My hesitation in giving these Memoirs to the world arofe, principally, from the circumftance of Mr. Gibbon's appearing, in fome refpect, not to have been fatisfied with them, as he had fo frequently varied their form: yet, notwithstanding this diffidence, the compofitions, though unfinished, are fo excellent, that they may justly entitle my Friend to appear as his own biographer, rather than to have that tafk undertaken by any other perfon lefs qualified for it.

This opinion has rendered me anxious to publish the present Memoirs, without any unneceffary delay; for I am perfuaded, that the Author of them cannot be made to appear in a truer light than he does in the following pages. In them, and in his different Letters, which I have added, will be found a complete picture of his talents, his difpofition, his studies, and his attainments.

Thofe flight variations of character, which naturally arofe in the progrefs of his Life, will be unfolded in a feries of Letters, felected from a Correspondence between him and myself, which continued full thirty years, and ended with his death.

It is to be lamented, that all the fketches of the Memoirs, except that compofed in the form of Annals, and which feems rather defigned

as heads for a future Work, ceafe about twenty years before Mr. Gibbon's death; and confequently, that we have the leaft detailed account of the most interesting part of his Life. His Correfpondence during that period will, in great measure, fupply the deficiency. It will be feparated from the Memoirs and placed in an Appendix, that those who are not difposed to be pleased with the repetitions, familiarities, and trivial circumstances of epiftolary writing, may not be embarraffed by it. By many, the Letters will be found a very interefting part of the prefent Publication. They will prove, how pleasant, friendly, and amiable Mr. Gibbon was in private life; and if, in publishing Letters fo flattering to myself, I incur the imputation of vanity, I fhall meet the charge with a frank confeffion, that I am indeed highly vain of having enjoyed, for fo many years, the esteem, the confidence, and the affection of a man, whofe focial qualities endeared him to the most accomplished society, and whose talents, great as they were, muft be acknowledged to have been fully equalled by the fincerity of his friendship.

Whatever cenfure may be pointed against the Editor, the Public will fet a due value on the Letters for their intrinfic merit. I must, indeed, be blinded, either by vanity or affecti

on,

on, if they do not difplay the heart and mind of their Author, in fuch a manner as juftly to increase the number of his admirers.

I have not been folicitous to garble or expunge paffages which, to fome, may appear trifling. Such paffages will often, in the opinion of the observing Reader, mark the character of the Writer, and the omiffion of them would materially take from the ease and familiarity of authentic letters.

Few men, I believe, have ever so fully unveiled their own character, by a minute narrative of their sentiments and purfuits, as Mr. Gibbon will here be found to have done; not with ftudy and labour-not with an affected frankness-but with a genuine confeffion of his little foibles and peculiarities, and a goodhumoured and natural display of his own conduct and opinions.

Mr. Gibbon began a Journal, a work diftinct from the sketches already mentioned, in the early part of his Life, with the following declaration :

"I propofe from this day, August 24th 1761, to keep an exact Journal of my acti"ons and ftudies, both to affift my memory, "and to accuftom me to fet a due value on "my time. I fhall begin by setting down "fome few events of my paft life, the dates "of which I can remember."

This

This industrious project he pursued occafionally in French, under various titles, and with the minuteness, fidelity, and liberality of a mind refolved to watch over and improve itfelf.

The Journal is continued under different titles, and is fometimes very concife, and fometimes fingularly detailed. One part of it is entitled "My Journal," another "Ephemerides, "or Journal of my Actions, Studies, and Opi"nions." The other parts are entitled, "Ephe"merides, ou Journal de ma Vie, de mes Etudes, ❝et de mes Sentimens." In this Journal, among the moft trivial circumftances, are mixed very interefting obfervations and differtations on a Satire of Juvenal, a Paffage of Homer, or of Longinus, or of any other author whose works he happened to read in the course of the day; and he often paffes from a Remark on the most common event, to a critical Difquifition of confiderable learning, or an Enquiry into fome abftrufe point of Philofophy.

It certainly was not his intention that this private and motley Diary fhould be prefented to the Public; nor have I thought myself at liberty to present it, in the fhape in which he left it. But by reducing it to an account of his literary occupations, it formed fo fingular

and

and fo interesting a portrait of an indefatigable Student, that I perfuade myself it will be regarded as a valuable acquifition by the Literary World, and as an acceffion of fame to the memory of my Friend. With the Extracts from Mr. Gibbon's Journal will be printed, his Differtations entitled "Extraits raifonnés "de mes Lectures:" and "Recueil de mes "Obfervations, et Pieces détachées fur dif "férens Sujets." A few other paffages from other parts of the Journals, introduced in Notes, will make a curious addition to the Memoirs.

His First Publication, “Effai fur l'Etude "de la Litterature," with corrections and additions from an interleaved copy which my Friend gave to me feveral years ago, is reprinted as part of these volumes.

Three more of his fmaller Publications are alfo reprinted. 1. His masterly Criticifm on the Sixth Book of Virgil, in answer to Bishop Warburton. 2. His own Vindication of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Chapters of his Hiftory, in anfwer to Mr. Davis and others. And 3. His "Reponfse à l'Expofé de la Cour de "France, -an occafional composition, which obtained the highest applause in Foreign Courts, and of which he spoke to me with fome plea

fure,