§rom f0e feifirarg of gf)rofe65or ^amuef (Qttffer in QUemorg of JJubge ^amuef (tttiffer Qj3recftinrib IN VOLS. IV, V, AND VI, QUARTO, REVIEWED, By the Rev. JOHN WHITAKER, B.D. RECTOR OF RUAN-LAN YHORNE, CORNWALL. LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. MURRAY., N° 3Q, FLEET STREET. M.BCCICIi Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library http://www.archive.org/details/gibbonshistoryofOOwhit ADVERTISEMENT. 1 H E following remarks were drawn up by me, for in- Jertion in the English Review. / am no reviewer by profefiion. I became one in this inflance, from a defire cf ferving the caufe of religion. And the remarks werepub- lijhed in that review, through a courfe cf ten months. In a little time afterwards, I was advifed by a nobleman of the firft rank in refpett 'ability, and nearly the firft in reality ', to republijh them in the prefent form. I propcfed the plan to my bookfeller the proprietor of the Review, and he demurred upon it. He found however afterwards, that the remarks were called for when the Reviews were no longer to be had. He now urged me himfelf, therefore, to an immediate republication of them. I rejolved to re- vife them for thepurpofe, and waited for an hour cfleifure to dofo. That hour was long in coming. The republica- tion has thus been delayed to the prefent moment. And I now prefix my name to the whole, in order to ferve the fame caufe for which the whole was originally written. Religion (to life the alluficn, which I once heard from a witty man of genius) I hope, I /hall always ccnfider as the c San£iu?n Punclum,' and learning only as the c Glory' furrounding it. J.W. March 3d, 1791. REVIEW O F Mr. GIBBON'S HISTORY, &c. Gibbon's Hiftory of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, in Volumes IVth 3 Vth, and VIth> Quarto. CHAPTER FIRST. IN the firft rude Hate of hiftorical compofition, it is a mere intimation of the greater facts. It notes the battles of contending nations ; but it goes no farther. ' It points out no political caufes, that led to this decifion by the fword. It indicates no political confequences, that refulted from the vic- tory or the defeat. And it even gives no other circumftances of facts, than to tell which of the parties won the day. This is the very fide- ton of hiftory ; appearing at prefent in the Saxon Chronicle among ourfelves, and once appearing pro- bably in thofe firlr. chroniclers of Rome, Fabius Pictor and others, who have fince funk away in the meagemefs of their own wretched annals, and in the plenitude of the fucceeding hiftories. B The 2 Review of Gibbon's Hiftory, The next grand ftage of improvement, is to dwell upon all the principal events of hiftory $ to draw out the train of caufes preceding; and to link together the chain of confequences following. It particularly loves to reft upon thoie fplendid in- cidents of hiftory, battles. It deicribes them with a fulnefs and a circumftantiality, that faften upon the- mind, and give it a kind of fanguinary fatisfaction. Such was the work of Ccclius among the Romans, we fuppofe ; a writer, to whom Livy occafionally refers, and one of the later chroniclers, from whom he compiled his hiftory. And fuch is Baker's Chronicle among ourfelves ; that (landing mirror of hiftory to our fathers, and now remembered with fondnefs by us as the delight of our childhood. Thlfs is the fkeleton clothed with mufcles, fup- por^ed by finews, and exhibiting the form and figure of hiftory to the eye. But this fpecies of writing, by a regular grada- tion of improvement, afterwards afiiimes a higher port. It takes the incidents of the firft ftage, and the circumftances of the fecond. It combines caufes, facts, and confequences, in one regular order of fucceflion. It throws an illumination over the whole, by the clearnefs of its narration, the judicioufnefs of its arrangement, and the ele- gance of its language. And it gives the reader an intereft in the fcenes before him, by the livelinefs with which it prefents them to his mind, and by the reflections with which it points them to his heart. Such is the hiftory of Livy among the Ro- mans, and fuch are fome of our bejl hiftories written by Vols, IV. V. VI A to. 3 by the laft generation. This is the fkeletcn not merely clothed with flefh, but actuated with nerves, animated with blood, and bearing the . bloom of health upon its cheek. Here had hiftorical compofition refted, it would have anfwered all the ufeful, and all the elegant, purpofes of life. But the activity of the human mind, is always on the wing. The fpirit of improvement is ever pufhing forward. And there is a degree of improvement beyond this, which may fhed a greater warmth of colouring over the piece, give it a deeper intereft with the affections of the furveyor, and lb reach the full point of hiftorical perfection. But alas! man can eafily imagine, what he can never execute. The fancy can fee a perfection, and the judgment can recommend it j but the hand cannot attain to it. Whether this be the cafe with the prefent idea of hiftorical perfection, I know not; but it is certain, I think, that it has never been at- tained hitherto. Hiftory, indeed, having once ad- vanced to the third ftage of improvement, can- not but ftrain to reach the fourth and laft. Then it lays itfelf out in a fplendour of imagery, a frequency of reflections, and a refinement of lan- guage ; and thus makes the narrative more (hiking, by its additional vivacity and vigour. But it is melancholy to obferve, that in proportion as we thus advance in the ornamental parts of hiftorical writing, we are receding from the folid and the ne- ceffary ; we lofe in veracity what we gain in embel- Hjhments ; and the authenticity of the narration fades and finks away, in the luftre of the pbilofophy fur- B 2 rounding 4 Review of Gibbon's Hiftory, rounding it. The mind of the writer, bent upon the beautiful and fublime in hiftoryv does not conde- fcend to perform the talk of accuracy, and to ftoop to the drudgery of faithfulnefs. The mirror is finely polifhed and elegantly decorated ; but it no longer reflects the real features of the times. The fun fhines out, indeed,, with a finking effulgence ; but it is an effulgence of glare, and not a radiation of ufefuincfs. Such hiftorians as thefe, we may venture to pronounce, are Tacitus among the ancients, moil" of our befl hiftorians in the prefent generation, and Mr. Gibbon at the head of them. And thefe prefent us with the fkeletcn of hiftory, net merely clothed with mufcles, animated with Life, and bearing the bloom of health upon its cheek ; but, inftead of carrying a higher flufli of health upon its cheek, and mewing a brighter beam cf life in its eyes, rubbed with Spanifh wool, paint- ed with French fard, and exhibiting the fire of falfe- hood and wantonnefs in its. eyes. That we mould thus rank Tacitus, may furprife thofe who. have lately been fo much in the habit, of admiring and applauding him as the firfl of all human hiftorians - t and who may fuppofe he ftands, like the other hiftorians of the ancients, invefted with oracular confequence for fails, and incapable of being convicled of unfaithfulnefs from any cotem- porary records. That he has been lately rated beyond his merit, taken out of the real line in which he ought to ftand, and transferred from the. rank of ajfeffed and fantafiical hiftorians to that of the judicious and manly, has been long my per- fuafion. Vols. IV. V. VI. 4to. 5 luafion. But I have lately met with an evidence, that jfhews him to us in a new light, as an hiitorian carelefs and unfaithful in his reprefentations. This evidence has never yet been given to the world ; but it is a very decifive one. In 1528 were found within the earth at Lyons in France, two brafs plates, that had a fpeech of the Emperor Claudius engraven upon them, and are now kt up again ft the wall, in the veftibule of the Hotel de Ville of Lyons. Thefe form a very fingular object of cu- riofity, for the antiquary. But they are (till more curious to the hiftorian. For this very fpeech is pretended to be given by Tacitus ; yet the fpeech in the hiftory is very