GIBBON. 
5.5'2 
interruption took plaSe from his compofing, at the re- 
qucfl of the minillers a Memoirc JtiJUjicatif, intended as an 
anfwer to the inanifefto cf the court of France on its de¬ 
claration of hoiliiities. This piece, written in f'rench, 
was aVlniired botit for its ftyle and its reafoning, and was 
delivered as a date paiier to the courts of Europe. For 
tlris fcrvice, joined to his literary celebrity, he received 
the appointment of one of tlte lords of trade, by which 
a handfome'addition was made to iiis income, and little 
to his engagements. At the beginning of 178 r, the fe- 
cond and third volumes of the Hiftory appeared ; and 
though many readers judged them to be interior in point 
cf compofition to tlie tirll, yet, upon the whole, they 
fupport-ed Jtis reputation. At a new election he had lott 
Ills feat for Lificeavd, but he was brouglit in, upon a 
vacancy, for Lyniington. It was not long, however, 
before lord North’s minillry was ditfolved, and the abo¬ 
lition of the board of trade, by Mr. Burke’s bill, tol- 
lowed. The prize being now loft. Gibbon feeined to 
tJiink liis parliamentary career terminated ; and the 
defalcation of his income no longer permitted him to 
fupport the fame ftyle of living. He took a refolution, 
therefore, of removing his rclidence to liis tavourite 
Laufanne i,n Swilferland, as a place where he might pur¬ 
ine his ftudies without interruption, and enjoy all the 
pleafures of an elegant retreat at much lefs expence than 
in ivngland. Tliis plan he put in execution in the au¬ 
tumn of 1783. E'e was joint-pofTeflor with liis triend Dey- 
verdun of a iiandfomc and charmingly-fituated houle, 
and commenced, a mode of living happily compounded 
of tlie man of letters and tiie gentleman of eaty fortune. 
l>uring the four following years lie completed the three 
remaining quarto volumes of his Hiftory, which were 
publiflied together in .'Vprii, 1788. lie has detcribed 
Ids fatisfactiou on finifhing this great work, in the fol¬ 
lowing words; “ As I have prefuined to mark the mo¬ 
ment of conception, I fliaU now commemorate the hour 
of my final deliverance. It was on the day, or rather 
night, of the 27th of June, 1787, betwetpn tlie hours of 
eleven and twelve, that I wrote the laft lines ot the laft 
page, in a fummer-houfe in my garden. After laying 
down my pen, 1 took feveral turns in a bcrceau, or co¬ 
vered walk of acacias, which commands a profpecl of 
the country, the lake, and the mountains, d he air was 
temperate, the' tky was ferene, the tilver orb ot the 
moon was reflected from the waters, and all nature was 
dient, I will not diffeinble the firft emotions of joy on 
the recovery of my freedom, and, perhaps, the eftabiith- 
ment of my fame. But my pride was foon humbled, 
and a lbber melancholy was fpread over my mind, by 
the idea that I had taken an everlafting leave of an old 
and agreeable companion, and that whatfoever might be 
the future date of my Hiftory, the life of the liiftorian 
muft be ftiort and precarious.” He came to England to 
fuperintend the printing, and then returned to that abode 
of Laufanne, w'hich had now become doubly endeared 
to him by tiie force of habit. 
Of a work fo well known as Gibbon’s Hiftory of the 
Decline and Fall, it would be fuperfluous here to enter 
into any critical examination. It teems generally ac¬ 
knowledged, that it is a performance of vaft and accu¬ 
rate refcarch, and of enlarged and philofophical think¬ 
ing; that it abounds in fplendid palfages and curious 
dilenfiions; and that its ftyle, though fometimes affetted 
and oblcure, through the -defire of avoiding common 
modes of expreflion, is fuch as difplays a thorough maf- 
tery of the whole compafs of the Englith language. A 
familiarity with French models has occafionally pro¬ 
duced violations both of found lenfe and of moral pro¬ 
priety ; and his hiftoric mufe, while the retains her dig¬ 
nified garb, often lotes her fober demeanour. The work 
has, however, taken a tecure place among the Englith 
cialfics, and will ever form a diftinguiflied objeft in the 
literary hiftory of the eighteenth century. 
