been conspicuous above their equals by personal merit and glorious achievements, the generous feelings of the heart will sympathize in an alliance with such characters; nor does the man exist who would not peruse with warmer curiosity the life of an hero from whom his name and blood were lineally derived. The satirist may laugh, the philosopher may preach, but reason herself will respect the prejudices and habits which have been consecrated by the experience of mankind. Our calmer judgment will rather tend to moderate than to suppress the pride of an ancient and worthy race. But in the estimate of honor we should learn to value the gifts of nature above those of fortune, to esteem in our ancestors the qualities that best promote the interest of society, and to pronounce the descendant of a king less truly noble than the offspring of a man of genius whose writing will instruct or delight the latest posterity. The family of Confucius is, in my opinion, the most illustrious in the world. After a painful ascent of eight or ten centuries, our barons and princes of Europe are lost in the darkness of the middle age; but in the vast equality of the empire of China the posterity of Confucius has maintained above two thousand two hundred years its peaceful honors and perpetual succession, and the chief of the family is still revered by the sovereign and the people as the living image of the wisest of mankind. The nobility of the Spencers has been illustrated and enriched by the trophies of Marlborough, but I exhort them to consider the Faerie Queene as the most precious jewel of their coronet: "Ne lesse praisworthie are the sisters three, The honor of the noble familie, Of which I meanest boast my selfe to be." Our immortal Fielding was of a younger branch of the Earls of Denbigh who draw their origin from the Counts of Hapsburg, the lineal descendants of Eltrico, in the seventh century Duke of Alsace. Far different have been the fortunes of the English and German divisions of the family of Hapsburg. The former, the knights and sheriffs of Leicestershire, have slowly risen to the dignity of a peerage; the latter, the emperors of Germany and kings of Spain, have threatened the liberty of the old, and invaded the treasures of the new world. The successors of Charles the Fifth may disdain their humble brethren of England, but the romance of Tom Jones, that exquisite picture of human manners, will outlive the palace of the Escurial and the imperial eagle of the house of Austria. ee What name Gibbon would have given his autobiography, if he had completed it to his satisfaction, must remain unknown. The titles of the various sketches differ somewhat, and Memoirs D and F are without any titles. On the outside of Memoir A Gibbon wrote "The Memoirs of the Life of Edward Gibbon, with various observations and excursions by himself," and within Memoirs of my own life." Memoir C, which was next written, is called " Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Edward Gibbon." Memoirs B and E bear the simple title "My own Life." For his editions Lord Sheffield took the title of Memoir C, but modified it to "Memoirs of my Life and Writings." The full title of Memoir C has been restored in this edition. In most of the manuscripts left by the historian there are no divisions, as of chapters. But Memoir A begins with Chapter I, and Memoir F is divided into three chapters without title, corresponding to the first three divisions of the present edition. Besides, Memoir C is divided into three sections, the second beginning at his return from Lausanne, and the third after his father's death. Lord Sheffield made no divisions in the book, except to indicate one or two breaks, the first between the introduction and the biography proper, for which as we have seen there was good reason, the second between Memoirs F and B. The divisions in this edition were made by the present editor, not so much on the basis of those in the original sketches, as of the subject matter of the various parts. IV. THE LAST YEARS OF GIBBON'S LIFE. The older statements as to the time at which the Memoirs end are somewhat misleading. Lord Sheffield, the first editor, in continuing the account of Gibbon's life says that they end soon after his [Gibbon's] return to Switzerland in the year 1788." In the continuation which Milman added to his edition," he says, "Gibbon's autobiography does not extend beyond the year 1789." We now know that Memoir E, which furnishes all that Gibbon has told us of his later life, bears the date March 2, 1791. Even without this date, internal evidence might have corrected both Lord Sheffield and Milman, since Gibbon alludes to "Mr. Burke's creed on the Revolution in France," 3 which must refer to the latter's