different, from that upon the plates. And, as fuch an opportunity of collating an ancient hiftorian with a cotemporary monument, can feldom occur at all, and perhaps occurs only in this fingle inftance; as this opportunity has never yet been ufed by any writer - 3 and as it fhews the in- accuracy and unfaithfulnefs of Tacitus, in a ftrong point of view ; I doubt not but my readers will be pleafed, to fee the collation here. "ORIGINAL. c mae rerum noftr fii ...... . equidem primam omnium, illam cogitationem homi- num quam maxime primam occurfuram mihi pro- video. Deprecor ne quafi novam iftam rem intro- duci exhorrefcatjs j fed ilia potius cogitctis, quam multa in hac civitate novata fint; et quidem ftatim ab origine urbis ncftras, in quot formas ftatufque refpublica noftra didudta fit. B 3 c Quondam 6 Review of Gibbons Hiftory, * Quondam reges hanc tenuere urbem. Nc tamen domefticis fucceflbribus earn tradere contigit, Supervenere alieni, et quidam extern i : ut Numa Romulo fuccefTerit, ex Sabinis veniens ; vicinus quidem, fed tunc externus: ut Anco Martio Prif- cus Tarquinius, propter temeratum fanguinem qucd patre Demarato, Corinthio, natus erat, et Tarquinienfi matre, generofa fed inopi, ut quas tali marito neceffe habuerit fuccumbere, ciim domi repelleretur a gerendis honoribus. Poftquam Ro- mam migravit, regnum adeptus eft. Huic quoque, et filio nepotive ejus (nam et hoc inter au chores difcrepat), infertus Servius Tullius ; fi noftros fe- quimur, captiva natus Ocrefia, fi Tufcos, cadi quondam Vivenns fodalis fideliffimus, omnifque ejus cafus comes, poftquam vaiia fortuna exactus, cum omnibus reliquii* Caeliani exercitus Etruria ex- ceffit, montcm Caslium occupavit, et a duce fuo Cadio ita appellitatus, mutatoque nomine (nam Tufce Maftarna ei nornen erat) ita appellatus eft ut dixi, et regnum fumma cum reipublica; militate optinuit. Deinde, poftquam Tarquini Superbi mores invifi civitati noftrae effe cceperunt, qua ip- iius qua filiorum ejus; nempe pcrtcefum eft men'tes- regni, et ad confutes, annuos magiftratus, admini- flratio reipublicae tranflata eft. ' Quid nunc, commemorem dictaturas, hoci pfo confulari, imperium valentius repertum apud ma- jores noftros, quo in afperioribus bellis, aut in ci- vili motu difficiliore, uterentur ; aut in auxilium plebis creatos, tribunos plebeios ? Quid a confuli- bus ad decemviros tranflatum imperium ■, folutoque poftea Vols. IF. V. VI. ±tc. 7 poftea decemvirali regno, ad confutes rurfus redi- tum? Quid imp Quinqueviris diftributum confulare imperium ; tribunofque militum confu- lari imperio appellatos, qui feni, et faspe octoni, crearentur ? Quid communicatos poftremo cum plebe honores, non imperii folum, fed facerdotio- rum quoque ? Jam, fi narrem bella a quibus ccepe- rint majores noftri, et quo procefTerimus; vereor ne nimio infolentior efle videar, et quasfifle j ac- tionem gloriae prolati imperii ultra oceanum. Sed illoc potius revertar. Civitatem fane ...... novo Divus Auguftus no lus et patruus, Ti. Caefar, omnem florem ubique coloniarum ac municipiorum, bonorum fcilicet vi- rorum et locupletium, in hac curia efle voluit. Sjhtid ergo non Italicus Jenaior provindali potior eft ? Jam vobis cum hanc partem Cenfuras meas appro- bare ccepero, quid de ea re fentiam rebus oftendam. Sed ne provinciales quidem, fi modo ornare curiam poterint, rejiciendos puto. ' Ornatiflima ecce colonia valentiflimaque Vi- ennenfium! Quam longo jam tempore, fenatores huic curias confert ! Ex qua colonia, inter paucos equeftris ordinis ornamentum, L. Veftinum fami- liariflime diligo, et hodieque in rebus meis detineo; cujus liberi fruantur, qusfo, primo facerdotiorum gradu, poftmodo cum annis promoturi dignitatis fuse incrementa. Ut dirum nomen Latronis ta- ceam, et odi illud paleftricum prodigium, quod ante in domum confulatum intulit, quam colonia fua folidum civitatis Romanas beneftcium confecu- ta eft. Idem de fratre ejus poflum dicere, mifera- B 4 bill 8 Review of Gibbon's Hiflory, bili quidem indigniffimoque hoc cafu, ut vobis uti- lis fenator efle non poflit. c lempus eft jam, Tiberi Cafar Germanice, detegere te patribus confcriptis, quo tendat oratio tua. "Jam mini ad extremos fines Gallia Narbonenfis venijli. * Tot ccce infignes juvenes ! Quot intueor ! Non magis funt psenitendi fenatores, quam pasnitet Perficum, nobilifTimum virum, amicum meum, in- ter imagines majorum fuorum Allobrogici nomen legere. Quod fi hasc ita effe confentitis, quid ultra defideratis, quam ut vobis digito demonftrem, fo- lum ipfum ultra fines provincial Narbonenfis jam vobis fenatores mittere; quando ex Lugduno habere nos noftri ordinis vivos non panitet. Timide quidam, patres confcripti, egreflus adfuetos familiarefque vo- bis provinciarum terminos fum 5 fed deftrifte jam Comatas Galliae caufa agenda eft. In qua fiquis hoc intuetur, quod bello per decern annos exercue- runt divom Julinm, idem opponat centum annorum immobilem fidem obfequiumque, mnltis trepidis rebus noflris plufquam expertuiTL Illi patri meo Drufo, Germaniam fubigenti, tutam quiete fua fecuramque a tergo pacem praeftiterunt ; et quidem, cum ad cenfus, novo turn opere et in ad- fueto Gallis, ad bellum avocatus effet. Quod opus quam arduum fit, nobis nunc cum maxime, quam- vis nihil ultra quam ut publice notae fint facultates noflrae exquiratur, nimis magno experimento cog- nofcimus.' We have thus publifhed a fpeech, which has been preferved by a fate peculiar to itfelf, in its own ori- ginal paragraphs ; and, for the firft time, with mo- dern Vols. IV. V. VI. tfo. 9 dern pun&uation, and with modern difcrimination of objections from the reft. But let us now turn to the COPY in TACITUS. c Majores mei (quorum antiquiffimus Claufus, origine Sabina, fimul in civitatem Romanam et in familias patriciorum afcitus eft) hortantur, uti pari- bus confiliis rempublicam capefTam, transferendo hue quod ufquam egregium fuerit. Neque enim ignoro Julios Alba, Coruncanios Camerio, Porcios Tufculo j et, ne Vetera fcrutemur, Etruria Lucani- aque et omni Italia, in fenatum accitos. Poftremo ipfam ad Alpes promotam, ut non mod5 finguli vi- ritim, fed terras gentefque, in nomen noftrum coa- lefcerent. Tunc folida domi quies, et adverfus ex- terna floruimus, cum Tranfpadani in civitatem re- cepti ; cum, fpecie deduclarum per orbem terras legionum, additis provincialium validiffimis, feiTo imperio fubventum eft. Non psenitet Balbos ex Hiipania, nee minus infignes viros e Gallia Narbo- nenli tranfiviiTe. Manent poileri eorum, nee amore in hanc patriam nobis concedunt. Quid aliud ex- itio Lacedasmoniis et Athenienfibus fuit, quanquam armis pollerent ; nifi quod vi&os pro alienigenis ar- cebant ? At conditor nofter Romulus tantum fapi- entia valuit, ut plerofque populos eodem die heftes, dein cives, habuerit. Advent in nos regnaverunt. Libertinorum filiis magiftratus mandari, non (ut plerique falluntur) repens, fed priori populo, fadli- tatum eft. At cum Senonibus pugnavimus. Scilicet Volfci et iEqui nunquam adverfam nobis aciem ftruxere. IO Review of Gibbon's Hijtory, ftruxere. Capti a Gallis fumus. Sed et Tufcis ob- fides dedimus, et Samnitium jugum fubivimus. At- tamen, fi cuntta bella recenfeas, nullum breviore fpatio quam adverfus Gallos confe&um. Continue* deinde ac fida pax. Jam moribus, artibus, affinita- tibus, noftris mixti, aurum et opes fuas inferantpo- tius, quam feparati habeant. Omnia, patres con- fcripti, quae nunc vetuftirfima creduntur, nova fuere. Plebei magijlratus poft patricios, Latini poft plebeios, ceterarum Italias gentium poll Latinos. Invete- rafcet hoc quoque, et quod hodie exemplis tuemur inter exempla eritV The copy here is apparently very different from the original. We have noted in Italics the only points, in which it is at all fimilar. The mock- fun, we fee, has caught only three rays of the real one. And Tacitus feems, like our own Dr. John- fon, to have had fome report of the real fpeech made to him, and then to have fabricated another from the intimations. But the report made to Ta- citus, was evidently a much {lighter one than that to Dr. Johnfon. The doctor, we believe, always comprehended fome of the leading topics of the reality, in his reprefentation ; while Tacitus has merely glanccddX what Claudius faid. And, whatever excufe may be made for the Englifhman, then, to the difgrace of the reign of George the Second, re- ading ( in a garret behind Exeter- 'Change ;' com- pelled to procuie himfelf a fubfiftence, by the ex- ertion of his great powers ; and naturally ftudying to 1 Ann. xi. 24. 