with the Duchess de Sivrac at their head,) M. and Madame Necker, the Abbé Raynal, the Hereditary Prince of Brunswick, Prince Henry of Prussia, perhaps the Duke of Cumberland; yet I am still more content with the humble natives, than with most of these illustrious names. Adieu. The post is on the wing, and you owe me a long epistle. I am, as usual, in the firm intention of writing next week to my Lady.

N° CCI.

The Same to the Same.

Lausanne, October 18th, 1784.

SINCE my retreat to Lausanne our correspondence has never received so long an interruption; and as I have been equally taciturn with the rest of the English world, it may now be a problem among that sceptical nation, whether the Historian of the Decline and Fall be a living substance or an empty name.

So tremendous is the sleepy power of laziness and habit, that the silence of each post operated still more strongly to benumb the hand, and to freeze the epistolary ink. How or when I should have naturally awakened, I cannot tell; but the pressure of my affairs and the arrival of your last letter, compel me to remember that you are entrusted with the final amputation of the best limb of my property. The subject is in itself so painful, that. I have postponed it, like a child's physic, from day to day; and losing whole mornings, as I walked about my library, in useless

regret

*

*

regret and impotent resolution, you will be amazed to hear that (after peeping to see if you are all well, and returned from Ireland). I have not yet had the courage to peruse your letter, for fear of meeting with some gloomy intelligence; and I will now finish what I have to say of pecuniary matters, before I know whether its contents will fortify or overthrow my unbiassed sentiments. * To what purpose (will you say) are these tardy and useless repinings? To arraign your manager? No, I am satisfied with the skill and firmness of the pilot, and complain only of the untoward violence of the tempest. Το repent of your retreat into Switzerland? No, surely, every subsequent event has tended to make it as necessary as it has proved agreeable. Why then these lamentations? Hear and attend-it is to interest (if possible more strongly) your zeal and friendship, to justify a sort of avarice, a love of money, very foreign to my character, but with which I cling to these last fragments of my fortune,

As far as I can judge from the experience of a year, though I find Lausanne much more expensive than I imagined, yet my style of living (and a very handsome style it is) will be brought nearly within my ordinary revenues. I wish our poor country could say as much! But it was always my favourite and rational wish, that at the winding up of my affairs I might possess a sum, from one to two thousand pounds, neither buried in land, nor locked up in the funds, but free, light,

and

and ready to obey any call of interest, or pleasure, or virtue; to defray any extraordinary expense, support any delay, or remove any obstacle. For the attainment of this object, I trust in your assist

Thus much for this money transaction; to you I need add no other stimulative, than to say that my ease and comfort very much depend on the success of this plan.

As I thought every man of sense and fortune in Ireland must be satisfied, I did not conceive the cloud so dark as you represent it. I will seriously peruse the new edition of your works; it would become a classic book, if you could find leisure (will you ever find it?) to introduce order and ornament. You must negociate directly with Deyverdun; but the state will not hear of parting with their only Reynolds.* I embrace my Lady; let her be angry, provided she be well. Adieu. Yours.

P.S. The care of Ireland may have amused you in the summer; but how do you mean to employ the winter? Do you not cast a longing, lingering look at St. Stephen's chapel? With your fiery spirit, and firm judgment, I almost wish you there; not for your benefit, but for the public. If you resolve to recover your seat, do not listen to any fallacious and infinite projects of interest, contest, return, petition, &c. but limit your expense.

* Alluding to his portrait.

No

N° CCII.

M. GIBBON à Madame de SEVERY.

Lausanne, le 19 Octobre, 1784.

Je vous remercie mille fois, Madame, de votre obligeant souvenir, et de l'intérêt que vous voulez bien conserver pour notre voyage, auquel, hélas! il faudra renoncer dans ce moment. En général le climat de Lausanne a été aussi favorable à ma santé que sa société l'a été à mon cœur et à mon esprit. Cependant la goutte, mon ancien tyran, ne me permet pas d'oublier que j'ai été son esclave. Sans se montrer à découvert elle voltige autour de moi et me fait éprouver des ressentimens, des soupçons et surtout la crainte de me trouver arrêté sous son joug de fer, éloigné de ma maison et dans un mauvais cabaret de Genève. Je vous permets de soupçonner que l'amour de mon cabinet et d'une vie sédentaire ont influé sur ma résolution, pourvu que vous me rendiez la justice de croire que ce motif seul n'auroit point resisté à l'envie de vous accompagner et de cultiver une liaison qui me sera toujours chère et précieuse. Dès mon arrivée à Lausanne j'ai vivement senti vos bontés et celles de Monsieur de Severy, et j'aspire à mériter l'honneur de votre amitié. La dissipation de la ville, quoiqu'un peu affoiblie par les vendanges, va toujours son train; l'on joue, l'on soupe, et l'on attend avec impatience le retour des campagnards que le froid chassera bientôt de leurs bois et de leurs champs, pendant que ce même froid disperse

les

les colonies angloises, qui vont avec les hirondelles et les gruës chercher vers le midi un climat plus doux. Hier nous suivimes à la cité le convoi funèbre de Monsieur le Banneret de Saussure; la république est divisée, la politique a travaillé, dans cet instant le sénat s'assemble pour lui donner un successeur. J'ai l'honneur d'être avec un parfait dévouement, Madame, votre très humble and très obéissant serviteur.

EDWARD GIBBON, Esq. to the Right Honourable Lady SHEFFIEld.

Lausanne, October 22d, 1784.

A FEW weeks ago, as I was walking on our terrace with M. Tissot, the celebrated physician; M. Mercier, the author of the Tableau de Paris; the Abbé Raynal; Monsieur, Madame, and Mademoiselle Necker; the Abbé de Bourbon, a natural son of Lewis the Fifteenth, the Hereditary Prince of Brunswick, Prince Henry of Prussia, and a dozen Counts, Barons, and extraordinary persons, among whom was a natural son of the Empress of Russia --Are you satisfied with this list? which I could enlarge and embellish, without departing from truth; and was not the Baron of Sheffield (profound as he is on the subject of the American trade) doubly mistaken with regard to Gibbon and Lausanne? Whenever I used to hint my design of retiring, that illustrious Baron, after a proper

effusion