The Life of Edward Gibbon, Esq: With Selections from His Correspondence, and Illustrations

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J. Murray, 1839 - Historians - 455 pages
 

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Page 184 - It was at Rome, on the 15th of October, 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the bare-footed friars were singing vespers in the Temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city first started to my mind.
Page 16 - Thou hast most traitorously corrupted the youth of the realm in erecting a grammar school; and whereas, before, our forefathers had no other books but the score and the tally, thou hast caused printing to be used, and, contrary to the king, his crown and dignity, thou hast built a paper-mill.
Page 151 - The discipline and evolutions of a modern battalion gave me a clearer notion of the phalanx and the legion ; and the captain of the Hampshire grenadiers (the reader may smile) has not been useless to the historian of the Roman empire.
Page 299 - Well, if the use be mine, can it concern one, Whether the name belong to Pope or Vernon?
Page 111 - After a painful struggle I yielded to my fate: I sighed as a lover, I obeyed as a son; my wound was insensibly healed by time, absence, and the habits of a new life. My cure was accelerated by a faithful report of the tranquillity and cheerfulness of the lady herself, and my love subsided in friendship and esteem.
Page 287 - He seemed to feel, and even to envy, the happiness of my situation while I admired the powers of a superior man, as they are blended in his attractive character with the softness and simplicity of a child.
Page 74 - I was unable to resist the weight of historical evidence, that within the same period most of the leading doctrines of popery were already introduced in theory and practice : nor was my conclusion absurd, that miracles are the test of truth, and that the church must be orthodox and pure which was so often approved by the visible interposition of the Deity.
Page 75 - Variations,' achieved my conversion; and I surely fell by a noble hand. I have since examined the originals with a more discerning eye, and shall not hesitate to pronounce, that Bossuet is indeed a master of all the weapons of controversy. In the 'Exposition...
Page 94 - I still remember my solitary transport at the discovery of a philosophical argument against the doctrine of transubstantiation: that the text of scripture, which seems to inculcate the real presence, is attested only by a single sense— our sight; while the real presence itself is disproved by three of our senses— the sight, the touch, and the taste.
Page 5 - picture of human manners, will outlive the 'Palace of the Escurial, and the imperial ' eagle of the House of Austria.

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