could not teach me to think, to write, or to act; and the only principle that darted a ray of light into the indigested chaos, was an early and rational application to the order of time and place. The maps of Cellarius and Wells imprinted in my mind the picture of ancient geography; from Stranchius I imbibed the elements of chronology; the Tables of Helvicus and Anderson, the Annals of Usher and Prideaux, distinguished the connection of events, and engraved the multitude of names and dates in a clear and indelible series. But, in the discussion of the first ages, I overleaped the bounds of modesty and use. In my childish balance I presumed to weigh the systems of Scaliger and Petavius, of Marsham and Newton, which I could seldom study in the originals; and my sleep has been disturbed by the difficulty of reconciling the septuagint with the Hebrew computation. I arrived at Oxford with a stock of erudition that might have puzzled a doctor, and a degree of ignorance of which a schoolboy would have been ashamed."

To his residence at Oxford Mr. Gibbon looks back with no satisfaction. Instead of improving by the opportunities there afforded, he seems even to have lost that taste for reading which he had previously acquired. He fell into habits of idleness and dissipation, frequently absented himself, and settled to no plan of study. In short, he declares the fourteen months which he pent in Magdalen College to be the most idle and unprofitable of his whole life. Unwilling to take upon himself the whole blame of this lost period, he endeavours to throw it partly upon the institutions of the university. No controul or superintendence, he says,

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were exercised over him: he was allowed to attend or not as inclination prompted. " During the first weeks," says he, "I constantly attended these lessons in my tutor's room; but as they appeared equally devoid of profit and pleasure, I was once tempted to try the experiment of a formal apology. The apology was accepted with

a smile. I repeated the offence with less ceremony; the excuse was admitted with the same indulgence: the slightest motive of laziness or indisposition, the most trifling avocation at home or abroad, was allowed as a worthy impediment; nor did my tutor appear conscious of my absence or neglect. Had the hour of lecture been constantly filled, a single hour was a small portion of my academic leisure. No plan of study was recommended for my use; no exercises were prescribed for his inspection; and, at the most precious season of youth, whole days and weeks were suffered to elapse, without labour or amusement, without advice or account."

About this time, however, his constitution strengthened, without any visible cause, and he was delivered from those complaints under which he had laboured. At the end of fourteen months, a long recess enabled him to spend two months at his father's house in Hampshire. It is remarkable, that the moment he arrived there his taste for books began to revive. He now wrote his first composition, marked by that taste for research and exotic history, which strongly predominated in his mind. It was entitled "The Age of Sesostris ;' and the object was to prove that monarch to have been contemporary with Solomon.

On Gibbon's return to college, he entered upon the same round of dissipation as before. He made, in one winter, a visit to Bath, an excursion into Buckinghamshire, and four to London. He still retained, however, his old turn for research and controversy; but it took a most singular direction. By reading the works of Roman Catholic divines, he became a convert to that religion. Two works of Bossuet were, he asserts, those which completed his conversion. His resolution was completely made up from books, before he saw or conversed with any priest of that persuasion. He was then, however, introduced to one in London, in whose presence he solemnly abjured the errors of heresy. He then wrote an elaborate letter to his father, announcing

a

and justifying this extraordinary step. His father, in the first paroxysm of anger, published what would have been more wisely concealed, and the gates of the university were shut against the young apostate,

4

It became now a very serious consideration for old Gibbon, in what manner this extraordinary malady might be banished from the mind of his son. After much deliberation, it was determined to send him to reside for some years at Lausanne, in Switzerland. Thither he was accordingly dispatched, and lodged in the house of M. Pavilliard, a calvinist minister, He has described in a lively manner his feelings on first arriving in this exile.

