Memoirs of My Life and Writings
Edward Gibbon
Language: English
Pages: 98
ISBN: 1491253398
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
A fascinating collection of memoirs by Edward Gibbon, an English historian and Member of Parliament. His most important work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788. His memoirs were edited after his death by his friend Lord Sheffield.
(1690–1764), 117 Harwich, Essex, 106 Hastings, Warren (1732–1818), Governor-General of India, 170 Hawke, Sir Edward (1705–81), Admiral of the Fleet, 123 Hawkins, Sir Caesar (1711–86), surgeon, 197 Hawkins, Sir John (1719–89), author of a Life of Dr Johnson, 177 Hayley, William (1745–1820), classicist and poet; author of Essay on History in Three Epistles to Edward Gibbon Esq., 150, 171, 180, 185, 193 Headington Hill, Oxford, 82 Hearne, Thomas (1678?–1735), antiquary; author of Doctor
resentment of the French at our taking their ships without a declaration had rendered that polite nation somewhat peevish and difficult; they denied a passage to English travellers; and the road through Germany was circuitous, toilsome, and perhaps in the neighbourhood of the armies exposed to some danger. In this perplexity two Swiss officers21 of my acquaintance in the Dutch service, who were returning to their garrisons, offered to conduct me through France as one of their companions; nor did
regiments of the North and South, each consisting of eight companies. By the special exemption of the Isle of Wight we lost a company; our Colonel resigned, and we were reduced to the legal definition of an independent battalion, of a lieutenant colonel Commandant (Sir Thomas Worsley, Baronet), a major, five captains, seven lieutenants, seven ensigns, twenty-one serjeants, fourteen drummers, and four hundred and twenty rank and file. I will not renew our prolix and passionate dispute with the
that their merit was superior to their reputation; but it is not less true that they were productive of more reputation than emolument. They introduced my friend to the protection, and myself to the acquaintance, of the Earl of Chesterfield, whose age and infirmities secluded him from the world; and of Mr David Hume, who was Under-Secretary to the office in which Deyverdun was more humbly employed. The former accepted a dedication (April 12, 1769) and reserved the author for the future education
but I cannot be displeased with the two numerous and correct impressions of the English original, which have been published for the use of the continent at Basil in Switzerland (64). The conquests of our language and literature are not confined to Europe alone; and the writer who succeeds in London is speedily read on the banks of the Delaware and the Ganges. In the preface of the fourth volume, while I gloried in the name of an Englishman, I announced my approaching return to the neighbourhood