Autobiography: Illus. from His Letters, with Occasional Notes and NarrativesBuckland & Sumner, 1846 - 381 pages |
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Common terms and phrases
Abbé acquaintance Adieu admire agreeable amiable amusement appear Archbishop of Arles Beriton Berne CHAP character church Comte de Caylus connexion conversation Coppet Deyverdun dined EDWARD GIBBON England English enjoyed epistle equal essay esteem excuse father favour feel fortune France French friendship Geneva genius geography of Italy Greek habits happiness historian honour hope interest John Gibbon JOURNAL journey labour lady language Latin Lausanne learning less letter London Lord Sheffield Madame Magdalen College Memoirs ment merit militia mind months Necker never opinion Oxford Paris passed Pavilliard perhaps persons philosopher pleasure political Porten praise present provinces of France Putney racter residence scene Severy Sheffield-place society soon spirit style summer Swiss Switzerland Tacitus taste tion Vaud volume weeks winter wish write youth
Popular passages
Page 222 - It was on the day, or rather night, of the 27th of June 1787, between the hours of eleven and twelve, that I wrote the last lines of the last page in a summer-house in my garden. After laying down my pen, I took several turns in a berccau, or covered walk of acacias, which commands a prospect of the country, the lake, and the mountains.
Page 207 - 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, 162 introduced with eloquence, and supported by numbers.
Page 9 - Thou hast most traitorously corrupted the youth of the realm in erecting a grammar school; and whereas, before, our forefathers had no other books but the score and the tally, thou hast caused printing to be used, and, contrary to the king, his crown and dignity, thou hast built a paper-mill.
Page 7 - Who builds a church to God, and not to Fame, Will never mark the marble with his name : Go, search it there, where to be born and die, Of rich and poor makes all the history ; Enough, that Virtue fill'd the space between ; Prov'd by the ends of being, to have been.
Page 100 - After a painful struggle I yielded to my fate : I sighed as a lover, I obeyed as a son l ; my wound was insensibly healed by time, absence, and the habits of a new life.
Page 169 - It was at Rome, on the 15th of October, 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the bare-footed friars were singing vespers in the temple of Jupiter,* that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city first started to my mind.
Page 44 - My own introduction to the university of Oxford forms a new sera in my life ; and at the distance of forty years I still remember my first emotions of surprise and satisfaction. In my fifteenth year I felt myself suddenly raised from a boy to a man ; the persons whom I respected as my superiors in age and academical rank, entertained me with every mark of attention and civility ; and my vanity was flattered by the velvet cap and silk gown, which distinguish a gentleman commoner from a plebeian student.
Page 191 - ... and they might still be compressed without any loss of facts or sentiments. An opposite fault may be imputed to the concise and superficial narrative of the first reigns from Commodus to Alexander; a fault of which I have never heard, except from Mr. Hume in his last journey to London. Such an oracle might have been consulted and obeyed with rational devotion; but I was soon disgusted with the modest practice of reading the manuscript to my friends.
Page 9 - It will be proved to thy face that thou hast men about thee that usually talk of a noun and a verb, and such abominable words as no Christian ear can endure to hear.
Page 101 - A rich banker of Paris, a citizen of Geneva, had the good fortune and good sense to discover and possess this inestimable treasure ; and in the capital of taste and luxury she resisted the temptations of wealth, as she had sustained the hardships of indigence. The genius of her husband has exalted him to the most conspicuous station in Europe. In every change of prosperity and disgrace he has reclined on the bosom of a faithful friend ; and Mademoiselle Curchod is now the wife of M. Necker, the minister,...