2 gratify Vols. IV. V. VI. tfo. ix gratify that rage for reading parliamentary fpeeches, which was then beginning to rife in the nation, and has fhot out to fuch a wonderful extent fince ; yet, not a fhadow of an excufe can be made for Tacitus. The baftard offspring in him, has fcarcely any the fainteft refemblance of the legitimate. The fpeeches of Johnfon, too, were evanefcent in their nature, and would have evaporated and been lofl in air ; had not the eflence of them, a little rectified and heightened, been caught in his alembic. But the fpeech of Claudius was actually recorded, was engraven upon plates of brafs, and hung up in the town-hall of Lyons, &c. Yet Tacitus did not give himfelf the trouble to procure a copy, when a copy was fo eafy to be had. He chofe rather to difplay his abilities, in framing a new one for the emperor. He thus, in the unfaithfulnefs of his temper and in the vanity of his fpirit, impofed a fictitious fpeech for a genuine one, upon the credulity of his reader. But he could not, like Johnfon, affimilate himfelf to the character of the fpeaker, whom he perfonated. The fpeech of Claudius is all in the flyle of Taci- tus, brifk, brief, and compacted. And as this fin- gle inftance fhews us in the plainer! manner, from what fource of information Tacitus derived all his fet fpeeches, thofe numerous decorations of his hif- tory and annals, that all reflect ftrongly the features of their common parent ; fo, in this particular in- stance, Tacitus appears to have given the lie to hiftory and to himfelf, and to have furnifhed a man, whom he himfelf defcribes to have been of a feeble imderftanding, i a Review of Gibbon's ffijlory, underfbmding, * imminuta mens ',' with a fpeech pointed, informed, and vigorous, Indeed, the fug- gelled fpeech is fo nearly, in all its parts, different from the pronounced one, that fome have fuppofed the one to have been never meant for the other ; efpecially as Tacitus directs his fpeech in favour of all die extra-provincial Gauls in general, and of the JEdui in particular. But there is jult fimilarity enough, to evince the intended famenefs ; even while the difference is great and linking enough, to prove it an actual forgery. And his mention of the iEdui, is no evidence to the contrary at all j as thefe appear from Ptolemy, to have been the fu- perior lords of the Segufiani, and fo to have been the head-fovereigns of their capital city — Lyons 2 . This forms a very extraordinary proof of the li- centious hand, with which this * philofophical his- torian of antiquity,' as Mr. Gibbon calls him, has abufed the honefl confidence of hifcory. Fie is apparently Mr. Gibbon's model in writing. Mr. Gibbon has his ilrain of irreligion ; his refplendence of palTages ; his ' philofophy of hiltory •,* and his unfaithfulnefs to the truth. And the laft point, that * crimen lsefe majeflatis' in hillory has been proved fo plainly upon him by the Rev. Mr. (now Archdeacon) Travis ; and much more by that ex- traordinary young man, that early victim to ftudi- oufnefs, the late Mr. Davis cf Baliol college in Ox- ford ; as nothing Ihould ever efface from the mind of the public. Indeed the tone of opinion concern- * Ann. vi. 46. 2 Bertiufc Lib. ii. c. 8. p. 52. ine Vols. IK V. VL 40. 13 ing Mr. Gibbon, has been decifively fettled among the difccrning few 3 ever fince Mr Davis wrote. Mr. Gibbon has ever fince been confidered, as a, writer who, whatever elfe he may have to recom- mend him to notice, wants that firft grand quality of an hiflorian, veracity. This defect, indeed, with the generality is of little moment. They read, but ne- ver examine j rely with an indecent kind of impli- citnefs, on thefe dictators in hiftory j and are de- lighted at once with the fight and with the mufic, of thefe fairy fcenes before them. But with others, with all who read to know truths, and with all whofe good opinions are worth the having; this mere f fem- 1 blance of truth,' and this actual hollownefs of falfehood, muft hang upon the thought, mull damp the ardour of praife, and poifon admiration with iufpicion. Nor has my own experience of Mr. Gibbon's preceding volumes, been different. I too have examined fome of his authorities ; and I too have found him, like Tacitus, taking great freedoms with them. I will produce an inftance of this, that has net been noticed by any other writer, and has even no excufe from the difingenuity of prejudice. It is founded only, on the too natural carelefihefs of a philcfopkical hiftorian ; and occurs in his firft volume. There, in p. xvii. of his notes on chapter the fifth, and in note 5, he places the Praetorian camp of Rome, c clofe to the walls of the city, and on the broad ' fummit of the Quirinal and Viminal hills ;' upon the authority of Nardini Roma Antica, p. 174, and Donatus de Roma Antiqua, p. 46. I dwell not upon 14 Review of Gibbon's Hijory, upon the grofs abfurdity, of placing one camp upon the fummit of two hills ; or on the grand error of fixing it upon the f broad fummit' of hills, one of which (the Quirinal) abuts fo clofe upon the capi- tol, and both had for ages been occupied with buildings. Our prefent bufinefs is not with mif- takes, but mifquotations. Nor does either of the authors here referred to, pitch the Praetorian camp upon * the broad fummit of the Quirinal and Vimi- c nal hills.' They both unite, inplacing it beyond £ the broad fummit* of either, beyond the bank of Tarquin, on a projecting point of the Viminal hill, and in the mil remaining fquare of walls at the north-eqftem angle of the city. Donatus refers to ibme infcriptions in Panvinius, dug up at the ground, and mentioning the camp exprefsly. And Nar- dini declares Panvinius, to have proved the point by the cleared arguments ; and appeals to thofe in- fcriptions and that fquarenefs, as a decifive evi- dence concerning it 1 . So greatly inattentive has Mr. Gibbon here been, to the very teftimony that he cites ! So little can we depend upon his ac- curacy, even in fubjects where he had no bias of pre- judice to lead him aftray ! And fo ftrongly does this unite with all, which Mr. Davis, Mr. Travis, and others, have expofed, of the fame nature in his work ' This fundamental defect, that has been found in 1 Gnevius's Thefaurus, iii. 5 1 o and 5 1 z — 5 1 3, for Donatus ; iv. 1065, 925, and io82> for Nardinij and iii. 225—226, for Panvinius. the Vols. IV. V. VI 4/0. 15 the preceding parts of his hiftory, muft act like a cancer in the human body, gradually be feen to fpread its taint over all the vital parts, and eat away the fubltance of it in time. Where that grand' principle of probity is wanting, veracity ; the man or the work finks of courfe into contempt. And I have dwelt the more upon this necelfary qualifica- tion for the hiftorian, becaufe I think the public is running wild after the pomp and pageantry of hif- tory, and forgetting the only circumftances that can fupport them, accuracy of knowledge and integrity ef reprefentation. But, before I clofe thefe preli- minary obfervations, I wifh to fubjoin two remarks, upon i\\tjiylc and the arr augment of Mr. Gibbon, ia the antecedent volumes of his hiftory. The f]:yle of Mr. Gibbon has been much ap- plauded ; nor would we wifh to detract greatly from its merit. But it has been applauded beyond its defert. It is often ju ft, elegant, and manly j but is often ailb ftirT, affected, and latinifed, carrying the poor air of a tranflation, and forming harfli and unclafiical combinations of words. Thus no fhield, we are told, could fuftain * the impetuoflty ( of the weight' of the Roman pilum, when it was launched at the enemy '. It is not eafy, we are alfo told, to l appretiate the numbers in the Ro^ 4 man armies'.'' The favage independence