GIBBON. 287 



of Necker, soon after the first minister of France ; and no 

 preceding circumstance ever prevented her first admirer 

 from continuing to be her respected and intimate friend 

 in her exaltation. 



But he formed another friendship at Lausanne, which 

 proved much more important to his happiness through 

 life. He became intimately acquainted, from similarity 

 of age, disposition, and pursuits, with M. Deyverdun, a 

 young man of respectable family, amiable character, and 

 good education. Their correspondence continued ever 

 after to be familiar and pleasing; and the loss of his 

 society was the principal, if not the only regret which 

 Gibbon felt when his return to England took place. 



This happened in May, 1758, by the consent of his 

 father, who received him with perfect kindness, unabated 

 by the second marriage which he had recently contracted. 

 His stepmother was a woman of amiable character and 

 of excellent sense; and a lasting friendship appears to 

 have subsisted between them during her whole life. His 

 kind aunt, however, Mrs. Porten, was naturally the first 

 object of his affections, and to her he hastened upon his 

 arrival. The principal evil which attended his long 

 exile was, that at the important age when accidental 

 circumstances are so plastic in forming the habits, he 

 had ceased to be an Englishman. He wrote, spoke, and 

 thought in a foreign language ; and as his allowance was 

 too moderate to suffer any expense not absolutely neces- 

 sary, he never had associated with his countrymen who 

 passed through or sojourned in Switzerland. On his 

 return home, therefore, he found himself as a stranger in 

 a far country ; and as his father, now residing chiefly at 

 Buriton in Hampshire, had long given up all connexion 



