part iii. p. 199, Boston, 1885) says that Mallet passed off as

his own, with very slight changes, a ballad called _William and Margaret_, a copy of which, dated 1711, has been discovered. But the resemblances between the two poems scarcely seem to justify Mr. Child's criticism, though Gibbon's statement confirms it. The writer of the article on Mallet, in the _Dictionary of National Biography_, throws no doubts upon Mallet being the author of _William and Margaret_, nor does the writer on Marvell, in the same series, lay any claim for Marvell to its authorship. Thomas, better known as "Hesiod," Cooke, who published his _Life and Writings of Andrew Marvell_ in 1726, and who not only disliked Mallet, but characterised his _William and Margaret_ as "trash," nowhere suggests that Mallet was not the author. The first stanza is taken from Beaumont and Fletcher's comedy of _The Knight of the Burning Pestle_, where old Merrythought sings--

"When it was grown to dark midnight, And all were fast asleep, In came Margaret's grimly ghost, And stood at William's feet."

In Percy's _Reliques_, vol. iii. p. 331 (ed. Dodsley, 1759), Mallet's poem is printed with the following note: "This Ballad, which appeared in some of the public Newspapers in or before the year 1724, came from the pen of David Mallet, Esq.; who in the edition of his poems, 3 vols., 1759, informs us that the plan was suggested by the four verses quoted above ***, which he supposed to be the beginning of some ballad now lost."

282.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

June the 6th, 1776, from Almack's, where I was chose last week.

*To tell you any thing of the change or rather changes of Governors I must have known something of them myself: but all is darkness confusion and uncertainty; to such a degree that people do not even know what lyes to invent. The news from America have indeed diverted the public attention into another and far greater channel. All that you see in the papers of the repulse at Quebec as well as the capture of Lee[331] rests on the authority (a very unexceptionable one) of the Provincial papers as they have been transmitted by Governor Tryon from New York. Howe is well and eats plentifully, and the weather seems to clear up so fast that according to the English custom we have passed from the lowest despondency, to a full assurance of success.

My new birth happened last Monday, 700 of the 1500 were gone yesterday. I now understand from pretty good authority that Dr. Porteous,[332] the friend and chaplain of St. Secker, is actually sharpening his goose quill against the last two Chapters.* Mrs. G. has not yet signified her intentions about the London and Sheffield expedition. I have not advanced one single step with regard to Lovegrove. Palmer will not interfere till he has seen the abstract of the title with Duane's observations, which we cannot get them to communicate even to their own friend. Adieu. I embrace My lady and the Maria.

[331] The report of General Lee's capture was false. He was taken prisoner December 13, 1776.

[332] Beilby Porteus, Bishop of Chester, afterwards Bishop of London, had been chaplain to Archbishop Secker, whose Charges he published in 1769. He did not publish any reply to Gibbon's _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_.

[Sidenote: SECOND EDITION OF HIS BOOK.]

283.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Almack's, June 29th, 1776.

*Yes, yes I am alive and well; but what shall I say? Town grows empty and this house, where I have passed very agreable hours, is the only place which still unites the flower of the English youth. The style of living though _somewhat_ expensive is exceedingly pleasant and notwithstanding the rage of play I have found more entertaining and even rational society here than in any other Club to which I belong. Mrs. G. still hangs in suspense and seems to consider a town expedition with horror. I think however that she will be soon in motion, and when I have her in Bentinck-street we shall perhaps talk of a Sheffield excursion. I am now deeply engaged in the reign of Constantine, and from the specimens which I have already seen, I can venture to promise that the second Volume will not be less interesting than the first. The 1500 Copies are moving off with decent speed, and the obliging Cadell begins to mutter something of a third Edition for next year. No news of Deyverdun or his French translation. What a lazy dog! Madame Necker has been gone a great while. I gave her _en partant_ the most solemn assurances of following her _paws_ in less than two months, but the voice of indolence begins to whisper a thousand difficulties and, unless your absurd policy should thoroughly provoke me, the Parisian journey may possibly be deferred. I rejoyce in the progress of * * * towards light. By Cork Street I suppose you mean the Carters and highly approve of the place. We are in expectation of American news. Carleton is made a Knight of the Bath.[333] The old report of Washington's resignation and quarrel with the Congress seems to revive.* I shall say nothing of Lovegrove, the beast makes me very uneasy, as I cannot devise any expedient to force, persuade, or bribe him out of his obstinate silence. Adieu.

[333] Sir Guy Carleton was gazetted K.B., July 6, 1776.

284.

_To his Stepmother._

Almack's, July 4th, 1776.

DEAR MADAM,

I can freely and sincerely tell you, that there is no journey which will give me half the pleasure of staying in Bentinck Street to receive you the latter end of next week, which I shall expect with impatience.

I am, Ever yours, E. GIBBON.

285.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Saturday Night, Bentinck Street, 13th July, 1776.

Mrs. G. at last arrived. I enclose her letter. Our plan seems to be to visit Sheffield Place towards the end of next week. _À vue de pays_, Friday appears the most likely day. I have no news public or private, and loose conversation may be deferred till our meeting. I was deeply engaged in the decline, but this visit and journey put a heavy spoke in the wheel. Adieu.

286.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Saturday evening, August, 1776.

*We expect you at five o'Clock Tuesday without a sore throat. You have ere this heard of the shocking accident which takes up the attention of the town.* Our old acquaintance poor John Damer[334] shot himself, last Wednesday night, at the Bedford arms, his usual place of resort, where he had passed several hours with four Ladies and a blind fidler. By his own indolence rather than extravagance, his circumstances were embarrassed, and he had frequently declared himself tired of life. *No public news, nor any material expected till the end of this or beginning of the next month when Howe will probably have collected his whole force.[335] A tough business indeed; you see by their declaration that they have now passed the Rubicon and rendered the work of a treaty infinitely more difficult: You will perhaps say, so much the better; but I do assure you that the _thinking_ friends of government are by no means sanguine.* Mrs. G. seems likely to expect your arrival. She has had no answer out of you. I am pretty much a prisoner except about _one_ hour in the evening: but as she dines to-morrow with Mrs. Ashby, *I take the opportunity of eating turtle with Garrick at Hampton.* Adieu.

[334] The Hon. John Damer, son of Lord Milton, shot himself, August 15, 1776. To his widow, the daughter of General Conway, Horace Walpole left Strawberry Hill for her life.

[335] On August 27, 1776, General Howe defeated the Americans at the battle of Brooklyn or Long Island.

287.

_To his Stepmother._

London, September 2nd, 1776.

DEAR MADAM,

Yesterday afternoon about half an hour past five a young _Lady_[336] was introduced into the world, and though her sex might be considered an objection, she was received with great politeness. She is perfectly well, as likewise My Lady, who eat a whole chicken for her dinner to-day. How do you like Essex ladies? Have they resisted the attacks of two and twenty years? I hope they will not detain you from Bentinck Street much longer, and I rather consider my having no letter to-day as a good sign.

I am, Dear Madam, Most truly yours, E. GIBBON.

[336] Louisa, second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Holroyd.

288.

_To his Stepmother._

25th September, '76.

At a large Meeting of the most considerable Wits of the two Islands, it was agreed that Rouen Ducks have white feathers, but this is not the whole business of this letter. The Gibbon has so often declared an intention of letting Mrs. Gibbon know that he is well without so doing, that it is just determined to acquaint her he exists. Moreover Mrs. H. and the Brat are quite well, and Mrs. H. wishes for an opportunity of promoting eloquence in Mrs. Gibbon on Gothic Architecture.

It is a certain fact that the Gibbon exists, and that his resolutions have been as usual much better than his intentions. He looks back with pleasure and regret on the time with Mrs. Gibbon, and most sincerely hopes that as she has now conquered all the Lyons upon the road, she will no longer entertain any apprehensions of the Journey. Mrs. Porten is well, and I believe has written. The other day I told her that there was an Irish edition of the Decline. Her question amused me. "Do you understand it?" She supposed it was published in the Irish language. The natives have printed it very well, and the notes at the bottom take up much less space than I could have imagined.

Ever yours, E. GIBBON.

289.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Saturday, ¾ past eleven, 19 Oct. 1776.

I have waited so long that the bell is tolling in my ear, but I know you would swear----

By the enclosed you will see Sir Hugh's impediments, and if the rest of his letter requires any answer you may amuse yourself with scratching it out.

*For the present I am so deeply engaged that you must renounce the hasty apparition at S. P.; but if you should be very impatient I will try (after the meeting) to run down between the friday and monday, and bring you the last Editions of things.--At present _nought_ but expectation. The attack on me is begun, an anonymous eighteen-penny pamphlet, which will get the author more Glory in _the next World_ than in this. The Heavy troops, Watson[337] and another, are on their march. No news from Richard Way. Adieu.*

[337] _An Apology for Christianity, in a Series of Letters to Edward Gibbon, Esq._, by Richard Watson, D.D. (afterwards Bishop of Llandaff). Gibbon had a great respect for Dr. Watson, at this time Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, as "a prelate of a large mind and liberal spirit." He writes (November 2, 1776) to "express his sense of the liberal treatment which he has received from so candid an adversary."

[Sidenote: FEARS OF WAR WITH FRANCE.]

290.

_To his Stepmother._

Ampthill Park, Oct. 24th, 1776.

DEAR MADAM,

I hardly dare recollect how long I have been without writing to you, but you know my sentiment and my laziness; so I will say no more on that threadbare subject. I have been some days at this place and have spent them very agreeably. Luckily the weather has been bad, which in a great measure has secured me from excursions, and confined us to an excellent house, conducted on an easy plan, and filled with a comfortable society in which the principal part was performed by Mr. Garrick. I return to town to-morrow. By-the-bye, you will be so good as not to mention this Bedfordshire journey to Miss Holroyd: it might get round to Sheffield Place which I have cheated of a promised visit. In a few days our Parliamentary campaign will open, and the beginning of success which we have tasted in America will enliven our countenances, if they should not be clouded again by the apprehensions of a French war, which seem to increase every day. With regard to another great object of hostilities,--_myself_,--the attack has been already begun by an anonymous Pamphleteer, but the heavy artillery of Dr. Watson and another adversary are not yet brought into the field. I was afraid that I should be hurt by them, but if I may presume of my future feelings from the first tryal of them, I shall be in every sense of the word _invulnerable_.

My long depending and troublesome business with Lovegrove is at length, by the strenuous interposition of Holroyd, not concluded, but broke off. The fellow wanted either power or inclination to compleat his agreement, and after weighing all the difficulties and delays of Chancery, it was judged most expedient to consent to a mutual discharge. By this transaction I have lost a great deal both of time and money, and am now to begin the sale again. It has occasioned me much vexation, but Holroyd assures me that I have been guilty of no fault, and that I may still entertain very fair hopes. The subject was grown so odious to me, that I could not bring myself even to talk to you about it. Adieu, Dear Madam. Remember that by your summer excursions you gain health and give pleasure. This doctrine is true and I hope that another year you will draw some practical inferences from it.

I am, Ever yours, E. GIBBON.

291.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

November the 4th, 1776.

*I hope you bark and growl at my silence: growl and bark. This is not a time for correspondence. Parliament, visits, dinners, suppers, and an hour or two stolen with difficulty for the Decline leave but very little leisure.* I dare say you admire the Howes; so do I; and I firmly believe that whatever force can effect will be performed by them. *I send you the Gazette and have scarcely any thing to add except that about five hundred of them have deserted to us, and that the New York incendiaries were immediately and very justifiably destined to the Cord.[338] Lord G[eorge] G[ermain] with whom I had a long conversation last night was in high spirits and hopes to reconquer Germany and America.[339] On the side of Canada he only fears Carleton's _slowness_, but entertains great expectations that the light troops and Indians under Sir William Johnson, who are sent from Oswego down the Mohawk River to Albany, will oblige the Provincials to give up the defence of the lakes for fear of being cut off.--The report of a foreign War subsides. House of Commons dull;[340] and Opposition talk of suspending hostilities from despair.

An anonymous pamphlet and Dr. Watson out against me: (in my opinion) feeble; the former very illiberal, the latter uncommonly genteel. At last I have had a letter from Deyverdun, wretched excuses, nothing done, vexatious enough.--To-morrow I write to Suard, a very skilful translator of Paris, who was here in the spring with the Neckers to get him (if not too late) to undertake it.* Not a line from R. Way! Adieu. I embrace, &c. Remember the fourteenth. I expect at least a week. What's the whim of my lady's not paying her proper respects to Bentinck Street?

[338] On September 15 General Howe occupied New York, which had been evacuated by the American troops; a few days later a great part of the city was destroyed by incendiaries.

[339] Lord Chatham boasted that he had conquered America in Germany. Wilkes, in March, 1776, had said, alluding to Lord G. Germain's misconduct at Minden and Chatham's boast, that Lord George might conquer America, though, he believed, it would not be in Germany. Gibbon apparently refers to this remark, and to Lord George's hope that he might recover his lost reputation by the reconquest of America.

[340] Parliament met October 31, 1776. An amendment to the address, expressing pacific sentiments, was negatived by 242 to 87, and the address carried by 232 to 83.

[Sidenote: HOWE'S PROCLAMATION.]

292.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Almack's, Thursday evening, November 7th, 1776.

*Letters from Bourgoyne. They embarked on the lakes the 30th of September with 800 British Sailors, 6000 regulars, 3000 Canadians, and a naval force superior to any possible opposition: but the season was so far advanced that they expected only to occupy and strengthen Ticonderoga and afterwards to return, and take up their winter quarters in Canada.--Yesterday we had a surprize in the house from a proclamation of the Howes[341] which made its first appearance in the Morning post, and which nobody seems to understand. By this time My lady may see that I have not much reason to fear my antagonists. Adieu till next Thursday.*

[341] The proclamation, issued September 19, 1776, was addressed to the people of America, promised a revision of recent legislation, and was designed to induce separate colonies to negotiate with the commissioners independently of Congress. It was not published in the official Gazettes, which had appeared on November 4 and 5, 1776.

[Sidenote: FRENCH TRANSLATION OF HIS HISTORY.]

293.

_To M. Suard._[342]

Bentinck Street, Cavendish Square, le 8 Novembre 1776.

MONSIEUR,

Quand on se propose de visiter un pays étranger où la langue que nous parlons n'est pas connue, on doit chercher les plus habiles interprètes de ses pensées. C'est pour cette raison que vous me permettrez de m'adresser à vous au sujet de mon histoire de la décadence et de la chute de l'Empire Romain.

Quand j'ai en le plaisir ce printems dernier de vous voir à Londres avec M. et Madame Necker, je crois vous avoir dit que mon ami Deyverdun s'étoit chargé de ma traduction, et qu'il se proposoit de la faire paroître en Allemagne, où il séjourne actuellement avec ce jeune Anglois. Mais l'exactitude et la diligence ne sont pas du nombre des vertus de mon ami; et après un long silence qui n'a pas laissé de m'ettonner, je reçus hier au soir une lettre de sa part, par laquelle j'apprens que sa paresse, ses occupations et les projets de son élève l'obligent de renoncer absolument à cette entreprise qu'il avoit à peine commencée. Me voici donc à present libre mais isolé. J'ai toujours méprisé la triste philosophie qui veut nous rendre insensibles à la gloire. J'ambitionne celle d'être lu en France et dans le Continent; et je me verrois au comble de mes désirs, si la même plume qui a si bien rendu l'éloquence historique de Robertson vouloit se preter à un écrivain son inferieur à tous egards mais qui a reçu de l'indulgence de ses compatriotes un acceuil presqu'aussi favorable. Un succès si flatteur m'encourage à me livrer avec ardeur à la composition du second volume. Malgré la dissipation de Londres et les soins du Parlement j'y ai déjà fait quelque progrès et je compte avec une assurance assez bien fondée de pouvoir l'achever dans deux ou tout au plus dans trois ans. Comme je m'empresserois alors de vous envoyer les feuilles à mesure qu'elles sortiroient de la presse, il nous seroit facile de nous arranger de manière que ce volume parût en même tems dans les deux langues.

Si vous avez, Monsieur, l'inclination et le loisir de vous engager dans ce travail, je ne perçeois plus que deux obstacles, qui sont à la verité assez considerables. Le premier c'est l'objet et la nature de mes deux derniers chapitres, qui doivent paroitre moins edifians encore en France qu'en Angleterre. Je sens cependant qu'un homme d'esprit rompu comme vous dans l'art d'écrire seroit souvent en état d'adoucir l'expression sans affoiblir la pensée. Je ne craindrois pas de vous confier les droits les plus étendus pour changer et même pour supprimer tout ce qui vous paroitroit le plus propre à blesser la delicatesse de votre église et de votre police. J'irais moi-même au devant de leurs scrupules et si par le moyen des couriers de nos ministres, vous m'envoyez les feuilles de la traduction, je vous aiderois à enlever toutes les pierres d'achoppement. Enfin si malgré toutes ces précautions l'ouvrage se trouvoit encore trop fort pour passer à la censure, ne pourroit on pas obtenir par le crédit de nos amis communs un privilège tacite qui suffiroit pour mettre votre edition à couvert de l'avidité des libraires? L'autre obstacle se tire de la crainte que dans cet intervalle de tems perdu par la negligence de mon ami, Deyverdun, quelque main assurément moins habile ne vous ait déjà prevenu. On m'a parlé fort confusement d'une traduction entreprise par Moutard, libraire sur le quai des Augustins, mais j'ignore jusqu'a quel point elle est avancée et quelles mesures on prend pour le faire paroitre. Vous êtes à portée, Monsieur, de vous informer et je conçois que cet eclaircissement pourra influer sur vos resolutions, et j'ose vous prier de me les communiquer au plûtot.

Mes affaires ne m'ont pas permis de faire un voyage à Paris cet été. J'ai senti douleureusement cette privation dont je ne me suis consolé qu'en formant des projets pour l'année prochaine. Quand on se rappelle les momens delicieux qu'on a passés avec Madame Necker dans ce taudis de Suffolk Street, toutes nos Angloises paroissent encore plus froides et plus maussades. Ayez la bonté, Monsieur, de l'assurer que son souvenir ne s'effacera jamais de mon coeur et de presenter en même tems à Monsieur Necker mes respects les plus sinceres. Comme homme je dois applaudir à la justice qu'on rend an vrai mérite; mais si je ne pensois qu'en Anglois je vous avoue franchement que ce n'est pas là le Ministre des Finances que je voudrois donner à la France. J'espère néanmoins que l'ami de l'humanité sera disposé à nous epargner le plus terribles de ses fleaux.

Excusez, Monsieur, ce long barbouillage dont j'ai pris la liberté de vous importuner, ou pardonnez tout à l'amour paternal. Recevez mes remerciemens en même tems pour cet excellent discours à l'Academie Françoise dans lequel vous avez mis des idées à la place de complemens. A propos nous sommes fort en colère contre votre confrère Voltaire pour les blasphemes qu'il vient d'écrire contre le Dieu du Théâtre Anglois;[343] et qu'on a lu, dit-on, en pleine Academie dans la presence même de sa prêtresse Madame Montagu.

J'ai l'honneur d'être avec une consideration distinguée,

Monsieur, Votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, E. GIBBON.

[342] J. B. Antoine Suard (1733-1817), whose acquaintance Gibbon made at Paris in 1763, had translated Robertson's _History of Charles V._ in 1771, and was now at work on a translation of his _History of America_, which was published in 1778.

[343] In a letter, dated "Ferney, July 19, 1776," and addressed to M. d'Argenteuil, Voltaire wrote strongly against a projected translation of Shakespeare. He claims that he himself had first pointed out to the French some pearls which he found on Shakespeare's "enormous dung-heap." "I little thought," he continues, "that I should help to tread under foot the crowns of Racine and Corneille, in order to adorn the head of a barbarian and a buffoon." The letter was read aloud before the Academicians. Mrs. Montague, who was present, when she heard the words "énorme fumier," exclaimed, "C'est un fumier qui a fertilisé une terre bien ingrate."

294.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Friday evening, November 22nd, 1776.

*News from the Lakes. A Naval combat in which the Provincials were repulsed with considerable loss.[344] They burnt and abandoned Crown point. Carleton is besieging Ticonderoga. Carleton, I say, for he is there, and it is apprehended that Bourgoyne is coming home. We dismissed the Nabobs without a division. Burke and Attorney General spoke very well.* This evening a letter from Aunt Hester. She seems angry with Gilbert's accounts, and dissatisfied with her poor balance. Adieu.

[344] On November 22, letters arrived from Sir Guy Carleton giving an account of the destruction of the American fleet on Lake Champlain, October 11-13, 1776. Arnold, after destroying Crown Point, retired to Ticonderoga. General Burgoyne returned to England on December 9, 1776.

295.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Saturday Evening, 23rd Nov., 1776.

You will receive this post a large parcel which came last night from Northamptonshire and to which you must return an immediate answer, as the old Lady seems impatient. Her wanting me to lend her money in contradiction to all rules established between Aunts and Nephews is a very _ugly_ circumstance. I do not like to borrow money to purchase land; nor to lend money without being able to call for either principal or interest. Yet she might in various ways be offended at my declining it. Therefore if the Tythes can be dispensed with, give an opinion against them. I do not like Gilbert; he says that Martin has a long lease of land two miles from Newhaven, and that he could distress us by taking in kind. Consider, and if there is doubt enquire.

Examine in your library an old translation of Tacitus by Sir Henry Saville: if it contains the life of Agricola, send up the book for the use of the Sollicitor General.

I embrace, &c.

[Sidenote: TWO ANSWERS TO HIS HISTORY.]

296.

_To his Stepmother._

London, Nov. 29th, 1776.

DEAR MADAM,

Let me just write a line to ask how you do and to tell you that I am very well--very well, and I think unhurt amidst as hot a cannonading as can be pointed against Washington. Two answers (which you perhaps have seen), one from Mr. Chelsham[345] of Oxford, the other from Dr. Watson of Cambridge, are already born, and I believe the former is choleric, the latter civil, and both too dull to deserve your notice; three or four more are expected, but I believe none of them will divert me from the prosecution of the second volume, which will be much more laborious for me, but not less entertaining to the reader than the first. I shall be pretty much fixed in town, though I have been forced into a kind of promise for S. P. and tempted into another for Ampthill.[346] I understand and remember your question. _She_ was in London, and I see her much less than formerly, as Beauclerc and Lady Dy are at Bath. _My lace._

I am entirely yours, E. G.

[345] _Remarks on the Two Last Chapters of Mr. Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, by James Chelsum, D.D. London, 1776. 8vo.

[346] With Lord and Lady Ossory.

297.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Atwood's, Saturday Evening, Dec. 7, 1776. Just going to supper.

This day a dispatch arrived from Northamptonshire. Mrs. G. is extremely satisfied with my diligence and prolixity; but seems to wish that _we_ would settle her account with Gilbert. I have not her letter about me, but will send it next post. I expect to receive from you some plan for the disposal of Lenborough, the great thorn which sticks in the side of my happiness. Lord G. G. who is playing at Whist says there is not any news, though great hopes.--This morning I received by the _post_ (charged two guineas and a half) a first volume of a French translation containing only the seven first chapters, but to be continued. I did not however regret the money, as it is admirably well done by M. de Septchenes[347] (Sevenoaks), a young man who has been lately in England, and who sent me a very pleasant dose of flattery on the occasion.

I mean to eat my Christmas dinner with you, and think Sir Hugh will accompany me. I believe in the meantime I shall run down to Bath and pay a charitable visit to poor Beauclerck.

[347] The translation, commenced by M. Le Clerc de Septchênes, and completed by other hands, passed through numerous editions in France. It was the foundation of an Italian version published at Pisa in 1779-86.

[Sidenote: SEPTCHÊNES TRANSLATES "DECLINE AND FALL."]

298.

_To M. de Septchênes._

Bentinck Street, le 10 Decembre 1776.

Le paquet interessant que vous m'avez addressé, Monsieur, par la poste, m'a été rendu le 7^{me} de ce mois: et c'est avec empressement que je saisis le premier instant pour rassurer votre modestie et pour vous témoigner les sentimens auxquels vous avez acquis les droits les plus légitimes. Representez-vous les inquiétudes d'un père pour le sort d'un enfant cheri, égaré sans guide du milieu de Paris et exposé au danger de déshonorer par des liaisons honteuses le nom qu'il portoit. S'il apprenoit donc, d'un coup, qu'une main secourable retirant son fils d'un état aussi triste l'avoit présenté dans les meilleures compagnies de Paris avec un éclat et des avantages qu'il ne tenoit point de sa naissance, jugez, Monsieur, des sensibilités de ce Père envers son ami et son bienfaiteur. L'estime seroit augmentée par la reconnoissance et leur affection commune pour l'objet de leurs soins deviendroit peut-être le lien le plus étroit de leur amitié. Pour parler sans figure de votre traduction de l'histoire de la décadence de l'Empire Romain, je l'ai lu, Monsieur, avec autant de plaisir que d'aviditê. Je crains de trop louer une production à laquelle j'ai moi-même fourni les materiaux, mais cette crainte ne doit pas m'interdire d'accorder des justes éloges qui sont dus à votre parfaite intelligence de l'original Anglois, et à la fidelité, aussi bien qu'à l'elegance, avec laquelle vous l'avez transporté dans votre langue. Si dans un petit nombre d'endroits j'ai été moins content de la traduction, ce ne sont que de legères meprises presqu'inevitables dans un ouvrage de longue haleine et auxquelles l'obscurité du texte peut quelquefois avoir donné lieu. Je prendrai la liberté de vous envoyer à la première occasion les observations qui se sont presentées à mesure que je lisois votre ouvrage; vous en ferez l'usage que vous jugerez le convenable. J'attens avec une vive impatience la suite de la traduction, et si le succès de la première partie ne vous encourage pas à la continuer, je déclare d'avance que ce ne sera point votre faute mais celle de l'original. Au cas que vous ne renonciez pas à cette enterprise, je serois charmé que vous voulussiez bien m'envoyer les épreuves, au sortir de la presse, je les examinerai avec toute l'attention de l'amour propre, et comme vous avez déjà gagné de vitesse sur vos concurrens, le délai de quelques jours seroit d'une assez petite importance. A propos, Monsieur, quel parti prendrez vous à l'égard des deux derniers chapitres? En Angleterre même ils ont excité, je ne sais pourquoi, du scandale parmi nos Ecclesiastiques, et malgré toutes vos précautions j'ai de la peine à concevoir comment ils pourrent soutenir la censure sévère de votre Eglise et de votre police. Mais nous avons du tems pour y songer; car je pense que dans tous ces chapitres, qui forment votre 2^e partie, il n'y a rien, dont la delicatesse la plus scrupuleuse puisse se formaliser.

