THE MIRROR.

GIBBON, IN HIS GARDEN AT
LAUSANNE.

PRINT-COLLECTING is one of the pleasant pursuits of our leisure. It reminds us of our patrons, and up spring thousands of grateful recollections; so that we often pass an hour where we intended but to stay a few minutes. In one of these rambles we chanced to glean the original of the annexed cut. It is a lithograph, about one-third larger than our copy, with "Brandoin del." to the left, and at the opposite corner, "lith. de C. Constans." Beneath the centre is

"Gibbon,
after the original, in the
possession
of Monsr. Le Profr. Levade,
de Lausanne."

We first saw the print at Molteno's,
in Pall Mall.

Gibbon, it will be recollected, lived some time at Lausanne, where, in early life, he was banished by his father, for embracing the doctrines of Catholicism;\* and, observes his biographer, "his residence at Lausanne was highly favourable to his progress in knowledge, and the formation of regular habits of study;" "and to this fortunate period of retirement and application, he was chiefly indebted for his future reputation as a writer and a thinker." His first settlement at Lausanne was in the year 1753. He returned to England in 1758; revisited Lausanne in 1763, where he prepared for a journey to Italy; and it was at Rome, as he informs us, on the 15th of October (in the year following), as he sat musing among the ruins of the capitol, "while the barefooted friars were singing vespers in the temple of Jupiter," that his idea of writing the Decline and Fall of the Roman empire entered his mind.

Gibbon returned to England in 1765. In 1776 appeared the first volume of his great work. In the previous year he had been returned to parliament for Liskeard, but at the subsequent election he lost this seat, and was brought in by ministerial influence for Lymington. After uniformly supporting the North administration for eight years, by their retirement, he lost his appointment by the dissolution of the Board of Trade, and immediately retired to his favourite Lausanne,

\* Mr. Gibbon, it is well known, although educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, became converted to the Roman Catholic religion at the age of sixteen. Lord Sheffield, his friend and biographer, says—"Mr. Gibbon never talked with me on the subject of his conversion to Popery but once; and then he imputed his change to the works of Parsons, the Jesuit, who lived in the reign of Elizabeth, and who, he said, had urged all the best arguments in favour of the Roman Catholic religion."

(in 1783). Here he became joint possessor, with his friend Deyverdun, of a handsome and finely-situated house, and commenced a mode of living happily compounded of the man of letters, and the gentleman of easy fortune. He refused here till the year 1793, when he returned to England. In the year following he died.

Lord Sheffield, in his "Sequel to the Life of Gibbon," thus describes the house at Lausanne:—

"It may perhaps not be quite uninteresting to the readers of these Memoirs, to know that I found Mr. Gibbon at Lausanne, in possession of an excellent house; the view from which, and from the terrace, was so uncommonly beautiful, that even his own pen would with difficulty describe the scene which it commanded. This prospect comprehended everything vast and magnificent which could be furnished by the finest mountains among the Alps, the most extensive view of the Lake of Geneva, with a beautiful varied and cultivated country, adorned by numerous villas and picturesque buildings, intermixed with beautiful masses of stately trees. Here my friend received us with an hospitality and kindness which I can never forget. The best apartments of the house were appropriated to our use; the choicest society of the place was sought for to enliven our visit, and render every day of it cheerful and agreeable. It was impossible for any man to be more esteemed and admired than Mr. Gibbon was at Lausanne. The preference he had given to that place, in adopting it for a residence rather than his own country, was felt and acknowledged by all the inhabitants; and he may have been said almost to have given the law to a set of as willing subjects as any man ever presided over. In return for the deference shown to him, he mixed without affection in all the society, I mean all the best society, that Lausanne afforded; he could indeed command it, and was perhaps for that reason the more partial to it; for he often declared that he liked society more as a relaxation from study than as expecting to derive from it amusement or instruction; that to books he looked for improvement, not to living persons. But this I considered partly as an answer to my expressions of wonder that a man who might choose the most various and most generally improved society in the world, namely, in England, should prefer the very limited circle of Lausanne, which he never deserted but for an occasional visit to M. and Madame Necker. It must not how-

THE MIRROR.

PRINT-COLLECTING is one of the pleasantest pursuits of our leisure. It reminds us of our patrons, and up spring thousands of grateful recollections; so that we often pass an hour where we intended but to stay a few minutes. In one of these rambles we chanced to glean the original of the annexed cut. It is a lithograph, about one-third larger than our copy, with "Brandoin del." to the left, and at the opposite corner, "lith. de C. Constans." Beneath the centre is

(in 1783). Here he became joint possessor, with his friend Deyverdun, of a handsome and finely-situated house, and commenced a mode of living happily compounded of the man of letters, and the gentleman of easy fortune. He resided here till the year 1793, when he returned to England. In the year following he died.

