Observations on the Sixth Book of the JEneid,' a brilliant and conclusive answer to a theory of Warburton in his 'Divine Le gation of Moses.' Meanwhile the historian had begun the more serious study of his Roman subject in 1768, after the failure of the Swiss project. Two years later he was left independent at his father's death, and establishing himself in Lon don in 1772 he began the composition of his of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. On the death of Goldsmith (1774) he was made professor of history at the Royal Academy. The same year he was elected to Parliament, "at the beginning of the memorable contest between Great Britain and America." Yet he was to attain fame not by tongue but by pen. Silent in the House of Commons, he sprang at once into public esteem when the first volume of his (History' issued from the press in 1776. The first impression was soon exhausted. A second edition was sold and a third printing within a year. "My book," he says, ((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." The lasting fame of the author was once for all established.
From the publication of the first volume of the and Fall) to the issue of the last three (1788) is a period of 12 years, the whole period of collecting materials and composition covering two decades. Of these 12 years the first seven were the most active. After the first enthusiasm for his (History) had sub sided, a storm of clerical criticism burst upon his treatment of the growth of Christianity in the early centuries. This he did not at first answer, but when his good faith was attacked he at last replied in a (Vindication' (1779). In the same year he prepared a state paper, the (Memoire Justicatif,) against the French course in relation to the American war. He was also made one of the Lords Commissioners of Trade. In 1781 he published the second and third volumes of the (Decline and Fall.) The following year he lost his seat in Parliament and his place as Lord Commissioner, and though some offers were made of other public positions he never again took part in public life.
Gibbon now resolved on an unusual move for an Englishman. While by no means a poor man, he thought his income insufficient for Eng lish life. He therefore decided to remove to Lausanne and unite his establishment with that of his friend Deyverdun. To his friend and the place he was bound by ties of early affec tion. He could live well in Switzerland and yet save money. He could complete his 'His tory' and return to England at the age of 50 a comparatively rich man. So he explained his purposes and he finally settled in his new home in 1783. Four years later he returned to Eng land with the last three volumes of the 'De cline and Fall,' which were published on his birthday, 1788. After a year in England, how ever, he went back to Switzerland, fully satis fied with his foreign residence. Deyverdun died in 1789, but Gibbon still clung to his adopted country.
He was now to undertake the one other im portant literary work of his lifetime. In the
year of the publication of his 'History' he be the celebrated 'Memoirs,' which have de lighted the world for more than a century. On these he was engaged at intervals for the next six years, and he left six different sketches covering more or less fully different portions of his life. The were finally printed in 1796 with the 'Miscellaneous Works' of the historian, edited by Lord Sheffield. The manu scripts remained in the possession of the Shef field family for a century, when they were de posited in the British Museum and the whole of the six partial sketches were published. Then it was seen that Lord Sheffield had taken unusual liberties with Gibbon's autobiography, though preserving much the larger part of the sketches not overlapping.
In 1793 Gibbon hastened to England on the death of the wife of Lord Sheffield, his inti mate friend. During the year he was still full of plans. He had once hinted a supplement to his He now meditated a series of biographies of eminent Englishmen. He even set his hand to a prospectus which should an nounce the editing of English historical writers by John Pinkerton. But all such plans were to be stayed. A disorder with which he had long been afflicted led to dropsy. for which he was treated at different times in the fall of 1793. At last he became rapidly worse at the beginning of the new year and died very suddenly.
Gibbon's fame rests upon his one great un dertaking, the of the Decline and Pall.' It was the most monumental work of its age, as he was the most erudite historical student of his time. In his 'Memoirs' Gibbon hesitates to class himself with Hume and Rob ertson, but he is the only one of the three to outlive a century of wonderful progress in his torical research. It is true some defects have been found in his famous (History,' and newer views of historical development find some omis sions. But the century-old work has been the basis for all later research, while it is still edited by learned historians instead of being replaced by labors of their own. See GIBBON'S AUTOBIOGRA PH Y.
Bibliography.— For the 'Decline and Fall': Oxford ed., 8 vols., 1828; ed. by H. H. Mil man, 12 vols., 1838-39; by W. Smith, 8 vols., 1854-55; latest and best by J. B. Bury, 7 vols., 1896-1900. French, German and Italian trans lations appeared in Gibbon's lifetime; Polish, Greek and Magyar since.
For 'Memoirs' : Works,' 2 vols., ed. by Lord Sheffield, 1796; 2d. ed., en larged to 5 vols., 1814; (Memoirs,' ed. by Milman, 1739; 'Letters of Gibbon,' ed. by Prothero, 2 vols., 1896; ed. by Murray, 1897; 'Memoirs,' ed. by O. F. Emerson, 1898; by G. B. Hill, 1900, and I. A. C. Morrison's study in the (English Men of Let ters) series, 1901. Notes on life in Gentleman's Magazine, lviii, lix, lxiv, lxvi; Egerton Bryd ges's 'Autobiography' ; Boswell's 'Johnson' ; Walpole's (Letters' ; Mme. de Deffand's 'Let ters to Walpole); D'Haussonville's 'Salon of Mme. Necker) (1882); of. Maria Josepha Holroyd,' ed. by J. H. Adeane (1896) ; Studies in the Vaud, etc.,) by Mere dith Read (1897).