of certain tribes, is faid to c defcribe the doubtful li- ' mits of the Chriftian and Mahometan power'.' The Roman fenators think it it an honour, and ai- J V. i. p. 13. ? p. 16. s p. 23. moft 1 6 Review of Gibbon* s Hiftory 3 moil an obligation, to ( adorn the fplendour' of their age and country \ We have perfons f dri- 1 ven by the impuljion of the prefent power a ;' the command of the Prastorian guards, ? becoming c into' the firfl office of the empire J ; foldiers too little acquainted with certain virtues, f to appre- ciate* them in others 4 ; and the Germans aban- doning ' the vaft filence' of their woods s , an ex- preffion borrowed from Tacitus, who with his ufual harfhnefs of language, more than once ex- prefles a deep filence by vaft urn filentium, and in Engliih carrying an afpect of boyifh vulgarity. And as, in one place, we have even ' more infe- * rior 6 ;' fo we fee that pert antithefis every where affected by Mr. Gibbon, which is fo unbecoming the dignified vivacity of hiftory. But we have much more to cenfure, in Mr. Gibbon's arrangement of his materials. In page i of Vol. I. he fets out with declaring, that c it is the ' defign of this and the Jucceeding chapters, to de- c fcribe the pro/per ous condition of the empire; * and afterwards, from the death of Marcus An- * toninus, to adduce the moft important circumftances ' of its decline and fall* Let us therefore exa- mine the chapters of this very volume, and fee how the execution comports with the defign. Chapters fourth and fifth give us the hiftory of the empire, under the reigns of Commodus, Perti- nax, and Severus. The account is pleafing and fenfible, and the train of hiftory judicioufly dwelt *p. 45. a p. 122. 3 p. 127. *p. 172. s p. 227. 6 p. 272. upon. Vvh. IF* V. VI. 4to. 17 upon. But how are the principles of the decline and fall of the empire, at all unfolded in this ac- count ? How are they, in chapters fixth and fe- venth ? Thefe purfue the hiftory through the ele- vation of Maximus, Balbinus, and the third Gor- dian, the deaths of the three Gordians, and the acceffion of Philip. And where is the decline and fall of the empire, in all this ? Nowhere. We are reading the full hiftory of the empire. We fee nothing of its beginning to decline j we think nothing of its approaching fall ; and this fall and decline are in reality not one degree more advanced, at the end of the feventh chapter, than they were at the beginning of the fourth. The chapters fince, have only ferved to fhew what the elevation of Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vefpafian, had fhewn ftrongly before, the arrogated fuperiority of the military over the civil power -, and what the putting up of the throne to auclion evinced more ftrikingly afterwards, the peculiar infolence of the Praetorian guards. All thefe chapters, therefore, mould have been omitted; as, if proper in themfelves, not giving us \ the important circumftances' of the empire's decline and fall, but all the circum- ftances of all the hiftory ; and as not very proper in themfelves, as foreign to the defign, and fuper- fluous in the execution, of fuch a hiftory. And we can only travel on in the work, fenfible that fo far we have been wandering out of our way j and hoping immediately to recover the right path, and purfue it fteadily to the end of the volume. C Accordingly it Review of Gibbon's Hi/tory, Accordingly we enter upon the eighth chapter;' but find ourfelves diverted into an account of the rife, the principles, and the fpirit, of the new Per- fian empire erected upon the Parthian. But how does this link connect itfelf, with the chain of de- clining empire at Rome ? Only thus ; a new enemy appears againft the Romans, under the revived title of Perfians. This is all the connexion, which it has with the hiftory of the decline and fall of the empire. And, holding by this (lender thread, does the author divert from the whole courfe of his hiftory here ; and wander away to defcribe an em- pire, that was only the old one under a new name. And his additional digreffion into a delineation of the Perfian religion, is a (Inking proof of the injudi- cioufnefs of his management. This religion has riot the fmalleft influence upon the hiftory ; it ought not therefore to have been dwelt upon by the hiftorian. But fuch juft laws of writing hiftory, do not fuit with the excentric genius of Mr. Gib- bon. He lives to make excurfions into geogra- phy, into metaphyfics, into religion ; and is always aiming a fide-blow at Chriftianity. He has thus introduced into his hiftory, a diflertation upon the Perfian religion -, which is all a mafs of imperti- tence in itfelf, as a part of his hiftory ; and, as containing ftrokes of indirect attack upon Chrif- tianity, is much worfe than impertinence, the im- potent exertions of an infant againft a giant. In the fame ftrain of excentricity Mr. Gibbon, in chapter ninth, again burfts from the orbit of his hiftory, Vols. IV. V. VI. 4I0. 19 hiftory, and ranges into the interiors of Germany* He delineates the flate of Germany before the reign of Decins ; but his delineation is principally taken from Tacitus, who wrote one hundred and fifty years before. Nor can his account, fo large as it is, be confidered in any other light, than as an ill-judged excrefcence upon the body of his work. Mr. Gibbon, either in a great want of judgment, or in a bravery of fpirit that loves not to be controled by it, leaps over all the fences and bounds of legU timate hiftory, and gives hirnfelf a free range in the wilds adjoining. And, in this mode of writing the hiftory of the decline and fall of the empire, the author may leave his hiftory perpetually, and make the circuit of the globe, in defcribing, delineating, and moralifing upon, all the nations that form the frontier of the empire. Common-fenfe fhews us, that fdch a conduct as Mr. Gibbon purfues is infi- nitely abfurd; that a very different one mould have been adopted by him -, and that, as any new nations emerged to view in the current of the hif- tory, a fhort paufe fhould have been made in the narration, the power, the fkill, and the fpirit of the ftrangers, mould have been briefly and gene- rally explained, and any qualities befides, that were necefTary to the better underltanding of the fubfe- quent facts. All the other parts of their character, mould have been hft to difplay themfelves by de- grees, in the train of the military operations. Thus the ftream of the hiftory would have been fufpend- ed, only for a fhort period, for an obvious purpofe, and for neceftary information j and would then C 2 have 20 Review of Gilberts Hiftory f have relumed its courfe, with the more ibrce for the interruption. And thefe long and rambling difTertations of Mr.. Gibbon, in which we loie fight of the decline and fall of the empire, and behind which even the whole empire itfeif disappears from our view -, would have been totally precluded. In chapter tenth, Mr, Gibbon returns from his philofophical and geographical excurfions, to his hiftory. He now gives us an account of the at- tacks made upon the empire, by the Goths, the Franks, and the Perfians, in the reigns of Decius and others, to the reign of Gallienus j of the Goths and Franks j and cf the rife of what are called the thirty tyrants. The hiftory becomes tirefome, from its minutenefs. And we ftill find ourfelves graft- ing the whole vaft bulk of the Roman hiftory, inftead of the mere hiftory of its decline and fall. In chapter the eleventh, we find ourfelves more deluded than ever concerning the expected decline of the empire. This defcribes to us the reft oration of the empire, made by Claudius and Aurelian, In all the preceding chapters indeed, we have not feen ourfelves one foot nearer to the great caufes and principles, that begun the decline, and termi- nated in the fall, of the empire. The civil wars of the firft century, were to the full as deftructive as thofe of the fecond and third. And now the bad effects of the reigns preceding, appear to be cured by the prefent reigns. So groisly injudicious is the p'ogrefs of the hiftory! But chapter twelfth continues