probably prevent opposition; but at the general election your enemy the Corporation will not be asleep, and I wish, if it be not too late, to warn you against any promises or engagements which may terminate in a defeat, or at least a contest of ten thousand pounds. Adieu. I could believe (without seeing it under her paw) that my Lady wishes to leave Coventry. No news! foreign or domestic. I did not forget to mention the companies, but find people, as I expected, torpid. Burke makes his motion Friday; but I think the rumours of a civil war subside every day; petitions are thought less formidable; and I hear your Sussex protest* gathers signatures in the country.

N° CXLI.

EDWARD GIBBON, Esquire, to Mrs. GIBBON, Bath.

DEAR MADAM, Bentinck-street, March 10th, 1780. WHEN you awakened me with your pen, it was my intention to have shewn some signs of life by the next post. But so uncertain are all human affairs, that I found myself arrested by a mighty unrelenting tyrant, called the gout; and though my feet were the part on which he chose to exercise his cruelty, he left me neither strength nor spirits to use my hand in relating the melancholy tale. At present, I have the pleasure of informing you, that the fever and inflammation have sub

*Suggested and promoted by Colonel Holroyd.

sided: but the absolute weakness and monstrous swelling of my two feet confine me to my chair and flannels; and this confinement most unluckily happens at a very nice and important moment of parliamentary affairs. Colonel Holroyd pursues those affairs with eager and persevering zeal; and has the pleasure of undertaking more business than any three men could possibly execute.

N° CXLII.

EDWARD GIBBON, Esq. to Mrs. GIBBON, Bath. London, June 8th, 1780.

DEAR MADAM,

As a Member of Parliament, I cannot be exposed to any danger,* since the House of Commons has adjourned to Monday se'nnight; as an individual, I do not conceive myself to be obnoxious. I am not apt, without duty or necessity, to thrust myself into a mob: and our part of the town is as quiet as a country village. So much for personal safety; but I cannot give the same assurances of public tranquillity forty thousand Puritans, such as they might be in the time of Cromwell, have started out of their graves; the tumult has been dreadful; and even the remedy of military force and martial law is unpleasant. But government, with fifteen thousand regulars in town, and every gentleman (but one) on their side, must extinguish the flame. The execution of last night was severe; perhaps it

Alluding to the disturbances occasioned by Lord George

Gordon.

must

must be repeated to-night: yet, upon the whole, the tumult subsides. Colonel Holroyd was all last night in Holborn among the flames, with the Northumberland militia, and performed very bold and able service. I will write again in a post or two. I am, dear Madam, ever yours.

N° CXLIII.

The Same to the Same.

DEAR MADAM,

Bentinck-street, June 27th, 1780.

I BELIEVE we may now rejoice in our common security. All tumult has perfectly subsided, and we only think of the justice which must be properly and severely inflicted on such flagitious criminals. The measures of Government have been seasonable and vigorous; and even opposition have been forced to confess, that the military power was applied and regulated with the utmost propriety. Our danger is at an end, but our disgrace will be lasting, and the month of June, 1780, will ever be marked by a dark and diabolical fanaticism, which I had supposed to be extinct, but which actually subsists in Great Britain, perhaps beyond any other country in Europe. Our parliamentary work draws to a conclusion; and I am much more pleasingly, though laboriously, engaged in revising and correcting for the press, the continuation of my History, two volumes of which will certainly appear next winter. This business fixes me to Bentinckstreet more closely than any other part of rary labour; as it is absolutely necessary that I

my

lite

VOL. II.

R

'should

should be in the midst of all the books which I have at any time used during the composition. But I feel a strong desire (irritated, like all other passions, by repeated obstacles) to escape to Bath. Dear Madam,

Most truly yours.

N° CXLIV.

EDWARD GIBBON, Esq. to Colonel HOLROYD.

July 25th, 1780.

As your motions are spontaneous, and the stations of the Lord Chief * unalterably fixed, I cannot perceive the necessity of your sending or receiving intelligence. However, your commands are obeyed. You wish I would write, as a sign of life. I am alive; but as I am immersed in the Decline and Fall, I shall only make the sign. It is made. You may suppose that we are not pleased with the junction of the fleets; nor can an ounce of West India loss be compensated by a pound of East India success: but the circuit will roll down all the news and politics of London. I rejoice to hear that the Sussex regiment of Dragoons are such well-disciplined cannibals; but I want to know when the Chief cannibal will return to his den. It would suit me better that it should hapAdieu.

pen soon.

Lord Mansfield.

N°

N° CXLV.

Mr. GIBBON to Mrs. HOLROYD, at Sheffield-Place.

Bentinck-street, Aug. 31st, 1780.

THE Colonel left town about seven o'clock. Could he have held a pen with each finger, and each toe, at the same time, he would have found employment for them all. He therefore named me his Secretary to signify to Sheffield-Place his health, duty, impatience, &c.

The Intrigue du Cabinet shall not be neglected. But the Intrigue du Parlement is now the universal pursuit. It will be dissolved to-morrow, the writs will be out Saturday night, and a few days will terminate the business. You probably received my last frank. I have found reason to believe that I shall never rise again, and I submit to my fate with philosophic composure. If any parcels. or letters directed to me should arrive at Sheffield, you will be so good as to return them by the coach. Adieu.

E. G.

N° CXLVI.

Mr. GIBBON to Mrs. HOLROYD, Sheffield-Place, announcing that Mr. Holroyd was created Lord Sheffield.

Bentinck-street, Nov. 27th, 1780.

Mr. GIBBON presents his respectful compliments to Lady Sheffield, and hopes her Ladyship is in perfect health, as well as the Hon. Miss Holroyd, and the Hon. Miss Louisa Hol