Je regrette sincèrement de n'avoir pas eu le plaisir de vous connoître dans votre dernier voyage: mais comme le Libraire Elmsley m'assure que vous aimez ce pays et que vous le visitez souvent, je ne desespère pas de trouver une occasion favorable pour reparer mes pertes. D'ailleurs j'ai quelque idée moi-même de faire une course à Paris ce printems prochain. En ce cas-là ma première demarche seroit de vous chercher, Monsieur, pour vous réiterer les assurances de l'estime et de la consideration avec laquelle j'ai l'honneur d'être

Votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur, E. GIBBON.

P.S.--Votre paquet m'a couté deux Guinées et demi. Il vaut bien son prix: mais il faut toujours eviter les despenses inutiles. Si vous addressez vos lettres To Sir Stanier Porten, Under Secretary of State, Cleveland Row, London, Elles me parviendront avec sureté et sans frais.

299.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Thursday Evening, 19th Dec., 1776.

Believe me when I say _upon my honour_, that a particular business of serious importance has just arisen, which, as long as it is in agitation, will not allow me to quit town for a day. I still think however that I shall see S. P. before the close of the year. You may say in general in the family (if any should bark) that you are satisfied with my conduct, and order them to shut their trap.

[Sidenote: A WAR OF POSTS.]

Confused news from New York, the Howes' dispatches are not arrived; but it appears from some officers' letters which I have seen, that we attacked and carried a post ill defended by 6000 men, upon which they evacuated Kingsbridge, though they still occupy Fort Washington on the Island of N. Y.[348] They shew little courage or conduct, but the ground is incredibly strong, and it seems running into a War of posts.--I shall write to Mrs. G. Is the historian of the Roman Empire to write out twenty copies himself of a few acres in Bucks. I should like to have them transcribed or even printed. Why not? Adieu.

[348] After the battle of Brooklyn, Washington withdrew his troops to the heights of Haarlem. General Howe, towards the end of October, engaged in several skirmishes with the Americans, but made no effort to bring them to a decisive engagement. On November 16, 1776, Fort Washington was taken by the British, and 2600 of the American troops, exclusive of officers, surrendered as prisoners of war. Following up his advantage, Howe advanced into New Jersey, Washington retreating beyond the Delaware.

300.

_To his Stepmother._

London, December 25th, 1776.

DEAR MADAM,

Next week I go for a fortnight to Sheffield Place, not from any weariness of an empty town, for in its most deserted state I still prefer it to the most agreeable rural scene, but the little man is so pressing, that I was obliged to sacrifice to his commands an invitation to Ampthill Park, accompanied with all that could render the visit desirable. Your silence gives me reason to hope that you have now dismissed your indisposition which had made me a little uneasy. I hear the most favourable accounts of Beauclerc's recovery. Adieu, Dear Madam. Messieurs Gosling and Clive are instructed to obey your commands whenever you please to send them.

I am, Most truly yours, E. GIBBON.

301.

_To Mrs. Holroyd._

Downing Street, January 16th, 1777.

Inconstant pusillanimous Woman!

Is it possible that you should so soon have forgot your solemn vows and engagements, and that you should _pretend_ to prefer the dirt and darkness of the Weald of Sussex to the splendid and social life of London? Before the reception of your Lord's epistle, Downing Street[349] and Bentinck Street were ready to engage in a Civil War. They have now suspended their hostilities and united their interests, and they both, jointly and separately, insist on your appearance with or without your mate on the appointed Saturday the 25th instant, to remain a hostage in our hands till we think proper to dismiss you. Donna Catherina[350] will undertake to dress you, as human and female creatures are usually dressed. A proper application of rouge will conceal the variety of colours, and the deficiency of hair may be supplied by a fashionable periwig. Adieu.

DONNA CATHERINA. MOUNTAINEER.[351] LE GRAND GIBBON.

[349] General Fraser lived in Downing Street, and died there, February 8, 1782.

[350] Mrs. Fraser.

[351] General Fraser.

302.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Bentinck-street, January the 18th, 1777.

*As I presume, My Lady does not make a practise of tumbling down stairs every day after dinner, by this time the colours must have faded, and the high places (I mean the temples) are reduced to a proper level. But what, in the name of the great prince, is the meaning of her declining the urban expedition? Is it the spontaneous result of her own proud spirit? or does it proceed from the secret machinations of her domestic tyrant? At all events, I expect you will both remember your engagement of next Saturday in Bentinck Street, with Donna Catherina, the Mountaineer, &c.

Things go on very prosperously in America. Howe is himself in the Jerseys, and will push at least as far as the Delawar River. The Continental (perhaps _now_ the rebel) Army is in a great measure dispersed, and Washington, who wishes to cover Philadelphia, has not more than 6 or 7 thousand men with him. Clinton designs to conquer Rhode Island in his way home. But what _I_ think of much greater consequence, a province has made its submission, and desired to be reinstated in the peace of the King. It is indeed only poor little Georgia, and the application was made to Governor Tonyn of Florida; some disgust at a violent step of the Congress, who removed the President of _their_ provincial assembly, a leading and popular man, co-operated with the fear of the Indians, who began to amuse themselves with the exercise of scalping on their back settlements.

The measures for Lenborough are in train, but we must wait for our turn in the papers. Adieu. Town fills, and we are mighty agreeable. Last year, on the Queen's birthday, Sir G. Warren had his diamond star cut off his coat; this day the same accident happened to him again, with another star worth £700. He had better compound by the year.*

E. G.

[Sidenote: "JOHN THE PAINTER."]

303.

_To Mrs. Holroyd._

January 21st, 1777.

The Bristol fire is universally imputed to design and patriotic virtue.[352]

What creatures women are! They talk of the art and management of the Highlander in every point which he has a mind to carry. But Donna Catherina, with all her seeming naivetè, exceeds him many a degree.

By suggesting the Ab of Ab,[353] for whom I cannot squeeze out a bed without obliging her to pig with Caplin, she has compelled me to consent to your emigration into Downing Street. _Bien entendu_, however, that, when you are less _fine_ and can appear in town accompanied only by your own charms, Bentinck Street shall be restored to its ancient rights. You puzzle us all by the mention of the 26th, which is Sunday. Had you forgot the engagement _to dinner_ in B. S. for Saturday the 25th, which still holds if you can move that day? Otherwise it stands for the 27th, as I am engaged Sunday. An answer to this by the return. I kiss your fair hands and party-coloured face.

E. G.

[352] On December 7, 1776, a fire broke out in Portsmouth Dockyard, and in the hemp warehouse a quantity of combustibles were found; at Plymouth an attempt to set the dockyard on fire was discovered; at Bristol several houses close to the quay were set on fire. The incendiary was "John the Painter," whose real name was Aitken. He confessed his guilt, and asserted the complicity of Silas Deane, the American agent at Paris. He was tried at Winchester Assizes, convicted, and hanged at Portsmouth.

[353] _I.e._ probably the Abigail of Mrs. Abigail Holroyd.

304.

_To his Stepmother._

London, February the 10th, 1777.

DEAR MADAM,

Your lace arrived safe, and now it is put on a fashionable frock makes a very handsome figure. The Taylor tells me it would be impossible to get such stuff from the shops.

Though the memorandum is quite superfluous, it will often put me in mind of the creator. The Holroyds are just gone, not from me but from General Fraser's, where they spent a fortnight. The town is now full and pleasant, though my usual hurry is increased by a daily attendance on Dr. Hunter's Anatomy lectures,[354] which amuse me beyond any I ever studied. My compliments to Mrs. Gould, she shall not wait long for her franks. I am sorry to hear of young Gould. Adieu.

Sincerely yours, E. G.

[354] John Hunter (1728-1793) began his Anatomy Lectures in 1773. Originally delivered to his pupils, they were afterwards thrown open to the public on payment of a fee of four guineas. They were delivered annually from October to April, on alternate evenings at 7 to 8 p.m.

305.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Feb. 15, 1777.

*You deserve, and we exult in, your weather and disappointments. Why would you bury yourself? I dined in Downing-street Thursday last; and I think Wedderburne was at least as agreeable a companion as your timber-surveyor could be. Lee is certainly taken, but Lord North does not apprehend he is coming home. We are not clear whether he behaved with courage or pusillanimity when he surrendered himself; but Colonel Keene told me to-day, that he had seen a letter from Lee since his confinement. "He imputes his being taken, to the alertness of Harcourt, and cowardice of his own guard; hopes he shall meet his fate with fortitude; but laments that freedom is not likely to find a resting-place in any part of the globe." It is said, he was to succeed Washington. We know nothing certain of the Hessians;[355] but there _has_ been a blow. Adieu.*

[355] Washington crossed the Delaware on Christmas Day, 1776, surprised two regiments of Hessians at Trenton, and in the following January again reduced the Jerseys, while Howe remained inactive at New York.

[Sidenote: UNIFORMITY OF HIS LIFE.]

306.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Almack's, Wednesday evening, March 5, 1777.

*In due obedience to thy dread commands I write. But what shall I say? My life, though more lively than yours, is almost as uniform; a very little reading and writing in the morning, bones or guts from two to four, pleasant dinners from five to eight, and afterwards Clubs, with an occasional assembly, or supper. As to Lenborough the bait is in the water, but I have not heard of any fish biting. America affords nothing very satisfactory; and though we have many flying reports, you may be assured that we are ignorant of the consequences of Trenton, &c. Charles Fox is now at my elbow, declaiming on the impossibility of keeping America, since a victorious Army has been unable to maintain any extent of posts in the single province of Jersey. Lord North is out of danger (the animal is so gross that we trembled for its important existence). I now expect that _My Lady_ and you should fix the time for the proposed visitation to Bentinck Street. March and April are open--chuse. Adieu.*

307.

_To his Stepmother._

London, March the 29th, 1777.

DEAR MADAM,

Instead of inventing any artificial excuses for my natural and original sin of indolence, I believe my most prudent method would be to quarrel with you for the provoking patience with which you have endured my long and scandalous silence. Even in the midst of the dissipation of this town I might have found a few moments to tell you that I have been perfectly well this winter, and to enquire after your health, your spirits and your amusements. Lady Dy. tells me that she was once in your company at Dr. Delacour's, for whom both she and Beauclerc express a veneration almost equal to your own. As little or no conversation passed between you, she had only an opportunity of admiring the harmony of your voice and the beauty of your teeth, on which she bestows the most lavish enconiums. They mean to visit Bath again this spring, and I am very desirous that you should be better acquainted with her. You will find her one of the most accomplished women in the World, and she will soon discover in you qualities more valuable than those which are now the objects of her enconiums.

The decline of the Roman Empire does not yet decline, the clamour subsides, the sale continues, and we are now printing a third edition in quarto of 1000 copies (in all 3500) with the notes at bottom. I am often pressed about the second volume, which advances very slowly indeed. Last year was allowed for repose and preparation, the usual distractions of the winter have been increased by a constant daily attendance of two hours _every day_ to Dr. Hunter's Anatomy Lectures, which have opened to me a new and very entertaining scene within myself. This summer I propose passing at Paris, as I must not lose any time if I wish to catch my friends the Neckers[356] in their brilliant and precarious situation of Ministers. As soon as we have paid the King's debts I intend (about the end of next month) to set forward on an expedition in which I promise to myself very great and various entertainment. You need not in any respect be allarmed at my design. My seat at Westminster is a full security for my return in four or five months; the supplies for the journey will be paid by the Roman Empire, and my business (particularly in Bucks) will be entrusted to the safeguard and active hands of the Lord of Sheffield. Adieu, Dear Madam,

I am, Ever yours, E. GIBBON.

Mrs. Porten is as young as ever. I understand that the giddy girl has neglected writing to you.

[356] In June, 1776, after the fall of Turgot, Necker was associated with Taboureau des Réaux, the Controller-General, in the management of the finances of France, and given the title of _Directeur du trésor_. In June, 1777, he succeeded Taboureau des Réaux, but, because of his religion, only received the title of _Directeur Général_.

[Sidenote: VISIT TO PARIS.]

308.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Saturday night, April 12th, 1777.

*Your dispatch is gone to R. Way, and I flatter myself that by your assistance I shall be enabled to lose £1000 upon Lenbourough before my return from Paris. The day of my departure is not absolutely fixed; Sunday sen-night, the 27th instant, is talked of: but if any India business should come on after the Civil list, it will occasion some delay. Otherwise things are in great forwardness,* a livery servant is provided, a Swiss who speaks French and English. I take my own chaise, and begin to think of settling my credit. Pray if I can save four pr. cent. by it, may I not decline Fleet Street, who are very indifferent, I believe, about that sort of business? *Mrs. G. is an enemy to the whole plan; and I must answer, in a long letter, two very ingenious objections which she has started; 1st, that I shall be confined, or put to death by the priests, and, 2ndly, That I shall sully my _moral_ character, by making love to Necker's wife. Before I go, I will consult Newton, about a power of Attorney for you. By the bye, I wish you would remember a sort of promise, and give me one day before I go. We talk chiefly of the Marquis de la Fayette,[357] who was here a few weeks ago. He is about twenty, with 130,000 Livres a year; the nephew of Noailles, who is Ambassador here. He has bought the D. of Kingston's Yacht, and is gone to joyn the Americans. The Court _appear_ to be angry with him. Adieu.*

E. G.

[357] The Marquis de la Fayette, born 1757, married the second daughter of the Duc d'Ayen, eldest son of the Maréchal de Noailles, and brother of the Marquis de Noailles, the French ambassador. La Fayette came to London on a visit to his wife's uncle early in 1777, and was presented to George III. A few days later he returned to Paris, sailed from Passages with several young Frenchmen for America, landed in June, and immediately received the rank of major-general in the American army. A _lettre de cachet_ was sent after him to Bordeaux; but he avoided it by crossing into Spain.

[Sidenote: HIS STEPMOTHER'S GROUNDLESS FEARS.]

309.

_To his Stepmother._

Bentinck Street, April the 14th, 1777.

DEAR MADAM,

I will freely acknowledge that I was not a little surprized and even vexed at finding by your last letter, that you had conceived so strong a dislike to my intended journey. But I must add at the same time that I was equally sensible of the obliging frankness with which you communicate your objections. The less foundation I can discover for your apprehensions, the more I am convinced of the delicacy of your regard. True love is of very timid and even pusillanimous nature, and can easily transform the most harmless objects into horrid phantoms which appear to threaten the happiness of those who are dear to us. But when you have indulged the exquisite sensibility of friendship, you will, I am sure, make a proper use of your excellent understanding, and will soon smile at your own terrors. The constancy and danger of a twenty years' passion is a subject upon which I hardly know how to be serious. I am ignorant what effect that period of time has produced upon me, but I do assure you that it has committed very great ravages upon the Lady, and that at present she is very far from being an object either of desire or scandal. As a woman of talents and fortune she is at the head of the literature of Paris, the station of her husband procures her respect from the first people of the country, and the reception which I shall meet with in her house will give me advantages that have fallen to the share of few Englishmen. When I mention her _house_, I must remove the misapprehension which seems to have allarmed you. I shall _visit_ but not _lodge_ there. I have not the least reason to believe that they think of offering me an apartment, but if they do, I shall certainly refuse it, for the sake of my own comfort and freedom: So that the husband will be easy, the world will be mute, and my moral character will still preserve its immaculate purity.

A moment's reflection will satisfy you that I have as little to fear from the hatred of the priests as from the love of Madame N. Whatever might be the wishes of the French Clergy, the wisdom of the Government and the liberal temper of the Nation have rendered those monsters perfectly inoffensive. Their own subjects (Voltaire for instance, who resides near Geneva, but in France) think, converse and write with the most unbounded freedom: and can you imagine that an English Protestant, a member of the British Legislature, living at Paris under the protection of his Minister, and in Society with their own, will be exposed to the smallest possible danger or even trouble for having published a profane book in a foreign language and country? When David Hume (the name, the most abhorred by the Godly) was at Paris, he was oppressed only with civilities; and the recent fame of my book is perhaps the circumstance which will introduce me with the most favour and eclat.

The scheme of passing some months at Paris (though I have patiently waited till I could execute it with prudence and propriety) has been formed many years ago. I cannot persuade myself without any reason that strikes my understanding to renounce an expedition which promises so much entertainment and information: but it will be a very considerable alloy to my satisfaction if I leave any uneasiness or apprehension on your mind. I could very much have wished to fulfil my promise of an Easter visit; but I imagined that I had already explained how closely I was confined in town by my daily attendance on Dr. Hunter's lectures. They prevent my setting out for Paris till after the 25th instant, by which time I hope we shall have paid the King's debts.[358] You may depend on receiving regular though concise intelligence of my motions.

I am, Dear Madam, Most truly yours, E. GIBBON.

[358] On April 9, 1777, a message from the king was delivered to both Houses, asking for the payment of his debts, which amounted to £600,000. At the same time a Bill "for the better support of the Royal Household" was introduced, to increase his revenue by £100,000 a year. A motion for a committee to inquire into the accounts was rejected; the king's debts were discharged, and the Government Bill carried.

310.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Atwood's, Saturday night, [April 19th, 1777].

*It is not possible as yet to fix the day of my departure. That circumstance depends on the state of India, and will not be determined till the general court of next Wednesday. I know from the _first_ authority, if the violence of the Proprietors about the Pigot[359] can be checked in the India house by the influence of a Government Majority, the Minister does not wish to exert the omnipotence of Parliament; and I shall be dismissed from hence time enough to set forwards on Thursday the first of May. On the contrary, should we be involved in those perplexing affairs, they may easily detain me till the middle of next month. But as all this is very uncertain, I direct you and My Lady to appear in town to-morrow sennight. I have many things to say.* You mistake about the dear inseparable Caplin. He rides at his ease in the Chaise with his master, while the Swiss, who will condescend to put on a livery at Paris, will mount on horseback. *We have been animated this week, and, notwithstanding the strict œconomy recommended by Charles Fox and John Wilkes, we have paid the Royal debts.*

E. G.

[359] Lord Pigot, Governor of Madras, was arrested in April, 1776, by the Madras Council for his support of the Rajah of Tanjore against the Nabob of the Carnatic, and his opposition to an iniquitous claim upon the Rajah's revenue made by Paul Benfield. He died while still under arrest, in May, 1777. The Court of Proprietors voted by a large majority for his release and restoration to his governorship. The Directors were almost equally divided upon the question. Meanwhile the Government exercised all its influence to carry through the Court of Proprietors three resolutions--one recalling Lord Pigot, a second ordering home his friends in the council, a third ordering home his enemies. These resolutions were carried. Lord Pigot's case was then taken up in Parliament, and on May 22, 1777, Governor Johnston moved several resolutions approving Lord Pigot's action, and condemning the Madras Council. The resolutions were rejected by 90 to 67. See note to Letter 371.

311.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Monday night, [April 21st, 1777].

*Bad news from Hampshire.----Support Hugonin, comfort me, correct or expell Winton, sell Lenborough, and remove my temporal cares. When do you arrive?*

312.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Wednesday night, [April 23rd, 1777].

*It is uncertain whether India comes to Westminster this year, and it is certain that Gibbon goes to Paris next Saturday sennight. Therefore Holroyd must appear in town the beginning of next week. Gibbon wants the cordial of his presence before the journey. My Lady _must_ come.*

[Sidenote: STARTS FOR PARIS.]

313.

_To his Stepmother._

May the 3rd, 1777.

DEAR MADAM,

After some public delays which have tryed my patience, I at length resolved to wait no longer for the Budget. I set forwards Monday, and hope to breakfast at Calais Tuesday and to dine at Paris either Friday or Saturday; the alternative depends on my stepping out of my way to Lisle. You may be assured of receiving immediate notice of my effecting my landing on the Continent.

I am, Dear Madam, Most truly yours, E. G.

You will find Fleet Street instructed to obey your Midsummer Order.

314.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Dover, Tuesday evening, May 6th, 1777.

*My expedition does not begin very auspiciously. The wind, Which for some days had been fair, paid me the compliment of changing on my arrival; and, though I immediately secured a vessel, it has been impossible to make the least use of it during the whole course of this tedious day. It seems doubtful, whether I shall get out to-morrow morning; and the Captain assures me, that the passage will have the double advantage of being both long and rough. Last night a small Privateer, fitted out at Dunkirk, with a commission from Dr. Franklin, attacked, took, and has carried into Dunkirk road, the Harwich Pacquet.[360] The King's Messenger had just time to throw his dispatches overboard: he passed through this town about four o'clock this afternoon, in his return to London. As the alarm is now given, our American friend will probably remain quiet, or will be soon caught; so that I have not _much_ apprehension for my personal safety; but if so daring an outrage is not followed by punishment and restitution, it may become a very serious business, and may possibly shorten my stay at Paris.

Adieu. I shall write by the first opportunity, either from Calais or Philadelphia.* I wrote last Friday to Hugonin, and announced an Epistle of instructions from you. I embrace My lady. Did your Lord and Colonel disappoint you?

[360] The _Prince of Orange_, packet from Harwich to Helvetsluys, was captured by the _Surprise_, an American privateer commanded by Captain Cunningham, carrying four guns and ten swivels.

315.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Calais, Wednesday, May the 7th, 1777.

*_Post nubila Phœbus._ A pleasant passage, an excellent house, a good dinner with Lord Coleraine, whom I found here. Easy Custom-house Officers, fine Weather, &c. I am detained to-night by the temptation of a French Comedy, in a Theatre at the end of Dessaint's Garden; but shall be in motion to-morrow early, and hope to dine at Paris Saturday. Adieu. I think I am a punctual Correspondent; but this beginning is too good to last.*

[Sidenote: PLEASURES AND OCCUPATIONS IN PARIS.]

316.

_To his Stepmother._

Calais, May the 7th, 1777.

DEAR MADAM,

I am this moment (about one o'clock in the afternoon) landed after a very pleasant passage. I already feel my mind expand with the unbounded prospect of the Continent. But notwithstanding my love of freedom you may rest assured that in due season, I shall return without reluctance to my cage in Bentinck Street.

I am, Dear Madam, Most truly yours, E. GIBBON.

317.

_To his Stepmother._

Paris, May 12th, 1777.

DEAR MADAM,

The departure of the post only leaves me time to say that I reached this place last Saturday night, and that I already find myself as perfectly established as I ever was in London.

I am, Dear Madam, Most truly yours, E. GIBBON.

[Sidenote: HIS SUCCESS IN FRENCH SOCIETY.]

318.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Paris, June the 16th, 1777.

I told you what would infallibly happen, and you know enough of the nature of the beast not to be surprized at it. I have now been at Paris exactly five weeks,[361] during which time I have not written to any person whatsoever within the British Dominions except two lines of notification to Mrs. Gibbon. The Daemon of procrastination has at length yielded to the Genius of Friendship, assisted indeed by the powers of fear and shame. But when I have seated myself before my table and begin to revolve all that I have seen and tasted during this busy period, I feel myself oppressed and confounded; and I am very near throwing away the pen and resigning myself to indolent despair. A compleat history would require a volume at least as corpulent as the decline and fall, and if I attempt to select and abridge, besides the difficulty of the choice there occur so many things which cannot properly be entrusted to paper, and so many others of too slight a nature to support the Journey, that I am almost tempted to reserve for our future conversations the detail of my pleasures and occupations. But as I am sensible that you are _rigid_ and impatient, I will try to convey in a few words a general idea of my situation as a man of the World and as a man of Letters.

You remember that the Neckers were my principal dependance, and the reception which I have met with from them very far surpassed my most sanguine expectations. I do not indeed lodge in their house (as it might excite the jealousy of the husband and procure me a letter de cachet), but I live very much with them, dine and sup whenever they have company, which is almost every day, and whenever I like it, for they are not in the least exigeans. Mr. Walpole gave me an introduction to Madame du Deffand,[362] an agreable young Lady of eighty-two years of age, who has constant suppers and the best company in Paris. When you see the D. of Richmond at Lewes he will give you an account of that house, where I meet him almost every evening. Ask him about Madame de Cambis.[363] I am afraid poor Mary is entirely forgot. I have met the D. of Choiseul[364] at his particular request, dined _by accident_ with Franklin, conversed with the Emperor,[365] been presented at court, and gradually, or rather rapidly, I find my acquaintance spreading over the most valuable parts of Paris. They pretend to like me, and whatever you may think of French professions, I am convinced that some at least are sincere. On the other hand I feel myself easy and happy in their company, and only regret that I did not come over two or three months sooner. Though Paris throughout the summer promises me a very agreable society, yet I am hurt every day by the departure of Men and Women whom I begin to know with some familiarity, the departure of Officers for their Governments and Garrisons, of Bishops for their Dioceses, and even of country Gentlemen for their estates, as a rural taste gains ground in this Country.

So much for the general idea of my acquaintance; details would be endless yet unsatisfactory. You may add to the pleasures of Society those of the Spectacles and promenades, and you will find that I lead a very agreable life; let me just condescend to observe that it is not extravagant. After decking myself out with silks and silver, the ordinary establishment of Coach, Lodgeing, Servants, eating and pocket expences does not exceed sixty pounds pr. month. Yet I have two footmen in handsome liveries behind my Coach, and my apartment is hung with damask. Adieu for the present. I have more to say, but were I to attempt any farther progress you must wait another post, and you have already waited long enough of all conscience.

Let me just in two words give you an idea of my day. I am now going (nine o'clock) to the King's Library, where I shall stay till twelve. As soon as I am dressed I set out to dine with the Duke de Nivernois,[366] shall go from thence to the French Comedy into the Princess de Beauvau's _loge grillée_,[367] and am not quite determined whether I shall sup at Madame du Deffand's, Madame Necker's, or the Sardinian Embassadress's.[368] Once more Adieu. Do not be fond of shewing my letter; the playful effusions of friendship would be construed by strangers as gross vanity.