the detail, to the elevation of Bioclefian. Then we fee ourfelves ftill Vols. IV. V. VI. 4to. ai Hill farther off, from the decline and fall of the em- pire. The reftoration of it by Claudius and Aure- lian, is improved by Probus, and is purfued by Carinus. And the hiftory is going moil abfurdly retrograde in its motions ; Downwards to climb, and backwards to advance. Chapter thirteenth carries on the detail, to the abdication of Dioclefian. But we have the fame complaint to make here, which we have repeated fo often before. Except in fome reflexions at the end of the chapter, we fee no fymptons in the hif- tory, of that decline and fall for which we have been preparing our minds fo long. We fee, in-r deed, the very contrary. The vigour of the pre- ceding emperors is kept up by Dioclefian, and the empire is confiderably enlarged to the eajl. Thus, as far as the facts which Mr. Gibbon lays before us, can give us an infight into the prefent ftate of the empire j we, who were called to the ficknefs, the death, and the burial of it, find ourfelves em- ployed by our inviter, in tracing the grandeur, and in following up the enlargement, of it, If thefe facts are not decifive evidences of its prefent ftate, what facts can be ? And, if they are, why in the name of common-fenfe are they related by Mr. Gib- bon ? Chapter fourteenth profecutes the hiftory, to the elevation of Conftantine. Nor can we yet forbear the fame complaint. We are not yet one inch nearer to the decline and fall of the empire, from any of the facts fo particularly recited here. We C 3 hav chapter afterwards ', he builds his hiftory upon the groundwork of thefe very epiftles ; without one hint of doubt concerning the author's knowledge, and without one lb ado w of derogation from his ve- racity. We have alfo this petty ftroke of ar- rogance : c I will neither hear nor reconcile the * arguments/ &c. * Theodoric is faid to have * loved, the virtues which he pojfejfedy and the * talents of which he was deftitute V The mean- ing is obfeured by the defe6l in the language. The fentence mould have faid, that he c loved' in ethers { the virtues which he poffeiTed' himjelf &c. Theodoric is likewife faid very harfhly, to have c imprinted the fooljieps of a conqueror on the Capitoline hill 4 / when he fhould have been declared only, to have Jet the foot of a conqueror upon it. In the fame page Mr. Gibbon fpeaks thus, concerning the cloacse or common-fewers ac Rome : c How fuch works could be executed by * a king of Rome, is yet a problem.' This is not ill faid i but the obfervation ought to have been carried much farther. Hiftorical fcepticifm is the natural exertion, of a mind vigorous and thinking j while the fcepticifm of religion, is the mark gene- rally of a head enflaved to the tyranny of the paf- fions, and reduced by it into a religious debility. In reading the earlier annals of the Romans, we meet with incidents that no Jcber credulity can ad- * In pages 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27.. 29, 30, 31, 34, 37, 40, and 41. a p. 21. 3 p. 23. 4 p. 25. mit. Vols. IV. V. VI. ito. 3J rhit. We fee a city, that was reared only by a few fugitives, in the fpace only of five reigns become i'o exceedingly populous, according to the heft and oldeft accounts of the Romans themfeives ; as to contain within it eighty thoujand men capable cf bearing arms' i and confequently, of all ages, not lefs than four or five hundred thou/and perfons. And, in the reign im- mediately preceding, we fee thofe fewers conflrudled, which exifted in the days of Pliny the admiration of the imperial Romans ; which continue the wonder of all the curious world, to this day; and the cleanf- ing and repairing of which, when they had been once neglected and choaked, coft the Romans no lefs than a thoujand talents % or about two hundred thoufand pounds of our money. Thefe hiflorical miracles, having no Jupernatural authority to atteft them, carry fuch a monftrous incredibility with them ; as muft overfet every common meafure of faith, and fhock even credulity itfelf. The Second chapter, or chapter fortieth, is an account of Jufti- nian and his queen, his court, his fortreiles, his in- troduction of filk-worms, his fuppreffion of the fchools at Athens, his ending the fucceffion of con- fuls at Rome, &c. &c. &c. But, in ail this accu- mulation of mifcellaneous matter, how do we trace the decline and fall of the empire ? Except in fome incidental points concerning his fortrefles, we lee nothing in the whole, that marks with the flighted 1 Livy, i. 44., fmm Fabius Pi&or. a Gravius, iii, jjj. line $1 Review of Gibbon's Hiftory > line of fact the falling, or even the declining, frame of the empire. And, in the fecond page of the firft volume, we were affured that we mould have only c the moft important circumftances of its de- c cline and fall.' So different from the promife is the performance ! And fo forgetful is the author of his own purpofe and plan ! The manner too is full of fhoit, quick turns, that give us the pointed brevity, and frequent obfcurity of Tacitus. Thefe repeatedly flop the advance of the reader. He is obliged to paufe and examine, before he can proceed. And thefe frequent rubs in the courfe of the reading, give a difagreeablenefs to the movements of the hiftory. The author alfo adds to this difagreeablenefs, by another circum- ftance in his conduft. He writes frequently to his cw.i ideas only ; and reflects not on the ideas of his reader. He therefore throws out allnfions, that are not underftood as they arife, that perplex the memory, and that embarrafs die judgment. And the narration, if narration it can be called, is ilill un- interefting. It has, indeed, too much of differ tation in it. The whole is little mere, than a dijfertation upon the biflory. And it is this, which gives a lan- guor and a feeblenefs to the pages, that the inci- dents of hiftory would not have given. In one page, Mr. Gibbon lays open the laicivi- ous character of Theodora, the queen of Juftinian. He gives us indeed the moft notorious acts of her profligacy, as he fays himfelf, f veiled in the obfeu- c rity of a learned language V But he produces 'P.53- the Vols. IV. V. VI. 4*0. 33 the palTages at full length, when he needed only to have hinted at them; and when a modeft man would have done i^o. Pie even gives us a repeti- tion of paiTages. This {hews his heart to have been delighted with the fubject. And he even fub- joins a note in Englifh to one of them, in order to point it out more fully to the notice of his reader* The language has the fame faults as before. t Pro- clus is c the friend of Juftinian, and the enemy of every other adoption ' ;' that is, an enemy to the adoption of any, other perfon as heir to the empire. — We have alfo thefe words : ( their religion, an c honourable problem, betrays occafional confor- ' . mity, with a fecret attachment to paganifm Y What is an honourable problem ? Their f occa- c fional conformity to Chriflianity,' with their 1 fecret attachment' to paganifm ? But how is this* 1 honourable ?' And if fo, how is it a f problem?' He fpeaks of the priefts and their relics, which had been interpofed between two parties of comba- tants, in order to feparate them ; as c interpofed to c feparate the bloody conflift 1 itfelf'. He calls the web of the filkworm, its * golden tomb V He repeatedly fpeaks of £ the education' of fdkworms ■ ; and calls the ftraits of Bofphorus and the Hellefpont, without any qualifying expreffion, c the gates of the £ city' Conftantinople 6 . He fays, f a whole c people, the manufacturers of Tyre and Berytus c was reduced to extreme mifery Y He men- tions a man, whofe c ftyle was fcarcely legible*. ? 1 P. 45. *p. 48. 3 p. 67. 4 p. -1. J p. 78. * ibid. 1 p. 84. 