to the mind and body, 3. I have already defcribed the merits of my fociety and fituation; but these enjoyments would be taftelefs or bitter if their pof feffion were not affured by an annual and adequate fupply. According to the fcale of Switzerland, I am a rich man; and I am indeed rich, fince my income is fuperior to my expenfe, and my expense is equal to my wifhes. My friend Lord Sheffield has kindly relieved me from the cares to which my tafte and temper are most adverfe: fhall I add, that fince the failure of my first wishes, I have never entertained any ferious thoughts of a matrimonial connexion?

I am difgufted with the affectation of men of letters, who complain that they have renounced a fubftance for a fhadow; and that their fame (which fometimes is no infupportable weight) affords a poor compenfation for envy, cenfure, and perfecution ". My own experience, at least, has taught me a very different leffon: twenty happy years have been animated by the labor of my Hiftory; and its funess has given me a nome a rank, a character, in the world, to which I should not otherwise have been entitled. The freedom of my writings has indeed provoked an implacable tribe; but, as 1 was fafe from the fting, I was soon accustomed to the buzzing of the hornets: my nerves are not tremblingly alive, and my literary temper is so happily framed, that I am lefs fenfible of pain than of pleasure. The rational pride of an au thor may be offended, rather than flattered, by vague indifcriminate praife; but he cannot, he should not, be indifferent to the fair teftimonies of private and public efteem. Even his moral fympathy may be gra

tified by the idea, that now, in the present hour, he is imparting fome degree of amusement or knowledge to his friends in a distant land: that one day his mind will be familiar to the grandchildren of those who are yet unborn "I cannot boast of the friendship or favor of princes; the patronage of English literature has long fince been devolved on our booksellers, and the measure of their liberality is the leaft ambiguous teft of our common fuccefs. Perhaps the golden mediocrity of my fortune has contributed to fortify my application.

The present is a fleeting moment, the past is no more; and our prospect of futurity is dark and doubtful. This day may poffibly be my laft: but the laws of probability, fo true in general, fo fallacious in particular, ftill allow about fifteen years ". I fhall foon enter into the period which, as the most agreeable of his long life, was felected by the judgment and experience of the fage Fontenelle His choice is approved by the eloquent hiftorian of nature, who fixes our moral happinefs to the mature feafon in which our paffions are fuppofed to be calmed, our duties fulfilled, our ambition fatisfied, our fame and fortune established on a folid bafis ". In private conversation, that great and amiable man added the weight of his own experience; and this autumnal felicity might be exemplified in the lives of Voltaire, Hume, and many other men of letters. I am far more inclined to embrace than to difpute this comfortable doctrine. I will not fuppofe any premature decay of the mind or body; but I must reluctantly observe that two causes, the abbreviation of time, and the failure of hope, will always tinge with a browner fhade the evening of life.

WHEN I firft undertook to prepare Mr. Gib

bon's Memoirs for the prefs, I fuppofed that it would be necessary to introduce fome continuation of them, from the time when they cease, namely, foon after his return to Switzerland in the year 1788; but the exa, mination of his correfpondence with me fuggefted, that the best continuation would be the publication of his letters from that time to his death. I fhall thus give more fatisfaction, by employing the language of Mr. Gibbon, instead of my own; and the public will fee him in a new and (I think) an admirable light, as a writer of letters. By the infertion of a few occafional fentences, I fhall obviate the disadvantages that are apt to arise from an interrupted narration. A prejudiced ora faftidious critic may condemn, perhaps, fome parts ofthe letters as trivial; but many readers, I flatter myself, will be gratified by discovering even in thefe my friend's affectionate feelings, and his character in familiar life. His letters in general bear a strong resemblance to the style and turn of his conversation; the characteristics of which were vivacity, elegance, and precifion, with knowledge aftonishingly extenfive and correct. He never ceased to be instructive and entertaining; and in general there was a vein of pleasantry in his conversation which prevented its becoming languid, even during a refidence of many months with a family in the country.

It has been supposed that he always arranged what he intended to fay, before he fpoke; his quickness

in converfation contradicts this notion: but it is very true, that before he fat down to write a note or letter, he completely arranged in his mind what he meant to exprefs. He purfued the fame method in respect to other compofitions; and he occafionally would walk feveral times about his apartment before he had rounded a period to his tafte. He has pleasantly remarked to me, that it fometimes coft him many a turn before he could throw a fentiment into a form that gratified his own criticifm. His fyftematic habit of arrangement in point of style, affifted, in his inftance, by an excellent memory and correct judgement, is much to be recommended to those who afpire to any perfection in writing.

Although the Memoirs extend beyond the time of Mr. Gibbon's return to Lausanne, I fhall infert a few Letters, written immediately after his arrival there, and combine them fo far as to include even the last note which he wrote a few days previously to his death. Some of them contain few incidents; but they connect and carry on the account either of his opinions or of his employment,

LETTERS

FROM

EDWARD GIBBON Efq.

TO THE

Right Hon. LORD
LORD SHEFFIELD.

LAUSANNE, July 30, 1788.-Wednesday, 3 o'clock.

I HAVE but a moment to fay, before the depar

ture of the poft, that after a very pleasant journey I arrived here about half an hour ago; that I am as well arranged, as if I had never ftirred from this place; and that dinner on the table is just announced. Severy I dropt at his country houfe about two leagues off. I juft faluted the family, who dine with me the day after to morrow, and return to town for fome days, I hope weeks, on my account. The fon is an amiable and grateful youth; and even this journey has taught me to know and to love him ftill better. My fatisfaction would be complete, had I not found a fad and ferious alteration in poor Deyverdum; but thus our joys are chequered! I embrace all; and at this moment feel the last pang of our parting at Tunbridge. Convey this letter or information, without delay, from Sheffield.Place to Bath. In a few days I fhall write more amply to both places.