Reflections on the Revolution in France. The essay was not published until November, 1790, and could hardly have reached the historian before the last of that year or the beginning of the next. On the other hand, the annals of the last years of Gibbon's life are but notes which he doubtless meant to extend "in that mature season "4 which never came. For this reason it may be well to refer to some of the events following Gibbon's return from England in the fall of 1788, after seeing through the press the last three volumes of his History. During the four years following his English visit Gibbon lived in the enjoyment of one who had completed his life work. He read the books he loved, he saw much of his friends, he enjoyed the flattery of those who felt honored by his life among them. But this happy period was not without its sorrows. On his return from England he found 1 Miscellaneous Works, I, 277. 2 See Milman's edition, p. 184. 3 See note to Memoirs, 185, 22. his lifelong friend in a decline, and in July, 1789, Deyverdun was parted from him forever. The loss was a severe one for Gibbon. His letters mention it frequently. Even his efforts to remedy the loss are proof of its effect upon him. At one time he thought of returning to England,' at another, of taking his niece, Charlotte Porten, to live with him. He was even led to think-though not too seriously it would seem of matrimony." It has been frequently said that Gibbon proposed to Mme. de Crousaz, afterwards Mme. de Montolieu.3 Lord Sheffield's daughter Maria thought him desperately in love with "Mme. da Silva, a pretty Portuguese, who had been some time in England." 4 It could not have been serious, for Gibbon playfully refers to it in one of the letters to Maria Holroyd, as follows: "As Mrs. Wood is about to leave us, I must either cure or die, and upon the whole, I believe the former will be most expedient." Perhaps he may have spoken of marriage to Mme. Necker, of whom he saw much while she and her husband were in Switzerland, after M. Necker's fall. At any rate, Mme. Necker wrote in June, 1792: The mar Beware, Monsieur, of forming a late attachment. riage which makes one happy in mature age is that which is contracted in youth. Then only is the union perfect, tastes are communicated, sentiments are diffused, ideas become common, intellectual faculties are mutually molded. The whole life is double, the whole life is a prolongation of youth; for the impressions of the soul command the eyes, and the beauty which is no more still 1 Letters, II, 200. 2 Ibid., II, 215, 220, 248. 3 The story was told by Mme. de Genlis in Souvenirs de Félicie, p. 279, but was denied by the lady herself (Rossel, Histoire Littéraire de le Suisse, II, 275). It occasioned a skit by George Colman the younger, called The Luminous Historian, or Learning in Love (Eccentricities for Edinburgh, pp. 67-91). 4 The Girlhood of Maria Josepha Holroyd, pp. 115, 116. 5 Ibid., p. 105. preserves her empire. But you, Monsieur, in all the vigor of your thought, when all your manner of life is decided, could not without a miracle find a woman worthy of you. . . . You are married to fame, and the friends who cherish you are not jealous of a union the luster of which reflects even upon them." 1 Deyverdun died at the beginning of July, 1789. Ten days later the Bastile fell, and the hailstorm of the French Revolution began. Gibbon in the quiet of Lausanne was an intent spectator. He wrote at this time of the great opportunity in France for governmental reform, but he soon became hopeless as to the outcome of the Revolution. "How many years," he wrote, "must elapse before France can recover any vigor or resume her station among the powers of Europe! As yet, there is no symptom of a great man, a Richelieu or a Cromwell, arising either to restore the monarchy or to lead the commonwealth." 2 3 Finally, the principles of the Revolution spread to Switzerland, Geneva was threatened, and Gibbon went so far as to make preparations for flight. But his peace was not seriously disturbed, and he still looked on from a distance, more than ever an aristocrat and friend of established government. ee Meanwhile, Gibbon's pen was not entirely idle. In 1790, he began the Antiquities of the House of Brunswick. In the same year or the next he wrote an essay On the Position of the Meridonial Line and an Inquiry into the Supposed Circumnavigation of Africa by the Ancients. In the summer 1 Miscellaneous Works, II, 450. 2 Letters, II, 210. 8 Ibid., II, 319: "For my part till Geneva falls, I do not think of retreat; but at all events I am provided with two strong horses, and a hundred louis in gold." Miscellaneous Works, III, 359; see also Letters, II, 228 ff. 5 Miscellaneous Works, V, 170. |