I embrace My lady and Bambine. I shall with chearfulness execute any of her commissions.

[361] This letter was begun one Sunday and finished the next.

[362] Marie de Vichy-Chamrond (1697-1781) married, in 1718, Jean Baptiste Jacques de la Lande, Marquis du Deffand. Separated from her husband in 1722 for her relations with the Regent duc d'Orléans, the President Hénault, and others, she lived chiefly at Sceaux till the death of her husband in 1750. In 1753 she opened her salon at the Convent of St. Joseph. A year later she became totally blind. She had stayed at La Source with Lord Bolingbroke in 1721, and since then had known some of the most distinguished men and women in France and England. But the following extracts from her correspondence with Walpole, who had introduced Gibbon to her, show her appreciation of the historian as a member of society:--"Je suis fort contente de M. Gibbon; depuis huit jours qu'il est arrivé, je l'ai vu presque tous les jours; il a la conversation facile, parle très-bien français; j'espère qu'il me sera de grande ressource" (May 18, 1777). "Je lui crois beaucoup d'esprit, sa conversation est facile, _et forte de choses_, comme disait Fontenelle; il me plaît beaucoup, d'autant plus qu'il ne m'embarrasse pas" (May 27). "Je m'accommode de plus en plus de M. Gibbon; c'est véritablement un homme d'esprit; tous les tons lui sont faciles, il est aussi Français ici que MM. de Choiseul, de Beauvau, etc. Je me flatte qu'il est content de moi; nous soupons presque tous les jours ensemble, le plus souvent chez moi; ce soir ce sera chez Madame de Mirepoix" (June 8). "M. Gibbon me convient parfaitement; je voudrais bien qu'il restât toujours ici; je le vois presque tous les jours; sa conversation est très facile, on est à son aise avec lui" (June 22). "M. Gibbon a ici le plus grand succès, on se l'arrache; Je ne sais pas si tous les jugements qu'il porte sont bien justes, mais il se comporte avec tout le monde d'une manière qui ne donne point de prise aux ridicules; ce qui est fort difficile à éviter dans les sociétés qu'il fréquente" (September 21).

[363] Gabrielle Charlotte Françoise d'Alsace-Hénin-Liétard married, in November, 1755, Jacques François, Vicomte de Cambis. She was the sister of the Prince de Chimay, and niece of the Marquise de Boufflers. She knew English well, and translated into French several of the _Portraits_ of Lord Chesterfield. Her conquest of the Duke of Richmond was well known in Paris. Gibbon himself was her victim. "Le Gibbon," writes Madame du Deffand to Walpole, April 20, 1780, "était aussi un peu épris; elle fait plus de conquêtes à présent qu'elle n'en a fait dans sa première jeunesse; sa coquetterie est sèche, froide et piquante; c'est un nouveau genre qu'a sa séduction." The Vicomtesse de Cambis died at Richmond in 1808. Madame de Genlis, who disliked her, says (_Mémoires_, vol. ii. pp. 30, 31) that she was deeply pitted with the small-pox, and that "elle avoit l'air le plus dédaigneux et le plus impertinent qu'on ait jamais osé porter dans le monde."

[364] The Duc de Choiseul (1719-1785) was Minister of Foreign Affairs, and afterwards War Minister and Naval Minister, to Louis XV. during the ascendency of Madame de Pompadour. He was disgraced in 1770, when Madame du Barri became the royal favourite.

[365] Madame du Deffand describes a small party at the Neckers', where she met the Emperor Joseph II. and Gibbon.

[366] Louis Jules Mancini, Duc de Nivernois (1716-1798), was ambassador in England from 1762 to 1763. In that capacity he had given Gibbon introductions to leaders of Parisian society during his first visit to the capital.

[367] Marie Sylvie de Rohan-Chabot married, as her first husband, the Marquis de Chermont d'Amboise. Left a widow in 1761, she married in 1764, as his second wife, the Maréchal de Beauvau, fourth son of the Prince de Craon (died 1793), and was, therefore, stepmother of his daughter the Princesse de Poix. She and her husband belonged to the Liberal party, who supported the Duc de Choiseul and opposed the ascendency of Madame du Barri. For this reason she was nicknamed "la mère des Machabées." The Princesse de Beauvau, one of the most charming women of her time, wrote an _Eloge_ of her husband. She died in 1807. Her own character is sketched in the _Hommage à la mémoire de Madame la princesse de Beauvau_ of Madame de Luynes. "Elle étoit, a mon avis, la femme la plus distinguée de la société, par l'esprit, le ton, les manières, et l'air franc et ouvert qui lui étoit particulier" (Madame de Genlis, _Mémoires_, vol. i. p. 357).

[368] Count de Viry, the Sardinian ambassador, as Baron de la Perrière, was formerly Sardinian ambassador in England. There he married Miss Harriet Speed, a niece of Lady Cobham, and one of the heroines of Gray's _Long Story_ who were sent from Lady Cobham's house to rid the country of the "wicked imp they call a poet." "My old friend Miss Speed," writes Gray to Wharton in 1761, "has done a very foolish thing; she has married the Baron de la Perrière, son to the Sardinian Minister, the Count de Viry. He is about twenty-eight years old (ten years younger than herself), but looks nearer forty." In September, 1777, Viry was recalled from Paris, and disgraced, because, as was alleged, his wife had been bribed by Lord Stormont to betray the diplomatic secrets of the court of Turin. Another account is given in Lescure's _Correspondence Secrète sur Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette, etc._: "M. le Comte de Viry, ambassadeur de Sardaigne, est rappelé à Turin. On croit qu'il y a de la disgrace" (vol. i. p. 74). A secret treaty was signed early in 1777 between Austria, France, Spain, and Sardinia against England, and the secretary of the Comte de Viry "a vendu une copie du traité à milord Stormont" (_ibid._, vol. i. p. 82). See also, for a third account, _Dutensiana_ (Londres, 1806), pp. 216-219.

[Sidenote: HIS FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES.]

319.

_To his Stepmother._

Hotel de Modene, Paris, July 24th, 1777.

DEAR MADAM,

If ever my negligence could be excused by your good natured friendship, it would be from the consideration of my present circumstances, and I am sure that your regard for me is of so pure and disinterested a character that you had much rather I should be happy without hearing from me, than if you received by every post a regular succession of complaints. Happily indeed have I passed two short months since my arrival at Paris, and every circumstance of my journey has more than answered my most sanguine expectations. My connection with the Neckers, who every day acquire more power and deserve more respect, first opened the door to me, and perhaps the reputation of a popular writer has contributed a little to enlarge the entrance. I pass my time in the society of men of letters, people of fashion, the higher ranks of _the clergy_, and the foreign Ministers, and except when I wish to steal a few moments' privacy, it seldom happens to me to dine or sup at my hotel. The vacancies of my time are filled by the public libraries in the morning, and in the afternoon by the spectacles, and as part of my acquaintance begin to disperse themselves in the environs of Paris, I have contrived, though in a most unfavourable season, to make several very pleasant excursions. Such is the general idea of my life, in which I have made many acquaintance and formed some more intimate connections, from all of which I receive civilities, amusement and information. Details would be infinite, and must be reserved for your fireside at Bath; but I cannot forbear saying something of two or three persons whom you know.

First then you will expect to hear of Mrs. Mallet. Mr. Scott had desired me to take charge of a letter, and I delivered it to her own fair hands the second day after my arrival. She received me with a shriek of joy and a close embrace, and we sat down to talk of old and new subjects. I found her exactly the same talkative, positive, passionate, conceited creature as we knew her twenty years ago. She raved with her usual indiscretion and fury of Gods, Kings and Ministers, the perfections of her favourites and the vice or folly of every person she disliked. Unfortunately she had applied to Mr. Necker for some favour, and had not been received in a manner suitable to her importance. Her resentment was expressed in such indecent language, that after repeated but ineffectual hints of my intimate connection with the person she was abusing, I was obliged to shorten my visit with a firm resolution of never returning.

Your favourite, the Duke of Richmond, has fallen in my way infinitely more than he ever did in England, and I do assure you that the air of Paris agrees perfectly well with him. He is easy, attentive and cheerful, pays his court to young and to old women, and is extremely popular and even fashionable in the Society of Paris. I have likewise seen a great deal of the Sardinian Ambassadress whom you have formerly known with Lady Cobham, under the name of Miss Speed. She keeps a very hospitable house, and has acquired the manners of the country without losing the sentiments of her own. Adieu, Dear Madam. If you can think of any commissions for me I will execute them with care and pleasure, though I have no occasion for any memento to make me often think of you.

Sir Stanier will be so good as to forward anything to me.

320.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Paris, August the 11th, 1777.

*Well, and who is the Culprit now?--Thus far I had written in the pride of my heart, and fully determined to inflict an Epistle upon you, even before I received any answer to my former; I was very near a Bull. But this forward half line lay ten days barren and inactive, till its generative powers were excited by the missive which I received yesterday.

[Sidenote: NO IMMEDIATE RISK OF FRENCH WAR.]

What a wretched piece of work do we seem to be making of it in America! The greatest force which any European power ever ventured to transport into that Continent, is not strong enough even to attack the enemy; the Naval strength of Great Britain is not sufficient to prevent the Americans (they have almost lost the appellation of Rebels) from receiving every assistance that they wanted; and in the mean time you are obliged to call out the Militia to defend your own coasts against their privateers.[369] You possibly may expect from me some account of the designs and policy of the French Court, but I chuse to decline that task for two reasons: 1^{st,} Because you may find them laid open in every newspaper; and 2^{ndly,} Because I live too much with their Courtiers and Ministers to know anything about them. I shall only say that I am not under any immediate apprehensions of a War with France. It is much more pleasant as well as profitable to view in safety the raging of the tempest, occasionally to pick up some pieces of the Wreck, and to improve their trade, their agriculture, and their finances, while the two countries are _lento collisa duello_. Far from taking any step to put a speedy end to this astonishing dispute, I should not be surprized if next summer they were to lend their cordial assistance to England, as to the weaker party. As to my personal engagement with the D[uke] of R[ichmond], I recollect a very few slight skirmishes, but nothing that deserves the name of a general engagement. The extravagance of some disputants, both French and English, who have espoused the cause of America, sometimes inspires me with an extraordinary vigour. Upon the whole, I find it much easier to defend the justice than the policy of our Measures; but there are certain cases, where whatever is repugnant to sound policy ceases to be just.

The more I see of Paris, the more I like it.[370] The regular course of the Society in which I live is easy, polite, and entertaining; and almost every day is marked by the acquisition of some new acquaintance, who is worth cultivating, or who, at least, is worth remembering. To the great admiration of the French, I regularly dine and regularly sup, drink a dish of strong Coffee after each meal, and find my stomach a citizen of the World. The Spectacles, (particularly the Italian, and above all the French Comedie) which are open the whole summer, afford me an agreeable relaxation from Company; and to shew you that I frequent them from taste only, and not from idleness, I have not yet seen the Colisee, the Vauxhall, the Boulevards, or any of those places of entertainment which constitute Paris to most of our Countrymen. Occasional trips to dine or sup in some of the thousand Country-houses which are scattered round the environs of Paris, serve to vary the scene. In the mean while the summer insensibly glides away, and the fatal month of October approaches, when I must exchange the house of Madame Necker for the house of Commons.

[Sidenote: PARIS BECOMING EMPTY.]

I regret that I could not chuse the winter, instead of the Summer, for this excursion: I should have found many valuable persons, and should have preserved others whom I have lost as I began to know them. The Duke de Choiseul, who deserves attention both for himself, and for keeping the best house in Paris, passes seven months of the year in Touraine; and though I have been tempted, I consider with horror a journey of sixty leagues into the Country. The Princess of Beauvau* (by the bye Beauveau, fine calf, is an orthography worthy of a Sussex farmer), the Princess of Beauvau, *who is a most superior Woman, has been absent above six weeks, and does not return till the 24^{th} of this month. A large body of Recruits will be assembled by the Fontainbleau journey; but in order [to] have a thorough knowledge of this splendid Country, I ought to stay till the month of January; and if I could be sure that opposition would be as tranquil as they were last year--

I think your life has been as animated, or, at least, as tumultuous, and I envy you Lady Payne,[371] and Lady Dy, &c. much more than either the Primate,[372] or the Chief Justice.[373] Let not the generous breast of Mylady be torn by the black serpents of envy. She still possesses the first place in the sentiments of her slave: but the adventure of the fan was a mere accident, owing to Lord Carmarthen. Adieu. I think you may be satisfied. I say nothing of my terrestrial affairs.* Good works are unnecessary, as I can only hope to be justified by my faith in the merit of my Redeemer John Holroyd.

[369] "American privateers," writes Walpole, July 17, 1777, "infest our coasts; they keep Scotland in alarms, and even the harbour of Dublin has been newly strengthened with cannon." On August 7 the crew of a privateer landed at Penzance and plundered several farmers of their live stock. It was in the following year, April, 1778, that Paul Jones first harried the English and Scottish coasts.

[370] In _The Private Correspondence of David Garrick_ (vol. ii. pp. 255, 256) is printed a letter from Gibbon to Garrick, written from the "Hôtel de Modène, rue Jacob, Fauxbourg St. Germain," at Paris, and dated August 14th, 1777. Gibbon begins by thanking Garrick for a kindly mention of his name. "It is pleasant to find one's-self mentioned with friendship by those whom posterity will mention with admiration. Foreign nations are a kind of posterity, and among them you already reap the full reward of your fame." "You have reason," he continues, "to envy me, for I can truly declare that I reckon the three months which I have now passed in Paris among the most agreeable of my life. My connection with a house, before which the proudest of the Gallic nobles bow the knee, my familiar acquaintance with the language, and a natural propensity to be pleased with the people and their manners, have introduced me into very good company; and, different in that respect from the traveller Twiss, I have sometimes been invited to the same houses a second time. If besides these advantages your partiality should ascribe any others to your friend, I am not proud enough entirely to disclaim them. I propose to stay at Paris about two months longer, to hook in (if possible) a little of the Fontainebleau voyage, and to return to England a few days before the meeting of Parliament, where I suppose we shall have some warm scenes. You cannot surely be satisfied with the beginning, or rather no beginning, of the American campaign, which seems to elevate the enemies as much as it must humble the friends of Great Britain.

"At this time of year, the society of the Turk's-head" (in Gerrard Street, where the Literary Club met) "can no longer be addressed as a corporate body, and most of the individual members are probably dispersed; Adam Smith in Scotland; Burke in the shades of Beaconsfield; Fox, the Lord or the devil knows where, &c., &c. Be so good as to salute in my name those friends who may fall in your way. Assure Sir Joshua, in particular, that I have not lost my relish for _manly_ conversation and the society of the brown table. I hope Colman has made a successful campaign. May I beg to be remembered to Mrs. Garrick? By this time she has probably discovered the philosopher's stone; she has long possessed a much more valuable secret,--that of gaining the hearts of all who have the happiness of knowing her.

"I am, dear Sir, most affectionately yours,

"E. GIBBON."

[371] Françoise Lambertine, daughter of Baron Kolbel, married, September 1, 1767, "a rich West Indian," Ralph Payne (knighted in 1771), a son of the Governor of St. Christopher's, and himself Governor of the Leeward Islands (1771-75). Sir Ralph represented various constituencies in Parliament from 1768 to 1799, and, with his wife, was prominent in London society. He was created Viscount Lavington. Lady Lavington survived her husband, who died in 1807, as Governor of Antigua and a bankrupt.

[372] The Hon. Fred. Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury.

[373] Lord Mansfield, Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench.

321.

_To his Stepmother._

Hotel de Modene à Paris, September the 1st, 1777.

DEAR MADAM,

I must either write ten lines or twenty pages, and you will easily judge which I shall prefer. The various sets of company with whom I pass my time are so completely strangers to you, that before I mentioned any person of my acquaintance I must introduce them with a very tedious yet imperfect account of their birth, parentage, education and character. After all, what would principally interest the curiosity of friendship may be dispatched in two words--_I am well and happy_. Mr. Necker has not yet discovered any signs of jealousy, and I supped last night between two Arch-bishops who, I am persuaded, have not the least intention of solliciting a _lettre de cachet_ to send me to the Bastille. I only regret that it was not possible to choose another season of the Year for my Expedition. In summer Paris is very far from being a desert like London, and I have the daily pleasure of living in a very numerous and agreeable Society, yet as there is always a considerable emigration into the provinces I am sensible that many valuable acquisitions have escaped me. In the first or second week of October the Court goes to Fontainebleau, and as it is never so full and splendid as in that place, I propose passing a few days there. I must afterwards allow myself a little space to thank and embrace my Paris friends: and shall return by the first of November to a very different scene of things in London.

You will not be sorry to hear that, though I love the French from inclination and gratitude, I have by no means lost my relish for my native country. I have spent so much time in gay dissipation, that I must set myself in good earnest to work; but you may depend on my desire to steal a few days of the Christmas recess for a Bath expedition. I fancy we shall have a busy Session of Parliament, and unless Howe has very decisive success we shall be less unanimous for the design of conquering America. I will not trouble you with politics, but will only venture to assure you, that, in the present moment, the French Counsels are seriously inclined for peace. My friend Necker (for I now esteem and love him on his own account) is declared principal minister of the finances, and though he has great obstacles to contend with, his knowledge, his firmness, and the purity of his intentions ought to make us wish for his disgrace.

I am, Dear Madam, Ever yours, E. GIBBON.

[Sidenote: A MARTYR TO GOUT.]

322.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Bentinck Street, Nov. 4th, 1777.

I arrived last night, laid up with the gout in both my feet. I suffer like one of the first Martyrs, and possibly have provoked my punishment as much. If you wish to see me, come to town before the meeting. I hope my Lady will not laugh.

323.

_To his Stepmother._

Bentinck Street, November 4th, 1777.

DEAR MADAM,

When you hear the reason, you will excuse my telling you in two words that I arrived last night. I am laid up with a very painful fit of the gout in both my feet. I came over from Calais with some difficulty; yet I rejoice that I am in my own library, and three hundred miles nearer _you_ than I was a week ago. I think it cannot last long.

I am, Dear Madam, Most truly, E. G.

324.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

[Bentinck Street,] Saturday, [November, 1777.]

*Had you four horns as well as four eyes and four hands, I should still maintain that you are the most unreasonable Monster in the Creation. My pain is lively, my weakness excessive, the season cold, and only twelve days remain to the meeting. Far from thinking of trips into the Country, I shall be well satisfied if I am on my legs the 20th, in the medical sense of the word. At present I am a Corpse, carried about by four arms which do not belong to me. Yet I try to smile: I salute the hen and chickens. Adieu. Writing is really painful.*

325.

_To his Stepmother._

Bentinck Street, Nov. 13th, 1777.

DEAR MADAM,

As my disorder was perfectly free from danger, I thought it needless to repeat _every_ post, that I was in a good deal of pain: but I seize the first opportunity of telling you that the enemy appears to be raising the siege, and that he makes a regular and gradual retreat: the pain is gone, the swellings diminished, my strength is returning; this morning for the first time I enjoyed the luxury of using crutches, and I aspire to the superior luxury of throwing them away. In the course of my recovery you may depend on my prudence. Adieu! dear Madam, I sincerely envy your loving couple: but be pleased to remember that _they_ are only twenty.

I am Most truly yours, E. GIBBON.

326.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Friday, November 14th, 1777.

*I do not like this disorder on your eyes: and when I consider your temperance and activity, I cannot understand why any spring of the machine should ever be deranged. With regard to myself, the Gout has behaved in a very honourable manner; after a compleat conquest, and after making me feel his power for some days, the generous Enemy has disdained to abuse his victory or torment any longer an unresisting victim. He has already ceased to torture the lower extremities of your humble servant; the swelling is so amazingly diminished that they are no longer above twice their ordinary size. Yesterday I moved about the room with the laborious majesty of crutches; to-day I have exchanged them for a stick; and by the beginning of next week, I hope, with due precaution, to take the air and to inure myself for the interesting representation of Thursday. How cursedly unlucky! I wanted to see you both; a thousand things to say and to hear, and every scheme of that kind broke to pieces. If you are not able to come to Bentinck Street, I must contrive to steal three or four vacant days during the Session, and run down to Sheffield. The town fills, and I begin to have numerous levers and couchers, more properly the latter. We are still in expectation, but in the mean while we believe (I mean Ministers) that the news of Howe's victory and the taking of Philadelphia are true.[374] Adieu.*

[374] General (afterwards Sir William) Howe defeated Washington at Brandywine on September 11, 1777, and took possession of Philadelphia on the 27th.

327.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Saturday Night, 30th November, 1777.

Your feaver, rhumatism, confinement and the use of a strange hand make me very uneasy. If I thought I could be of any use, I would in spite of Parliament[375] immediately run down; but I do most heartily advise, beg and intreat that, as soon as you are fit for motion, you would come to town, and consult about the best method of putting an end to this tedious complaint. For myself, I have almost forgot the gout. No alteration as to the public: Much debating, little hopes and no news. Your Inn business I will skilfully manage either in person, or by my faithful Minister, and you may depend on the earliest account of it. You asked about the Highlander: he is still in his mountains. I fear Mrs. G. expects me at Christmas, but I _really_ prefer Sheffield, and will try to defer the Bath journey till Easter. Do not however reckon upon my success. Adieu.

[375] The Parliamentary session opened on November 18.

[Sidenote: WEARY OF THE WAR.]

328.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Monday night, December, 1777.

*I congratulate your noble firmness, as I suppose it must arise from the knowledge of some hidden resources which will enable us to open the next Campaign with new armies of 50 or 60,000 men. But I believe you will find yourself obliged to carry on this glorious War almost alone. It would be idle to dispute any more about politics, as we shall so soon have an opportunity of a personal combat. Your journey gives me some hopes that you have not entirely lost your reason.* Your bed shall be ready. Caplin has conversed with your Tenant, but his demands were certainly excuses, as he has given over all thoughts of the enterprize: possibly you may be more successful. Adieu. I do not embrace My lady, as she seems to decline accompanying you. Her conduct is shameful and unnatural.

329.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

December 2nd, 1777.

By the enclosed you will see that America is not _yet_ Conquered. Opposition are very lively,[376] and though in the house we keep our numbers, there seems to be a universal desire of peace even on the most humble conditions. Are you still fierce?

[376] Lord Chatham, in the House of Lords, moved an amendment to the address, that the army should be recalled, the late Acts rescinded, and every effort used to reunite with America. The same motion was made in the Lower House. But the amendments were rejected by large majorities in both Houses. On December 2, Fox moved for a committee of the whole House to inquire into the state of the nation, including the expenses and resources of the nation, the loss of men, the state of trade, the present situation of the war, our foreign relations, and the progress made by the Commissioners in bringing about peace. Lord North accepted the motion, and the committee sat for the first time on February 2, 1778. Parliament was adjourned from December 11, 1777, to January 20, 1778.

[Sidenote: SARATOGA.]

330.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

House of Commons, Thursday, Dec. 4th, 1777.

Dreadful news indeed. You will see them partly in the papers, and we have not yet any particulars. An English army of nearly 10,000 men laid down their arms and surrendered prisoners of war, on condition of being sent to England and of never serving against America.[377] They had fought bravely, and were three days without eating. Burgoyne is said to have received three wounds. General Frazer[378] with 2000 men, killed. Colonel Ackland[379] likewise killed. A general cry for peace. Adieu. We have constant late days.

[377] General Burgoyne, after capturing Ticonderoga, pushed forwards towards the Hudson River, intending to invade the United States from the side of Canada. His supplies began to fail. The American forces gathered at Saratoga, and after several days' fighting, surrounded the British troops, whose strength was reduced to three thousand five hundred men. On October 17, 1777, Burgoyne surrendered to General Gates.

[378] Simon Fraser had served under Wolfe at Quebec with the Fraser Highlanders, and commanded a brigade during Burgoyne's campaign. Mortally wounded on October 7, 1777, he died October 8, and was buried, under a heavy fire, in one of the British redoubts.

[379] John Dyke Acland, best known by the devotion of his wife, Lady Harriet, was wounded and taken prisoner at Saratoga (October 9). He died in October, 1778, from a cold caught at a duel on Bampton Down, in Devonshire. He was then M.P. for Callington, in Cornwall.

[Sidenote: DESPAIRS OF COERCING AMERICA.]

331.

_To his Stepmother._

Bentinck Street, December 16th, 1777.

DEAR MADAM,

I flatter myself that my long silence must have given you great satisfaction. You recollect that while I was under the tyranny of the Gout, I showed myself tolerably exact in sending you intelligence of my situation and improvement. From my silence therefore, you must have concluded that I am, now, as indeed I am, restored to public health, and once more engaged in the busy as well as idle dissipations of this great town. I jumped at once from a sick chair into the warmest debates, which I ever remember in my short parliamentary life. They have constantly been fed by our miserable news from America, and the Session after the holydays will be taken up by Committees on the state of the Nation, Enquiries into the conduct of Ministers and Generals, &c., which will at least serve to increase the public ferment. What will be the resolutions of our Governors I know not, but I shall scarcely give my consent to exhaust still further the finest country in the World in the prosecution of a war from whence no reasonable man entertains any hopes of success. It is better to be humbled than ruined.

Half my acquaintance, Lady Dy, Lady Payne, the Solicitor General,[380] &c., are running down to Bath for the holydays. Had I no other inducement I should certainly escape from the crowd, and employ that short interval of quiet in resuming my long neglected History. Those literary occupations however I would gladly sacrifice to the pleasure of seeing you, but I apprehend I shall be engaged to prefer the Sussex to the Bath journey by some reasons which I will fairly submit to your judgement.

1. Holroyd, as you must have learned from his sister, is in a very indifferent state of health. His eyes are affected, his spirits are low, he has been disappointed of other company and he entreats me in a very moving way not to abandon him on this occasion.

2. I wish to pass some time with him on my own account, and to consult him with regard to Buriton, which is, I fear, very indifferently treated by my tenant Winton.