8 p. 86. D A plan 34 Re-view of Gibbon's liijlory, A plan is faid to be c defcribed ',' when the au- thor means drawn. Xenophcn, we are told, c f u PP°f es m n * s r01T iance the fame barbarians, ' againft whom he had fought in his retreat V We are informed, that the Athenians, c about thirty * thoufand males, condenjed within the period of a ' fingle life the genius of ages and millions */ And finally, fays Mr. Gibbon, « I regret this * chronology y fo far preferable,' &c *. when he ought to have faid, ( I regret the dijuje of this chrcno- ' logy/ &c. c I regret [the di&fe of] this chronology,' of computing from the creation of the world, c fo far ' preferable to our double and perplexed method, c of counting backwards and forwards the years ' before and after the Chriftian aera.' Mr. Gibbon then adds, as many authors have added before him, that £ in the Weft, the Chriftian aera was firft in- c vented in the fixth century ;". and that f it was c propagated in the eighth by the authority and c writings of venerable Bede V The aftertion concerning Bede, as if he was the firft who ufed the Chriftian asra, is furely as falfe as it is common. Bede only ufed the asra, as others had ufed it before him. His c authority,' therefore, did not recom- mend it to the world. A Saxon of Northumbria was not likely, to have known fuch an ' authority.' He found it already c propagated/ It came recom- mended to him, by the c authority' of the preced- ing ulers. And he accordingly ufes it in his * P. 93. *p. 105. 3 p. 112. + p. 121. 5 ibid. 8 Chronicon, Vols. IV. V. VI. 4to. 35 Chronicorii without the leaft notice previoujly con-> cern'vng it, as what was common to the writers, and familiar to the readers, of his age and country ; cou- pling it as it had been ufed to be coupled, with the antecedent £era of the creation of the world. In this manner he enters upon what he calls his ? Anno < SEXTA ^TAS; c Mundi Chrifti Anno Casfaris Augufti — , Jefus c 3952. i. Chriftus, filius Dei, fextam c mundi setatem fuo confe- c cravit adventu V Firft invented by Dionyfius Exiguus in 525, it was foon adopted, no doubt, as an ufeful hinge of chro- nology, upon which it could conveniently turn, to look either backward or forward -, became general upon the continent, in conjunction with the old one ; and therefore was ufed by Bede in this ifland, with all that apparent eafe, with which our modern wri- ters ufe it at prefent.- Mr. Gibbon fpeaks of that afTerted repetition of Archimedes's burning-glafTes by Proclus, in thefe terms : c A machine was fixed on the walls of * the city, confiding of an hexagon mirror of po- * limed brafs,' &c. And the note annexed tells us, that f Tzetzes defcribes the artifice of thefe * burning-glafTes 2 .' Mr. Gibbon therefore refers to Tzetzes, for his account of them. Yet an un- lucky blunder in his real author, detects his delufive 1 Smith's Opera Beds, p. 16. * p, 89. D 2 reference 36 Review of Gibbon's Hi/tory, reference to the nominal one. The words of Tzetzes are thefe : J?S MapEXAo; ^ a,TTia\-fiffi QoTwv ly.e.vxi; rofy, ~Ef;ccyvv am Kouotrgov eliyHrivvtv o yipuv, which, translated, run thus ; When Marcellu5 removed the (hips a bow-fhot ofF, Old Archimedes actually brought out a mirror and fixed it. But where is this mirror faid to be, as Mr. Gibbon denominates it, an * hexagon ?' In thefe very lines, as Mr. Gibbon renders them. The word ifayw in the fecond line, he confiders as t% quo- * rum pars Burgundiones, Varini, Carini, Guttones' (iv. 14.). Thefe two nanses, we fee, were cotemporary. That of Vandals was a generick appellation, including the Guttones, the Carini, the Varini, and the Burgundiones. And that of Venedi was a fpecific one, totally diftindl from it and from all. Your letter-writer, then, has failed egregioufly in his at- tempt to aflift Mr. Gibbon in this moment of diftrefs. But, what is very remarkable, Mr. Gibbon himfelf declines his affift- ance. The writer was not at all aware of this. Yet it is very certain. Air. Gibbon acknowledges exprefsly in a note at the end, as the Reviewer has obi'erved, that ' the veracity — of * Tollius,' the relater of the flory, ' may juftly be fufpefied.' He thus dailies the whole anecdote at once, out of the fyftem of real hiflory; and ranks it among the dubious and fufpe&ed incider.'^ of man, thofe thin ihades and fpeftres of hiflory, that float in a kind of neutral flate between cxiflence and non-entity. And, by this movement of dexterity, he fteals out at the back- door, while the letter- writer is waiting for him at the fore-door j and flips off from him, and from his own afTertion, together. Rebus omiffis, Atria fervantem poflico fallit amicum. 'Jan. 4, 1789. I am, Sir, yours, 2 emplc. Another Reader of the Englijh Review, the Vols. IV. V. VI. 4to. 47 the reader, and never warm him. Nor have we a iingle trace of the main fubje6r, the decline and fall cf the empire ; except in fudden incurfions of hof- tility and in temporary ceflions of territory. B: E we mark a plain confeioufnefs in the author, that he is deviating from the prefcribed and proper line cf his hillory in all this. He accordingly apologifes for his conduct, in one part of it thus. f This narrative ' of objeure and remote events,' he fays, f is not/;- c reign to the decline and fall of the Roman empire '.' And he affigns a reafon for it, which refers to his account of the AbyfTinians : * If a Chriftian power c had been maintained in Arabia,' by the Abyfli- nians marching into it; c Mahomet muft have ' been crufhed in his cradle, and Abyfllnia would * have prevented a revolution, which has changed ( the civil and religious ftate of the world.' But furely this reafon is as poor in itfclf, as it is narrow in its extent. If the Chriftians of Abyffinia had' marched into Arabia, had reduced the country, and had kept poffeffion of it ; then they would either have crufhed Mahomet, or been expelled by him. This is all the confequence that would have eniued. That they muft have crufhed Mahomet, is an affer- tion equally without authority, and without proba- bility. Mahomet would probably have affumed a new fhape. And he, who propagated his religion with the fword, would with his fword have fidl vindicated the freedom of his country, and theft 1 P. 270. S" i 43 Review of Gibbon's Hiftory > given it his religion, with a higher authority and a quicker efficacy. The fpirit of philofophifing in hiftory, is often afleep in thofe who profefs it moft. But even if the prevented invafion of Arabia, had it taken place, would have crufhed Mahomet, and prevented all his operations ; is this a fufficient juftification of Mr. Gibbon, for entering into a * narrative of obfcure and remote events?' Are all the incidents, however c remote' and however c obfcure,' that would have prevented (if they had happened) the main object of any hiftory ; to be recorded in the hiftory itfelf ? Is the war of Casfar in Gaul, for inftance, to be defcribed in a f narra- • tive of events,' by the hiftorian of his expedition into Britain ? Had Arioviftus's invafion of Gaul been fuccefsful, Casfar c muft have been crufhed c in his cradle ;' and Germany c would have pre- c vented a revolution, which changed the civil c and religious ftate of our ifland world.' An tiiftorian therefore, who had undertaken to delineate the- decline and fall of the Britifo empire in this ifland, would upon Mr. Gibbon's principles and per- formance be fully juftified ; if he fhouid give a ■ narrative of thofe ' remote' events, and even ftep ftill further afide, to defcribe the court of Arioviftus and the country of Germany. And no one period of the Roman hiftory could be written, without a £ narrative' of the period or periods immediately preceding; exactly as many of our old chroniclers cannot enter upon the hiftory of their own country, without giving us all the general hiftory of man preceding, and going previoufly from Vols. IV. V. VI. tfo. ■ 49 from Adam down to Cafiivelaun. All indeed, that is requifite to be done in every hiftory, is to ge- neralife the incidents that happen before the com- mencement of it, and have any influence, either pre- ventive or operative, upon it. If their influence is ope- rative, they fhould be placed in a direct point of general view ; if it is only preventive, they fhould be very (lightly touched, or indeed not touched at all. And, as Mr. Gibbon could not but fee this, becaufe it is what we may juftly call the common Jenje of hiftori- cal composition j fo