Table Of ContentLIBRARY
Connecticut Agricultural College
Vol. ^^.3 06-G
'lass No. X^l loo 97^.^X
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EDITOR'S PREFACE.
The splendid fiftieth chapter of Gibbon's
History of the * Decline and fall of the Ro-
man Empire,' withthe learnedandjudicious
notes of Dean Milman and Dr. William
Smith, may be regarded as at once a bril-
liantand accurate Life of the Arabian pro-
phet. The narrative of Gibbon favorably
exhibits his characteristic qualities of com-
prehensiveness, breadth of vision, and sus-
tained eloquence. The notes of Dean Mil-
man correct any ecclesiastical errors, and
make all necessary additions from the point
ofview of Church history. In the notes of
Dr. William Smith we have the last results
of Oriental scholarship in regardto Mahom-
et's (or Mohammed's) Life. Most of Gib-
bon's notes, which contain little more than
references to his authorities, which would
encumber the page and add nothing of in-
terest to the reader, have been omitted,
IV Editor''s Preface,
Those that are retained are referred to by
letters. ThenotesofMilmanandDr.Smith
are respectively designated by their initials,
and referred to by figures. Following our
general plan, we here give a summary of
Gibbon's life.
GriBBON, Edward, was born at Putney, in
the county ofSurrey, on the 27thof April,
1737. He has given us in his *Autobiog-
raphy,' copious particulars concerning his
life and writings. From his own account
we learn that in childhood his health was
very delicate, and that his early education
was principally conducted by his aunt, Mrs.
Porten. At theage of nine he was sent to
aboarding-school atKingston-upon-Thames,
where he remained for two years, but made
little progress, in consequence of the fre-
quent interruption of his studies by illness.
The same cause prevented his attention to
<tudy at Westminster school, whither he
was sent in 1749, and "his riper age was
left to acquire the beauties oftheLatinand
the rudimentsofthe Greektongue." After
Editor'^s Preface,
residing for a short time with the Rev.
Philip Francis, the translator ofHorace, he
was removed in 1762 to Oxford, where he
was matriculated as a gentleman commoner
of Magdalen College in his fifteenth year.
Though his frequent absence from school
had prevented him from obtaining much
knowledge of Latin and Greek, his love of
reading had led him to peruse many his-
torical and geographical works; and he ar-
rived at Oxford, according to his own ac-
count, " with a stock oferuditionthatmight
have puzzled a doctor, and a degree ofigno-
ranceofwhich a school-boywouldhavebeen
ashamed." His imperfect education was
not improved during his residence at Ox-
ford his tutors he describes as easy men,
;
who preferred receiving the fees to attend-
ing to the instruction of their pupils; and
after leading a somewhat dissipated life
for fourteen months, he was compelled to
leave Oxford in consequence of having em-
braced the Roman Catholic faith. His
conversion was effected by the perusal of
ri Editor^s Preface,
Pr. Middleton's 'Free Inquiry into the Mi-
raculous Powers possessed by the Church
in the Early Ages,' inwhich he attempts to
show that all the leading doctrines of the
Roman Catholic Church are supported by
the miracles of the early fathers, and that
therefore the doctrines of the Church ot
Rome must be true, or the miracles false.
Gibbon's early education had taught him to
revere theauthority'of thesefathers hewas
;
induced to readsomeworks, especially 'Bos-
suet's Variations,' in favor of the Roman
faith; and in 1763, he, " solemnly, though
privately, abjured the errors of heresy."
With the object of reclaiming him to Prot-
estanism, his father sent him to Lausanne
in Switzerland,to reside with M. Pavillard,
a Calvinist minister. The arguments of
Pavillard and his own studies had the effect
whichhisfatherdesired; inthefollowingyear
keprofessed his beliefin the doctrines ofthe
Protestant Church, and accordingto hisown
gtatement,"suspendedhisreligiousinquiries,
acquiescing with implicitbeliefin the tenets