"When I was thus suddenly cast on a foreign land, I found myself deprived of the use of speech and of hearing; and, during some weeks, incapable not only of enjoying the pleasures of conversation, but even of asking or answering a question in the common intercourse of life. To a home-bred Englishman every object, every custom was offensive; but the native of any country might have been disgusted with the general aspect of his lodging and entertainment. I had now exchanged my elegant apartment in Magdalen College, for a narrow gloomy street, the most unfrequented of an unhandsome town, for an old inconvenient house, and for a small chamber, ill contrived, and ill furnished, which, on the approach of winter, instead of a companionable fire, must be warmed by the dull invisible heat of a stove. From a man, I was again degraded to the dependence of a schoolboy. M. Pavilliard managed my expences, which had been reduced to a diminutive state. I received a small monthly allowance for my pocket-money; and helpless and awkward as I have ever been, I no longer enjoyed the indispensible comfort of a servant. My condition seemed as destitute of hope, as it was devoid of pleasure. I was separated for an indefinite, which appeared an infinite, term from my native country; and I had

lost all connection with my catholic friends. I have since reflected with surprise, that as the Romish clergy of every part of Europe maintain a close correspondence with each other, they never attempted, by letters or messages, to rescue me from the hands of the heretics, or at least to confirm my zeal and constancy in the profession of the faith. Such was my first introduction to Lausanne; a place where I spent nearly five years with pleasure and profit, which I afterwards revisited without compulsion, and which I have finally selected as the most grateful retreat for the decline of my life."

He soon, however, became reconciled to his situation, and derived great benefits from the residence of Lausanne. He here entered upon a course of intense study. He went nearly through a complete round of the Latin classics, and their most celebrated commentators. He acquired also some acquaintance, though not very extensive, with Grecian literature, Grotius, Puffendorf, Locke, Crousaz, and Pascal, entered also into his round of study. He opened a correspondence with Crevier, the successor of Rollin, professor Breitinger of Zurich, and Matthew Gesner of Gottingen. He made also a journey through Switzerland. At this time too he became acquainted with Mademoiselle Curchod; but the nature of their connection will best be related in his own words, though some what more pompous than the subject requires.

"I hesitate, from the apprehension of ridicule, when I approach the delicate subject of my early love. By this word I do not mean the polite attention, the gallantry, without hope or design, which has originated in the spirit of chivalry, and is interwoven with the texture of French manners. I understand by this passion, the union of desire, friendship, and tenderness, which is inflamed by a single female, which prefers her to the rest of her sex, and which seeks her possession as the supreme or the sole happiness of our being. I need not blush at recollecting the object of my choice; and

though my love was disappointed of success, I am rather proud that I was once capable of feeling such a pure and exalted sentiment. The personal attractions of Mademoiselle Curchod were embellished by the virtues and talents of the mind. Her fortune was humble, but her family was respectable. Her mother, a native of France, had preferred her religion to her country. The profession of her father did not extinguish the moderation and philosophy of his temper, and he lived content with a small salary and laborious duty, in the obscure lot of minister of Crassy, in the mountains that separate the Pays de Vaud from the county of Burgundy. In the solitude of a sequestered village, he bestowed a liberal, and even learned, education on his only daughter. She surpassed his hopes by her proficiency in the sciences and languages; and in her short visits to some relations at Lausanne, the wit, the beauty, and erudition of Mademoiselle Curchod were the theme of universal applause. The report of such a prodigy awakened my curiosity; I saw and loved. I found her learned without pedantry, lively in conversation, pure in sentiment, and elegant in manners; and the first sudden emotion was fortified by the habits and knowledge of a more familiar acquaintance. She permitted me to make her two or three visits at her father's house. I passed some happy days there in the mountains of Burgundy, and her parents honourably encouraged the connection. In a calm retirement the gay vanity of youth no longer fluttered in her bosom; she listened to the voice of truth and passion, and I might presume to hope that I had made some impression on a virtuous heart. At Crassy and Lausanne I indulged my dream of felicity; but, on my return to England, I soon discovered that my father would not hear of this strange alliance, and that without his consent I was myself destitute and helpless. 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