Memoirs of Edward Gibbon, Esq |
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Page 8
... Oxford , of which ancient univer- sity the reader will find an amusingly contemptuous ac- count in his Autobiography . Though no scholar , he had always been an omnivorous reader . He arrived at Oxford , as he says , " with a stock of ...
... Oxford , of which ancient univer- sity the reader will find an amusingly contemptuous ac- count in his Autobiography . Though no scholar , he had always been an omnivorous reader . He arrived at Oxford , as he says , " with a stock of ...
Page 9
... Oxford at once , and in his being presently sent to Lausanne , in Switzerland , where he was placed by his incensed father in the family of the Calvinist pastor , Pavilliard . His new faith did not long withstand the wise and careful ...
... Oxford at once , and in his being presently sent to Lausanne , in Switzerland , where he was placed by his incensed father in the family of the Calvinist pastor , Pavilliard . His new faith did not long withstand the wise and careful ...
Page 10
... Oxford . His reading , which was always wide enough , gained in- definitely in depth ; and this English boy , writing from an obscure Swiss town , could maintain a correspondence with the first scholars of France and Gerinany , in which ...
... Oxford . His reading , which was always wide enough , gained in- definitely in depth ; and this English boy , writing from an obscure Swiss town , could maintain a correspondence with the first scholars of France and Gerinany , in which ...
Page 73
... Oxford ; and I was matriculated in the university as a gentleman - com- moner of Magdalen College , before I had accomplished the fifteenth year of my age ( April 3 , 1752 ) . The curiosity which had been implanted in my infant mind ...
... Oxford ; and I was matriculated in the university as a gentleman - com- moner of Magdalen College , before I had accomplished the fifteenth year of my age ( April 3 , 1752 ) . The curiosity which had been implanted in my infant mind ...
Page 74
... Oxford . Instead of repining at my long and frequent confine- ment to the chamber or the couch , I secretly rejoiced in those infirmities which delivered me from the exer- cises of the school and the society of my equals . As often as I ...
... Oxford . Instead of repining at my long and frequent confine- ment to the chamber or the couch , I secretly rejoiced in those infirmities which delivered me from the exer- cises of the school and the society of my equals . As often as I ...
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acquaintance agreeable amusement ancient aunt Buriton bust character church Cicero College conversation curious Deyverdun EDWARD GIBBON elegant England English enjoyed equal Essay esteem excuse eyes father feel fortune France freedom French French language genius Genoa geography of Italy Gibbon Greek habits happy historian honor hope idle indulged John Gibbon Journal king labor ladies language Latin Lausanne learning less letters liberty literary lively London Lord North Lord Sheffield Mademoiselle Magdalen College manners merit militia mind months nature Necker ness never Oxford Paris passage Pavilliard perhaps persons perusal philosopher pleasure poet political Porten praise Prince provinces of France Putney residence Rolvenden Roman Rome sentiments society soon spirit style success Swiss Switzerland Tacitus taste temper tion Tory tutor Vaud volume Westminster School writings young youth
Popular passages
Page 174 - It was at .Rome, on the 15th of October, 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the capitol, while the barefooted friars were singing vespers in the Temple of Jupiter,* that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city first started to my mind.
Page 33 - I wrote the last lines of the last page, in a summer house in my garden. After laying down my pen, I took several turns in a berceau, or covered walk of acacias, which commands a prospect of the country, the lake, and the mountains.
Page 11 - After a painful struggle I yielded to my fate : I sighed as a lover, I obeyed as a son ; my wound was insensibly healed by time, absence, and the habits of a new life.
Page 59 - Call," is still read as a popular and powerful book of devotion. His precepts are rigid, but they are founded on the gospel ; his satire is sharp, but it is drawn from the knowledge of human life ; and many of his portraits are not unworthy of the pen of La Bruyere. If he finds a spark of piety in his reader's mind he will soon kindle it to a flame...
Page 19 - The style of an author should be the image of his mind, but the choice and command of language is the fruit of exercise. Many experiments were made before I could hit the middle tone between a dull chronicle and a rhetorical declamation...
Page 194 - I am at a loss how to describe the success of the work without betraying the vanity of the writer. The first impression was exhausted in a few days ; a second and third edition were scarcely adequate to the demand ; and the bookseller's property was twice invaded by the pirates of Dublin. My book was on every table, and almost on every toilette ; the historian was crowned by the taste or fashion of the day ; nor was the general voice disturbed by the barking of any profane critic.
Page 92 - To take up half on trust, and half to try, Name it not faith, but bungling bigotry. Both knave and fool the merchant we may call, To pay great sums, and to compound the small: For who would break with Heaven, and would not break for all?
Page 75 - Continuation of Echard's Roman History," which is indeed executed with more skill and taste than the previous work. To me the reigns of the successors of Constantine were absolutely new; and I was immersed in the passage of the Goths over the Danube, when the summons of the dinner-bell reluctantly dragged me from my intellectual feast.
Page 48 - Who builds a church to God, and not to Fame, Will never mark the marble with his name : Go, search it there, where to be born and die, Of rich and poor makes all the history ; Enough, that Virtue fill'd the space between ; Prov'd by the ends of being, to have been.
Page 11 - A rich banker of Paris, a citizen of Geneva, had the good fortune and good sense to discover and possess this inestimable treasure ; and in the capital of taste and luxury she resisted the temptations of wealth, as she had sustained the hardships of indigence. The genius of her husband has exalted him to the most conspicuous station in Europe.