3. I expect, without knowing the day, a French lady of quality, Madame de Genlis,[381] to whom I have very great obligations. Whenever she informs me of her arrival in London, I must instantly fly (on the wings of mere friendship) to receive and attend her: now it would be somewhat vexatious to travel an hundred and ten miles, and to be called away the next day. Determine for me, my dear friend, you have every tye upon me of promise, of gratitude and of inclination. If you are not perfectly satisfied with my positive engagement to pass the Easter recess with you, depend upon it I will break through every difficulty that detains me at present. I have a thousand things to hear and say, and I know that you will enjoy, what I could not perhaps say to others without incurring the censure of vanity. If the Goulds are at Bath, I beg to be remembered to them. I see your friend Mr. Melmoth[382] has published a translation of another piece of Tully: on a subject which you understand at least as well as either of them. It will be worth your reading, for the treatise is valuable and he is an elegant as well as faithful translator.

I am, Dear Madam, Ever yours, E. G.

[380] Wedderburn.

[381] Stephanie Félicité Ducrest de St. Aubin (1746-1830) married, in 1761, the Comte de Genlis. Through her aunt, who was secretly married to the Duc d'Orléans, she became "gouvernante" to the duke's children by his first wife, a daughter of the Duc de Penthièvre,--Madame Adelaide, Louis Philippe, and three others. She was a voluminous and versatile writer. Her _Adèle et Théodore_ was published in 1782. "J'eus une liaison assez intime," she says in her _Mémoires_ (ii. 351), "avec M. Gibbon, auteur de la chute de l'empire romain, ouvrage anglais que nos philosophes ont beaucoup loué, parce qu'il renferme de très mauvais principes, mais qui est, a tous égards, un mauvais ouvrage, très diffus, sans vues nouvelles, et fort ennuyeux."

[382] William Melmoth (1710-1799), "Pliny" Melmoth, as Miss Burney says he was nicknamed, was an author, commissioner of bankrupts, and a good classical scholar. In 1753 he published Cicero's _Ad Familiares_; in 1773, the _De Senectute_; and in 1777, the work referred to in the letter, _De Amicitia_.

332.

_To his Stepmother._

Sheffield Place, December the 26th, 1777.

DEAR MADAM,

I arrived yesterday at Sheffield Place to enjoy the beauties of the country, which are displayed in a profusion of rain, snow and fogs. I think I never saw the Landlady in better looks, health or spirits. With regard to the Landlord, the principal object of this cold expedition, his eyes are somewhat better, and I flatter myself that the conversation of a friend will contribute to enliven him. I admire your fortitude, but I assure you that my despondency was not occasioned by the misfortunes of Bourgoyne and his gallant troops. It is founded on a very full consideration of a plan, the difficulties of which present themselves every day in a stronger light. What must be the means or the instruments to extricate us from this melancholy situation still remain to be considered with the most serious and dispassionate attention.

I am, dear Madam, Most truly yours, E. G.

The family desired to be remembered to you.

333.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Saturday night, 1778.

The Gib is _half_ astounded and _half_ disappointed at the Revolution. He thinks (at present) that he shall appear in person at S. P. either Monday or Tuesday next to require an explanation. London is a dead calm and delicious solitude. If some people would send for the Eliza all might be forgiven. Adieu.

E. G.

Tuesday next will certainly produce his presence or an Epistle.

334.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

1778.

For _Tuesday_ read _Wednesday_. I think I may reach S. P. by dinner time; but do not wait. My Lady's inconstancy disarranges me much, but it is far better that I should be disarranged, than that her gentle spirit should be grieved. Yet, why cannot she live quiet, and solitary at Brighton?

335.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Monday night, January 26th, 1778.

What can I say? No news or business. Lord G.'s great misfortune has procured him a respite.[383] We shall soon have something of a brush to-morrow on his first appearance.[384] Lord N. seems in high spirits: we hear no more of conciliatory propositions. I received to-day a huge pacquet, a Theological answer written by a _mere_ Irish parson.[385] Adieu. I embrace my Lady, and wait with impatience. I hope your eyes are not the worse for a little fatigue. I love a dutiful aunt. It is now half an hour past nine. I have been hard at work since dinner, and am just setting out for Lady Payne's Assembly, with half the fine Bs at it, after which, I shall perhaps sup with Charles, &c., at Almack's.

[383] Lady George Germain (formerly Miss Diana Sambrooke) died of the measles, January 15, 1778.

[384] Gibbon voted against the Government (February 2) for Fox's motion, "That no more of the Old Corps be sent out of the Kingdom." The motion was rejected by 259 to 165.

[385] Probably, _A Reply to the Reasonings of Mr. Gibbon_, etc., by Smyth Loftus, M.A., Vicar of Coolock. Dublin, 1778.

336.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Feb. 23, 1778.

*You do not readily believe in præternatural miscarriages of letters; nor I neither. Listen, however, to a plain and honest narrative. This morning after breakfast, as I was ruminating on _your_ silence, Thomas, my new footman, with confusion in his looks, and stammering on his tongue, produced a letter reasonably soiled, which he was to have brought me the day of his arrival, and which had lain forgotten from that time in his pocket. To shorten as much as possible the continuance, I immediately inquired, whether any method of conveyance could be devised more expeditious than the post, and was fortunately informed of your Coachman's intentions.* In your observations on the opposition, &c., I desiderate somewhat of your usual moderation. I suppose you imagine that a reluctant effort of reason is at once to efface past errors, to command present acquiescence, and to inspire future confidence.

[Sidenote: ATTEMPTS AT CONCILIATION.]

*You probably know the heads of the plan; an act of parliament, to declare that we never _had_ any intention of taxing America: another act, to empower the Crown to name commissioners, authorized to suspend hostilities by sea and land, as well as all obnoxious acts; and, in short, to grant every thing, except Independence.[386] Opposition, after expressing their doubts whether the lance of Achilles could cure the wound which it had inflicted, could not refuse their assent to the principles of conduct which they themselves had always recommended. Yet you must acknowledge, that in a business of this magnitude there may arise several important questions, which, without a spirit of faction, will deserve to be debated: whether Parliament ought not to name the Commissioners? whether it would not be better to repeal the obnoxious acts ourselves? I do not find that the World, that is, a few people whom I happen to converse with, are much inclined to praise Lord N.'s ductility of temper. In the service of next Friday,[387] you will, however, take notice of the injunction given by the Liturgy: "And all the people shall say after the _minister_, Turn us again, O Lord, and so shall we be turned."

While we considered whether we shall negociate, I fear the French have been more diligent. It is positively asserted, both in private and in Parliament, and not contradicted by the Ministers, that on the 5th of this month a treaty of Commerce[388] (which naturally leads to a war) was signed at Paris with the Independent States of America. What do you think of the tardyness of administration? Yet there still remains a hope that England may obtain the preference. The two greatest countries in Europe are fairly running a race for the favour of America;* and I fear our _Lord_ has more bottom than foot. Adieu. Am not I very good? but you must not expect a repetition of such exalted Virtue. Your Eyes? I embrace My lady, &c. I have written to all: no answers. I will see Cadell.

I send you a parcel, that, as a member, I have just received.

[386] The Bills proposed by Lord North were: (1) "For removing all doubts and apprehensions concerning taxation by the Parliament of Great Britain in any of the Colonies;" (2) for the appointment of five commissioners to treat with the Colonies. By the first the claim of taxation was abandoned. A third Bill, for the express repeal of the Massachusetts Charter Act, was also supported by the Government. The three Bills received the royal assent on March 11, 1778. Walpole, writing to Mason, February 18th, 1778, says, "You perhaps, who have all ecclesiastical history at your finger-ends, may recollect something approaching to the transaction of _yesterday, the 17th of February_, a day of confession and humiliation that will be remembered as long as the name of England exists. Yesterday, Feb. 17th, did the whole Administration, by the mouth of their spokesman, Lord North, no, no, not resign; on the contrary, try to keep their places by a full and ample confession of all their faults, and by a still more extraordinary act, by doing full justice both to America and to the Opposition,--by allowing that the former are no cowards nor conquerable,--that they are no Rebels, for the new Commissioners are to treat with the Congress or anybody, and, by asking pardon by effects, _i.e._ the cancelling all offensive acts, and by acknowledging the independence of the 13 provinces, not _verbally_ yet _virtually_."

[387] A solemn fast was kept on February 27, 1778.

[388] The treaty was also one of friendship. It was signed on February 6.

[Sidenote: SUEING FOR PEACE.]

337.

_To his Stepmother._

February 28th, 1778.

DEAR MADAM,

You will think me the most impudent fellow alive: but I am really angry with _you_ for not being angry with _me_ o account of my long and shameful silence. We have had (I do not mean it as any excuse) the hardest work I have yet known in Parliament. You see that we are reduced to the humiliation of sueing for peace. I much fear we shall have the additional humiliation of being rejected. In the meantime a French war is every day a probable event. I have not yet seen so very black a prospect. How have you passed the winter, in health, in spirits and in amusements? For my own part I am perfectly free from the gout, and notwithstanding the hurry of business and pleasure, I steal some moments for the Roman Empire. I can assure you with the utmost truth that I look forward to Easter with such impatience I _will_ write oftener.

I am, Dear Madam, Most truly yours, E. GIBBON.

338.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Almack's, Saturday night, [February, 28th, 1778].

I like your method of proceeding, and I am much relieved to find that after fighting so long with savage monsters, we have at length found a being not totally devoid of sense and feeling. Yet I fear the events which may happen before Michaelmas. With regard to your other schemes, I think them _hard_: but the times are so: and I must submit. Hugonin shall not be omitted.

*As to politics, we should easily fill pages, and therefore had better be silent. You are mistaken in supposing that the Bills are opposed; some particular objections have been stated, and in the _only_ division I voted with Government.[389]* Yet I still repeat that in my opinion, Lord N. does not deserve pardon for the past, applause for the present, or confidence for the future. You are, however, perfectly in the right in supposing that the most able men in the Kingdom will go to America, as a proof of which I must inform you that Lord Carlisle is certainly appointed first Commissioner.[390]

Caplin enquired about the groom. He is a drunken, worthless fellow. Adieu. I hear the bell. My Lady is a most aimiable Creature. I rejoice in her snugness.

[389] Mr. Powys moved a clause to repeal expressly and by name the Massachusetts Charter Act. This clause was opposed by Lord North, and on a division was rejected. Lord North, however, supported a separate Bill for the attainment of the same object.

[390] The five commissioners, appointed on April 13, 1778, were Lord Carlisle, Lord Howe, Sir W. Howe, William Eden (afterwards Lord Auckland), and George Johnstone (ex-governor of Florida).

339.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

February 29th, 1778.

DEAR H.,

Last night I found a note from Gosling that he wished to see me this morning. In my reply I submitted it to him whether it might not be better to wait a few days for our common friend. He answered me that he had no objection to talking about Bucks when you came, but that my Estates being intermixed with Lord Verney's seemed to him an _insuperable_ objection, So that I fear there is an end of our sheet Anchor. I wait impatiently for your arrival. What is to be done? Aubrey whispered me last night, that Sir Sampson Gideon[391] was purchasing everything in that part of Bucks. Excuse my writing meerly about my own affairs, I am really out of spirits. Monday night, if there is anything stirring, I will give you a letter of news. Adieu.

[391] M.P. for Cambridgeshire.

340.

_To his Stepmother._

March 7th, 1778.

E. G. is alive, well, but much ashamed of himself. In two or three posts he intends to write somewhat more at large. The H.'s will come to him next Sunday.

[Sidenote: WAR WITH FRANCE.]

341.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Saturday Night, ten o'clock, 14th March, 1778.

Enclosed I send Arthur Young's character. You will judge, but I should not be satisfied with it. Your polite footman shall be sought for. This moment Beauclerck, Lord Ossory, Sheridan, Garrick, Burke, Charles Fox and Lord Cambden (no bad set you will perhaps say) have left me. It is reported that M. de Noailles has signified to Lord Weymouth the treaty of France with the united and independent States of America, with the cold modification that it is not of a hostile character.[392] We have had hard but dull work. Monday will be a great day,--the enquiry and the orders given by Lord George for the Canada expedition.[393]

Dr. Robertson is in town. I shall dine with him to-morrow. Adieu. I have given directions for La Fontaine's fables.

[392] The note formally announcing the Treaty of Commerce and Friendship between France and the United States, was delivered to Lord Weymouth on March 13, 1778. "On Saturday," writes Sir Gilbert Elliot to Lord Malmesbury, March 20, 1778, "all the French in London were sent to the opera, plays, clubs, coffee-houses, ale-houses, and spill-houses, to publish the intelligence, which they did with all their natural impertinence."

[393] On March 19 Fox moved three resolutions: (1) that the Canadian expedition was ill concerted, (2) that it was impossible it should succeed, (3) that no sufficient instructions to co-operate had been sent to General Howe. The resolutions were lost by 164 to 44. Fox then tore up the paper on which he had written the fourth resolution, a censure on Lord G. Germain.

342.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Almack's, Saturday night, [March 21st, 1778].

*As business thickens, and you may expect me to write sometimes, I shall lay down one rule; totally to avoid political argument, conjecture, lamentation, declamation, &c., which would fill pages, not to say volumes; and to confine myself to short, authentic pieces of intelligence, for which I may be able to afford moments and lines. Hear then--The French ambassador[394] went off yesterday morning, not without some slight expressions of ill humour from John Bull. Lord Stormont[395] is probably arrived to-day. No _immediate_ declaration expected on our side. A Report (but vague) of an action in the bay, between La Motte Piquet and Digby; the former has five ships and three frigates, with three large store ships under convoy; the latter has eleven ships of the line. If the Frenchman should sail to the mouth of the Delawar, he may possibly be followed and shut up. When Franklin was received at Versailles,[396] Deane went in the same character to Vienna, and Arthur Lee to Madrid. Notwithstanding the reports of an action in Silesia, they subside;[397] and I have seen a letter from Eliot at Berlin of the tenth instant, without any mention of actual hostilities, and even speaking of the impending War as not absolutely inevitable. Last Tuesday the first payment of the loan £600,000 was certainly made; and as it would otherwise be forfeited, it is a security for the remainder. I have not yet got the intelligence you want, about former prices of stock in Critical times. These are surely such. _Dixi. Vale._ Send me some good news from Bucks; In spite of the War, I must sell. We want you in town. Frazer is impatient: but if you come without Mylady, every door will be shut.

[394] M. de Noailles left London at six in the morning to avoid insults. He and his wife were pelted by the mob as they passed through Canterbury; but the Government ordered a salute to be fired in his honour as he left Dover.

[395] David, seventh Viscount Stormont, who succeeded (1793) his uncle as second Earl of Mansfield, was at this time ambassador at Paris. In October, 1779, he was made one of the Secretaries of State. He was afterwards President of the Council under Pitt. He died in 1796.

[396] The three American deputies were presented to Louis XVI. on March 21, 1778, by M. de Vergennes, the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

[397] On December 30, 1777, the Elector of Bavaria died. With him was extinguished the male line of his house. Austria took the opportunity of occupying portions of Lower Bavaria, and the King of Prussia supported against her the claims of the elector's general heir and nearest male relation, the Elector Palatine of the Rhine. War began in July, 1778; but before negotiations were abandoned, Bohemia, Silesia, and Saxony were occupied by the forces of Austria and Prussia.

[Sidenote: HIS PRIVATE AFFAIRS.]

343.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Bentinck Street, March 30th, 1778.

The short delay of my answer, you must ascribe on this occasion not to lazyness but to despondency. What a melancholy prospect of public and private affairs. Excuse my saying anything of the former (indeed there is nothing fixed or certain), I am too much engaged by the latter.

What can I say about Fleet Street? The remittance they mention from Hugonin, with another of a halfe year's rent from Bucks, will diminish though not discharge the accruing interest which indeed must always gain upon me, unless I could live upon air. With regard to the principal, as they are in very affluent circumstances, I did flatter myself that instead of urging me to dispose of the dearest part of my property, the new River share, at the most unfavourable season, they would have allowed me the chance of another summer to dispose of Lenborough which would ease me at once of principal and interest. I beg you would make that earnest request to them, I mean to Clive, and manage it with all the zeal and dexterity of your friendship. Let me know, whether I can second it by any steps of politeness and propriety. I had rather write than speak.--Should they still be inflexible and rigourously exact the immediate sale of the New River, give me your advice and assistance. Your _advice_ whether in honour and prudence, I may dispute the point and gain time by the dilatory and expensive resources of the law. If I ought to yield, your _advice_ as to the best method of Sale. Sure they cannot insist on my selling it much below its value. I fear you must run to town for two or three days. With regard to Buriton. Hugonin has sent me a letter for you unsealed. I have kept it some days, without having courage to read it. Is it very bad? I was much satisfied with your conference with Winton, but can we depend on his promises? What security have we between this time and Michaelmas for the intentions of an attorney and the conduct of a madman.

Adieu, my dear friend. My disposition is chearful, my wants not extravagant, my amusements within my own power, and connected with the amusement of many. But the scene before me is horrid, unless you can shew me some ray of comfort. Adieu.

Mrs. G. presses me; I think of going about the 15th of next month and staying a fortnight at Bath.--I have got a Groom for you, but am not yet assured of his Character.

344.

_To his Stepmother._

Bentinck Street, April the 6th, 1778.

DEAR MADAM,

As we can talk more in an hour than we can write in a day, I shall only say that I propose myself the pleasure (and a great pleasure it will really be) of waiting on you on Thursday evening the 16th inst. If anything should delay my journey two or three days later you shall certainly have timely notice.

I am, Dear Madam, Most truly yours, E. GIBBON.

345.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Bath, 25th April, 1778.

Here I am in close attendance of my Mama, who is better in health, spirits, &c., than I have known her for some years. Had I attempted an Easter excuse it would have been very ill received. I am vastly complaisant, _amuse_ myself in Routes and private parties and play shilling Whist with the most edifying resignation. The Rooms and public places I seldom frequent, and claim some merit from a sacrifice which in reality is none at all. The Paynes are here, and I contrive to see something of them. Are you acquainted with Dr. Delacour? In truth there is much kindness in that Jew and much good sense likewise; he gives as good dinners as the superstition of the females of his family will permit, and has a proper contempt for all that a reasonable man ought to despise. I had destined and shall give a _full_ fortnight to Bath, and shall return to town the latter end of next week, but as the day is not irrevocably fixed, I do not wish you to suppose me in Bentinck Street before the Monday or Tuesday of the week following. I understand with satisfaction that the Majorina[398] intends to visit the great City. I have much to say and much for you to do. You may expect to be favoured with some military instructions. Adieu. I hear from Zara[399] a very tolerable account; but my proposed visit was respectfully declined. I like the new house very well.

[398] Mr. Holroyd served as major in the Sussex Militia under the Duke of Richmond. The militia was in 1778 organized as a permanent force for the defence of the country.

[399] Miss Sarah Holroyd.

346.

_To his Stepmother._

House of Commons, Wednesday Evening, ten o'clock, '78.

I arrived safe in town, and, after finding most _excellent_ reasons for two or three days' delay, when I had really very little to do, I now snatch a moment from a very warm debate to tell you that I found the H.'s in town. The Major's eyes are not better, but otherwise his spirits are good, and he becomes his military character. Remember me to the sister. I sympathise in her distress at my departure. Assure all my friends, Christians but more especially Jews,[400] of my own grateful sense of their kindness, but let me say with the utmost truth, that the part of my Bath visit which I recollect with the greatest pleasure, are the moments which I spent with you and with you alone.

The H.'s (I had almost forgot) salute you. They stay till Monday.

I am, Dear Madam, Ever yours, E. GIBBON.

[400] Apparently an allusion to Dr. Delacour, Mrs. Gibbon's doctor at Bath.

347.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Saturday Night, 16th May, 1778.

Before I received your letter, I had just heard from Bath! I can say nothing on the occasion. Nature and Reason have their respective provinces; and I ought not to hope either to prevent the effect of the former, or to hasten that of the latter.

[Sidenote: D'ESTAING'S FLEET.]

I shall expect you about the end of next week, but it will be highly proper that you should give me some days either in going or returning. Notwithstanding all you may see in the Papers, you may be assured that there is not any certain intelligence of D'Estaing's squadron having passed the straights of Gibraltar.[401] A Court of Enquiry is ordered and will sit on Monday on Bourgoyne;[402] but I am not certain whether he has been forbid Court. I attended Ireland with great alacrity;[403] but the business seems to be compromised. I do not exactly know in what manner or whether the Constituents on either side will be satisfied. The Inscriptions shall be considered. Adieu.

[401] The Comte d'Estaing with the French fleet left Toulon on April 13, and arrived off Sandy Hook on July 8, 1778.

[402] General Burgoyne was refused admission to the royal presence. The Court of Enquiry was not held, as the general officers reported that they could not take cognizance of the conduct of an officer who was a prisoner on parole to the Congress. A court-martial was on similar grounds refused. Finally, on May 26, a motion was proposed for a committee of the whole House on Saratoga, which gave Burgoyne the opportunity of defending himself. The motion was opposed by the Government and rejected.

[403] Counsel and evidence were heard on Irish trade; but, by a compromise between the opponents and supporters of the projected bills for the relaxation of the commercial code, and in consequence of the opposition of English traders, Lord North's projected concessions were reduced to the smallest proportions and carried without divisions.

348.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Almack's, Friday, [June 12th, 1778].

*R. Way's letter gave me that sort of satisfaction which one may receive from a good Physician, who, after a careful examination, pronounces your case incurable. But no more of that--I take up the pen, as I suppose by this time you begin to swear at my silence. Yet litterally (a bull) I have not a word to say. Since D'Estaing's fleet has passed through the Gut (I leave you to guess where it must have got out there) it has been totally forgot, and the most wonderful lethargy and oblivion, of war and peace, of Europe and of America, seems to prevail. Lord C[hatham]'s funeral was meanly attended,[404] and Government ingeniously contrived to secure the double odium of suffering the thing to be done, and of doing it with an ill grace. The chief conversation at Almack's is about tents, drill-Serjeants, subdivisions, firings, &c. and I am revered as an old Veteran. Adieu. When do you return? If it suits your evolutions, aunt Kitty and myself meditate a Sussex journey next week. I embrace Mylady.*

[404] Lord Chatham died May 11, 1778. The body lay in state in the Painted Chamber on the 7th and 8th of June, and was buried in Westminster Abbey on June 9. Parliament was adjourned from June 3 to November 26.

349.

_To his Stepmother._

London, June the 12th, 1778.

DEAR MADAM,

Inclosed I send you what you desire. Believe me I have not forgotten, how much, in every sense of the word, I feel myself indebted to you. I wish that all of us in publick and private affairs had a less melancholy prospect before us; but courage and Philosophy must assist us. Letters (I do not mean Epistles) are in every state of life an amusement, a comfort or a resource.

The Holroyds are still in Yorkshire, I expect them in about ten days; and have some thoughts with Mrs. Porten of making them a visit next month. I carry down a good deal of lumber, and shall work reasonably hard.

I am, Dear Madam, Ever yours, E. G.

350.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Monday Evening, 29th June, 1778.

With a trembling hand I inclose a letter from Hugonin in its pure and original state--_Return it with proper directions_; or answer it yourself, which would please me much better.--I suppose there are complaints of my silence. I am however by four and twenty hours less guilty than I seem----

I expect an account of your meeting and motions; and some encouragement might attract Aunt Kitty and myself in the course of next week----

[Sidenote: KEPPEL'S ATTACK ON FRENCH FRIGATES.]

What think you of Keppel?[405] We are pleased on the whole: yet some Ministers such as Ld. Mansfield and Wedd[erburn] affect to talk doubtfully about a War. Adieu.

[405] Admiral Keppel, who left Portsmouth early in June, fell in with two French frigates, the _Licorne_ and the _Belle Poule_, on June 17, 1778. The first he captured, the second was driven ashore. This action began the war with France.

[Sidenote: COXHEATH CAMP.]

351.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Wednesday evening, July 1st, 1778.

Your plan of operations is clear and distinct; yet, notwithstanding your zeal, and the ideas of Ducal discipline, I think you will be more and longer at S. P. than you imagine. However, I am disposed to advance my journey as much as possible. I want to see you; my martial ardour makes me look to Coxheath,[406] necessity obliges me to think of Beriton, and I feel something of a very new inclination to taste the sweets of the Country. Aunt Kitty shares the same sentiments; but various obstacles will not allow us to be with you before Saturday, or perhaps Sunday evening; I say _evening_, as we mean to take the cool part of the day, and shall probably arrive after Supper. Keppel's return[407] has occasioned infinite and inexpressible consternation, which gradually changes into discontent against him. He is ordered out again with three or four large ships as reinforcement; 2 of 90, 2 of 74, and the 50th Regiment as marines. In the mean time the French, with a superior fleet, are masters of the sea; and our homeward-bound East and West India trade is in the most imminent danger. Adieu.

[406] Summer encampments were established at Salisbury, Bury St. Edmunds, Winchester, Warley, and Coxheath in Kent. At the last-named place were stationed the 1st battalion of Royals, 2nd, 14th, 18th, 59th, and 65th Regiments of Foot, the 1st Regiment of Dragoons, and twelve regiments of militia. Coxheath was visited by the king and queen in November, 1778.

[407] Papers captured on a French frigate showed Keppel that a fleet superior to his own lay in Brest harbour. He therefore retired to Portsmouth. "And now," writes Walpole, July 4, 1778, "Mr. Keppel is returned, we learn that the East and West Indian fleets, worth four millions, are at stake, and the French frigates are abroad in pursuit of them."

352.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Bentinck-street, July 7th, 1778.

*Expect me----when you see me; and do not regulate your active motions by my uncertainty. Saturday is impossible. The most probable days are, Tuesday or Friday next. I live not unpleasantly, in a round of Ministerial dinners; but I am impatient to see my white house at Brighton. I cannot find that Sheffield really has the same attractions for you. Lord North, as a mark of his gratitude, observed the other day, that your Regiment would make a very good figure in North Carolina. Adieu. I wrote two lines to Mitchel lest he should think me dead.*

353.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Thursday Evening, July, 1778.

