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'I was most unjustly accused of deserting a party, in which I "had never enlisted.

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"The aspect of the next session of parliament was stormy and "perilous; county meetings, petitions, and committees of correspondence, announced the public discontent; and instead of voting with a triumphant majority, the friends of government were often exposed to a struggle, and sometimes to a defeat. "The House of Commons adopted Mr. Dunning's motion, ‘That "the influence of the Crown had increased, was increasing, and ought to be diminished:' and Mr. Burke's bill of reform was "framed with skill, introduced with eloquence, and supported by "numbers. The storm, however, blew over for a time; a large "defection of country gentlemen eluded the hopes of the patriots: "the Lords of Trade were revived; administration recovered "their strength and spirit; and the flames of London, which were "kindled by a mischievous madman, admonished all thinking "men of the danger of an appeal to the people. In the premature "dissolution which followed this session of parliament I lost my seat. Mr. Elliot was now deeply engaged in the measures of "opposition, and the electors of Leskeard are commonly of the same opinion as Mr. Elliot.

"In this interval of my senatorial life I published the second " and third volumes of the Decline and Fall. My ecclesiastical history still breathed the same spirit of freedom; but protestant 46 zeal is more indifferent to the characters and controversies of the fourth and fifth centuries.* My obstinate silence had damped "the ardor of the polemics. Dr. Watson, the most candid of my “adversaries, assured me that he had no thoughts of renewing

Gibbon, says Milman, "might have annihilated the whole fabric of post"apostolic miracles, if he had left uninjured by sarcastic insinuation those "of the New Testament; he might have cashiered, with Dodwell, the whole "host of martyrs, which owe their existence to the prodigal invention of "later days, had he but bestowed fair room, and dwelt with his ordinary "energy on the sufferings of the genuine witnesses to the truth of Christianity.' That is to say, had Gibbon penned a partisan essay, instead of writing an impartial history; had he selected only agreeable truths, and suppressed all unwelcome facts, it would not now be necessary to publish mutilated editions of his History for the use of schools in which every disparaging reference to Christianity has been excluded or revised, except, perchance, those portions inimical to the Catholic church. Protestants can endure in a spirit of true Christian fortitude all adverse criticism on the Catholic faith, and it is but strict justice to the Catholics to admit that this Christian feeling is by them warmly reciprocated. The command of Jesus, "Love ye one another," is by these Christian sectaries "more honor'd in the breach than the "observance." — E.

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"the attack,* and my impartial balance of the virtues and vices of 'Julian was generally praised. This truce was interrupted only by some animadversions of the Catholics of Italy, and by some angry letters of Mr. Travis, who made me personally responsi"ble for condemning, with the best critics, the spurious text of "the three heavenly witnesses.†

The piety or prudence of my Italian translator has provided "an antidote against the poison of his original. The fifth and "seventh volumes are armed with five letters from an anonymous "divine to his friends, Foothead and Kirk, two English students "at Rome; and this meritorious service is commended by Monsignor Stoner, a prelate of the same nation, who discovers "much venom in the fluid and nervous style of Gibbon.' The “Critical Essay at the end of the third volume was furnished by the Abbate Nicola Spedalieri, whose zeal has gradually swelled to a more solid confutation in two quarto volumes. Shall I be "excused for not having read them?

"The brutal insolence of Mr. Travis's challenge can only be excused by the absence of learning, judgment, and humanity; * Doctor Watson was, apparently, very careful in his Apology for Christianity not to provoke a reply from Mr. Gibbon. Discretion is often considered as the better part of valor. In his Apology for the Bible, which was a reply to Paine's Age of Reason, the worthy Bishop grows more combative, and even criticises Mr. Paine for deriving his belief in the existence of God from the exercise of reason, rather than from the dictum of revelation.-E.

"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, "and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that "bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these "three agree in one.' - 1 John v. 7, 8.

The learned revisers of the New Testament have confirmed the judgment of Mr. Gibbon in regard to the spurious character of the above text, and Dr. Alexander Roberts in the Companion to the Revised Version of the New Testament honestly tells the reason why "the whole of these verses bearing 66 upon what is known as the heavenly witnesses,' has been omitted in the "Revised Version." Because : The words left out can be proved to have "no claim whatever to a place in the text of Scripture. None of the Uncial "manuscripts contain them. None of the ancient versions represent them. "None of the Fathers quote them, even when arguing on the subject of the "Trinity. No defender of the genuineness of 1 John v. 7, 8, will probably arise in the future. The controversy regarding the passage is "finished, and will never be renewed. But the literary history to which it "has given rise will never be forgotten. The voices of some zealous "friends of Scripture Bishops, Cardinals, and others - have been unwisely lifted up in defence of the three heavenly witnesses, yet so de"cidedly have the minds of all scholars now been made up as to the spurious"ness of the words, that they have been omitted in the Revised Version "without a line even on the margin to indicate that they had ever been "admitted in the sacred text."-E.

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and to that excuse he has the fairest or foulest pretension. Com"pared with Archdeacon Travis, Chelsum and Davies assume "the title of respectable enemies.

"The bigoted advocate of popes and monks may be turned over even to the bigots of Oxford; and the wretched Travis "still smarts under the lash of the merciless Porson. I consider "Mr. Porson's answer to Archdeacon Travis as the most acute and accurate piece of criticism which has appeared since the days of Bentley. His strictures are founded in argument, enriched with learning, and enlivened with wit; and his adversary "neither deserves nor finds any quarter at his hands. The

" evidence of the three heavenly witnesses would now be rejected "in any court of justice: but prejudice is blind, authority is deaf, "and our vulgar bibles will ever be polluted by this spurious text, 'sedet æternumque sedebit.' The more learned ecclesiatics "will indeed have the secret satisfaction of reprobating in the "closet what they read in the church.