The remainder of Mr.Gibbon’s life, being only that of 
a private gentleman, affords little matter for the biogra¬ 
pher. The ftorms of the French revolution, which be¬ 
gan to menace the quiet regions of Swifferland, gradually 
loofened his attachment to Laufanne, and made him look 
towards a refuge in England. He viewed that great 
event with all the alarm and deteftation of one habitu¬ 
ated to the higher orders of fociety, and radically hoftile 
to dernocratical fway. He thus explicitly declares his 
fentiraents on the occafioti. “ I beg leave to fubferibe 
my atfent to Mr. Burke’s creed on the revolution of 
France. I admire his eloquence, I approve his politics, 
1 adore his chivalry, and I can almoft excufe his reve¬ 
rence for church eflabliftiments.” Many patlagcs of his 
letters to his motl confidential friend, lord Slicffield, 
Ihew that in his terror or indignation he had acquired a 
thorough averfion to even the moft moderate and reafon- 
able retorms. In fuch a ftate of mind the authority of 
his opinion can Itand for little ; and his politics were 
always too perfonal to conimaiul much deference. His 
return to England, in 1793, was, however, the immediate 
refult 'ofa call of friendthip which does honour to his 
heart; it was to confole the friend above-mentioned un¬ 
der a heavy domeftic lofs. He fpent fome months with 
that triend and in other vifits, when his attention tvas 
forcibly called to the progrefs of a difeafe w hich though 
it had long jiroduced little inconveiiience, was now be¬ 
come fuddenly alarming. Mr. Gibbon had been three 
times tapped for an hydrocele ; this diforder, which was 
originally a flight rupture, had been coming on for more 
than thirty years; and he at laft perhaps fell a vidlim to 
his own delicacy, lince he declined furgical aid, and 
would not fufi'er his fervant or any one to fpeak of his 
diforder till it got to an alarming height. He died on 
the 16th of January, 1794, three days after the third 
pundture. His body was opened on the fifth day after 
his death. It was then tound, except that a degree of 
mortification, not very confiderable, had taken place on 
a part ot the colon; which, with tlie whole omentum, 
of a very enlarged fize, had defeended into the fcrotuni, 
forming a bag that hung down nearly as low as the knee. 
Since that part had been inflamed and ulcerated, Mr. 
Gibbon could not bearatrufs'; and when the laft fix 
quarts of fluid were difeharged, the colon and omentum 
defeending lower, they, by their weight, drew the lower 
mouth of the ftomach downwards to the os pubis; and 
this probably was the immediate caul'e of his death. 
Mr. Gibbon has given a pidture of his owut cliaradter, 
which is probably near the truth. “I am endowed 
with a cheerful temper, a moderate fenfibility, and a 
natural difpofition to repofe rather than to activity : 
fome milchievous appetites and habits have perhaps 
been corrected by philofophy or time. The love of 
ftudy fupplies each day, each hour, with a perpetual 
fource of independent and rational pleafure.” He was 
ealy in fociety, and fond of it: he was beloved by his 
friends, and had in an eminent degree the manners and 
lentiments of a gentleman. Early indulgence and habit 
had made the conveniences and elegances of cultured 
life efl'ential to his comfort, and lie was not one who 
could have been content with the confeiouihefs ©f men¬ 
tal fuperiority in an humble ftate. After his death, 
two quarto volumes of his inifcellaneous works were 
publilhed by lord Sheffield. Of thefe, tlie moft valu¬ 
able part is the Memoirs of his Life and V/ritings, 
compofed by himfelf, whence the preceding narrative 
has been chiefly extraCfed. They are written in a very 
pleafing manner, with much apparent franknefs. Many 
of his private letters are fubjoined, which are lively 
and entertaining, in the true epiftolary ftyle. The le- 
cond volume contains a journal of his ftudies, with re¬ 
marks upon books, chiefly in French ; together with 
his fmaller publications already mentioned. 
The perfon and manners of Mr. Gibbon are thus de- 
feribed by M. Fred. Matthiffon, a German writer of 
fome celebrity; “I yefterday waited on Mr. Gibbon. 
His 