he actually faw it, and there- fore promifed to give us only f the important c circumftances,' and (which is mere) only • the c mofl' important, in the ' decline and fall' of the empire. He was to cut off all the circumltances, even in the immediate hiftory of its decline and fall that were not -peculiarly important. He was doubly therefore, to cut off all circumftances of c obfcure c and remote events,' that only affected the de- cline and fall of the empire diftantly. And he was tenfold more to cut off all fuch, as merely carried a -preventive influence with them ; as would cer- tainly, if they had happened, have prevented a for- midable enemy from rifing ; or as might probably have done fo. But Mr. Gibbon has neglected equally what he faw, what he promifed, and what he mould have done. He ranges like a great comet, without line or limit. And he has lb far formed a hiftory, that, confidered in its executed plan, is wild, excentric, and extravagant. In it the Goths ' affect to blufh, that they f muft difpute the kingdom of Italy with a nation E < of 50 Review of Gibbon's Hiftory y c of tragedians, pantomimes, and pirates V Yet a note adds, that f this laft epithet of Procopius f vKvlas XuiroSvlxq, is too nobly tranflated by pi~ f rates ; naval thieves is the proper word. 5 Why was it not then ufed ? It is faid, that Cofrhoes c formed a temporary bridge' over the * Euphrates,' c and defined the fpace of three days for the entire * paffage of his numerous hoft V There is often a Latin and often a French idiom, obfervable in the language of Mr. Gibbon. "This is a Latin one 3 the E.nglifri is, fixed. And the River Fha- fis c defcends with fuch oblique vehemence, that, ' in a fhort fpace, it is traverfed by one hundred s and twenty bridges 3 .' The Fifth, or forty-third chapter contains 'he hiftory, of lofing and recovering Italy to the eaftern empire ; and an account qi the comets, the earthquakes, and the plagues in the Faft. We are thus tranfported on the wings of this Hippogryffin hiftory, to a fphere that lies beyond the orb of itsprefent defign, and to one that we have feen torn down from its place. We have already feen the Vandals, tearing down the weftern empire from its ftation in the hiftory. Yet we were carried, in the firft chapter of this volume, to the ruins of it ; and obliged to attend the conflict of a fecond fort of Vandals with the flrft, one ftriving to maintain, and the other to acquire, the privilege of trampling upon thofe ruins. We were * p. 213. * p. 246. 3 p. 250. then Vols. IV. V. VI. 4to. 51 then called upon to go with the Romans of Con- stantinople, and war with them for thofe very ruins. And we are now dragged into Italy a third time, to fee it again loft to the barbarians, and again re- covered to the eaftern empire. We thus find the weftern giving us and our hiftorian, almoft as much trouble after its death, as it did in its life-time. ■ The times have been, That, when the brains were out, the man would die, And there an end ; but now they rife again With twenty mortal murthers on their crowns, And pufn us from our ftools : this is more ftrange Than fuch a murther is. All this indeed, as a part of the eaftern hiftory, might have been told in a. full hiftory of the eaftern empire. But it ought not to have been told, in a hiftory only of its decline and fall. And it peculi- arly ought not, when reafon required and the au- thor had promifed, that we fhould have only c the c moft important circumftances, of its' very f de- 1 cline and fall.' But the author is continually on the ftrain, in exerting a minutenefs of diligence, and in exercifing an obfeure laborioufnefs, to fwell the hiftory beyond its natural fize. He has not that happy power of genius within him, to grafp ' the f important,' points of the hiftory, to feize pecu- liarly c the moft important,' to detatch them from the rubbifh of littlenefs and infignificance, and to make them the conftituent parts of his hiftory. He faw that this was his duty ; but he could not act up to it. He drew the outline of his work with a critical hand -, but he went beyond it on every fide, E 2 in 5 2 Review of Gibbon* s Hiftory, in the excurfivenefs of his licentious pencil. And his plan only ferves at prefent 3 to unite with found c'riticifm in condemning him $ to point out th6 dropfical fpirit of writing, by which he has dilated the fubflance of two volumes into fix j and to brand that accumulation of adventitious matter, with which his hiftory is fo heavily loaded, that it is breaking dov;n under its own bulk. In one page we have thefe words, c Nicopolis, the trophy of c Augustus ' ;' becaufe he obtained a victory near it, and built it in honour of the victory. In the fame page we have a general's f want of youth and c experience.' In another f the extreme lands of ( Italy' are faid to have been, f the term of their < deftructive progrefs V And let us add, what this chapter forces us to feel, that the hiftory frequently reads like a riddle, from the obfcurity of it. The Sixth or forty-fourth chapter is an account, no lefs than eighty-five pages in length, of the Roman jurifpru- dence •, traced through the regal, the confular, and the imperial times, to the days of Juftinian -, and containing a particular detail of the provifions made by it, for the various objects of lav/. The chapter is long and tirefome, from the ample nature of the fubject, and from the neceffary drynefs of the dif- quifition. Yet it has much learning, much good fenfe, and more parade of both. But nothing can fubdue the native barrennefs, of fuch a field as this. ? P 296 * p. 309. And, Vols. IV. V. VI. 4,10. 53 And, if any thing could, what has a difquifition on all the 1 :ws of all the Romans, to do with a hii- tory of the decline and fall of the empire ? Even if it had the legal knowledge of Trebonius, Papi- hian, and Ulpian united together ; if it had alfo the philofophy, of all the formers of polity and re- markers upon manj that thefe modern times have produced ; and if both were fet off with the energy of a Tacitus, and the brilliancy of a Burke ; we mould only point at the whole as a fet of more fplendid abfurdities, and cry out with difdain, Beauties they are, but beauties out of place. A treatife on the domeftic life of the Romans - t a difTertation on the buttons, the firings, and the latchets of their military drefs ; on any thing more trifling (hiftorically confidered,) among the many trifles of antiquarianifm ; would have been almoft as proper for the hiftory, as fuch a difquifition upon their laws. That Juflinian mould have the honour attributed to him, of compiling the code, the inftitutes, and the pandecls ; is very reafonable. But it is very unreafonable, that a long and laboured difTertation on the laws of all the periods of the Ro- man hiftory, with an enumeration of its particular provifions, fhould be given as a part of the hiftory j and the effence of the ftatute-book ferved up, as an hiflorical difh. In the fulleft hiftory of the em- pire, fuch literary cookery as this would be very ab- furd. It is ftill more abfurd, in a hiftory only of the decline and fall of the empire. And it is moft of all abfurd, when we had been fo exprefsly allured, E 3 that 54 Review cf Gibbon's HiJlory s that we mould have only c the circumftances of its ' decline and fall.' We are told to c appreciate the labours' of Juf- tinian '. The author is fond of the word in this harm application of it ; we have feen him ufing it before ; and we fhall fee him again. After noticing Cato the cenfor and his fon, as men fkilled in the law ; he remarks, that < the kindred appellation of c Mutius Scasvola was illuftrated by three fages of ,' the lawV How obfcure ! He means, that this family had the honour of producing three good lawyers. — In the lame page he mentions c a century ( of volumes.' — In a farther we have, c the expofition 1 of children V for the expofing of them ; ' the tame 1 animals, whofe nature is tractable to the arts of * education 4 ;' f the agreement of fale, for a certain c price, imputes ,' inftead of reckons, c from that mo- * ment the chances of gain or lofs to the account c of the purchaier 5 j' c the pain or the difgrace of a f word or blow cannot eafily be appreciated by a pe- c cuniary equivalent 6 £ ' the extirpation of a more ' valuable tree 7 ,' where the comparative is ufed for the pofitive degree, very abfurdly in a lift of legal pimimments ; and f a prudent legiflator appreciates c the guilt and punifhment s .' We have noticed before the propenfity of Mr. Gibbon to obfeenity. It was then, however, co- vered moftly under a veil of Greek. But, in p. 375, his obfeenity throws off every cover, and comes * P-333- a P- 35°- 3 P- 373- 4 P- 384. 