New-York tribune., 1901-01-27


ferent manuscripts. The classical version is that
IN which the historians friend, Lord Sheffield
eiupooied a composite of the whole collection
When the six were printed each in its integrity
Tor the nrst time just four years ago the general
conclusion that Gibbon had been we'll
served by his old intimate Lord Sheffield made
divers changes i'm the memoirs but none of them
We're OF a sort calculated to do anything but good
to the fair fame of Gibbon Dr. Birkbeck Hill
annotating new edition of the autobiography
Tor an admirable popular SERIES is apparently
OF another opinion. The transformation of GER
tain individuals from boarders who were nu-
merous' into boarders who were select"
strikes this editor as positively daring. We are
uhmoNed by the audacity. Lord Sheffield made
no Dohes or eliminating passages like that in
which Gibbon writes concerning his mother: LAS
L had seldom enjoyed the smiles Of maternal
tenderness, she was rather the object OF my re-
spect than of my love-" Other remarks no less
pointed, were excluded from the autobiography
In that form OF il which Lord Sheffield deemed
suitable for publication Some OF the missing
fragments deserved to be restored Il was in
teresting to read them. They added little il
anything, however to the knowledge of Gibbon
already possessed by the ordinarily acute reader.
The darker lines in his portrait had been
OWNED without any difficulty Lord Sheffield
had not misrepresented his friend; he had only /
struck fair balance, and told us, the whole /
no more and no less than We We're entitled to
know |
Gibbon was a very human individual. He was |
fun OF egotism. He could be sublimely petty. |
as when he wrote that the Duchess OF Grafton |
had told him she had thought of engaging Mile. |
Curchod as governess piece of gossip in the |
circumstances peculiarly contemplate. But IL |
Gibbon is interesting the human individual |
which We have called him ne is also, and trans |
cendently, the historian Of Rome. and occupies |
a pedestal from which it is idle TO attempt 20 1
lower him. ''Of the various and frequent dis |
orders OF my childhood" he says, my own re- |
collection is dark; nor do wish to expatiate on |
so disgusting a topic" We rejoice in this |
reticence. not simply because a croupy Gibbon, 1
say, is figure before which the imagination re- \
coils, but because an essential ingredient in the /
fascination he has for is the diction which en- \
velops the allusion just quoted as in a stately 4
garment The autobiography mirrors the man. |
but still clearly does il mirror the his
torian He talks at the outset of ''revewng the /
simple transactions of a private and literary \
life." Truth, he continues, naked. unblushing |
truth, the first virtue OF serious history, 1
must be the sole recommendation of this per-
sonal narrative But he knew that he could not |
set forth his recollections with careless ease |
He could not paint his portrait with any |
less care than that which he bestowed upon the |
delineation OF Roman Emperor, and in this he |
followed only the dictates of his nature. The |
STYLE" he goes on, ''shall be simple and fami- |
lar; but style is the image OF character, and the
habits OF correct writing may produce without |
labor design, the appearance Of art and |
study" Therein he gives the reader a key TO |
the fun enjoyment OF the autobiography AS |
sumo that any autobiography, TO command be-
lief, must necessarily have the abandon which
distinguishes Rousseau, and you will find Glib
bon disappointing. Remember that he carried
into all the relations of private life the tenn
perament which lies upon the surface of his inn
mortal history. that he could more have
written confessions like ROusseau's than he
could have exposed himself in dressing gown
and slippers TO the gaze OF mankind and you
enjoy his measured condolences from the first
rage to the last.
They not really condolences at all; they are
simply descriptive notes interesting per-
sonality by who knew that personality well
The autobiography is thus in the truest sense
OF the term a literary performance. III is not
racy but monumental; il sheds no light the
passions but much on the intellect Of man
who was for all his taste for the neshpOts of
the world, essentially intellectual. 1T a
pity therefore, that DR. Hill could not persuade
himself 10 moderate his mania for annexation