O Lord! O Lord!--I am quite tired of Parliament and sigh for the country. I talked of being at S. P. next Saturday; I shall think myself fortunate if I reach it that day sen'night. Many bills are sent to the Lords, the forms of their house will consume some days, the Ch.'s temper[408] may destroy more time, and the prorogation will not take place before the 17th. In the meanwhile every body is going out of town, and the danger of not getting a house will probably force me to stay, and, after all, this place is not uncomfortable. Adieu. No news. I embrace my Lady.

Adam talks of accompanying me.

[408] Lord Thurlow became Lord Chancellor in June, 1778, succeeding Earl Bathurst.

354.

_To his Stepmother._

Sheffield Place, July 19th, 1778.

DEAR MADAM,

Miss Holroyd who arrived here yesterday informed me that you were certain that I could not be at S. P. as you had not received any letter from me. This throws me under some difficulty, since I must either set aside your authority or distrust the evidence of my senses, which seems to tell me that I am actually at the seat of J. B. Holroyd, Major of the Sussex Militia. The aforesaid Major returned last night from his first sally, which had lasted a whole week, during which time he left me Governor of the Castle and Guardian of his fair Spouse. I acquitted myself of this great office in so satisfactory a manner, that I am again invested with the same dignity, as the doughty Champion moves forward to-morrow morng. on a second Expedition. The Regiment is divided between Lewes and Brighthelmstone, and the Duke of Richmond, &c., works like a Serjeant, a clerk, and a pack-horse. Their motions are irregular and uncertain, and if the Major's quarters should be fixed at Brighthelmstone, My Lady and Sarah will immediately march, and I shall follow the Camp, as it is a place where I can enjoy studious leisure in the midst of dissipation. If they are ordered to any other place I shall return to my retirement in Bentinck Street, as at all events the 'decline and fall' must proceed, which it does at present with tolerable vigour.

Mr. Eliot, whom I saw in London as frequently as I could, wished (if Plymouth and Port Eliot were not burnt down) to receive me in September to meet Lord and Lady Ely. I expressed gratitude but declined a promise. I should think the journey a very proper one; but I must own that I neither like the expence nor the loss of time. Yet those would sound like paltry excuses after a six months' expedition to Paris.

The Major with our three Ladies, Abigail Holroyd, Sarah Holroyd, and Catherine Porten, present their compliments to you. We often talk you over, and this morning at Breakfast his honour scolded sister for not bringing you with her; though on calmer reflection we all thought it better that your second visit to S. P. should be deferred to a more peaceable and settled time, such as it may be hoped next year will prove. Sarah looks well; several passages yesterday of the House, &c., affected her a good deal, but I think she will grow easy and cheerful.

I am, dear Madam, Most entirely yours, E. GIBBON.

355.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Wednesday morn, Brighton, 1778.

You feed me royally and almost superabundantly.--Though Brighton is truly the most agreeable place in the World, I am desirous to spend three or four days at S. P., and am not unwilling to meet Lord M[ansfield]. But are you sure of a visit from that venerable Sage? You have a formidable Rival, Gerard Hamilton,[409] who has invited me to dinner for Sunday to meet the Chief Justice whom I wish to conciliate, which your instructions will enable me to do; but at all events if you miss the Judge you will have the Historian the beginning of next week. Adieu.

[409] William Gerard Hamilton ("Single-Speech"), at this time M.P. for Wareham, lived in Upper Brook Street. He was a brilliant talker. If Dr. Johnson was unwilling to part with a friend, he accompanied him down the first pair of stairs in hope of his return. With Hamilton he went as far as the street door. "Single-Speech Hamilton has been giving suppers to all the fine ladies," writes Storer to George Selwyn, April, 1779.

356.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Brighthelmstone, 1778, Wednesday morning, ten o'clock.

I have carefully perused the Report, and think you have considerably improved both the matter and arrangement. The remarks were as clear to my conception as they could be made without the help of maps, and the general language is easy and spirited: to render the style minutely elegant and correct would be a tedious and at the same time a very useless task. As it now stands the work must do credit to the author and may do service to the country. Adieu. We meet at Lord G.'s.

Friday morning; I suspect that my Lady will decline the party.

[Sidenote: FRUITLESS SEARCH FOR FRENCH FLEET.]

357.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Tuesday evening, Sept. 20th, 1778.

The French fleet is stole back into Brest without meeting Keppel;[410] the Fox frigate taken same day, the Captain (Windsor, Lord Plymouth's brother) killed; others add, but doubtful, that we have lost a fleet of twelve merchantmen. There is good reason to believe that we have taken the Iphigenie, a French frigate. You were hardly aware of the depth of ditch you tumbled into, and I have sent you the enclosed that you may see Hugonin's despair and reproaches. The money must be found by Saturday sen-night; and the only step I could think of was a fair polite letter to Clive, who came to town yesterday, stating the business, representing the probable near conclusion of the New River sale, and begging leave to draw upon him. I know his good nature, but if he hesitates you must intercede, or help me some way or other. Adieu. How do you advance in les Travaux de Mars? The advertisements have been inserted; Hugonin has received one application from a Mr. Butler, Camberwell, Surry, to make enquiries.

[410] After a fruitless search for the French fleet, Admiral Keppel returned to Portsmouth. "Admiral Keppel is very unlucky in having missed them, for they had not above twenty-five ships" (H. Walpole, October 8, 1778).

358.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Saturday night, September 25th, 1778.

*No news from the fleets; we are so tired of waiting, that our impatience seems gradually to subside into a careless and supine indifference. We sometimes yawn, and ask, just by way of conversation, Whether Spain will joyn?[411] I believe you may depend on the truth, not the sincerity, of an answer from their Court, that they will not support or acknowledge the independence of the Americans. But on the other hand, Magazines are forming, troops marching, in a style which threatens Gibraltar. Gib. is, however, a hard morsel; 5000 effectives, and every article of defence in the most compleat state. We are certainly courting Russia. So much for the Republic.*

I am strangely amazed and frightened about Buriton: as I had not the least suspicion of the approaching, nay impending demand of so large a sum. How could it amount to so much, and why did Hug. stipulate so near a day? I have desired him to gain time or borrow money. They bite in the New River, and I am offered 7½, but Newton encourages me to hold out, and thinks I may get ¼ more, which is not to be despised in certain situations----

I have seen several servants, and like one who has lived with Mr. Milbank (Sir Ralph's eldest son), who desired his brother to give him a very good character. On a quarrel between him and the Swiss Valet de Chambre, both were dismissed, the one with honour, the other with ignominy. Something more in the Italian than the Swiss style had been designed by the Valet de Chambre, but rejected by your Candidate; yet, as he was discharged, there is something not perfectly clear. If you chuse it, you may write to Milbank, who is with his Militia in the North: but send me the letter and I will forward it. If without any farther ceremony you have a mind to try him (I mean no harm), I can order him to quarters. I am satisfied with his appearance, and he professes to understand what you require. Adieu.

[411] War was declared in June, 1779, between Great Britain and Spain.

359.

_To his Stepmother._

Bentinck Street, Sept. 29, 1778.

DEAR MADAM,

I think I grow worse and worse. I am sensible that you are acquainted with my sentiments and my faults, and that you are disposed to believe that the stream of my friendship is deep and pure, though it flows _silently_, very silently indeed. Yet my conscience whispers in my ear that I ought not to abuse the confidence which you may with justice repose in me. My conscience, likewise, informs me that as I made Sarah Holroyd the security of my promise, she has a right to complain that she became in some measure the accomplice of my quill. She has, I daresay, given you a particular account of the way I spent the greatest part of the summer; how, in the absence of the Major, I was left Governor of the Castle and Director of the fair females who inhabited it, and how I behaved myself in the execution of that important office.

[Sidenote: DISCOMFORTS OF BRIGHTON.]

I went over to Brighthelmstone, but found not much encouragement to settle, the Company was not agreeable, few of my acquaintance except the Paynes and Beauclercs; more difficulty and more expence than I expected in settling myself with any degree of comfort, and great inconvenience in being so long absent and distant from my tools. Upon mature consideration I resolved to relinquish that plan and to retire for some time to my rural retirement in Bentinck Street: the neighbourhood is not very populous at present, nor am I much interrupted by visits or invitations; yet I find as much society as I want for relaxation; and motives enough to engage me to take more exercise of a morning than I should anywhere else; besides the occasional Holydays which I sometimes allow myself to various friends who dwell in villas adjacent to town. In the meantime I have the pleasure to see the sheets of my second volume insensibly acquire a respectable or at least a decent size; and though my progress gives me a clearer view of the difficulties of my undertaking, yet I find that gentle and steady diligence will in time carry me through it: and I still look forwards to the spring of 1780 with hope though not with confidence.

Before I left Sussex I visited, in company with the Major, Cox Heath Camp: where I was received as a Father of the Old Hampshire Militia, though few officers now remain in it, with whom I have any connection. Jolliffe was returned to his station of Ensign, with the _Cave_ of General Keppel, who would not however see him or forgive his extravagant behaviour, which was much worse than anything you saw in the Papers. I am afraid you were malicious enough to rejoyce at his absurdity. While I was in the Camp, I felt my military ardour revive; but I soon recollected that, notwithstanding the pleasure of passing a part of the winter on the Down, my library is upon the whole as agreeable as a Tent, and Almack's as comfortable as a Suttling booth. What odd animals we are! I have deferred from post to post, I am afraid to think how long, a very easy and pleasing occupation, which has now made me pass a very agreeable half hour in conversing with the dearest and most valued of my friends; who will derive some pleasure from the conversation. I positively believe I shall reform.----

Before I conclude I must add three words on a subject which is not so entertaining. You know how little I love to talk about business, but I ought not to omit what you will probably hear from some other quarter. My tenant Winton had done _some_ mischief to Buriton; he threatened to injure it much more deeply, and I was persuaded by my Council to get rid of him, which I have just accomplished. Till the farm is let again, which I hope will be soon, Hugonin has undertaken the temporary administration. I have lost considerably in taking leave of my old tenant, and fear my loss in engaging a new one will be still more considerable, and I can ill support these extraordinary demands. Yet I should consider that, if all external circumstances were as smooth and satisfactory as the temper of my own mind, my condition would be too fortunate.

I am, Dear Madam, Most truly yours, E. GIBBON.

I cannot go to Port Eliot this autumn, but shall try to propose an accomodation to Madam of meeting at Bath.

[Sidenote: PAUL JONES.]

360.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

October 27th, 1778.

You are certainly right in your suspicions that I shall not again visit S. P. before the meeting of Parliament. I am perfectly well in wind and limb, but the time is so short, the derangement is so considerable, and I am so deeply engaged not in London but at Rome, that I can only regret and hope.--There is not any account of the French fleets in Europe or America. Sir Charles Hardy[412] is sailed chiefly to protect and convoy the East Indiamen now in Ireland. I know not what to say of your countrymen, nor have I any notion of the plan (if any) of Government. The A. G.[413] came to town last night, and I am just going to sup with him. I expect a full account of the Regiment. Adieu. Denmark[414] (inseparably connected with Russia) has behaved very handsomely in restoring two Victuallers and ordering the captor, one of Paul Jones's Squad, to quit the Harbour of Bergen. This is sure and important.

[412] Sir Charles Hardy, already over sixty years of age, as governor of Greenwich Hospital had retired from active service. He had not been to sea for many years, till he was now placed in command of the fleet.

[413] Wedderburn succeeded Thurlow as Attorney-General when the latter was made Chancellor (June, 1778).

[414] "The court of Denmark, when they gave orders for the release of our ships taken by Paul Jones, were very explicit in their declaration in our favour against America" (C. Townshend to G. Selwyn, October, 1778).

361.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Tuesday night, November, 1778.

*You sometimes complain that I do not send you early news; but you will now be satisfied with receiving a full and true account of all the parliamentary transactions of _next_ Thursday. In town we think it an excellent piece of humour (the author is one Tickell)[415] Burke and C. Fox are pleased with their own Speaches, but serious Patriots groan that such things should be turned to farce. We seem to have a chance of an additional Dutch War:[416] you may depend upon its being a very important business, from which we cannot extricate ourselves without either loss or shame. *Hugonin was in town last week about his eyes. I have given him full powers, and still hope that he will agree with Hearsay on tolerable terms. Say something to Beauclerc and Lady Dy. I pity them both, and I pity you too, for at this time of year Brighton must be a damned place. I shall now be immersed in politics. Society and study and hardly a moment be ever found for Epistolary Commerce. Therefore be patient. _Vale._

[415] Parliament met November 26, 1778. Gibbon refers to a pamphlet called _Anticipation_, which appeared the day before the opening of Parliament, and gave a summary of what would be said by the chief speakers. The author was Richard Tickell, grandson of Addison's contemporary, and a dependent of Lord North.

[416] The outbreak of a war with Holland at this time seemed probable. At the close of 1778 a number of petitions were presented from Dutch merchants to their High Mightinesses the States-General of the United Provinces, protesting against the right of search for contraband of war which was exercised by the British ships. In September, 1780, an American packet was captured, on board of which was Mr. Laurens, President of the Congress. A box of letters, which he threw overboard, floated, and was found to contain a draft treaty between the United States and Holland, and various letters from the "patriotic party," showing that Amsterdam at least wished for alliance as early as August, 1778. A memorial reciting these letters was delivered to the States-General in November, 1780, but no answer was returned. In December the British ambassador was recalled, and the Dutch ambassador left London, December 30, 1780.

362.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Wednesday Night, December, 1778.

Good news from India, a revolution has happened among the Marattas; the French interest is destroyed, Ragged boy[417] (or some such name) is placed on the throne of that warlike people, and we have now more to hope than to fear from them. According to the Orders sent out in the Spring it is not impossible that Pondicherry,[418] feebly garrisoned, may at this moment be in our hands. The West Indies[419] are tolerably secure by the land and sea force which went from New York, and our operations in that part of the World may be offensive. In several places the Sky clears a little, and if we could be secure from Spain we may promise ourselves some success. You see I am less desponding than usual. But we must depend more on arms and policy than upon idle threats, which may do mischief and cannot do good. We must likewise remove a Secretary of State so universally odious to the Army,[420] &c.

[Sidenote: THE BATTLE OF USHANT.]

Our Admirals[421] have had a spar or two, and Sir H. P., finding that K. did not apply for a Court Martial upon him, has this day lodged a charge of six Articles in the Admiralty and has made himself the accuser of his Commander.

[417] Ragoba or Ragonaut Ráo, an exiled Peshwah of Poonah, was supported by the English, and an expedition to reinstate him was despatched by Warren Hastings in the autumn of 1778.

[418] Pondicherry had already (October 17, 1778) surrendered to Sir Hector Munro, and Chandernagore had also fallen.

[419] Sir Henry Clinton, who had succeeded Sir W. Howe in the chief command in America, had sent five thousand men in October, 1778, to the Indies with Commodore Hotham.

[420] William Wildman, second Viscount Barrington (1717-1793), was succeeded as Secretary at War by Charles Jenkinson in December, 1778.

[421] The Admirals referred to were Sir Hugh Palliser and Admiral Keppel, both members of Parliament; Keppel being a Whig and opposed to Lord North, Palliser a staunch supporter of the Government. The dispute arose over the battle of Ushant. The English fleet under Keppel had met the French fleet under Count d'Orvilliers off Ushant on July 27, 1778. An indecisive engagement was fought. Keppel signalled to Sir Hugh Palliser to come up and renew the battle next morning; but Sir Hugh, whose own ship had suffered severely, was unable to do so. The French retired on the 29th to Brest, and Keppel to Portsmouth. Palliser made charges against Keppel, which led to a court-martial on the latter. The charges against him were pronounced to be malicious and ill founded, and his conduct was declared to have been that of a brave and experienced officer. Similar charges were made by the Comte d'Orvilliers against the Duc de Chartres, who commanded the Blue Squadron of the French fleet, and did not obey the signal of his superior officer.

363.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Saturday Night, 1778.

Our East India Revolution has not succeeded, and Raggaboy is no longer at the head of the Marattas.[422] In the West we much fear that D'Estaing is run down to the Islands.[423] Black again. The Court Martial would furnish volumes of opinions, but not a line of fact. In private life you see we open a lively campaign of Marchionesses, Countesses, &c.--I am sorry to find that you are so firm about Buriton. Consider the bad condition and growing expence which I am so little able to bear. The option of the term of years cannot perhaps be admitted, but otherwise I am much disposed to accept the hard conditions of Hearsay, and almost fear that our delay will lose the opportunity. I am transported to hear that you will call at Buriton in your way to Bath, and only beg, that considering my situation rather than your spirit, you will not leave the place without deciding the business. How long do you stay at Bath? Shall you not return through town? I want to see you about some things which I cannot trust to paper. Adieu.

[422] The expedition against Poonah failed. The English were surrounded, and the Convention of Wargaum restored to the Mahrattas all territory acquired since 1756, and Ragoba was given up to Scindiah (January, 1779).

[423] In November, 1778, the French fleet sailed for the West Indies. But St. Lucia was successfully defended by the British forces.

364.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Almack's, Wednesday evening, 1778.

*I delayed writing, not so much through indolence as because I expected every post to hear from you. The supplies are raised. Clive and Gosling allow me (very handsomely) to draw for the Barbarian tribute, and the New river (unless one of the Suitors retreats) is gone, alas gone for ever, for £7550. The state of Buriton is uncertain, incomprehensible, tremendous. It would be endless to send you the folios of Hugonin, but I have enclosed you one of his most pictoresque Epistles, on which you may meditate. Few offers; one, promising enough, came from a Gentleman at Camberwell: I detected him, with masterly skill and diligence, to be only an Attorney's clerk, without money, credit, or experience. I wrote as yet in vain to Sir John Shelley, about Hearsay; perhaps you might get intelligence about him.

I much fear that the Buriton expedition is necessary; but it has occurred to me, that if I _met_, instead of _accompanying_ you, it would save me a journey of above one hundred miles. That reflection led to another of a very impudent nature; _viz._ that if I did not accompany you, I certainly could be of no use to you or myself on the spot; that I had much rather, while you examined the premises, pass the time in a horse-pond; and that I had still rather pass it in my library with the 'decline and fall.' But that would be an effort of friendship worthy of Theseus or Perithous: modern times would hardly credit, much less imitate, such exalted virtue.

[Sidenote: SUMMER CAMPAIGN IN AMERICA.]

No news from America, yet there are people, large ones too, who talk of conquering it next summer with the help of 20,000 Russians. I fancy you are better satisfied with private than public War. The Lisbon Packet in coming home met about forty of our privateers. Adieu. I hardly know whether I direct right to you, but I think S. P. the surest.*

365.

_To his Stepmother._

Bentinck Street, Jan. 7th, 1779.

DEAR MADAM,

You will pity rather than blame me when I tell you that all last week I have been a good deal indisposed. The changes of weather brought a severe cold, accompanied with some degree of fever. I was confined to my room several days, and the state of my spirits as well as that of my health would have rendered the effort of writing very painful to me. The effort would have been still more painful with regard to the subject of your two last letters. I feel your happiness so much connected with mine, that the account of your sentiments and situation must disturb the enjoyments and encrease the anxiety of my own life. I feel it the more deeply as I am sensible that it is not in my power to remove the two causes of your present uneasiness.

I know not how to offer advice, and I am incapable of giving any efficacious help. I have easily perceived in my successive visits to Bath that a dislike of the place, of public life, and of mixed Society was insensibly gaining ground in your mind: and as I know that our happiness must always depend on our opinions and habits, I never presumed to prescribe for the constitution of another. Business and pleasure, Society or no Society, town or country, have undoubtedly their respective merits, and every one must on those subjects think and judge and act for themselves. The gay hurry of Bath or the silent retirement of Mrs. Massey's in Essex may alike be enjoyed by the mind to which they are adapted, and the only advice which I could think of offering, would be, not to engage yourself rashly in a connection of which you might afterwards repent. I have always considered marriage as a very serious undertaking, and the agreement of any friends to live together in the same house is a sort of marriage. If they have passed several years in different modes of life, their manners, their opinions, their sentiments on almost every subject must have contracted a different colour, and every little circumstance of hours, &c., will prove the cause of mutual restraint or mutual dissatisfaction.

But I now find, what indeed I have sometimes feared, that your design of retiring from Bath is not entirely the effect of choice and inclination; that a stronger power, the power of necessity or at least of prudence, urges you to take that resolution, and that in a word you find the place too expensive. You do not explicitly say what income would support your present establishment, and I am not so stupid or so ungrateful as not to feel the generous delicacy of your behaviour. If my own circumstances were affluent, the obligations and friendship of twenty years would instantly prompt me to gratify my own inclinations in the performance of sacred duty. I am not insensible that in my present situation, you have a substantial and even legal claim upon me to a very considerable amount, and while I feel the value of your tenderness on this occasion, I must lament that it is not in my power to attain even the humble though indispensable virtue of Justice.

[Sidenote: LESS INCOME THAN EXPENSES.]

Without recurring to any recollections which would be painful to us both, I may appeal to the anxious regard which you have always felt and expressed for my interest. You know the distressed embarrassed situation in which my affairs were left, and though I have always been directed by the advice of Mr. H., I have hitherto been disappointed in every attempt to extricate myself by the sale of Lenborough Estate. The prospect of public affairs and the universal want of money forces me at present to suspend every idea of a sale, and all credit is so compleatly dead, that in the most pressing exigency I should be at a loss how to borrow a thousand pounds. In the mean time I have been paying five per Cent. interest on a Estate which hardly produced three per Cent.; and in the very moment when I could the least afford it, the madness of my Buriton tenant has involved me in new scenes of vexation and expence. My desires have always been moderate and my domestic economy has been conducted with tolerable prudence. Yet my income has never been quite adequate to my expences, and those expences, unless I retired from Parliament--from London and from England--it would be impossible for me to retrench. When I look back I cannot find much to censure or regret in my own conduct, but when I look forwards, I am sometimes alarmed and perplexed. I should indeed find room to despond, if my spirits were not supported by the resources which I derive from my litterary character, and by the well grounded hopes which I build on the assistance of a tried and powerful friend.

I cannot on _this_ head explain myself more particularly by letter, but I have the strongest reasons to believe that the year which we have just begun will not end without producing a material improvement in my situation. If you have not already taken any decisive steps about leaving Bath, I could wish that you would suspend them till I can have the pleasure of conversing with you in the Easter holidays. If you still persist in your design, why should you bury yourself at Mrs. Massey's? Some pleasant village retirement at a moderate distance from London, where I could frequently visit you, might be consistent with your plan of expence, and you might there find yourself at once delivered from the costly and tasteless vanities of a fashionable life. Whatever resolution you adopt, let me hear from you soon, and always believe me with the most unalterable affection,

Ever yours, E. G.

I can say nothing of public affairs. Men of all parties--Ministers themselves--think them bad enough; but I do assure you that I have not any claims to the injurious epithet of 'a Patriot.' The apprehension of a Dutch War, though it is now blown over, was real and serious.

[Sidenote: PROSPECT OF A PLACE.]

366.

_To his Stepmother._

London, January the 26th, 1779.

DEAR MADAM,

As we are mutually convinced of each other's sentiments, words, compliments, assurances would be as idle as they are useless: yet it would be incumbent on me to employ them, if they became either of us; since I am so unfortunate as to be reduced to those equivocal marks of regard, whilst I receive from you the most solid and substantial proofs of that friendship and real affection which I have invariably experienced above twenty years.--You ask me why I should wish you to wait till Easter, and you seem desirous of an explanation of the latter part of my letter. It is for that very purpose of an explanation that I desired that delay, as it includes a variety of circumstances which I ought not to trust to paper or to the post. I can only say in general that from the assistance of a very powerful friend I have room to hope that I may soon be placed in an honourable and advantageous post[424] either at home or abroad, which would enable me to satisfy my duty as well as inclination by making your residence at Bath easy and comfortable to you in the manner you yourself have calculated your expences. I am not of a sanguine temper, and I am very sensible that besides the usual grounds of doubt and distrust, there are many circumstances which it is impossible for me to explain, that may either forward or delay or entirely disappoint the most rational expectations. Last week things seemed to draw so very near a crisis that I suspended my letter in hopes of making it more satisfactory to you and to myself. At present they are rather thrown back, and for aught I know the present Session of Parliament may end in darkness and uncertainty. Yet, I think the chance is worth waiting for a few months, perhaps somewhat longer; the difference of your income and expence cannot be very important, and if you do not wish me to make a difficult effort, I cannot see any great mischief in your eating a little deeper into your principal. I am the more anxious that you should not hastily quit a place which upon the whole must suit you better than any other; not only because I hope it will not be necessary, but as I am sure in your indifferent state of health, the unpleasant removal would be attended with fatigue of body and anxiety of mind which might be very prejudicial to you.

I am much flattered by your approbation of my pamphlet.[425] It was a disagreeable but a necessary step, after which I take my absolute and final leave of controversy. My second volume advances, and I hope will be finished within the _ensuing_ year (1780). You were right as to the benefit I have derived from the first; under the pressure of various difficulties, it proved a seasonable and useful friend; but if it supported, it did not enrich its author. I did not send a copy of my vindication to Port Eliot, nor indeed to any person except to yourself. Eliot must be in town in a fortnight to a very severe call of the House. I have meditated a letter to him, or rather to Mrs. E., above three months without success.

I am, Dear Madam, Ever yours, E. GIBBON.

[424] Gibbon was on July 1, 1779, made a Lord Commissioner of Trade and Plantations--a place which he retained until 1782, when the Board was abolished, the work being transferred to the Secretaries of State. He had at one time hoped to obtain the Secretaryship to the Embassy at Paris (see Letter 476). The following lines were written on his acceptance of the Commissionership by, it is said, Charles Fox:--

"King George, in a fright Lest Gibbon should write The story of England's disgrace, Thought no way so sure, His pen to secure, As to give the historian a place.

"But the caution is vain,-- 'Tis the curse of his reign That his projects should never succeed; Though he wrote not a line, Yet a course of decline In the author's example we read.

"His book well describes How corruption and bribes O'erthrew the great empire of Rome; And his ratings declare A degeneracy there, Which his conduct exhibits at home."

[425] In 1778 appeared _An Examination of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Chapters of Mr. Gibbon's History_, etc., by Henry Edward Davis, M.A., of Balliol College, Oxford. The author charged Gibbon with inaccuracy and plagiarism. He replied early in 1779 with his _Vindication of some Passages in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Chapters of the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_. Walpole calls it "the quintessence of argument, wit, temper, spirit, and consequently of victory."

