were not very arduous. His acceptance of this place, he informs us, provoked fome of the leaders of the Oppofition, with whom he had lived in habits of intimacy, and he was unjustly accused of deferting a party in which he had never enlisted. At the general election, however, in 1780, he loft his feat in parliament, the voters of Liskeard being difpofed to favour an oppofition candidate *.

In April 1781, he published the Second and Third Volumes of his History, which excited as much attention, although lefs controversy, than his first volume. They were written with more caution, yet with equal elegance, and perhaps more proofs of juft and profound thinking. But his affection for his work appears to have been too warm to permit him to estimate the reception with which these volumes were honoured. He fpeaks, in his Memoirs, of what no perfon acquainted with the literary history of that very recent period can remember, of "the coldness and even prejudice of the town." It is certain, and it is faying much, that they were received with a degree of eagerness and approbation proportioned to their merit; but two volumes are not so speedily fold as one, and the promise of a continuation, while it gratified the wishes of his admirers, neceffarily fufpended that final fentence. upon which the fame of the work was ultimately to depend.

Soon after the meeting of the new parliament, he was chofen, on a vacancy, to represent the borough of Lymington in Hampshire; but the administration to which he had attached himself was now on its decline, and with

* From his letters it appears, that while he gave the minister a filent vote, he never cordially approved of his measures, not perhaps from want of prin ciple, but of party-fpirit, which is frequently miftaken for principle, and from an indifference to public men and measures, all his hopes and fears being confined to his ftudies. He was too much a free thinker, in the best fenfe, to have ever been of confequence in the support of any party.

its fall, the Board of Trade was abolished, and "he was stripped of a convenient salary, after having enjoyed it about three years. Amidft the convulfions of parties which followed the diffolution of Lord North's adminiftration, he adhered to the coalition from a principle of gratitude, but he obtained in return only promises of distant advancement, while he found that an additional income was immediately necessary to enable him to maintain the ftyle of living to which he had been accuftomed. And fuch at the fame time was his indifference towards public business, and fuch his eagerness to pursue his studies, that no additional income would have been acceptable, if earned at the expence of parliamentary attendance, or official duties.

In this dilemma, Mr. Gibbon turned his thoughts once more to his beloved Lausanne. From his earliest knowledge of that country, he had always cherished a secret wifh, that the school of his youth might become the retreat of his declining age, where moderate fortune would fecure the bleffings of eafe, leifure, and independence. His old friend Mr. Deyverdun was now fettled there, an inducement of no fmall attraction, and to him he communicated his designs. The arrangements of friends are foon adjusted, and Mr. Gibbon, having difpofed of all his effects, except his library, bade adieu to England in September 1783, and arrived at Laufanne nearly twenty years after his fecond departure.

His reception was fuch as he expected and wished, and the comparative advantages of his situation are thus stated, nearly in his own words. His perfonal freedom had been fomewhat impaired by the House of Commons and by the Board of Trade, but he was now delivered from the chain of duty and dependence, from the hopes and fears of political adventure; his fober mind was no longer intoxicated by the fumes of party, and he rejoiced in his escape, as often as he read of the midnight debates, which

pre

preceded the diffolution of parliament. His English economy had been that of a folitary bachelor, who might afford fome occafional dinners. In Switzerland he enjoyed, at every meal, at every hour, the free and pleasant converfation of the friend of his youth; and his daily table was always provided for the reception of one or two extraordinary guests. In London he was loft in the crowd; but he ranked with the first families of Lausanne, and his ftyle of prudent expence enabled him to maintain a fair balance of reciprocal civilities. Instead of a small house between a street and a stable-yard, he occupied a fpacious and convenient manfion, connected on the north fide with the city, and open, to the fouth, to a beautiful and boundless horizon.

