Chapter Gatty to Gibbon of G by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

was a serious matter for him, he came to England to comfort his friend Lord Sheffield on the death of his wife, took ill, and died suddenly in London on January 16, 1794.

The place of Gibbon among historians is in the first rank, and if the vast scale of his work and the enormous mass of detail involved in it are considered along with the learning and research employed in accumulating the material, and the breadth of view, lucidity of arrangement, and sense of proportion which have fused them into a distinct and splendid picture, his claims to the first place cannot be lightly dismissed. His style, though not pure, being tinged with Gallicisms, is one of the most noble in our literature, rich, harmonious, and stately; and though sources of information not accessible to him have added to our knowledge, and have shown some of his conclusions to be mistaken, his historical accuracy has been comparatively little shaken, and his work is sure of permanence. As a man Gibbon seems to have been somewhat calm and cool in his feelings, though capable of steady and affectionate friendships, such as those with Deyverdun and the Sheffields, which were warmly reciprocated, and he appears to have been liked in society, where his brilliant conversational powers made him shine. He was vain, and affected the manners of the fine gentleman, which his unattractive countenance and awkward figure, and latterly his extreme corpulence, rendered somewhat ridiculous. He left an interesting Autobiography.

Summary.—B. 1737, educated Westminster and Oxford, became Romanist and sent to Lausanne 1753, where he returned to Protestantism, published Essay on Study of Literature 1761, visited Rome 1764 and resolved to write his Decline and Fall of Roman Empire, began to write it 1772, published 1776-87, died 1794.

Decline and Fall (Sir W. Smith, 8 vols., 1854-55), another (J.B. Bury, 7 vols., 1896-1900). Autobiography (Lord Sheffield, 1796), often reprinted.