[Sidenote: COURT-MARTIAL ON KEPPEL.]

367.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

February 6th, 1779.

*You are quiet and peaceable, and do not bark, as usual, at my silence. To reward you, I would send you some news; but we are asleep; no foreign intelligence, except the capture of a frigate; no certain account from the West Indies; and a dissolution of parliament, which seems to have taken place since Christmas. In the papers you will see negociations, changes of departments, &c. and I have _some_ reason to believe, that those reports are not entirely without foundation. Portsmouth is no longer an object of speculation; the whole stream of all men, and all parties, runs one way. Sir Hugh is disgraced, ruined, &c. &c.;[426] and as an old wound has broke out again, they say he must have his leg cut off as soon as he has time. In a night or two we shall be in a blaze of illumination, from the zeal of Naval Heroes, Land Patriots, and Tallow-Chandlers; the last are not the least sincere. I want to hear some details of your military and familiar proceedings. By your silence I suppose you admire Davis, and dislike my pamphlet; yet such is the public folly, that we have a second Edition in the press; the fashionable style of the Clergy, is to say they have not read it. If Maria does not take care, I shall write a much sharper invective against her, for _not_ answering my Diabolical book. My lady carried it down, with a solemn promise that I should receive an _unassisted_ French letter. Yet I embrace the little animal, as well as Mylady, and the _spes altera Romæ_. Adieu.

E. G.

There is a buz about a peace, and Spanish Mediation.*

[426] The court-martial held at Portsmouth entirely acquitted Admiral Keppel on February 11. The news reached London that night. It was treated as a triumph for the Opposition. Ladies appeared at the opera in caps _à la Keppel_, and blue cockades bearing the Admiral's name were worn. His "Head" became a favourite alehouse sign. Houses were illuminated; guns discharged; bells rung; the windows of the houses of Sir H. Palliser, Lord North, Lord G. Germain, and Lord Sandwich were broken. Sir H. Palliser resigned his seat for Scarborough as well as all his employments, and asked for a court-martial, which acquitted him from any charge of misconduct. He underwent the operation to which Gibbon alludes. "Here are the exact, and all the words which the King said to him, the first time he was at Court afterwards--'Sir Hugh, how does your leg do?'" (Warner to Selwyn, May, 1779).

368.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

March 16th, 1779.

You use me very ill.--Will you never condescend to abuse, curse, damn me for not writing? There is no bearing such treatment. Yet I have not anything particular to write except to acquaint you with the _certain_ intelligence of the taking of Pondicherry, which arrived this day. You will soon hear the particulars, but the essential is that the French have not any place of arms in the East Indies. With regard to the West, there is a strong rumour of action in our favour: but at all events we are safe, and possibly successful. We have had and are like to have Parliamentary storms. There are no questions which my opposition friends think stronger, and which I think weaker than their Naval Operations.[427] I hardly know your opinion about them. I want to hear some account of your military state and progress, but much about my Lady, Maria, &c. &c., which interest me more nearly than the Grenadier or Light Infantry Companies. I was obliged to you about your friendly hint from Bath. I had not been deficient, but from a sort of delicacy, I had satisfied myself with corresponding with Mrs. Gould and Dr. Delacour, and desired that Mrs. G. might not be informed of it. However, since your letter she is in a less dangerous way, several letters have passed between us, and we are now come to a tolerable understanding. Do you recollect that you promised me a Visit of Inspection to my Aunt? She wrote to me some time ago, I promised an account, and by this time she may be grown impatient again.

E. G.

I expect you (without a blush) to write soon.

[427] The Opposition used every effort to make political capital out of the dispute between Keppel and Palliser. Motions were proposed by them on December 11, 1778, for the trial of Sir Hugh Palliser; on February 19, 1779, for the dismissal of Sir H. Palliser from the Navy; March 3, for a censure on the Admiralty for sending out Admiral Keppel with too small a force; on April 19, for the removal of the Earl of Sandwich from the Admiralty.

369.

_To his Stepmother._

Bentinck Street, 21st March, 1779.

DEAR MADAM,

If your former letters made me uneasy, your last note, which I received yesterday after the hour of the post, made me quite unhappy for many reasons; but most of all because I found that you were so yourself. The delay in my answer which has given you so much pain, was not occasioned by any avocations of business, for there could be no business which interested me half so much; nor by any carelessness or forgetfulness, for I can say with truth that there has not been any hour in the day and very few in the night in which the idea was not uppermost in my mind. Much less did it arise from any degree of resentment at any part of your behaviour. I had expressed myself with some warmth, I wrote from my feelings, and I was apprehensive of some alteration in your sentiments towards me. Had I been cold and indifferent myself, I should probably have been more cautious and respectful.

Yet unless I totally forget the language of my letter, I did not, I could not, disapprove of your consulting your own happiness, and of calling on me after so long a respite to fulfil some part of the most equitable obligation. The cause of my delay was a strong, an unjustifiable repugnance to write on a subject so foreign to our ordinary conversations. I dreaded and I delayed too long so painful an effort. As I am now sensible how uneasy that delay has made you, I have taken the shortest method of sending, that of the coach. Forgive this seeming inattention, and believe me when I say that the affectionate regard, the tender solicitude which you express, have made an essential part of the happiness, and will always contribute to the consolation of my life.

I find that I must have stated rather too strongly the difficulties of my situation so as to alarm and terrify you, both on your account and on my own. I will endeavour to represent them more clearly. I have never been extravagant; nor have I made as yet any _considerable_ addition to the load of debt contracted by my father: but I have not been able to discharge it. The unhappy accidents which retarded the sale of Lenborough, have been attended, from the general hardships of the times, with the most fatal consequences, as land cannot at present be sold even on the most disadvantageous terms. In the course of seven or eight years interest has been much higher than rent, my Expences (notwithstanding the supply of some hundred pounds from my book) have inevitably exceeded my income.

[Sidenote: HIS PLANS OF ECONOMY.]

You are sensible from your own experience that any plan of economy must be regulated by place and circumstances. As long as I am in London and in Parliament, a house in Bentinck Street, a coach, such a proportion of servants, clothes, living, &c., are almost necessaries. But they are only necessaries in that situation, and I am not ignorant that a prudent man should adapt his arrangements to his fortune. Other countries of a less expensive cost, France, Switzerland, or perhaps Scotland, may afford an humble Philosophical retreat to a man of letters, nor should I suffer any accidental change of fortune, any fall in the World to affect my spirits or ruffle my tranquility. I have more than once balanced in my own mind the propriety, or indeed the necessity of such a resolution. The reason which induces me to suspend such an important and decisive measure arises from a hope which I could only insinuate and which I can at present only imperfectly explain. I can only mention that I am particularly connected with the present Attorney General, that he solicited my friendship, and offered me his services; and that if some arrangement should take place which would raise him to a much higher station, I may depend on a seat at one of the boards with an additional income of £1000 a year, which would remove every difficulty and supply every want. Without building on a doubtful foundation, inclination and even prudence recommend that I should wait some time for the event of this hope: and my only request is that you would on your side suspend any resolution of leaving Bath for some months, perhaps for a year. The difference of the expence in a year would not exceed £100, which you may command whenever (with a few days' notice) you will draw upon me.

If my expectations should deceive me (and I am never sanguine) my party is taken. I feel with gratitude and confusion your kind offer of retiring for my sake: but independent of every other consideration, it is far more proper that the unpleasant circumstances of such a removal should fall on the person who has health and youth and spirits to support them. With regard to any further _security_, I should have imagined that in the ordinary course of credit, my Bond was a very good security to the amount of the sum: but I am ready to consent to any act which you may consider as conducive to your interest or happiness.--I much fear that the agitation of mind may have injured your health before its perfect recovery from your late accident, and if a single word which I have written has tended to produce that effect, I shall not easily forgive myself. Though I cannot bear the thought of your quitting Bath against your inclinations, I should imagine that in the summer months, the air of the country would be beneficial to you. Whether you choose Port Eliot, Sheffield, Essex or any other place, I will, if my company can be any pleasure or relief to you, lay aside every other occupation to accompany you.

I am, Dear Madam, Most truly and affectionately yours, E. GIBBON.

370.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Wednesday night, April, 1779.

I am glad you have exerted some diligence about Mrs. G.'s Estate, but I wish you could have prevented a letter which I have just received, and which like a true coward I send you unopened. I fear it contains sharp or dry reproach for my neglect and silence. On this occasion you must step in to my assistance and in a proper letter exculpate me, and take the _whole_ of the blame upon yourself. Whatever _you_ do, you are always entitled to her gratitude, and cannot be afraid of her displeasure. No time should be lost, therefore return her Epistle with the aforesaid ostensible letter. I do not go to Bath this Easter; and Mrs. Gibbon is now satisfied with my conduct and correspondence. Some journey or arrangement to see her must be thought of in the course of the summer, but at present it would be highly inconvenient, our respite is little more than a week, and besides the approaching hurry of Parliamentary business, of which there is a large provision, I am now deeply and not unsuccessfully engaged in the decline and fall; and I _do not totally despair_ of bringing out the second Volume next Winter. So that upon the whole (as you do not interfere either with History or Parliament) I am ready to receive you when you please: but had much rather you would bring My Lady with you, as I very much like that sort of taste of Matrimonial life. I am not perfectly well. So--Adieu.

E. GIBBON.

[Sidenote: PARLIAMENT AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE.]

371.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Friday Evening, 1779.

When do you come to town? You gave me hopes of a visit, and I want to talk over things in general with you, before you march to the extremities of the West, where the Sun goes to sleep in the Sea. Mrs. Trevor told me your destination was Exeter;[428] and I suppose nothing but truth can proceed from a pretty mouth. I have been, and am still very diligent; and, though it is a huge beast, (the Roman Empire,) yet, if I am not mistaken, I see it move a little. You seem surprized that I was able to get off Bath: very easily, the extreme shortness of our Holydays was a fair excuse; her recovery of health, spirits, &c. made it less necessary, and she accepted my Apology, which was however accompanied with an offer, if she chose it, in the prettiest manner possible. A load of business in this house, (I write from it,) will be the amusement of the Spring; Motions, Enquiries, taxes, &c. &c. We are now engaged in Lord Pigot's affair, brought on by a motion from the Admiral,[429] that the Attorney General should prosecute Mr. Stratton[430] and Council;[431] all the Masters, Charles, Burke, Wedderburne, are of the same side, for it; Lord North seems to make a feeble stand, for the pleasure of being in a Minority. The day is hot and dull; will be long: some curious Evidence; one Man who refused three Lacks of Rupees, (£37,500,) merely not to go to Council; our mouths watered at such Royal corruption; how pitiful is our Insular bribery! A letter from aunt Hester. Adieu.

[428] The Sussex Militia were ordered to Exeter.

[429] Admiral Pigot, M.P. for Bridgnorth, brother of Lord Pigot. See Letter 311.

[430] Mr. Stratton was a member of the Madras Council, by which Lord Pigot was arrested.

[431] The House resolved on an address to the Crown for the prosecution of Stratton and other members of the Council. The case was tried in the Court of King's Bench, before Lord Mansfield, Wedderburn being for the prosecution and Dunning for the defence. The jury convicted (December 20, 21), and on February 10, 1780, Messrs. Stratton, Brooke, Floyer, and Mackay were fined £1000 apiece.

372.

_To his Stepmother._

House of Commons, April 16th, 1779.

DEAR MADAM,

We are now, after a very short recess, engaged in a great hurry of business, which will probably last a great while. I find however time, and a good deal of time (without fatiguing myself too much), for the occupation which after all is the pleasure, and I hope, the honour of my life. In your last letter you ask whether your remaining at Bath is necessary to my tranquility. I can answer that question in the clearest manner, and, while I answer it, I must feel with gratitude how kindly it is proposed. It _is_ necessary for my happiness that you should not be _forced_ to leave Bath by any difficulties which it would be my duty to remove: nor could I enjoy the comfort of any situation which was purchased at the expence of your ease and happiness. But if your retiring from Bath was the effect of your own inclination, it is impossible that I could be hurt at your leaving a place which I should never visit but on your account; and I should visit you with at least as much pleasure in a country retirement as in that scene of (what has always appeared to me) very awkward gaiety. But surely it is better to suspend any decisive resolution for the present. I was happy to hear from General Frazer, a very favourable account of your health & spirits.

I am, Dear Madam, Ever yours, E. G.

373.

_To Mrs. Holroyd._

April 30th, 1779.

You easily conceive my reasons for not answering your Epistle. The Major is with me as I believe; I say--as I believe, because the House of Commons takes me up so entirely that we have scarcely seen each other. He is as usual hurried, flurried, taken up with innumerable business and wishing to be quiet. He looks better than I expected, but he complains of heat, and want of sleep, and I have persuaded him to consult Heberden.--What does your Ladyship mean by preferring the Regiment to Bentinck Street? It is my intention before you march into the West, you should take a moderate taste of the amusements of the Civilized World. I am glad to hear a favourable account of the Infants: but am much at a loss to understand how Maria can so far forget her I. S. as to break her engagement of sending me a French letter. Yet I embrace her as well as her Mama. Adieu.

[Sidenote: THE MINISTRY CRESTFALLEN.]

374.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Saturday night, May, 1779.

*Alas! alas! fourteen Ships of the line:[432] you understand by this time that you have not got a single long-boat. Ministry are more crestfallen than I ever knew them, with the last intelligence; and I am sorry to say, that I see a smile of triumph on some opposition faces. Though the business of the West Indies may still produce something, I am much afraid that we shall [have] a campaign of immense expence, and little or no action. The most busy scene is at present in the House of C.; and we shall be involved, during a great [part] of next month, in tedious, fruitless, but, in my opinion, proper Enquiries.

You see how difficult it would be for me to visit Brighton; and I fancy I must content myself with receiving you on your passage to Ireland. Indeed, I much want to have a _very serious_ conversation with you. Another reason, which must in a great measure pin me to Bentinck-street, is the decline and fall. I have resolved to bring out the _suite_ in the course of next year; and, though I have been tolerably diligent, so much remains to be done, that I can hardly spare a single day from the Shop. I can guess but one reason which should prevent you from supposing that the picture of Leicester Fields was intended for Sheffield library;[433] _viz._ my having told you some time ago that I was under a formal engagement to Mr. Walpole. Probably I should not have been in any great hurry to execute my promise, if Mr. Cadell had not strenuously urged the curiosity of [the] public, who may be willing to repay the exorbitant price of _fifty_ Guineas. It is now finished, and my friends say, that, in every sense of the word, it is a good head. Next week it will be given to Hall the Engraver, and I promise you a first Impression. If I were a rich man you should have a similar picture. Adieu. I embrace my lady, and infants.*

E. G.

[432] In the daily papers of May 15, 1779, it was announced that "fourteen ships of the line" had sailed from Brest to attack Admiral Arbuthnot, who lay with a much smaller force at Torbay. Orders were sent to Portsmouth to fit out every available ship for his support.

[433] Sir Joshua Reynolds, in May to July, 1779, painted a portrait of Gibbon. But the picture here referred to is probably that by Wharton.

[Sidenote: AT WORK ON HIS SECOND VOLUME.]

375.

_To his Stepmother._

May 31st, 1779.

DEAR MADAM,

It is almost ridiculous for so hardened a sinner as myself to assign any particular reason for his silence and negligence: Yet I can say with truth that I do not remember the time when I have been more fully engaged. The attendance of the House of Commons on our fruitless, hopeless enquiries is really severe at this unseasonable time of year, and my literary business, though much more pleasing, engrosses a still larger share of my time and attention. On every account both of fame and interest, it will be highly expedient that the continuation of my history should appear about this time twelvemonth; much is already done, much remains to do; I am well satisfied that by a course of steady temperate diligence, the object may be accomplished; but I shall not be able to lose a week, and hardly a day.

I most sincerely rejoice at the visible improvement in your health and spirits, and am convinced amusement and change of air will produce the most salutary effects. I conceive and I wish I could partake the happiness you enjoy with Mrs. Eliot and her sons: I beg you would communicate to them the expression of my most sincere and lively regard. Has Mrs. Eliot totally renounced London? She herself may be happy in a Solitude, but she might diffuse happiness among a larger circle of her friends. For myself I cannot say anything very positive or indeed very pleasing on the subject of my hopes: but I have weighed every circumstance and am prepared for every possible event. I only beg you to have patience a few months longer, and I give you _my honour_ that I will make such arrangements as shall enable you to reside at Bath. I will likewise add, what I know is material to your feelings, that I shall enjoy myself a very comfortable if not desirable plan of life. I should be glad to provide for Will Budd, but the sort of place which you described to me some time ago, hardly exists in any family. However I shall not forget him.

I am, Dear Madam, Ever yours, E. G.

376.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Friday evening, July, 1779.

*The inclosed will inform you of an event, not the most disagreeable of those which I have lately experienced. I have only to add, that it was effected by the firm and sincere friendship of the A[ttorney] G[eneral]. So many incidents have happened, that I hardly know how to talk of news. You will learn that the Lords have strangely castrated the new Militia Bill.[434] The Ferrol Squadron, 8 or 9 ships, have joined the French. The numbers stand on our side 32, on their's 37; but our force is at least equal, and the general consternation much dispelled. If you do not Hibernize, you might at least Bentinckize. I embrace, &c. Parliament will be prorogued to-morrow.*

[434] On June 21 Lord North proposed a Bill for doubling the militia. The Bill was read a third time on June 24. The Lords (June 30) threw out the second clause, which empowered his Majesty "to direct the number of private men to serve in the militia to be doubled." On recommitment to the Commons, it was argued that the amendment was a breach of privilege, as the Bill was a Money Bill. Eventually the amendment was accepted, and the Bill, as amended, received the royal assent on July 3.

377.

_To his Stepmother._

Bentinck Street, July the 3rd, 1779.

DEAR MADAM,

I have the pleasure of acquainting you, that I am now appointed one of the Lords of Trade in the room of Bamber Gascoyne;[435] Andrew Stuart[436] has succeeded at the same time to the place of Jolliffe, and our new Colleagues[437] do us the honour of saying that in both instances they have gained by the exchange. As the salary of this place will secure and improve my own situation, so I really set much more value upon it, as it will enable me to discharge a small part of my debt of duty and gratitude towards you. For the future you may depend on receiving the interest of the Bond (at 5 per cent.) which will make the two half yearly payments £150 instead of £100 each; and will I hope be sufficient to support your establishment at Bath in a manner more agreeable to you. I have only to beg a short respite, and that you would be satisfied with the usual draught at present and the double (£200) at next Christmas. At the moment my increase of fortune encreases my actual poverty. Sir Francis Wronghead[438] was perfectly in the right when he said, "Mayhap I may not receive the first quarter of my salary this halfe yeare:" he might have added that the heavy fees of offices eat up the greatest part of it, and that a space of some months must elapse before the stream begins to flow regularly and beneficially. I am not insensible that this addition of income is of a very precarious nature, and that the event of an hour or the caprice of a man may throw me back into my former anxiety, but the alteration shall never affect your happiness or situation, and the plan of retirement into Switzerland with my friend d'Eyverdun which I had perfectly considered and digested will be a resource not unworthy of a Philosopher, which I shall always have it in my power to command.

[Sidenote: A LORD OF TRADE.]

I am now going to resume my literary employments, which have suffered a short interruption, and I shall resume them, if not with more tranquility at least with more cheerfulness of mind. I find myself however under a difficulty of reconciling two plans for this year, each of which is equally recommended by my interest, my duty and my inclination. On the one hand I anxiously desire to publish the continuation of my history about this time twelvemonth. Though much is already done, much still remains to do, and I should almost despair of being able to finish so large a task, unless I steadily proceed without losing a day, or unless I compensate any intervals of negligence by extraordinary and improper efforts of industry. This important object seems to confine me to Bentinck Street and my Library: but on the other hand I am desirous and even impatient to visit you at Bath; to carry you down to Port Eliot, where I am sure the air and society would be your best Physician, to see Mrs. Eliot, and to convince _him_ of the grateful sense that I entertain of his behaviour in consenting to my re-election,[439] which I know was highly unpleasant to him. I shall endeavour to concert measures in such a manner as to reconcile those opposite views: but I foresee that the execution of such a scheme can only become practicable towards the Autumn.

I ought to make some apology for leaving some days in anxious suspence. I can only say, that I was myself in the same condition. Every morning I expected the event of the evening, and every evening the return of the morning. Till the business was absolutely finished, a hundred accidents might have dashed the cup from my lips, and I was afraid of raising your hopes only to embitter the melancholy news which might have followed.

I am, Dear Madam, Ever yours, E. G.

[435] Bamber Gascoyne, M.P. for Truro, was made a Commissioner of the Admiralty.

[436] M.P. for Lanarkshire.

[437] His colleagues were Soame Jenyns, Lord R. Spencer, Hon. Charles Greville, William Eden, and Thomas de Grey.

[438] Sir Francis Wronghead, of Bumper Hall, M.P. for Guzzledown, in _The Provoked Husband; or, A Journey to London_ (Vanbrugh and Cibber).

[439] _I.e._ as a Commissioner of Trade.

378.

_To his Stepmother._

Bentinck Street, September 17th, 1779.

DEAR MADAM,

*I am well and happy; two words which you will accept as the substance of a very long letter; and even as a sufficient excuse for a very long silence. Yet I really do intend to behave better; and to prevent the abominable consequence of hours and days and posts stealing away, till the sum total amounts to a formidable account, I have a great mind to enter into an agreement, of sending you regularly every month, a _miniature_ picture of my actual state and condition on the first day of the aforesaid month.

I am happy to hear of the very beneficial effects you have derived from your recent friendship with the Goats;[440] and as I cannot discover in what respect this poor Country is more prosperous or secure than it was last year, I must consider your present confidence as a proof that you view the prospect through a purer medium, and a glass of a more chearful colour. I find myself so much more susceptible of private friendship than of public spirit, that I am very well satisfied with that conclusion. My summer has been passed in the town and neighbourhood, which I still maintain to be the best society, and the best retirement; the latter, however, has been sometimes interrupted by the Colonel of Dragoons[441] with a train of Serjeants, Trumpets, Recruits, &c. &c. My own time is much and agreeably employed in the prosecution of my business. After doing much more than I expected to have done within the time, I find myself much less advanced than I expected: yet I begin to reckon, and as well as I can calculate, I believe, that in twelve or fourteen months I shall be brought to bed, perhaps of twins. May they live, and prove as healthy as their eldest brother.

[Sidenote: DISCLAIMS THE "HISTORY OF OPPOSITION."]

With regard to the little foundling which so many friends or enemies chose to lay at my door, I am perfectly innocent, even of the knowledge of that production; and _all_ the faults or merits of the History of Opposition must, as I am informed, be imputed to Macpherson, the Author or translator of Fingal.* I am much at a loss what to say about Mr. Eliot; he is certainly very far from being in a good state of health or spirits, but I am not Physician enough to distinguish between the influence of the body and that of the mind: he feels for the public with the most exquisite sensibility, and all his sentiments are of the painful kind. He still loiters in town, which I dare say he will not leave till near the meeting of Parliament, and will go about the month of November to pass the _Summer_ in Cornwall. His delay has disconcerted my measures, as I had resolved (however inconvenient it might be) to make an Expedition this year to Port Eliot; and had proposed myself the pleasure of passing some days at Bath on my way. Cornwall must be deferred till next summer, which will arrange indeed much better with my litterary projects; but I cannot refuse myself the satisfaction of seeing you either before the meeting of Parliament or in the Christmas recess.

I am, Dear Madam, Most truly Yours, E. GIBBON.

[440] Mrs. Gibbon had recently paid a visit to Abergavenny.

[441] Major Holroyd had raised a regiment of horse, called the Sussex, or 22nd Regiment of Light Dragoons, of which he was colonel.

379.

_To Colonel Holroyd._

September, 1779.

I do not despair of passing some days at S. P. before the meeting of Parliament; but unless I should totally interrupt my business in a very Critical moment, it is impossible to fix any time which must undoubtedly be at a _considerable_ distance. No news of Sir John Ross; Lord Mackartney[442] has written to Lord George [Germain] from Rochelle; the insolence of d'Estaing's terms made him rather chuse to surrender at discretion, but he has since received assurance that private property will be respected.

Lady Spencer, Lady Harriet and D[uchess] of Devonshire behaved like heroines in the Engagement[443] which they saw very distinctly; the latter exposed herself to save them. I perfectly approve of Neville for eldest Captain, and think that Wedderburne cannot be offended. I am curious to see your Colonel's letter, but you must answer it. I embrace My Lady; did you scold her very much? She was, as on most occasions, quite in the right.

[442] Lord Macartney (1737-1806) was at that time Governor and Captain-General of the Caribbee Islands, and was at his post at Grenada in July, 1779, when that island was attacked, and, after a gallant defence, was captured by the French. Macartney was carried as prisoner of war to France, but was soon exchanged. Count d'Estaing's terms were that he should hold Macartney personally responsible for all the consequences of his refusal to surrender. Such of the inhabitants as were taken in arms would irrecoverably lose their estates and properties, and the free coloured people would be reduced to slavery.

[443] The ladies, returning from Spa, embarked at Ostend on the _Fly_ sloop for Calais. On the voyage the sloop was attacked (September 17) by two French cutters. After a long engagement the French were beaten off.

380.

_To Colonel Holroyd._

October 6th, 1779.

I am always in the right, I knew the journey would be of service to me, and I eat my Pheasant at dinner with a degree of appetite which I have not known for some days. As to the majestic complaint of the foot, the event will probably be decided by to-morrow morning, but as it seems to be better notwithstanding the jolting of the Chaise, I begin to hope that it may go off without further trouble. In spite of the Divine Billy Burrel it is certain that Dr. Turton _is_ in town, and that I shall see him to-morrow. If I am well enough to go out I must attend a board of trade for which I have found a summons. You think we are idle----Embrace my Lady in my name and respectfully salute Miss Cooke, Major Price, &c. By the enclosed you will see that there is not any authentic news.

381.

_To his Stepmother._

Bentinck Street, October the 27th, 1779.