"I perceived, and without surprise, the coldness and even preju"dice of the town; nor could a whisper escape my ear that, in "the judgment of many readers, my continuation was much in"ferior to the original attempts. An author who cannot ascend "will always appear to sink: envy was now prepared for my reception, and the zeal of my religious, was fortified by the "motive of my political, enemies. Bishop Newton, in writing "his own life, was at full liberty to declare how much he himself " and two eminent brethren were disgusted by Mr. G.'s prolixity, " tediousness, and affectation. But the old man should not have 'indulged his zeal in a false and feeble charge against the histo"rian who had faithfully and cautiously rendered Dr. Burnet's meaning by the alternative of sleep or repose. That philosophic divine supposes, that, in the period between death and "the resurrection, human souls exist without a body, endowed "with internal consciousness, but destitute of all active or passive connection with the external world.

"I was however encouraged by some domestic and foreign "testimonies of applause; and the second and third volumes insensibly rose in sale and reputation to a level with the first. "But the public is seldom wrong; and I am inclined to believe that, especially in the beginning, they are more prolix and less entertaining than the first: my efforts had not been relaxed by success, and I had rather deviated into the opposite fault of "minute and superfluous diligence. On the Continent my name

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" and writings were slowly diffused: a French translation of the "first volume had disappointed the booksellers of Paris; and a "passage in the third was construed as a personal reflection on "the reigning monarch.

"Before I could apply for a seat at the general election the list was already full; but Lord North's promise was sincere, his (6 recommendation was effectual, and I was soon chosen on a vacancy for the borough of Lymington, in Hampshire. In the first "session of the new parliament, administration stood their ground; "their final overthrow was reserved for the second. The American war had once been the favorite of the country: the pride "of England was irritated by the resistance of her colonies, and "the executive power was driven by national clamor into the most vigorous and coercive measures. But the length of a "fruitless contest, the loss of armies, the accumulation of debt "and taxes, and the hostile confederacy of France, Spain, and Holland, indisposed the public to the American war, and the persons by whom it was conducted; the representatives of the "people, followed, at a slow distance, the changes of their opinion; and the ministers who refused to bend were broken by the tempest. As soon as Lord North had lost, or was about to "lose, a majority in the House of Commons, he surrendered his "office and retired to a private station, with the tranquil assurance "of a clear conscience and a cheerful temper: the old fabric was dissolved, and the posts of government were occupied by "the victorious and veteran troops of opposition. The lords of "trade were not immediately dismissed, but the board itself was "abolished by Mr. Burke's bill, which decency had compelled "the patriots to revive; and I was stripped of a convenient salary, "after having enjoyed it about three years.

"So flexible is the title of my History that the final era might "be fixed at my own choice; and I long hesitated whether I "should be content with the three volumes, the fall of the Western empire, which fulfilled my first engagement with the public. "In this interval of suspense, nearly a twelvemonth, I returned by a natural impulse to the Greek authors of antiquity: I read "with a new pleasure the Iliad and the Odyssey, the Histories of Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon, a large portion of the "tragic and comic theatre of Athens, and many interesting dia"logues of the Socratic school. Yet in the luxury of freedom "I began to wish for the daily task, the active pursuit, which gave "a value to every book, and an object to every inquiry: the pre

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face of a new edition announced my design, and I dropped without reluctance from the age of Plato to that of Justinian. “The original texts of Procopius and Agathias supplied the events and even the characters of his reign: but a laborious winter was devoted to the Codes, the Pandects, and the modern interpreters, before I presumed to form an abstract of the civil law. My skill was improved by practice, my diligence perhaps was quickened "by the loss of office; and, excepting the last chapter, I had finished the fourth volume before I sought a retreat on the banks of the Leman Lake.

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"It is not the purpose of this narrative to expatiate on the public or secret history of the times: the schism which followed "the death of the Marquis of Rockingham, the appointment of "the Earl of Shelburne, the resignation of Mr. Fox, and his famous coalition with Lord North. But I may assert, with some degree of assurance, that in their political conflict those great antagonists had never felt any personal animosity to each other, "that their reconciliation was easy and sincere, and that their friendship has never been clouded by the shadow of suspicion or jealousy. The most violent or venal of their respective followers embraced this fair occasion of revolt, but their alliance still commanded a majority in the House of Commons; the "peace was censured, Lord Shelburne resigned, and the two "friends knelt on the same cushion to take the oath of secretary "of state. From a principle of gratitude I adhered to the coalition: my vote was counted in the day of battle, but I was overlooked "in the division of the spoil. There were many claimants more deserving and importunate than myself; the board of trade could "not be restored; and, while the list of places was curtailed, "the number of candidates was doubled. An easy dismission to

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a secure seat at the board of customs or excise was promised "on the first vacancy: but the chance was distant and doubtful; "nor could I solicit with much ardor an ignoble servitude, which "would have robbed me of the most valuable of my studious "hours: at the same time the tumult of London, and the attendance on parliament, were grown more irksome; and, without some additional income, I could not long or prudently maintain "the style of expense to which I was accustomed.

"From my early acquaintance with Lausanne I had always cherished a secret wish, that the school of my youth might "become the retreat of my declining age. A moderate fortune "would secure the blessings of ease, leisure, and independence: