PRIVATE LETTERS
OF
EDWARD GIBBON
(1753-1794).
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
THE EARL OF SHEFFIELD.
EDITED BY
ROWLAND E. PROTHERO,
18BARRISTER-AT-LAW, SOME-TIME FELLOW OF ALL SOULS' COLLEGE, OXFORD.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1896.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.
INTRODUCTION BY THE EARL OFSHEFFIELD.
The centenary of the death of Edward Gibbon (died January,1794, aged fifty-six) was recorded by a public commemorationheld in London in November, 1894, at the instance of the RoyalHistorical Society. The distinguished committee of Englishand foreign students, who were associated on that occasion,invited me to become their President, as representing the familywith which Gibbon had been so intimately connected, and whichstill retained the portraits, manuscripts, letters, and relics of thehistorian. The exhibition of these in the British Museum, andthe commemoration held on November 15, reawakened interestin the work and remains of one of the greatest names in Englishliterature; and a general desire was expressed that the manuscriptsshould be again collated, and that what was yet unpublishedmight be given to the world.
As is well known, it was my grandfather, the first Earl, whomade the historian almost his adopted brother, gave him a homeboth in town and in country, was his devisee and literaryexecutor, and edited and published the famous Autobiography,the letters, and remains. All of these passed under EdwardGibbon's will to Lord Sheffield; and, together with books, relics,portraits, and various mementos, they have been for a centurypreserved by my father and myself with religions care and venerationin Sheffield Park. The original autograph manuscripts ofthe Memoirs, the Diaries, Letters, Note-books, etc., have nowbecome the property of the British Museum, subject to the copyrightof all the unpublished parts which was previously assignedto Mr. Murray. And it is with no little pleasure and pride that[vi]I have acceded to the request of the publishers that I wouldintroduce these unpublished remains to the world, and thuscomplete the task of editing the historian, to which my grandfatherdevoted so great a portion of his time, not only as atestamentary duty, but as a labour of love.
The connection of the historian with my grandfather, hisearly friend, John Holroyd, and the members of the Holroydfamily, forms one of the pleasantest and also most interestingpassages in literary history. It was in no way interrupted byLord Sheffield's public and official duties; it was continuedwithout a cloud to obscure their intimacy, until it was sunderedby death; and the Earl, who survived his friend so long, continuedto edit and to publish the manuscripts left in his handsfor some twenty years after the death of the historian.
By a clause in the will of Edward Gibbon, dated July 14,1788, his papers were entrusted to Lord Sheffield and Mr. JohnBatt, his executors, in the following terms:—
"I will that all my Manuscript papers found at the time ofmy decease be delivered to my executors, and that if any shallappear sufficiently finished for the public eye, they do treat forthe purchase of the same with a Bookseller, giving the preferenceto Mr. Andrew Strahan and Mr. Thomas Cadell, whose liberalspirit I have experienced in similar transactions. And whatsoevermonies ma