DEAR MADAM,

Whenever you have desired an immediate answer you have not found me very negligent; it is therefore incumbent on me to explain my _apparent_ tardiness which was occasioned by a visit to Tunbridge. Your letter was sent there the day after I left it, and by some delay and some circuits it did not reach my hands till Monday last, and I had firmly resolved before I received your second Epistle to write by to-night's post.

The officious intelligence which was communicated, I suppose, from Sheffield Place to Bath, alarmed your tenderness much more than was necessary about the state of my health. A Derangement in my stomach which seemed of the bilious kind determined me to return to town in search of advice. Turton was divided for two or three days between the probability of Jaundice and Gout, but either Nature or his skill preserved me from both; and I am now perfectly free from all complaints and apprehensions whatsoever. It will be an addition to my happiness if you are able to make the same declaration.

[Sidenote: HIS "MÉMOIRE JUSTIFICATIF."]

I hope you are perfectly satisfied that I had no hand in the History of the Opposition, but you will receive by the Coach (directed for fear of a mistake to Dr. Delacour's) a French pamphlet which I have not the same right to disclaim.[444] In the summer the Chancellor and Lord Weymouth were desirous of answering a very weak Manifesto of the Court of Versailles, and very politely requested me to undertake the task. Though I will never make myself the Champion of a party, I thought there was no disgrace in becoming the Advocate of my Country against a foreign enemy, and the _memoire Justificatif_ which you may read was the result of that opinion. The publication was delayed for various reasons; but it has now been communicated as a State paper and in the King's [name] to all the Ministers and Courts in Europe, and as far as I can understand it has been received with some degree of approbation. Elmsley the bookseller desired to print a new Edition which he has swelled by the addition of the French Manifesto. You will easily suppose that I rather expect by such a work to _procure friends_ than fame: but it may very possibly be abused in some shape or other in the approaching Session of Parliament, which will be loud and turbulent.[445]

I am, Dear Madam, Most affectionately yours, E. GIBBON.

[444] In 1779 a _Mémoire Justificatif_ was put forth both at Paris and Madrid to explain the zeal of two despotic monarchies for the new-born republic of the United States. Gibbon was requested by the Lord Chancellor and Lord Weymouth, then Secretary of State, to vindicate, against the French manifesto, the justice of the British arms. His _Mémoire_, written in French, was approved by the Cabinet, and delivered as a State Paper to the courts of Europe. The _Mémoire_ is published in English in the Annual Register for 1779 (pp. 397-412), preceded by translations of the Spanish and French manifestoes. Beaumarchais wrote a reply to the _Mémoire_, which he attributes to Lord Stormont (_Observations sur le Mémoire Justificatif de la cour de Londres. Œuvres de Beaumarchais._ Edition 1809, vol. v. pp. 1-50).

[445] Parliament met November 25, 1779.

382.

_To his Stepmother._

London, Oct. 29th, 1779.

DEAR MADAM,

This day I dined in Conduit Street, a well-furnished house, good table, proper attendance, &c. Thus far you will say there was nothing very extraordinary. But the Lady of the house was Mrs. Williams, alias Bell Mallet. Her aunt Elstob is just dead, and has left her that house, furniture, plate, &c., with a fortune (as Mr. Scott tells me) of £14,000 chargeable only with an Annuity of £100 a year to her sister during her mother's life. She is in high spirits, as she well may be, very French, but really agreeable and even handsome. She talks of settling her affairs and returning to France. Her husband is at New York much esteemed in his profession, and she may be very happy if he does not _now_ recollect his wife, though Mrs. Elstob, by appointing Trustees, George Scott and Mr. Waller, has taken every possible measure to secure her fortune from him. I thought you would not be sorry to hear something of that little animal, who came to town only Saturday and sent to me only last night.

I am, Most truly yours, E. GIBBON.

[Sidenote: HIS OFFICIAL DUTIES.]

383.

_To his Stepmother._

Bentinck Street, Dec. 10th, 1779.

DEAR MADAM,

Nothing has given me for a long while more real uneasiness than the doubt, which I am now obliged to express, whether it will be in my power to pass my Holydays at Bath. After so long a delay and such repeated disappointments, I had promised myself much pleasure, I may say happiness, in spending some few days with you at a time when every disagreeable circumstance was removed and our domestic prospect was become more cheerful. But the advantages of office must be accepted with some inconveniences. You know how much the Irish business engages our attention and fears at this moment, and you will see by the papers that Lord North has proposed some very important alterations with regard to the commerce of that country.[446] The bills for that purpose will pass in Parliament, but there still remains a great number of subordinate circumstances, though highly essential to be regulated, and which in some form will be referred to the Board of Trade. We shall be forced to sit almost every day during the Recess, and the absence of a _new Lord_ on the occasion would be thought peculiarly improper.

There is even another motive which I cannot explain, which will I hope make my attention to this business of some future benefit to the public or at least to myself. These reasons will satisfy the delicacy of your friendship, but I beg you would keep them to yourself, as I abhor and despise above all things the seeming affectation of official importance. Only be persuaded that I feel the delay (as I fear it must prove) of my visit, not less disagreeably than you do yourself.

I have seen very little of Mrs. Williams, and am sorry, and indeed surprised to hear so bad an account of a little coquette to whom I only imputed the venial faults of vanity and affectation. I understand she is already on the Wing. Mr. Eliot is still in town: we all try to push him down to Bath; he seems immoveable; but he appears in somewhat better health and spirits. He deplores the state of public affairs, past, present and future. With regard to the last, though from different principles, I am afraid that his apprehensions are not imaginary, and the impending dangers from war and faction are most alarming. I never knew anything equal to the violence of this Session of Parliament, which has not left me a moment of peace or leisure. Adieu! dear Madam, I do most seriously _intend_ to write again very soon. Your _ordinary_ remittance shall reach you on Christmas-day, and I hope that I shall be able to add the _extraordinary_ or rather the new one. But my own supplies, both from Hampshire and from the Exchequer, come in so very slowly that I may be obliged to defer the second £100 till the end of January in case it should not be inconvenient to you.

I am, Most truly yours, E. GIBBON.

[446] On December 1, Lord Shelburne in the Lords, and, on December 6, Lord Ossory in the Commons, moved a vote of censure on the Government for their conduct in Ireland. The Volunteer movement spread rapidly; a French invasion was dreaded; the cry for "free trade" rose higher and higher; a non-importation agreement was entered into; and the relief of Dissenters from the sacramental test was demanded. In consequence of this pressure, Lord North (December 13, 1779) proposed and carried a series of resolutions granting free export trade to Ireland.

384.

_To his Stepmother._

December 25th, 1779.

DEAR MADAM,

Inclosed you will receive two draughts for two different terms, which will each be ready for your commands.--I must delay the pleasure of seeing you; but _hope_ I shall write oftener than usual. I wish you joy of the fair ending of the Year. May 1780 be still more propitious for public and private happiness.

I am, Most truly yours, E. GIBBON.

[Sidenote: HOLROYD STANDS FOR COVENTRY.]

385.

_To Colonel Holroyd, at Coventry._

London, Monday, February 7th, 1780.

*When the A. G. informed me of the Express he had just sent down to Coventry,[447] I had not the least doubt of your embracing the bolder resolution. You are indeed obliged to him for his real friendship, which he feels and expresses warmly; on this occasion, I hope, it will be successfully, and that in a few days you will find yourself among us at St. Stephen's in the heat of the battle. But you know that I am a dastardly, pusillanimous spirit, more inclined to fear than to hope, and not very eager in the pursuit of _expensive_ Vanity. On this vacancy the celerity of your motions may probably prevent opposition; but at the general election, your enemy, the Corporation, will not be asleep, and I wish, if it be not too late, to warn you against any promises or engagements which may terminate in a defeat, or at least a Contest of ten thousand pounds. Adieu. I could believe (without seeing it under her paw) that my lady wishes to leave Coventry. No news! foreign or domestic. I did not forget to mention the _Companies_, but find people, as I expected, torpid. Burke makes his motion Friday; but I think the rumours of a Civil War subside every day:[448] petitions are thought less formidable; and I hear the Sussex protest[449] does not gather signatures in the country.*

[447] "The character of my friend (Mr. Holroyd)," says Gibbon in his autobiography, "had recommended him to a seat in Parliament for Coventry, the command of a regiment of light dragoons, and an Irish peerage." The seat for Coventry was vacant by the death of Walter Waring, M.P.

[448] Towards the end of 1779, and in January, 1780, Yorkshire, Middlesex, Hampshire, and many other counties petitioned the House of Commons to grant no more taxes till the expenses of Government were reduced and sinecure places abolished. The tone of several of these county meetings seemed almost to threaten Civil War. Devonshire is said to have voted a fund for buying arms. The Yorkshire petition was presented by Sir George Saville, February 8, 1780.

[449] In Lord Sheffield's edition of this letter (Gibbon's _Miscellaneous Works_, vol. ii. p. 239), the words are given as "I hear your Sussex protest gathers signatures in the country." The protest was suggested and promoted by Colonel Holroyd.

386.

_To Colonel J. B. Holroyd._

Brookes's,[450] Saturday Night, February (12th), 1780.

I rejoyce in the successful progress, and am convinced that for the _present_ at least the catastrophe will be happy. Your last was safely conveyed to Lord Charles Spencer in the few hours that he happed to be in town. Though I hate to go out in the morning I will be at the Admiralty with Lord Mulgrave, Lord Lisburn and Penton to-morrow at ten o'clock.

[Sidenote: VICTORY OVER THE SPANISH FLEET.]

Burke[451] opened his ingenious partial scheme of public economy yesterday, but I cannot give you a speech of three hours in three lines, and you will hear and see enough about it. What is of much more consequence than this Parliamentary prattle (I talk to you now as a free mason) is the business of which we have received to-day the certain though not official information. Rodney encountered the Spanish Fleet off Cape St. Mary's;[452] the Commodore (90 guns) blew up, three line of battle-ships taken, two more likewise taken, but so much shattered and dismasted, that they were separated and forced by an unlucky gale of wind into the Port of Cadiz. The letters from thence express despondency and fears (which for us are hopes) of several other ships. Patriots very dull, the Duke of Grafton who is now standing by the fire, looks blacker than usual. I dined with Wedderburne (at Lord Carlisle's), who was to see one of your Agents to-night; he is earnest and sanguine--God send a good deliverance to the Colonel and Secretary.

[450] Brooks's Club, originally in Pall Mall, was moved to 60, St. James's Street, in 1778. Gibbon, proposed by Mr. St. John, was elected in 1777. In Richard Tickell's verses celebrating the Hon. John Townshend's return for Cambridge in 1780, occur the following lines:--

"And, know, I've bought the best champagne from Brookes. From liberal Brookes, whose speculative skill Is hasty credit, and a distant bill; Who, nursed in clubs, disdains a vulgar trade, Exults to trust and blushes to be paid."

[451] On February 11, Burke brought forward his scheme for securing the independence of Parliament, and for Economical Reform, in a speech which Lord North said was "such as no other member could have made." Besides other reductions of expense, he proposed to abolish altogether the Board of Trade, the Civil Branch of the Ordnance, and the third Secretaryship of State. Lord North allowed the Establishment Bill to be brought in, the only member who opposed its introduction being Lord George Gordon. The House of Commons went into Committee on the Bill, March 8, 1780.

[452] On January 16, 1780, Rodney encountered the Spanish Admiral Langara off Cape St. Vincent, won a complete victory, relieved Gibraltar, supplied Minorca, and proceeded to the West Indies. The _San Domingo_ (70 guns) blew up; the flagship _Phœnix_ (80 guns), and three other ships of 70 guns, were taken. The _San Julian_ (70 guns), after her prize crew was put on board, ran ashore. Another ship, after her officers were shifted, was totally wrecked. Four, more or less damaged, escaped into Cadiz.

387.

_To his Stepmother._

Bentinck Street, March 10th, 1780.

DEAR MADAM,

*When you awakened me with your pen, it was my intention to have shown some signs of life by the next post. But so uncertain are all human affairs, that I found myself arrested by a mighty unrelenting Tyrant, called the Gout; and though my feet were the part on which he chose to exercise his cruelty, he left me neither strength nor spirits to use my hand in relating the melancholy tale. At present I have the pleasure of informing you, that the feaver and inflammation have subsided; but the absolute weakness and monstrous swelling of my two feet confine me to my chair and flannels; and this confinement most unluckily happens at a very _nice_ and important moment of Parliamentary affairs. Col. Holroyd pursues those affairs with eager and persevering zeal; and has the pleasure of undertaking more business than any three men could possibly execute.* He is much obliged to you for your kind congratulation. Mrs. Eliot is in town; but I am quite ignorant (not more so than they are themselves) of their intentions. I will write again very soon.

I am, Dear Madam, Most truly yours, E. GIBBON.

388.

_To his Stepmother._

Bentinck Street, ½ hour past nine, Saturday Evening, March, '80.

DEAR MADAM,

If I had written as I intended three or four posts ago, I should have informed you that Turton and myself were very well satisfied with the proceedings of the Gout, that he had behaved like a fair and honourable enemy, and that after making me sensible of his power, he was taking leave in a gentle and orderly manner. I cannot send you at present quite so favourable an account; the Gout has seriously returned into one of my feet; the pair kept me sleepless last night; and I have been low and weak all day. I can easily understand this alteration, and you will not be surprized when you hear that I was forced to go out rather too soon, and to sit up two whole nights in the House of Commons. You will see by the Papers, that a Vote has passed against the Board of Trade,[453] but I can assure you that it has not disturbed my tranquility. It will probably be rejected by the House of Lords; and at all events I have reason to expect some equivalent. I hope I am falling asleep.

I am, Dear Madam, Most truly yours, E. GIBBON.

[453] On March 13, 1780, the Board of Trade was declared to be useless by 207 to 199. Burke alluded to the literary value of the Board, which had its separate professor for every department of literature, and paid a sneering compliment to the "historian's labours, the wise and salutary results of deep, religious researches." As an Academy of _Belles Lettres_ he held the commissioners hallowed; as a Board of Trade he wished them abolished.

389.

_To his Stepmother._

April 3rd, 1780.

DEAR MADAM,

I have now the pleasure of informing you that the gout has quite left me, and from the general state of my health and spirits, I am much inclined to believe many of the things that are reported in its favour. I wish it were in my power to embrace your scheme of Lord Mulgrave's lodging: but my two great chains the _press_ and the _house_ chain me by either foot.

I am, Most truly yours, E. GIBBON.

[Sidenote: RECOVERY FROM THE GOUT.]

390.

_To his Stepmother._

Bentinck Street, Monday Evening, April, '80(?).

DEAR MADAM,

I should not have left you in suspense, if the Gout had not treated me exactly in the same manner. My journal (had I sent one every post) could only have specified its irregular motions from one place and from one foot to another; swelling, inflammation, weakness, pain increasing, diminishing, shifting, &c.: and the alternative of good and bad nights; sometimes forcing myself out of doors and sometimes nursing myself at home. However the real violence of the fit such as it was during the first week or ten days has never returned, there has not at any time been the slightest symptom or most distant hint in any part except the feet, and I now hope that it is seriously and finally going away. The short interval of the holidays (short indeed, for Parliament meets again to-morrow Sennight) may give me strength and spirits to support a scene which I am heartily tired of. We must again submit to our common disappointment, and if the decline and fall make you any amends you will be glad to hear that the continuation (two quarto volumes) goes to the press in May and will certainly appear next winter.

I am, dear Madam, Ever yours, E. G.

391.

_To his Stepmother._

May the 15th, 1780.

DEAR MADAM,

Your kind epistle gave me much more pleasure than pain; for I am grown callous to shame, but am not insensible of gratitude and friendship.

I have heard of you by Mrs. Sarah Holroyd, and was much pleased and edified by the zeal with which you communicated to your family the Colonel's first spirited Oration.[454] He instantly exclaimed, 'Those are the friends I like to have.' He has not spoke since, but he is, as you may well suppose, indefatigable and eager, and it will not be long before he feels a second inspiration. I can only condole with you that a person, in whose fate and reputation you are perhaps more deeply interested, should still continue a dumb dog. He has indeed the grace to acknowledge his infirmity, and if my seat in the House of C. had not some remote connection with a more valuable seat, I should retire without any regret from that scene of noise, heat and contention. A dissolution of Parliament, though it may be delayed many months, is by many expected every hour: and I am totally ignorant of the designs of the Electors of Liskeard. My great constituent grows warmer in patriotism, but he still expresses the same regard for me, and though I have no motives for confidence, I have not any reasons for fear. He is perfectly silent on the subject, and I am prepared for the worst. I saw my young friend John in his passage, and was indeed astonished by the sense and propriety of his behaviour without embarrassment and without forwardness. Mrs. Eliot is not in the least altered.

I am, Dear Madam, Most truly yours, E. GIBBON.

[454] In the debate on the Army Estimates and the new Levies (April 5, 1780), Fox commented on the manner in which Colonel Holroyd had raised his Regiment of Horse. It is to Holroyd's reply, and his explanation that the regiment was raised by him for active service, and not as a "fencible corps," that Gibbon refers.

392.

_To his Stepmother._

June 6th, 1780.

DEAR MADAM,

*As the old story of Religion has [raised] most _formidable_ tumults in this town,[455] and as they will of course seem much more formidable at the distance of an hundred [miles], you may not be sorry to hear that I am perfectly safe and well: my known attachment to the Protestant Religion has most probably saved me. Measures, and effectual measures, are taken to suppress these disorders, and every street is filled with horse and foot. Mrs. and Mrs. Sarah H. went out of town yesterday morning. The Colonel shews his usual spirit.*

I am sincerely Yours, E. GIBBON.

[455] On June 2, 1780, Lord George Gordon presented the petition of the Protestant Association against the relaxation of the Penal Laws against the Roman Catholics. The "No Popery" riots took place on the 6th and 7th, when London was for some hours in the hands of the mob.

[Sidenote: THE GORDON RIOTS.]

393.

_To his Stepmother._

London, June 8th, 1780.

DEAR MADAM,

*As a M. of P., I cannot be exposed to any danger, as the H. of C. has ajourned to Monday sen'night; as an individual, I do not conceive myself to be obnoxious. I am not apt, without duty or of necessity, to thrust myself into a Mob: and our part of the town is as quiet as a Country Village. So much for personal safety; but I cannot give the same assurances of public tranquillity; forty thousand Puritans, such as they might be in the time of Cromwell, have started out of their graves; the tumult has been dreadful; and even the remedy of military force and martial law is unpleasant. But Government with 15,000 Regulars in town, and every Gentleman (but one) on their side, must extinguish the flame. The execution of last night was severe; perhaps it must be repeated to-night: Yet upon the whole the tumult subsides. Col. H. was all last night in Holbourn among the flames, with the Northumberland Militia, and performed very bold and able service.[456] I write again in a post or two.*

I am, Dear Madam, Ever Yours, E. G.

[456] On Wednesday night, June 7, the riot was quelled by military force. The Northumberland Militia, which reached London on June 7 by a forced march of twenty-five miles, were led by Colonel Holroyd into the thick of the riot at High Holborn, to prevent the mob advancing westward, and to protect, if possible, Mr. Langdale's distillery. By Thursday morning the tumult was entirely suppressed. "To Colonel Holroyd, since deservedly raised to the British peerage as Lord Sheffield, the Country was eminently indebted for repelling the fury of the Mob at the Bank" (Wraxall's _Historical Memoirs_, 3rd edit., vol. i. p. 351).

394.

_To his Stepmother._

June 10th, 1780.

DEAR MADAM,

*I should write with great pleasure, to say that this audacious tumult is perfectly quelled; that Lord G[eorge] G[ordon] is sent to the Tower; and that instead of safety or danger, we are now at leisure to think of justice; but I am now alarmed on your account, as we have just got a report, that a similar disorder has broken out at Bath. I shall be impatient to hear from you; but I flatter myself that your pretty town does not contain much of that scum which has boiled up to the surface in this huge Cauldron.*

I am, Dear Madam, Most sincerely Yours, E. G.

[Sidenote: HIS TWO VOLUMES IN THE PRESS.]

395.

_To his Stepmother._

Bentinck Street, June 27th, 1780.

DEAR MADAM,

*I believe we may now rejoyce in our common security. All tumult has perfectly subsided, and we only think of the justice which must be properly and severely inflicted on such flagitious criminals. The measures of Government have been seasonable and vigorous; and even opposition has been forced to confess, that the military force was applied and regulated with the utmost propriety. Our danger is at an end, but our disgrace will be lasting, and the month of June 1780, will ever be marked by a dark and diabolical fanaticism, which I had supposed to be extinct, but which actually subsists in Great Britain, perhaps beyond any other Country in Europe. Our Parliamentary work draws to a conclusion;[457] and I am much more pleasantly, though laboriously engaged in revising and correcting for the press, the continuation of my history, two Volumes of which will certainly appear next winter. This business fixes me to Bentinck Street more closely than any other part of my litterary labour; as it is absolutely necessary that I should be in the midst of all the books which I have at any time used during the composition. But I feel a strong desire (irritated, like all passions, by repeated obstacles) to escape to Bath.* And if the summer should pass away, the autumn shall not elapse without gratifying my wishes. As you are my sole object, it is a matter of perfect indifference whether the place is full or empty, but I should like to know your summer plan, and if you have any design to climb the Welsh mountains. I am ashamed that Midsummer day should have passed in silence, but I am not able to get a shilling from Hampshire, and the treasury, my best support, is uncommonly backward. Next week, however, you may depend on receiving the proper line from me.

I am, Dear Madam, Most truly Yours, E. GIBBON.

[457] The session ended July 8, 1780.

396.

_To his Stepmother._

Bentinck Street, July 8th, 1780.

DEAR MADAM,

I keep my promise though I have been driven to the last verge of breaking it: but I hope you have not felt any inconvenience from the delay. The World disperses and London grows a very pleasant retire[ment]. We are now so quiet that the tumults of last month appear a very incredible dream. Colonel H. passed through town in his way to his Regiment. I understand that his spirited behaviour in London has firmly seated him at Coventry.

I am, Dear Madam, Most truly Yours, E. G.

397.

_To Colonel Holroyd._

July 25th, 1780.

*As your motions are spontaneous, and the stations of the Lord Chief[458] unalterably fixed, I cannot perceive the necessity of your sending or receiving intelligence. However, your commands are obeyed. You wish I would write, as a sign of life. I am alive; but, as I am immersed in the decline and fall, I shall only make the sign. It is made. You may suppose that we are not pleased with the junction of the fleets; nor can an ounce of West India loss be compensated by a pound of East India success; but the Circuit will roll down all our news and politics of London. I rejoyce to hear that the Sussex Dragoons are such well-disciplined Cannibals; but I want to know when the chief Cannibal will return to his den. It would suit me better that it should happen soon. Adieu.*

[458] Lord Mansfield.

398.

_To his Stepmother._

July 29th, 1780.

I have not heard from Way. It will be necessary that I should be provided with a Bucks Steward to make his visit soon after Michaelmas to examine the state of things and inspect the late Harris's accounts which an Attorney (Mr. Hearne) has offered for my perusal. Such extra trouble will doubtless claim an extra allowance.

We are pleased that Clinton[459] has returned to New York, as an army on the salt water is a very helpless animal. Greaves[460] has been seen on the coast with a wind fair for the northwards. He has certainly the start of Ternay, who is still invisible. I cannot send you the least account or even conjecture of Lords to be created or Commons to be dissolved. Adieu, I shall expect you about the middle of next month; and I find that it will suit me to visit the Castle within a few days of your return.

[459] Sir Henry Clinton had captured Charleston, May 12, 1780. Early in June, he re-embarked on Admiral Arbuthnot's fleet and returned to New York. Sir Henry was married to Miss Harriett Carter, a first cousin of Colonel Holroyd.

[460] Admiral (cr. 1794 Lord) Graves sailed, June, 1780, with six ships of the line, to reinforce Admiral Arbuthnot at Long Island, and joined him in July. The French fleet under d'Estaing was at the same time strengthened.

399.

_To his Stepmother._

Reading, Six o'clock, Sunday evening, '80.

_Eels, Beer and fowl._--A nasty day makes a good Inn appear still more comfortable. And now let me look back to Bath, and declare in sober truth, that I number the last three weeks among the happiest of my life. The best ingredient in that happiness was the satisfaction of seeing you more perfectly alive both in mind and body than I have known you for many years past. My best compliments to all friends, &c., Jews and Christians, particularly to Sarah, who was a naughty girl for not staying dinner. Pray send me with all convenient speed, the adventures of a tame Cat.

Bentinck Street--Monday half-past one.

Safely landed--I ran my time to the last moment, and find on my table some respectful complaints from Mr. Cadell, and a summons for the Board of Trade to-morrow, which particularly requires _my_ attendance.

400.

_To Mr. Eliot._

August 11th, 1780.

DEAR SIR,

Before you leave town, I cannot refrain from applying to you on a very interesting subject, and I trust that you will excuse either my past silence or my present importunity. The former has not been the effect of presumption, nor does the latter proceed from any want of confidence in your friendship.

[Sidenote: UNCERTAINTY OF HIS SEAT.]

It seems to be universally understood that this parliament will be dissolved in a few months and perhaps in a few days--and you are not ignorant how much the whole colour of my future life depends on your resolution. Unless I obtain a seat in the next parliament, I cannot flatter myself with a hope of remaining at the board of trade; such is the unpleasant state of my private affairs, that I must resign with my office all prospect of living in England, and the discontinuance of your favours will therefore be a sentence of banishment from my native country. My firm assurance that your kindness will allow some weight to these personal considerations will teach me to acquiesce, whatever may be your designs, with sincere and grateful resignation. I could not even lament that I was not sooner apprized of your intention to withdraw this mark of your friendship at the time when it became the most valuable. The largest notice would not perhaps have enabled me to take any other measures for the attainment of the same object, and your silence, though it may have excited some anxious thoughts or nourished some delusive hopes, has not made any real difference in my situation.

It gives me pain at the same time to mention another topic. Various circumstances of public and private distress have hitherto prevented me from disposing of my Buckinghamshire Estate, from whence I may expect to derive a considerable supply, and I shall find myself under the necessity of soliciting your indulgence till I can discharge what I shall always esteem a very small part of my obligations.

