8. Remarques sur quelques Passages de Virgile.

In the third, or Miscellaneous, Division, are contained,

1. Remarques sur les Mémoires Posthumes de M. de Chéseaux:-on Jewish, Assyrian, Persian, &c. Chronology.

2. Remarques sur quelques Prodiges.

3. Remarques sur les Dignités Sacerdotales de Jules César.

4. Principes des Poids, des Monnoies, et des Mesures des Anciens, avec des Tables construites sur ces Principes.

5. Dissertation sur les Anciennes Mesures, &c. du Bas Empire jusqu'à la Prise de Constantinople par les Turcs; la France et les Pays Bas; l'Allemagne, la Suisse, et les Pays du Nord; l'Italie et l'Espagne; l'Orient, les Indes, et l'Afrique; also, Remarques sur " An Inquiry into the State of Ancient Measures, the Attic, the Roman, and particularly Jewish, by Dr. Hooper, Bishop of Bath and Wells."-These difficult subjects are admirably discussed by Mr. Gibbon at an early age. It is to be regretted that he did not complete them as he seems to have intended; they are, however, too valuable to be withheld from the public.

6. On the Position of the Meridional Line, and

an Inquiry into the supposed Circumnavigation of Africa by the Ancients.--This curious Dissertation has the advantage of having been read by a gentleman well known to the learned world, Dr. Vincent, Dean of Westminster, who has most liberally favoured me with Notes and astrahons, which have greatly enhanced the value of the article. It is highly satisfactory to observe the coincidence of opinion relative to the circumnavigation of Africa in two of our most learned writers; both so ably deducing the same conclusions from the same premises, and so exactly, that it might be supposed one had borrowed from the other, which, however, was impossible. This article was written by Mr. Gibbon at Lausanne, between the years 1789 and the beginning of the year 1793; and after his death was sent to me from Switzerland in loose sheets, mixed with many other papers. They have never since been out of any possession until they very lately went to the press, and were never seen, except by Mr. Frederick North, Lord Glenbervie, and Mr. Butler; and not by them till some years after Dr. Vincent had published (viz. in 1800) his Periplûs of the Erythrêan Sea; and it was the last week in October, 1814, that I first communicated, at the suggestion of a friend, Mr. Gibbon's manuscript to Dr. Vincent, with whom I had not the honour of being acquainted.

The

The Miscellaneous Division concludes with an Index Expurgatorius, and very copious Selections from the Author's "Extraits Raisonnés de mes Lectures," "Recueil de mes Observations et Pièces détachées," and from his Journal, Common-place Books, Memoranda, &c.; some of which, however unimportant they may appear to the fastidious critic, are introduced with a view of exciting in young students the same diligence and application by which Mr. Gibbon acquired the knowledge and learning that have raised him so high in the estimation of men of letters.

To the Address, the last article in the first Edition of Mr. Gibbon's Miscellaneous Works, and the last he wrote, recommending that our Latin Memorials of the middle Ages, the Scriptores Rerum Anglicarum, may be published in a style worthy of the country, an explanatory Supplement by Mr. Pinkerton (whom Mr. Gibbon mentions as the fit person for such a work) is added. This Supplement undoubtedly will be very gratifying to all those who wish to know Mr. Gibbon's plan respecting that desirable undertaking.

Most of the above articles, although distinguished by great erudition and discernment, must be considered as juvenile performances, as appears from the dates of some, and from the handwriting of others, which handwriting, contrary

to what usually happens, improved considerably as he increased in years; so much so, that it is not difficult, by means of that criterion, to find the dates of his several works. He does not seem to have prepared them for publication; and it is very possible that several of them were never read by him a second time.

In the Table of Contents, I have marked the dates of the several Articles which have no date in the Work itself; and the reader, recollecting that Mr. Gibbon was born in May, 1737, will decide what indulgence they are entitled to as juvenile compositions. The Articles in these volumes were written, some of them before Mr. Gibbon had attained his 19th, many of them before he had attained his 21st, and the rest before he had attained his 27th year, excepting the Memoirs and great part of the Letters;-the Mémoire Justificatif-the Vindication of some Passages in the 15th and 16th Chapters of the HistoryCritical Observations on the Sixth Book of the Eneid-Dissertation on L'Homme au Masque de Fer-the Essay on the Character of Brutus— on the Position of the Meridional Line and supposed Circumnavigation of Africa by the Ancients-and the Antiquities of the House of Brunswick. Among the earliest may be found some of the most learned disquisitions.

I do not know that Mr. Gibbon ever wrote a

line of verse, at least he never mentioned to me that he had done so; yet he by no means neglected the Poets, but would read them aloud even in his chaise when travelling, particularly Homer.

An Engraving from a portrait of Mr. Gibbon, painted by Mr. Warton forty years ago, viz. 1774, before he became very corpulent, is prefixed to this Edition. It is by far the best likeness of him that exists.

SHEFFIELD-PLACE, 26th Nov. 1814.

SHEFFIELD.

N. B. Many of the French Articles having been before printed with an English Translation, it was deemed unnecessary to publish both, and the English Translation of several of them has been preferred.

CON