"It may perhaps not be quite uninteresting to the readers of these Moiremoirs, to know that I found Mr. Gibbon at Lausanne, in possession of an excellent house; the view from which, and from the terrace, was so uncommonly beautiful, that even his own pen would with difficulty describe the scene which it commanded. This prospect comprehended everything vast and magnificent which could be furnished by the finest mountains among the Alps, the most extensive view of the Lake of Geneva, with a beautiful varied and cultivated country, adorned by numerous villas and picturesque buildings, intermixed with beautiful masses of stately trees. Here my friend received us with an hospitality and kindness which I can never forget. The best apartments of the house were appropriated to our use; the choicest society of the place was sought for to enliven our visit, and render every day of it cheerful and agreeable. It was impossible for any man to be more esteemed and admired than Mr. Gibbon was at Lausanne. The preference he had given to that place, in adopting it for a residence rather than his own country, was felt and acknowledged by all the inhabitants; and he may have been said almost to have given the law to a set of as willing subjects as any man ever presided over. In return for the deference shown to him, he mixed without affectation in all the society, I mean all the best society, that Lausanne afforded; he could indeed command it, and was perhaps for that reason the more partial to it; for he often declared that he liked society more as a relaxation from study than as expecting to derive from it amusement or instruction; that to books he looked for improvement, not to living persons. But this I considered partly as an answer to my expressions of wonder that a man who might choose the most various and most generally improved society in the world, namely, in England, should prefer the very limited circle of Lausanne, which he never deserted but for an occasional visit to M. and Madame Necker. It must not how-

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THE MIRROR.

267

ever be understood, that in choosing Lausanne for his home, he was insensible to the value of a residence in England; he was not in possession of an income which corresponded with his notions of ease and comfort in his own country. In Switzerland his fortune was ample."

Gibbon appears to have taken some delight in embellishing his retreat at Lausanne; for, in a letter dated 1792, he says, "Instead of the monsters which Lord Hercules Sheffield extirpated, the terrace is already shaded with the new acacias and plantains; and although the uncertainty of possession restrains me from building, I have myself placed a bouquet at the bottom of the garden, with such admirable skill, that it affords shade without intercepting prospect."

At Lausanne, Gibbon finished his "Decline and Fall;" and the event, for such its completion deserves to be called, is thus noted in his *Memoirs* :—

"I have presumed to mark the moment of conception; I shall now commemorate the hour of my final deliverance. 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 berceau, or covered walk of acacias, which commands a prospect of the country, the lake, and the mountains. The air was temperate, the sky was serene, the silver orb of the moon was reflected from the waters, and all nature was silent. I will not dissemble the first emotions of joy on recovery of my freedom, and perhaps the establishment of my fame. But my pride was soon humbled, and a sober melancholy was spread over my mind, by the idea that I had taken an everlasting leave of an old and agreeable companion, and that whatsoever might be the future date of my history, the life of the historian must be short and precarious. I will add two facts which have seldom occurred in the composition of six, or at least of five, quartos. 1. My first rough manuscript, without any intermediate copy, has been sent to the press. 2. Not a sheet has been seen by any human eyes excepting those of the author and the printer; the faults and the merits are exclusively my own."

*Extract from Mr. Gibbon's Common-place Book.*

"The IVth Volume of the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire} begun March 1, 1782—ended June 1784.

T 2

"The Vth Volume...} begun July 1784—ended May 1, 1786.
"The VIth Volume...} began May 18, 1786—ended June 27, 1787.

"These three volumes were sent to press August 15, 1787, and the whole impression was concluded April following."

From recent tourists we learn that Gibbon's house is one of the main sights of Lausanne, and that the occupants are rather annoyed with the increasing multitude of curious travellers. "The principal rooms are now used as a counting-house; the few trees on the terrace have been cut down, and the grounds below are very littery, and planted with shabby fruit-trees, but were doubtless better in Gibbon's time. You descend to this terrace by a long flight of narrow stone stairs, inside the house, as if to a cellar: the terrace itself is a mere slip, seventy or eighty yards long, by ten in width, with a low parapet wall towards the prospect—an old-fashioned arbour of cut dwarf birch at the end of the terrace encloses the cabinet where the historian dated his celebrated work. But the place is fast falling into ruin, and the people of the house are much diverted at many of the visitors picking up a little of the earth to carry away." One of the tourists (we think Simond) says—"Gibbon has not left here a pleasing remembrance of himself: whimsically particular about his hours, very selfish, disgusting in his appearance. An English traveller published an account of him and his mode of life (absurd and rather offensive); yet a gross mistake he had committed was so gratifying to Gibbon, that he forgave all the rest—he said that the historian rode on horseback every morning."

