 bankrupt ; so that his kind aunt was driven from Putney 

 to keep a boarding-house at Westminster School, and 

 his father, inconsolable for his wife's death, left Surrey 

 to bury himself in his Hampshire property. Mrs. Porten 

 took her sickly nephew with her to Westminster, where, 

 in the course of two years, he " painfully ascended into 

 the third form." But his health continued so feeble, that 

 it became necessary to remove him, and he was consigned 

 to the care of a female servant at Bath. As his six- 

 teenth year approached he became much more robust, 

 and he was placed under Mr. Francis, Sir Philip's 

 father, who then taught at Esher in Surrey. Soon, how- 

 ever, his relations found that the ill-principled tutor 

 preferred the pleasures of London to the duties of his 

 school; and they removed his pupil to Oxford, where 

 he was entered as a gentleman-commoner of Magdalen 



