Miscellaneous works of E. G. ... With memoirs of his life and writings; composed by himself; illustrated from his letters, with occasional notes and narrative by John [Holroyd] Lord Sheffield

Front matter

MISCELLANEOUS WORKS OF E D WA R D GIBBON, Esquire. WITH MEMOIRS OF HIS LIFE AND WRITINGS, COMPOSED BT HIMSELF: ILLUSTRATED FROM HIS LETTERS, WITH OCCASIONAL NOTES AND NARRATIVE, JOHN LORD SHEFFIELD. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON: printed for a. strahan, and t. cadell jun. and w. davies, (successors to MR. CAD-ELL,) IN THE STRAND. MDCCXCVI. rpHE following Pieces have already been noticed in the Introduction to the First Volume. Many of them were juvenile performances ; and under the persuasion that they will be candidly received as such, they are now delivered to the Press. They certainly are entitled to greater indulgence than could be claimed for Compositions more finished and elaborate, and written at the time of mature age. The minute account of Mr. Gibbon's studies each day, extracted from the Journal of his actions and opinions, and his observations on the several Works he had perused, evince a singular and unremitting industry.

In that view they may afford an useful lestbn and example to such young readers as shall not already be convinced of the necessity of assiduous application in the acquisition of every kind of learning. My first intention was, to have given only a short speci men of the observations made by Mr. Gibbon, in the course of his reading ; but I found them so interesting, that I could not desist, so soon as I intended, from making Extracts ; and, upon the whole, I thought that the part to be published would be more curious, if given exactly as it stands in the Journal. a 2 I hope ] I hope I shall not be thought to have published too much : in truth, there still remain in my possession many Papers which I think equally worth attention. Mr. Gibbon's manuscript Observations were much de tailed, from the year 175410 1764; and he afterwards con tinued to write remarks and hints on all subjects, in vari ous common-place books, on detached papers, and even on cards, till a mort time before his death, although not so copiously, nor so regularly and methodically, after his return from Italy, in the year 1765.

His common place books are voluminous. One of the largest has for title, " Common-place Book ; in which I propose to write " what I find most remarkable in my Historical Readings ; " begun at Lausanne the 19th of March 1755." In this he introduces a great variety of Observations on almost every subject, particularly on History. In another Book, dated the 19th of January 1756, he says, " J'ai pris la resolution de lire de suite tous les Classiques " Latins, les partageant suivant les matieres qu'ils ont €* traite. 1. Les Historiens. 2. Les Poetes. 3. Les Orateurs ; cc dans laquelle classe je renfermerai tous les autres auteurs " qui ont e'crit en prose, sans etre ni Philofophes ni Histo ** riens. 4. Les Philofophes." He begins with Observations on Sallust ; then proceeds to the Commentaries of Cæsar, Cornelius Nepos, Livy, always mentioning the edition which he used.