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.
EXTRACTS FROM THE MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF EDWARD GIBBON , ESQ .
COMPOSED BY HIMSELF .
ORIGINAL LETTERS THAT PASSED BETWEEN MP .. GIBBON AND SOME CELEBRATED LITERARY CHARACTERS .
" MR . GIBBON TO THE REV . DR . WATSON , NOW BISHOP OF LANDAFF . " Benl ' mck Street , Nov . 2 , I 77 < T , " * h / TR . Gibbon takes the earliest opportunity of presenting his com * - --- " - pliments and thanks to Dr . Watson , and of expressing his sense of the liberal treatment which he has received from so candid an adversary . Mr . Gibbon entirely coincides in opinion with Dr . Watson
, that as their different sentiments , on a very important period of history , are now submitted to the public , they both may employ their time in a manner much more useful , as well as agreeable , than they could possibl y do by exhibiting a single combat in the amphitheatre of controversy . Mr . Gibbon is , therefore , determined to resist the temptation of justifingin . a professed l of his
y , repy , any passages History , which might , perhaps , be easily cleared from censure and misapprehension ; but he still reserves to himself the privilege of inserting , in a future edition , some occasional remarks and explanations of his meaning . If any calls of pleasure or business should bring Dr . Watson to town , Mr . Gibbon' would think himself happy in being permitted to solicit the honour of his acquaintance . "
" DR . WATSON TO MR . GIBBON . " Cambridge , Nov . t \ , l" ] 1 <> . _ " DR . Watson accepts , with pleasure , Mr . Gibbon ' s polite invitation to a personal acquaintance . If he comes to town this winter , will certainly do himself the . honour to wait upon him . Begs , at the same time , to assure Mr . Gibbon , that he will be very happy to have
an opportunity of shewing him every civility , if ' curiosity , or othermotives ,-should bring him to Cambridge . Dr . Watson can have some faint idea of Mr . Gibbon ' s difficulty in resisting the temptation he speaks of , from having been of late iu a situation somewhat similar himself . It would be very extraordinary , if Mr . Gibbon did not feel a parent ' s partiality for an offspring which has justly excited the
admiration of all who have seen it ; and Dr . Watson would be the last person in the world to wish him to suppress any explanation which might tend to exalt its merits . " Ho \ y honourable is such a correspondence to both parties . ' Were all controversies conducted with such Christian charity , we should soon arrive at TRUTH . VOL . vir . C
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.
EXTRACTS FROM THE MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF EDWARD GIBBON , ESQ .
COMPOSED BY HIMSELF .
ORIGINAL LETTERS THAT PASSED BETWEEN MP .. GIBBON AND SOME CELEBRATED LITERARY CHARACTERS .
" MR . GIBBON TO THE REV . DR . WATSON , NOW BISHOP OF LANDAFF . " Benl ' mck Street , Nov . 2 , I 77 < T , " * h / TR . Gibbon takes the earliest opportunity of presenting his com * - --- " - pliments and thanks to Dr . Watson , and of expressing his sense of the liberal treatment which he has received from so candid an adversary . Mr . Gibbon entirely coincides in opinion with Dr . Watson
, that as their different sentiments , on a very important period of history , are now submitted to the public , they both may employ their time in a manner much more useful , as well as agreeable , than they could possibl y do by exhibiting a single combat in the amphitheatre of controversy . Mr . Gibbon is , therefore , determined to resist the temptation of justifingin . a professed l of his
y , repy , any passages History , which might , perhaps , be easily cleared from censure and misapprehension ; but he still reserves to himself the privilege of inserting , in a future edition , some occasional remarks and explanations of his meaning . If any calls of pleasure or business should bring Dr . Watson to town , Mr . Gibbon' would think himself happy in being permitted to solicit the honour of his acquaintance . "
" DR . WATSON TO MR . GIBBON . " Cambridge , Nov . t \ , l" ] 1 <> . _ " DR . Watson accepts , with pleasure , Mr . Gibbon ' s polite invitation to a personal acquaintance . If he comes to town this winter , will certainly do himself the . honour to wait upon him . Begs , at the same time , to assure Mr . Gibbon , that he will be very happy to have
an opportunity of shewing him every civility , if ' curiosity , or othermotives ,-should bring him to Cambridge . Dr . Watson can have some faint idea of Mr . Gibbon ' s difficulty in resisting the temptation he speaks of , from having been of late iu a situation somewhat similar himself . It would be very extraordinary , if Mr . Gibbon did not feel a parent ' s partiality for an offspring which has justly excited the
admiration of all who have seen it ; and Dr . Watson would be the last person in the world to wish him to suppress any explanation which might tend to exalt its merits . " Ho \ y honourable is such a correspondence to both parties . ' Were all controversies conducted with such Christian charity , we should soon arrive at TRUTH . VOL . vir . C