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Extracts From The Memoirs Of The Life And Writings Of Edward Gibbon, Esq.
table . After leaving Florence , I compared the solitude of Pisa with the industry of Lucca and Leghorn , and continued myjourney through Sienna to Rome , where I arrived in the beginning of October . 2 . My temper is not very susceptible of enthusiasm ; and tbe enthusiasm which I do not feel , I have ever scorned to affect . But , at the distance of twenty-five years , I can neither forget nor express the strong emotions which agitated my mind as I first approachedand
, entered , the eternal city . After a sleepless night , I trod , with a lofty step , the ruins of the Forum ; each memorable spot where Romulus stood , or Tully spoke , or Csesur fell , was at once present to my eye ; and several days of intoxication were lost or enjoyed , before I could descend to a cool and minute investigation . My guide was Mr . Byers , a Scotch antiquary of experience and taste ; but , in the
dailylabour of eighteen weeks , the powers of attention were sometimes fatigued , till I was myself qualified , in a last review , to select and study the capital works of ancient and modern art . Six weeks were borrowed for my tour of Naples , the most populous of cities , relative to its size , whose luxurious inhabitants seem to dwell on the confines of paradise and hell-fire . I was presented to the boy-king by our new envoy , Sir William Hamilton ; who , wisely diverting his
correspondence from the Secretary of State to the Royal Society and British Museum , has elucidated a country of such inestimable value to the naturalist and antiquarian . On my return , 1 fondly embraced , for the last time , the miracles of Rome ; but I departed without kissing the feet of Rezzonico ( Clement XIII . ) , who neither possessed the wit of his predecessor Lambertini , nor the virtues of his successor Ganganelii . 3 . In my pil grimage from Rome to L'oretto I again
crossed the Apennine ; from the coast of the Adriatic I traversed a fruitful and populous country , which could alone disprove the paradox of Montesquieu , that modern Italy is a desert . Without adopting the exclusive prejudice of the natives , I sincerely admire the paintings of the Bologna school . I hastened to escape from the sad solitude of Ferrara , which in the age of Ca ? sar was still more
desolate . The spectacle of Venice afforded some hours of astonishment ; the university of Padua is a dying taper ; but Verona still boasts her amphitheatre ; and his native Vicenza is adorned by the classic architecture of Palladio ; the road of Lombardy and Piedmont ( did Montesquieu find them without inhabitants ?) led me back to Milan , Turin , and the passage of Mount Cenis , where I again crossed the Alps in my way to Lyons . "
During the administration of Lord North , Mr . Gibbon ( b y the interest of Lord Eliot , who married his first cousin ) was returned in parliament for the borough of Leskeard ; and he has g iven a sketch of the talents and genius of the leading political characters who then sat in the Plouse of Commons . This sketch , drawn by the pen of an historian , who could with equal accuracy delineate the characters of an . Alexander Severus or a Caracalla , of an Augustus or an Antoninus , though brief , shews the hand of a master ; and may afford materials to the future historians of that period .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Extracts From The Memoirs Of The Life And Writings Of Edward Gibbon, Esq.
table . After leaving Florence , I compared the solitude of Pisa with the industry of Lucca and Leghorn , and continued myjourney through Sienna to Rome , where I arrived in the beginning of October . 2 . My temper is not very susceptible of enthusiasm ; and tbe enthusiasm which I do not feel , I have ever scorned to affect . But , at the distance of twenty-five years , I can neither forget nor express the strong emotions which agitated my mind as I first approachedand
, entered , the eternal city . After a sleepless night , I trod , with a lofty step , the ruins of the Forum ; each memorable spot where Romulus stood , or Tully spoke , or Csesur fell , was at once present to my eye ; and several days of intoxication were lost or enjoyed , before I could descend to a cool and minute investigation . My guide was Mr . Byers , a Scotch antiquary of experience and taste ; but , in the
dailylabour of eighteen weeks , the powers of attention were sometimes fatigued , till I was myself qualified , in a last review , to select and study the capital works of ancient and modern art . Six weeks were borrowed for my tour of Naples , the most populous of cities , relative to its size , whose luxurious inhabitants seem to dwell on the confines of paradise and hell-fire . I was presented to the boy-king by our new envoy , Sir William Hamilton ; who , wisely diverting his
correspondence from the Secretary of State to the Royal Society and British Museum , has elucidated a country of such inestimable value to the naturalist and antiquarian . On my return , 1 fondly embraced , for the last time , the miracles of Rome ; but I departed without kissing the feet of Rezzonico ( Clement XIII . ) , who neither possessed the wit of his predecessor Lambertini , nor the virtues of his successor Ganganelii . 3 . In my pil grimage from Rome to L'oretto I again
crossed the Apennine ; from the coast of the Adriatic I traversed a fruitful and populous country , which could alone disprove the paradox of Montesquieu , that modern Italy is a desert . Without adopting the exclusive prejudice of the natives , I sincerely admire the paintings of the Bologna school . I hastened to escape from the sad solitude of Ferrara , which in the age of Ca ? sar was still more
desolate . The spectacle of Venice afforded some hours of astonishment ; the university of Padua is a dying taper ; but Verona still boasts her amphitheatre ; and his native Vicenza is adorned by the classic architecture of Palladio ; the road of Lombardy and Piedmont ( did Montesquieu find them without inhabitants ?) led me back to Milan , Turin , and the passage of Mount Cenis , where I again crossed the Alps in my way to Lyons . "
During the administration of Lord North , Mr . Gibbon ( b y the interest of Lord Eliot , who married his first cousin ) was returned in parliament for the borough of Leskeard ; and he has g iven a sketch of the talents and genius of the leading political characters who then sat in the Plouse of Commons . This sketch , drawn by the pen of an historian , who could with equal accuracy delineate the characters of an . Alexander Severus or a Caracalla , of an Augustus or an Antoninus , though brief , shews the hand of a master ; and may afford materials to the future historians of that period .