In this catalogue of advantages, we may perceive fomewhat of caprice and weakness, and it may certainly be conjectured, that a man of his internal resources might have discovered fituations in England both adapted to the purposes of economy and retirement, and yielding intervals of fociety. But from his subsequent remarks, it appears that he was, either from pride or modesty, averse to the company of his literary affociates, and preferred, in his hours of relaxation, that company in which the conversation leads, not to difcuffion, but to the exchange of mutual kindness and endearments. In this, perhaps, he is not fingular; and in disliking the polemical turn which literary conversation too frequently takes, he is not to be blamed. What was most commendable, however, and what conftantly predominated in the mind of Gibbon, was increase of knowledge. From that aim no opulence of ftation could have diverted him, and whatever his friends or the ftate might have done for him, his own scheme, the constant wish and prayer of his heart, was for a fituation in which books might be procured and meditation indulged.

He remained at Lausanne about a year, before he refumed

fumed his history, which he concluded in 1787. This event is recorded by him in language which it would be absurd to change, because it is personally characteristic, and of which no change could be an improvement." I have prefumed to mark the moment of conception: I shall now commemorate the hour of my final deliverance. It was on the day, or rather night, of the 27th of June 1787, between the hours of eleven and twelve, that I wrote the laft lines of the laft page, in a fummer-house in my garden. After laying down my pen, I took several turns in a berceau, or covered walk of acacias, which commands a profpect of the country, the lake, and the mountains. The air was temperate, the sky was ferene, the filver orb of the moon was reflected from the waters, and all nature was filent. I will not diffemble the first emotions of joy on the recovery of my freedom, and, perhaps, the establishment of my fame. But my pride was foon humbled, and a fober melancholy was spread over my mind, by the idea that I had taken an everlasting leave of an old and agreeable companion, and that whatsoever might be the future date of my Hiftory, the life of the historian might be short and precarious. I will add two facts, which have feldom occurred in the compofition of fix, or at least of five quartos. 1. My rough manufcript, without any intermediate copy, has been fent to prefs. 2. Not a fheet has been seen by any human eyes, excepting those of the author and the printer: the faults and merits are exclufively my own *."

With the manuscript copy of these volumes he fet out from Laufanne, and at the end of a fortnight arrived at the house of his friend Lord Sheffield, with whom he re

*Extract from Mr. Gibbon's common-place book.

The IVth volume of the Hiftory of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, begun March 1ft, 1782-ended June 1784.

The Vth volume, begun July 1784-ended May 1ft, 1786.

The VIth volume, begun May 18th, 1786 — ended June 27th, 1787.

These three volumes were fent to press, Aug. 15th, 1787, and the whole impreffion was concluded April following.

fided during the whole of his stay in England. Having dispofed of the copyright to his liberal publisher, the late Mr. Cadell, and the whole having been printed, the day of publication, he informs us, was delayed, that it might coincide with the fifty-first anniversary of his birth-day, May 8, 1788, when the double festival was celebrated by a cheerful literary dinner at Mr. Cadell's houfe. On this occafion some elegant stanzas by Mr. Hayley were read, at which, Mr. Gibbon adds, "I seemed to blush."

The fale of these volumes was rapid, and the whole history was foon reprinted in octavo, in which form it continues to be reprinted, and to be confidered as one of thofe books without which no library can be complete. The author had, however, a more formidable host of critics to encounter than when he first started, and his style underwent a more rigid examination. He tells us himself, that a religious clamour was revived, and the reproach of indecency loudly echoed by the cenfors of morals. The latter he profeffes he could never understand. Why he should not understand what was equally obvious to his admirers and to his opponents, and has been cenfured with equal afperity by both, is a question which cannot be answered by fuppofing Mr. Gibbon defective in the common powers of decernment. Perfifting, however, in his surprise, he offers a vindication of the indecent notes appended to these volumes, which probably never made one convert. He fays that all the licentious paffages are left in the obfcurity of a learned language; but he forgets that Greek and Latin are taught at every school; that senfuality may be effectually cenfured without being minutely described; and that it is not historically just to exhibit individual vices as a general picture of the manners of an age or people.

In the preface to his fourth volume, he announced his approaching return to the neighbourhood of the lake of Lausanne; nor did his year's visit to England once induce him to alter his refolution. This is not wonderful. It is

not