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.
personal narrative . The style shall be simple and familiar : but style is the image of character ; and the habits of correct writing may . produce , without labour or design , the appearance of art and study . My own amusement is my motive , and will be my reward : and if these sheets are communicated to some discreet and indulgent friends , they will be secreted from the public eye till the author shall be removed beyond the reach' of criticism or ridicule . "
His reflections on the dignity of birth and hereditary descent , are pot only elegantly written , but highly creditable to his heart and judgment . " Wherever the distinction of birth is allowed to form a superior order in the state , education and example should always , and will often , produce among them a di gnity of sentiment and propriety of conductwhich is
, guarded from dishonour by their own and the public esteem . If we read of some illustrious line so antient that it has no beginning , so worthy that it ought to have no end , we sympathize in its various fortunes ; nor can we blame the generous enthusiasm , or even the harmless vanity , of those who are allied to the honours of its name . For my own part , could I draw my pedigree from a general , a statesman , or a celebrated author , I should stud y their lives with the diligence of filial love . In the investio-ation of
past events , our curiosity is stimulated b y the immediate or indirect reference to ourselves ; but in the estimate of honour , we should learn to value the gifts of Nature above those of Fortune ; to esteem in our ancestors the qualities that best promote the interests of society ; and to pronounce the descendant of a king less truly noble than the offspring of a man of genius , \ Vhose writings will instruct or deliht the latest posterity . The familof Confucius isin i
g y , my opnion , the most illustrious in the world . After a painful ascent of eight or ten centuries , our barons and princes of Europe are lost in the darkness of the middle ages ; but , in the vast equality of the empire of China , the posterity of Confucius have maintained , above two thousand two hundred years , their peaceful honours and perpetual succession . The chief of the family is still revered , by the soverei and the
gn people , as the lively image of the wisest of mankind . The nobility of the Spencers has been illustrated and enriched by the trophies of Marlborough ; but I exhort them to consider the Fairy Queen as the most precious jewel of their coronet . I have exposed my private feelings , as I shall always do , without scruple or reserve . That these sentiments are just , or at least natural , I am inclined to believe , since I do not feel myself interested in the cause : for . I can derive from my ancestors neither glory nor shame . "
After a long account of his famil y , our author proceeds to state the time of his birth , & c . " I was born at Putney , in the county of Surry , the 27 th of April , O . S . in the year one thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven ; the -irst child of the marriage of Edward Gibbon , esq . and of Judith
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.
personal narrative . The style shall be simple and familiar : but style is the image of character ; and the habits of correct writing may . produce , without labour or design , the appearance of art and study . My own amusement is my motive , and will be my reward : and if these sheets are communicated to some discreet and indulgent friends , they will be secreted from the public eye till the author shall be removed beyond the reach' of criticism or ridicule . "
His reflections on the dignity of birth and hereditary descent , are pot only elegantly written , but highly creditable to his heart and judgment . " Wherever the distinction of birth is allowed to form a superior order in the state , education and example should always , and will often , produce among them a di gnity of sentiment and propriety of conductwhich is
, guarded from dishonour by their own and the public esteem . If we read of some illustrious line so antient that it has no beginning , so worthy that it ought to have no end , we sympathize in its various fortunes ; nor can we blame the generous enthusiasm , or even the harmless vanity , of those who are allied to the honours of its name . For my own part , could I draw my pedigree from a general , a statesman , or a celebrated author , I should stud y their lives with the diligence of filial love . In the investio-ation of
past events , our curiosity is stimulated b y the immediate or indirect reference to ourselves ; but in the estimate of honour , we should learn to value the gifts of Nature above those of Fortune ; to esteem in our ancestors the qualities that best promote the interests of society ; and to pronounce the descendant of a king less truly noble than the offspring of a man of genius , \ Vhose writings will instruct or deliht the latest posterity . The familof Confucius isin i
g y , my opnion , the most illustrious in the world . After a painful ascent of eight or ten centuries , our barons and princes of Europe are lost in the darkness of the middle ages ; but , in the vast equality of the empire of China , the posterity of Confucius have maintained , above two thousand two hundred years , their peaceful honours and perpetual succession . The chief of the family is still revered , by the soverei and the
gn people , as the lively image of the wisest of mankind . The nobility of the Spencers has been illustrated and enriched by the trophies of Marlborough ; but I exhort them to consider the Fairy Queen as the most precious jewel of their coronet . I have exposed my private feelings , as I shall always do , without scruple or reserve . That these sentiments are just , or at least natural , I am inclined to believe , since I do not feel myself interested in the cause : for . I can derive from my ancestors neither glory nor shame . "
After a long account of his famil y , our author proceeds to state the time of his birth , & c . " I was born at Putney , in the county of Surry , the 27 th of April , O . S . in the year one thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven ; the -irst child of the marriage of Edward Gibbon , esq . and of Judith