Gibbon's own description of the villa at Lausanne differs from that of the tourists. In one of his letters, he says, "My library commands a boundless prospect of vale, mountain, and water." "A terrace one hundred yards long, extends beyond the front of the house, and leads to a close impenetrable shrubbery; and from thence the circuit of a long and various walk caries me round a meadow and vineyard." He also says, "few persons, either princes or philosophers, enjoy a more desirable residence."

The portrait, we think, must have been taken during Gibbon's last abode at Lausanne, between the age of forty-six and fifty-six.

THE MIRROR.

ever be understood, that in choosing
Lausanne for his home, he was insensi-
ble to the value of a residence in Eng-
land; he was not in possession of an
income which corresponded with his
notions of ease and comfort in his own
country. In Switzerland his fortune
was ample."

At Lausanne, Gibbon finished his
"Decline and Fall;" and the *event*, for
such its completion deserves to be called,
is thus noted in his *Memoirs* :—

"I have presumed to mark the moment
of conception; I shall now commemo-
rate the hour of my final deliverance.
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 sum-
mer-house in my garden. After laying
down my pen, I took several turns in a
*berceau*, or covered walk of acacias,
which commands a prospect of the coun-
try, the lake, and the mountains. The
air was temperate, the sky was serene,
the silver orb of the moon was reflected
from the waters, and all nature was
silent. I will not dissemble the first
emotions of joy on recovery of my free-
dom, and perhaps the establishment of
my fame. But my pride was soon hum-
bled, and a sober melancholy was spread
over my mind, by the idea that I had
taken an everlasting leave of an old and
agreeable companion, and that whatso-
ever might be the future date of my his-
tory, the life of the historian must be
short and precarious. I will add two
facts which have seldom occurred in the
composition of six, or at least of five,
quartos. 1. My first rough manuscript,
without any intermediate copy, has been
sent to the press. 2. Not a sheet has
been seen by any human eyes excepting
those of the author and the printer; the
faults and the merits are exclusively my
own."

"The Vth Volume...
begun July 1784
—ended May
1, 1786

"The VIth Volume...
began May 18,
1786—ended
June 27, 1787.

From recent tourists we learn that
Gibbon's house is one of the main sights
of Lausanne, and that the occupants are
rather annoyed with the increasing mul-
titude of curious travellers. "The prin-
cipal rooms are now used as a counting-
house; the few trees on the terrace have
been cut down, and the grounds below
are very littery, and planted with shabby
fruit-trees, but were doubtless better in
Gibbon's time. You descend to this
terrace by a long flight of narrow stone
stairs, inside the house, as if to a cellar:
the terrace itself is a mere slip, seventy
or eighty yards long, by ten in width,
with a low parapet wall towards the
prospect—an old-fashioned arbour of
cut dwarf birch at the end of the terrace
encloses the cabinet where the historian
dated his celebrated work. But the
place is fast falling into ruin, and the
people of the house are much diverted
at many of the visitors picking up a little
of the earth to carry away." One of
the tourists (we think Simond) says—
"Gibbon has not left here a pleasing re-
membrance of himself: whimsically par-
ticular about his hours, very selfish, dis-
gusting in his appearance. An English
traveller published an account of him
and his mode of life (absurd and rather
offensive); yet a gross mistake he had
committed was so gratifying to Gibbon,
that he forgave all the rest—he said that
the historian rode on horseback every
morning."

Gibbon's own description of the villa
at Lausanne differs from that of the
tourists. In one of his letters, he says,
"My library commands a boundless
prospect of vale, mountain, and water."
* * * "A terrace one hundred
yards long, extends beyond the front of
the house, and leads to a close impen-
trable shrubbery; and from thence the
circuit of a long and various walk car-
ries me round a meadow and vine-
yard." * * * He also says, "few
persons, either princes or philosophers,
enjoy a more desirable residence."

The portrait, we think, must have
been taken during Gibbon's last abode
at Lausanne, between the age of forty-
six and fifty-six.