401.

_To Mrs. Holroyd._

August 31st, Bentinck Street, 1780.

The Colonel left town about seven o'clock. Could he have held a pen with each finger and each toe, at the same time, he would have found employment for them all. He therefore named me his Secretary to signify to Sheffield Place his health, duty, impatience, &c.--The _Intrigue du Cabinet_ shall not be neglected. But the _Intrigue du Parlement_ is now the universal pursuit. It will be dissolved to-morrow,[461] the Writs will be out Saturday night, and a few days will terminate the business. You probably receive my last frank. I have _found_ reason to believe that I shall never rise again, and I submit to my fate with Philosophic composure. If any parcels or letters directed to me should arrive at Sheffield you will be so good as to return them by the Coach.--Adieu.

E. G.

[461] Parliament was dissolved September 1, 1780.

402.

_To his Stepmother._

Bentinck Street, Sept. 2nd, 1780.

DEAR MADAM,

In the general dissolution you will be anxious to know my fate, and I wish it were in my power to send you a more agreeable account. Mr. Eliot, actuated, as it should seem, by the Demon of Party, has renounced me.[462] I am not without resources; but his civil ambiguous silence, by feeding my hopes, has encreased my difficulties. I doubt whether my _real_ friends will be able to serve me at so short a notice, and I think it more than probable that I shall not be in the new Parliament, at least in the beginning of it. A few days however will determine that question, and I still proceed with perfect composure to prepare for my lying-in. They will be twins, and I reckon about next February.

I am, Dear Madam, Most truly yours, E. G.

Col. H. who came with me Thursday from S. P. darted down to Coventry. I think he is secure.

[462] The Hon. Wilbraham Tollemache was elected in Gibbon's place for Liskeard.

[Sidenote: PROMISE OF ANOTHER SEAT.]

403.

_To Colonel Holroyd._

September 7th, 1780.

I shall again breathe the pestiferous air of St. Stephen's Chappel.[463]--The sagacious Eden whom I accidentally visited the day after your departure pressed and persuaded me to make a bold application to the powers above. I fairly stated my public disappointment and private difficulties, and declared to Lord N. in the most explicit terms, that notwithstanding my sincere desire to replace myself in a situation, where I may be serviceable to his Government, _small indeed_ must be the effort which I shall be capable of making for that purpose, an idea which I explained to Robinson in a more familiar tone, by asking for an _almost_ gratuitous seat. After some importunity and delay, I saw the Secretary yesterday; and he communicated Lord N.'s resolution of bringing me into Parliament, either for the first meeting, or at the Re-Elections which will immediately be occasioned by the option of those who are returned for two places. He did not mention terms; if any, they must be very light. On my return home I found a letter from Lord L[oughborough][464] worthy of himself, and may now remain perfectly quiet and secure. Success produces good humour; and I shall be very gentle in my answer to the Port, which I do not hurry. This event, as you will easily understand, decides in a great measure the rest of my life. You will growl if I lament in some sort that it has disconcerted a very pleasant scheme, a sweet vision of _Helvetic_ retirement: I know that a prudent man ought not to make himself happy.

While I steal in through a postern, you thunder at one of the great gates: knock and it shall be opened unto you. Your victory appears certain, and it will be productive of a lasting conquest. Eden is not yet returned from Woodstock; I will confabulate with him.

The Westminster battle[465] begins this morning; Rodney will be chose almost unanimously. It was imprudent to propose Lord Lincoln; he is disliked by the substantial tradesmen: but they _abhor_ Fox, and the Patriot, after his appeal to the _People_ of Westminster, must probably retire to the Duke of R.'s dependent voters of Chichester, where I am told Keppel[466] will make room for him.

Not a word of news. Adieu.

[463] The newly elected Parliament met October 31, 1780. Gibbon was elected, at a by-election, M.P. for Lymington, June 25, 1781.

[464] Alexander Wedderburn succeeded Sir W. de Grey (afterwards Lord Walsingham) as Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, with the title of Lord Loughborough (June, 1780).

[465] Admiral Rodney and Charles Fox were elected for Westminster, September 22, 1780, against Lord Lincoln.

[466] Admiral Keppel was returned for Surrey, after being defeated at Windsor by Portlock Powney. George III. canvassed for the latter. "The pony with the powerful rider has carried away the plate" (Warner to G. Selwyn, September, 1780).

404.

_To Mr. Eliot._

B. S., Sept. 8th, 1780.

MY DEAR SIR,

I have not attempted to shake your decided resolutions nor shall I presume to arraign the consistency of the Electors of Leskeard, whom you so gravely introduce. You are undoubtedly free as air to confer and to withdraw your parliamentary favours, and I should despise my own ingratitude were I capable of forgetting my past obligations to you because you are not disposed to render them more perfect, or more permanent. I am still ignorant what will be the consequences of your refusal; but I declare upon my honour, at the date of my last letter that they appeared to me exactly in the light in which I represented them, that I had never formed any hopes much less any claims of ministerial support, and that I never opened my lips on the subject to the noble friend whose character seems to extort the praise of his political enemies. Since your absolute refusal, I have been encouraged to hazard an application which has been kindly entertained. If it proves unsuccessful the principal difficulty will arise from the lateness of my request. I am asked why Mr. Eliot, who re-elected a placeman last year, maintained to the last moment an ambiguous silence without condescending to inform me that I must not depend on his friendship at the General Election. I confess that I am at a loss for an answer.

[Sidenote: DEFENCE OF HIS CONDUCT IN PARLIAMENT.]

I am equally at a loss how to answer the part of your letter, which in polite language represents my parliamentary conduct as the cause of your displeasure. You will not expect that I should justify the grounds of every silent vote which I have given, or that I should write a political pamphlet on the eventful history of the last six years. But I may fairly rest my apology on the truth of one single assertion, that I have never renounced any principle, deserted any connection, or violated any promise. I have uniformly asserted both in private and public the justice of the American War. I have constantly supported in Parliament the general measures of Government, except at one particular crisis while it was doubtful, after Bourgoyne's defeat whether they would offer terms to the rebels. I agreed with you in a speculative opinion, almost equally rejected by both parties, that after the substance of power was lost, the name of independence might be granted to the Americans. I have often and severely censured the faults of administration, but I have always condemned the _system_ of opposition: and your judgment will allow that in public life, every man is reduced to the necessity of choosing the side which upon the whole appears to him the least reprehensible. The mere acceptance of a seat at the board of trade does not surely convey any reproach or disgrace, since you yourself, my Dear Sir, have held the same disqualifying place under several successive Administrations, without any of those domestic reasons, which, if an excuse were necessary, might be alleged in my favour. You revive an old conversation between us concerning Mr. Peachey's election, which passed, if I am not mistaken, in the garret of the House of Commons. At that time I had never given a single vote against the actual measures of Government, and the indiscreet opinion which you urged me to declare must apply to your sentiments, not to my own. I thought and I still think, that, were I master of a Borough, I would not from motives of interest, elect a _stranger_ whose political principles were repugnant to my own.

Thus far for my own honour, I have been forced into this unpleasant, though I hope not intemperate explanation, but I perfectly concur with your wish to avoid all future complaints or apologies. I most willingly embrace the offer of your private friendship, and I shall always cultivate a cordial intercourse with a person who is entitled to my esteem and gratitude.

I beg you would present my kindest wishes and compliments to Mrs. Eliot and the rest of your family. I suppose Mr. Edward will succeed me at Leskeard.[467]

I am, &c., &c.

[467] Edward James Eliot, eldest son of Mr. Eliot, was elected for St. Germains. He was made a Commissioner of the Treasury in July, 1782.

405.

_To Colonel Holroyd._

Sept. 15th, 1780.

I expect but cannot send news. I am passive, you are active, without the form of a letter you might dispatch every night the numbers of the poll.--Fox is victorious, and though some Enemies have been thrown out, I do not find that we gain so much as might be wished. Lord L[oughborough] is not yet arrived, but I have conversed with the future Secretary of the bog:[468] he approves and will assist your vanity. I am very sorry to hear that Batt is detained at Oxford in a bad state of health, with some symptoms of a growing dropsy. Adieu.

[468] William Eden, M.P. for Woodstock, was appointed in October, 1780, principal secretary to the Lord Lieutenant and Privy Council of Ireland.

[Sidenote: HIS WEARINESS OF POLITICAL LIFE.]

406.

_To his Stepmother._

Bentinck Street, October 5th, 1780.

DEAR MADAM,

I have delayed answering your kind enquiry about my seat in Parliament, till I should be able to say something satisfactory and positive. Had Mr. Eliot been explicit some months since, another arrangement would have been made without difficulty. His silence has occasioned some delay, but I have the strongest reason to believe that I shall be again in the House of Commons before Christmas. I expect the event with the most tranquil indifference: I am heartily tired of the place, and if such indulgence were compatible with my situation and prospects I should be glad to find myself released from such troublesome attendance. Your anxiety lest any coldness should arise between Mr. E. and me will, I hope, prove groundless. I have nothing to reproach myself, I do not reproach him, and from the letters which have passed between us, I should imagine that we shall meet next winter on proper terms of friendship and civility. You see by the Gazette that Langlois[469] is dismissed; and he himself has not received any other information from Cornwall. You may easily suppose that in my present state of suspence and attendance, it is not in my power to leave town: but I am almost offended that you are not angry! I think I may venture to promise not you but myself, that no considerations human or divine shall prevent me from eating my Christmas dinner at the Belvedere.

I am, Dear Madam, Most truly yours, E. GIBBON.

We need not trouble Sir Stanier; three shillings (no very considerable sum) pay twelve letters. The economy of the age on the subject of Franks and postage has always amazed me.

[469] Benjamin Langlois, M.P. for St. Germains in the last Parliament, made room for Mr. Dudley Long. He was made keeper of his Majesty's stores, ordnance, and ammunition of war in June, 1778, and was appointed a Commissioner for Trade and Plantations _vice_ Soame Jenyns.

407.

_To Mrs. Holroyd (announcing that Colonel Holroyd was created Lord Sheffield[470])._

Bentinck Street, Nov. 27th, 1780.

Mr. Gibbon presents his respectful compliments to Lady Sheffield and hopes her Ladyship is in perfect health, as well as the Honble. Miss Holroyd, and the Honble. Miss Louisa Holroyd. Mr. Gibbon has not had the honour of hearing from Lord Sheffield, since his Lordship reached Coventry, but supposes that the election begins this day.

Be honest? How does this read? Do you not feel some titillations of vanity? Yet I will do you the justice to believe that they are as faint as can find place in a female (you will retort, or a male) heart, on such an auspicious event. When it is revealed to the Honble. Miss, I should recommend the loss of some ounces of noble blood. You may expect, every post, a formal notification, which I shall instantly dispatch. The birds, as well as I now recollect their taste, were excellent. I hope the _Voyages_ still amuse. I had almost forgot to say that my seat in parliament is deferred. Stronger and more impatient rivals have stepped before me, and I can wait with chearful resignation till another opportunity. I wish the Baron's situation (and temper) were as placid as mine. No news--we are very dull. Adieu--I shall go to Bath, about the 15th of next month--But silence.

[470] The _Gazette_ for December, 1780, announces that the grant of the dignity of a baron of the kingdom of Ireland was conferred on John Baker Holroyd, Esq.--Baron Sheffield, of Dunamore, in the county of Meath. "I had a long conversation," writes Miss Burney in 1781, "with the new Lord Sheffield. He gave me a long account of his Coventry affairs, and of the commitment of the sheriffs to Newgate. He is a spirited and agreeable man, and, I doubt not, will make himself conspicuous in the right way."

[Sidenote: THE COVENTRY ELECTION.]

408.

_To Colonel Holroyd._

Brookes's, November 28th, 1780.

*Perhaps the sheriffs, the tools of your enemies, may venture to make a false and hostile return, on the presumption that they shall have a whole year of impunity, and that the merits of your petition cannot be heard this session.[471] Some of your most respectable friends in the house of Commons are resolved, (if the return should be unfavourable) to state it forcibly as a special and extraordinary case; and to exert all proper strength for bringing on the tryal of your petition without delay. The knowledge of such a resolution may awe the sheriffs; and it may be prudent to admonish them of the _impending_ danger, in the way that you judge most advisable. Adieu. God send you a good deliverance.*

[471] At the general election in September, 1780, Colonel Holroyd's re-election for Coventry was prevented by no return being made. After a hearing before the House, the sheriffs of Coventry were committed to Newgate, and a new election ordered. The poll began towards the end of November, and remained open for thirty days. At the close, though a large majority voted for Colonel Holroyd and Mr. Yeo, Sir Thomas Hallifax and Mr. Thomas Rogers were declared duly elected. The unsuccessful candidates petitioned against the return. The first day on which a committee could be balloted for was June 26, 1781. But on the motion of Lord Beauchamp (January 23) the petition of Lord Sheffield and Mr. Yeo was referred to a committee for February 15. The return was amended by an order of the House, dated February 27, 1781, by substituting for Hallifax and Rogers the names of Colonel Holroyd (who in the interval had been created Lord Sheffield) and Mr. Edward Roe Yeo.

409.

_To his Stepmother._

December the 7th, 1780.

DEAR MADAM,

My restoration to the character of a Senator has suffered some delay by the impatience of some strong competitors who have pushed between me and the door. I have received from the fountain head every kind of apology and assurance. I believe them to be sincere, and it is a matter of perfect indifference to me whether I enter the H. of C. the beginning or the end of the winter. My journey to Bath is not an object of indifference, and as nearly as I can calculate the business (for there is business) of the board of trade, I think I shall have the pleasure of embracing you about the 23rd or 24th of this month. You mentioned a lodging near your aerial castle (my sole object at Bath), and I shall be glad if you will secure it for that time.

Poor George Scott died this morning of the consequence of falling down a flight of stairs at Lord Bathurst's. His life was long and happy, and his death was not painful. After a false alarm I was glad to hear that Dr. Delacour was not in the bosom of Abraham. The poor Colonel is fighting with the monsters of Coventry. I think he will conquer, but his victory will be dearly purchased.

I am, Dear Madam, Ever yours, E. GIBBON.

Young Eliot is in town and dined with me Tuesday. The kindest enquiries passed reciprocally between Port Eliot and Bentinck Street. The father does not come till after the Holydays.

410.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

[Dec. 9th], Saturday Night, 1780.

Succeed--and may you say, such another victory would ruin us! The messenger has returned from the Bog, but Lord B[uckinghamshire][472] has not yet sent the necessary forms and titles for his creatures; it will not however be in his favour to delay, that or any other business much longer, and I wish your entrance into one house was as secure as the other.

An express has just arrived in nine days from Vienna; the Empress is dead,[473]--and the Austrian Eagle may soar.--It is confidently said that the two great fleets are in sight, and expectation is high and eager. For my own part I do not believe that there ever can be a sea-fight.

[472] Lord Buckinghamshire was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The reference is to Colonel Holroyd's elevation to the Irish peerage as Lord Sheffield.

[473] The Empress Maria Theresa died November 29, 1780.

[Sidenote: HOLROYD CREATED LORD SHEFFIELD.]

411.

_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._

Monday Night, December, 1780.

All delays are at an end--Tuesday--to-morrow the final warrant will be signed; Friday next, you may salute the Royal paw.

Saturday the gazette will announce his Lordship, and Sunday (December 24th) I shall set out for Bath. Be resolute and conquer. We have forgot the fleets, but it is supposed that d'Estaing is in Brest. It is time that everybody should go to sleep for the Winter.

412.

_To his Stepmother._

Bentinck Street, December 21st, 1780.

DEAR MADAM,

I am sorry to inform you that I shall be forced to trespass a few days beyond the precise term which I had fixed. The constant attendance on the board of trade almost every day this week, has obliged me to defer till next Monday a visit of inclination and propriety to Lord Loughborough (at Mitcham in Surrey). I shall not return till Wednesday or Thursday, and instead of my Christmas, I shall eat my new-year's dinner, at the Belvidere. May that new year prove fortunate to you, to me, and to this weary country, which is this day involved in a new War. I shall write again about the middle of next week with a precise account of my motions. I think the gallant Colonel, who is now Lord Sheffield, will succeed at Coventry _perhaps_ on the return, certainly on the petition.

I am, Dear Madam, Ever yours, E. GIBBON.

413.

_To Lord Sheffield._

_Prophecy of the events of two years._

[Sidenote: December 31st, 1780.]

A profane historian will depart from Bentinck Street, London, and drink tea, sup and lye at Newbury in Berkshire.

[Sidenote: January 1st, 1781.]

The same historian will gently proceed from Newbury to Bath till he reaches the aerial cell of the Fairy of the Green, or more probably the white mountain. It is apprehended that the said Fairy will not be able to dine that day before four o'clock in the afternoon.

414.

_To his Stepmother._

Bentinck Street, February 24th, 1781.

DEAR MADAM,

*As you have probably received my last letter of thirteen hundred pages,[474] I shall be very concise; Read, judge, pronounce: and believe that I sincerely agree with my friend Julian,[475] in esteeming the praise of those only who will freely censure my defects. Next Thursday I shall be delivered to the World, for whose inconstant and malicious levity I am coolly but firmly prepared. Excuse me to Sarah. I see more clearly than ever the absolute necessity of confining my presents to my own family; _that_, and that only, is a determined line, and Lord S. is the first to approve his exclusion. He has a strong assurance of success, and some hopes of a speedy decision. How suddenly your friend General Pierson[476] disappeared! You thought him happy. What is happiness?*

I am, My Dear Madam, Ever Yours, E. GIBBON.

[474] The second and third volumes of the _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_. Gibbon had presented his first volume of the _Decline and Fall_ to the Duke of Gloucester. When the second volume appeared, it was, in like manner, presented to the Duke, who "received the author with much good nature and affability, saying to him, as he laid the quarto on the table, 'Another d--mn'd thick, square book! Always scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh! Mr. Gibbon?'" (Best's _Personal and Literary Memorials_, p. 68). "You will be diverted to hear," writes Walpole to Mason, January 27, 1781, "that Mr. Gibbon has quarrelled with me. He lent me his second volume in the middle of November. I returned it with a most civil panegyric. He came for more incense; I gave it, but alas! with too much sincerity; I added, 'Mr. Gibbon, I am sorry _you_ should have pitched on so disgusting a subject as the Constantinopolitan History. There is so much of the Arians and Eunomians, and semi-Pelagians; and there is such a strange contrast between Roman and Gothic manners, and so little harmony between a Consul Sabinus and a Ricimer, Duke of the Palace, that though you have written the story as well as it could be written, I fear few will have patience to read it.' He coloured: all his round features squeezed themselves into sharp angles; he screwed up his button-mouth, and rapping his snuff-box, said, 'It had never been put together before'--so well, he meant to add--but gulped it. He meant _so well_ certainly, for Tillemont, whom he quotes in every page, has done the very thing. I well knew his vanity, even about his ridiculous face and person, but thought he had too much sense to avow it so palpably."

[475] "When he ascended the throne, his pride was sometimes cruelly mortified by the reflection that the slaves who would not dare to censure his defects were not worthy to applaud his virtues" (_Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, vol. iii. ch. xxii.). Gibbon quotes the sentiments from the words of Julian himself (Ammianus, xxii. 10).

[476] Probably General Sir Richard Pearson, K.B., who died suddenly at Bath of gout in the stomach, February 13, 1781.

[Sidenote: RECEPTION OF HIS NEW VOLUMES.]

415.

_To his Stepmother._

Bentinck Street, April 13th, 1781.

DEAR MADAM,

I am always obliged to you for waking me by a friendly pinch from my silent lethargy, and I think it most prudent to write before I fall asleep again.

An author must always begin on the subject of his own work, the subject always most interesting to himself, but on this occasion he may assume the privilege of friendship and justly believe that it is not less interesting to you. Your praise has afforded me real satisfaction, not only because I wish to please you, but as I do not know any person (where questions of pure learning are concerned) from whose approbation I should derive more pride. To speak frankly, I am of your opinion with regard to the improvement of the style, nor is it very surprizing that my long practice should make a workman more expert and ready at his trade. I am curious to learn what passage in Prior you have in your eye: but as the works of that agreeable Poet are not extremely familiar to me, the resemblance is more probably the effect of chance than of design. The reception of these two volumes has been very unlike that of the first, and yet my vanity is so very dextrous, that I am not displeased with the difference. The effects of novelty could no longer operate, and the public was not surprized by the unexpected appearance of a new and unknown author. The progress of these two volumes has hitherto been quiet and silent. Almost everybody that reads has purchased, but few persons (comparatively) have read them; and I find that the greater number, satisfied that they have acquired a valuable fund of entertainment, differ the perusal to the summer, the country and a more quiet period. Yet I have reason to think, from the opinion of some judges, that my reputation has not suffered by this publication. The Clergy (such is the advantage of total loss of character) commend my decency and moderation: but the patriots wish to damn the work and the author.

Mrs. Hester Gibbon is now in town and stays some weeks. Her house is repairing, and her old friend Mrs. Hutchinson[477] is just dead, without leaving her anything, at which Hester expresses more resentment than seems becoming in the character of a Saint. She is still healthy and sensible, refuses as formerly to enter my house, but appears pleased with my attentions, and those of Mrs. and Lady Porten and of Lord and Lady Sheffield, who have all visited her in Surrey Street. She enquired civilly and even quietly into your situation, and approved the sentiments which naturally fell from me.--When I sent you my book I likewise despatched another with a very polite letter to Port Eliot--A dead silence--I accidentally called in Spring Gardens to visit the son, and heard that the father had been three weeks or a month in town. I instantly wrote a note to express my surprize and concern,--a dead silence of four days terminated only by a mute, blank, formal visit. Mrs. Eliot however (they are an odd family) has called upon me this morning to announce her arrival; and I shall return her visit this evening.

My health this winter has been perfect, without the slightest attack of the gout, and I rejoyce to hear that you revive with the Spring. A friend like Mrs. P. was a real loss, and I think with you that in such an intimate connection the heart is of much more importance than the head. Embrace in my name Sara and the tame cat. I hope the former is not offended with, and I am persuaded that the latter adores, me, but am much disappointed that her Bath residence has not produced any shining adventures: a pair of small, neat horns might peep very gracefully out of a laurel crown, which her husband well deserves, though I think with you that his effusions are too frequent and precipitate.[478] Adieu, dear Madam. I am still ignorant and indeed indifferent about the precise moment of my parliamentary beatification. Lord S. is chaired next Monday at Coventry; but it is needless to mention that family, as you hear the earliest and most copious accounts of them. Once more, Adieu!

I am, Dear Madam, Most truly yours, E. GIBBON.

[477] Mrs. Hutcheson, whose maiden name was Lawrence, married as her first husband Colonel Steward. Her second husband, Archibald Hutcheson, M.P. for Hastings, at the time of his death (1740) commended her to the guidance of William Law. She was joined by Miss Hester Gibbon, and the two ladies, in 1743, settled at King's Cliffe, in a house belonging to Law. There Mrs. Hutcheson founded a school for boys. She died at the age of ninety-one, in January, 1781, and, at her own request, was buried at the feet of Mr. Law.

[478] William Hayley (1745-1820) was a voluminous poet. Byron (_English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_) attacks him with severity--

"Whether he spin poor couplets into plays, Or damn the dead with purgatorial praise, His style in youth or age is still the same, For ever feeble and for ever tame."

In 1780 he had addressed to Gibbon _An Essay on History, in Three Epistles_. He married, in 1769, Eliza Ball, daughter of the Dean of Chichester. The marriage proved unhappy; but it should be added that Mrs. Hayley adopted her husband's illegitimate son, who, born in 1780, afterwards became the sculptor, and treated him as her own child. In 1789 Hayley was separated from his wife, whose mind had become affected. Hayley was at this time living at Eartham, in Sussex, a property which he had inherited from his father.

[Sidenote: HIS ANNUAL TAX TO THE GOUT.]

416.

_To his Stepmother._

Friday, May 30th, 1781.

DEAR MADAM,

When I was called upon last February for my annual tax to the Gout, I only paid for my left foot which in general is most heavily assessed: the officer came round last week to collect the small remainder that was due for the right foot. I have now satisfied his demand; he is retired in good humour, and I feel myself easy both in mind and body.--If I complained of your silence, though somewhat longer than usual, I should be unreasonable indeed, and I only wish to be assured that it does not proceed from want of health or spirits. I hope you do not stand in need of a Physician, but I am concerned to think that, since the Jew's departure, you have not any one who knows your constitution or in whom you repose any confidence. How do you propose to spend the summer? do you mean to breathe the sharp air of the Welsh mountains? If you would visit the banks of the Thames you would find a hearty wellcome, and my cottage would be easily enlarged by an occasional lodging. I feel great comfort in this retreat at Hampton Court, and shall now escape every week from the heat and dust of the House of Commons.

I am, Dear Madam, Ever yours, E. G.

417.

_To his Stepmother._

June 16th, 1781.

DEAR MADAM,

I take the earliest opportunity of informing you that in the course of next week I shall be elected for the borough of Lymington in Hampshire. You may be sure of hearing from me before the end of the month.

I am, Ever yours, E. GIBBON.

END OF VOL. I.

LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STANFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.

* * * * *

Transcriber's note:

Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).

Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals.

The carat character (^) indicates that the following letter is superscripted (example: 2^e). If two or more letters are superscripted they are enclosed in curly brackets (example: 2^{ndly,}).

Variations in spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been retained.

Corrections have been made for Volume 1 as listed in the Errata.

Page 44: The original had a blank area where the transcriber has inserted a dash as follows:

"and the accession of a just and righteous prince. Lord ---- was ..."

The following two sidenotes appear in the margin of page 395 next to the pararaphs which follow. All other sidenotes appear at the top of alternate pages:

[Sidenote: December 31st, 1780.]

A profane historian will depart from Bentinck Street, London, and drink tea, sup and lye at Newbury in Berkshire.

[Sidenote: January 1st, 1781.]

The same historian will gently proceed from Newbury to Bath till he reaches the aerial cell of the Fairy of the Green, or more probably the white mountain. It is apprehended that the said Fairy will not be able to dine that day before four o'clock in the afternoon.