5 P- 39& ' P- 398. i p. 401. * p. 406. ftalkin* Vols. IV. V. VI. 4/0. 55 talking forth in the impudence of nakednefs. A foul, deeply tinctured with fenfuality, loves to brood over fenfual ideas itfelf, to prefent fenfual objects to others, and fo to enjoy its own fenfuality of fpirit over again. But, in p. 414, he is ftill more vicious. He then mounts up into an avowed advocate — for what ? for no lefs an enormity than murder ; and even for that which, of all murders, is the only one that precludes repentance, precludes pardon, and ends the life with the crime of the murderer. c The ci- { vilians,' fays this champion for felf-murder, c have c always refpected the natural right of a citizen to c difpcfe of his life; — — but the precepts of the f g G fP e h or tne church, have at length impofed a pious i fervitude on the minds of Chriftians, and condemn f them to expect, without a murmur, the loft ftroke c of difeafe or the executioner.' So boldly is Mr. Gibbon here treading, in the fleps of his honoured acquaintance the late Mr. Hume ! With all Mr. Hume's fpirit too, he arraigns the c precepts of the c gofpel } ' if they be (he hints) the precepts of the gofpel, and,not the mere injunctions * of the church ;' for prohibiting felf-murder. With a fimilar fpirit, in the text of p. 380, he fpeaks of c the wifhes of c the church ;' when his note makes them to be, the laws of Chrifl and the precepts of St. Paul. And as it is highly to the honour of our religion, that thefe patrons of felf-murder are compelled to fet afide the dictates of the gofpel, and the admoni- tions of the church, before they can vindicate their profligate fpeculations ; fo does Mr. Gibbon's fpe- E 4 culation $6 Review of Gibbon's Hijldry, culation here, feem to tell us with a melancholy energy, to what a dreadful relief he may perhaps have recourfe hereafter. May repentance anticipate diftrefs ; and the light of Chriftianity break in upon his mind, to flop the uplifted arm of filicide ! The Seventh or forty-fifth chapter, relates principally to the in- vafion of Italy by the Lombards, and the feparation of it again from the eaftern empire. This is there- fore, in all its principal parts, a mere digreflion. We have fhewn this fufficiently before -, nor need we to fay more upon the fubjech We have only to obferve, that there is one link more added to the chain of abfurdity ; that to the digreffional account of the Goths and Vandals, of the Goths and the eaftern emperors, is now fubjoined a long hiftory of the Lombards, the emperors, and the Goths ; that all thefe continued events of the Italian hiftory, cannot have the leaft relation to the wejiern empire, becaufe this has long fince vanimed from the earth j and that they equally cannot form any circumftances of the decline and fall of the eaftern^ becaufe Italy was the feat of the wejiern. In every light, the narrative of events in Italy, after Italy has been fo formally (wept away from the ftage of the hiftory, is all impertinence. A faint and tremulous kind of light, too, is all that is thrown over the narrative. This fome- times breaks out and engages the attention. But it is generally too tremulous to call a fteady il- lumination, and too faint to furnifh a ftrong one. And Vols. IV V. VI. 4to. sy And it Icrves only, like the natural twilight, to pre- sent the fhadows of objects to our view. The whole fcene of hiftory before us, therefore, is dark, broken, and uninviting. But digreffion is the great feeder of Mr. Gibbon's hiftory. * I fhould not be apprehenfive,' he fays, c of deviating from my fubject, if it was in my * power to delineate the private life of the con- ' querors of Italy,' the Lombards'. Italy, having been once a grand object of his hiftory, is for ever to remain fo, it feems. It is not merely to remain, as long only as it is connected with the eaftern empire. This the firft chapter of this vo- lume proves decifively. The tranfactions of the Goths in it have no relation to the eaftern at all, and have a relation only to the Vandal fettlers of Italy. Italy, therefore, is the connecting line of the hiftory. And, upon the fame principle, he may purfue the hiftory to the coming of the Normans into the fouth of Italy ; and then give us an ac- count, of their domeftic life, their civil laws, and their military tranfadtions. We have the court of Juftinian arranged, on the formal reception of fome ambafTadors, c according 1 to the military and civil order of — what? of 1 the hierarchy V This is extraordinary. Were then the perfons who held c civil and military' of- fices about the court, arranged in fome order, fimilar to that of archbifhops, bifhops, &c. in the church ? No ! They were arranged in the military and civil p. 149. a p. 149. order 58 Review of Gibbon's Hi/lory, order of the hierarchy itfelf. And the word hier- archy is only ufed, with a ridiculous mifapplication of it, for the very court. The EIGHTH, or forty- fixth chapter relates principally, the fuc- ceffes of the Romans under Tiberius, and the ex- tenfion of the eaflern bounds of their empire, c be- \ yond the example of former times, as far as the c banks of the Araxes and the neighbourhood of c the Cafpian fea' ;' and the great victories of He- raclius over Perfia, when c the return of Heraclius 4 from Taurus to Conftantinople was a perpetual ' triumph V Thefe glorious events, undoubtedly, make a proper part of the hiftory of the eaftern empire. But they do not of the prefent hifto.y. This, we muft ever remember, is a hiftory only of its decline and fall. And when the author planned his work, we muft equally recollect, he was to give us only c the circumftances of its decline and fall,' c only the important* too among them, and only, * the moft important.' The Cafpian fea, we are told, c was explored, ' for the fir ft time, by an hoftile fleet' under Pom- ' pey. But c in the hiftory of the world/ adds Mr. Gibbon in a note, c I can only perceive two f navies on the Cafpian, 1. of the Macedonians — ' 1. of the Ruffians 3 .' The very fleet of the text, is moft unaccountably fhut out of the Cafpian by ' p. 480. a P-5?9. 3 p.46S. the Vols. IV. V. VI. 4/*. $9 rhe note. — —We are alfo told, c the city and palate c of Modain had already efcaped from the hand of f the tyrant 1 .' We find, that c the ruin of the c proudeft monument of Chriftianity, was vehe- ( mently urged by the intolerant fpirit of the * Magi V But what is this f proudeft monument * of Chriftianity ?' Is it that nobleft edifice of Chriftian, or even of Pagan, architecture, the church of St. Peter at Rome? No! The words mean, as the context mews, either Jerufalem or fome build- ing within it. ' The conqueft of Jerufalem-— was ' atchieved by the zeal and avarice of Chrofroes ; c the ruin,' &c. And, on again examining the context critically, we fee it means the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerufalem, So obfcure is this writer at times ! He fays afterwards, that c Jerufa- 1 lem itfelf was taken by affault,' and that c the fe- c pulchre of Chrift, and the ftately churches of He- ' lena and Conftantine, were confumed, or at leaft 4 damaged, by the flames.' The ftately churches of Helena and Conftantine are only one, that over the Holy Sepulchre. And is this then, in Mr. Gib- bon's opinion, f the proudeft monument of Chrif- f tianity ; ? when he knows St. Peter's to be exifting at Rome ? Or could this be c the proudeft monu- c ment of Chriftianity,' in the opinions of the Magij when they knew St. Sophia's to be exifting at Con- ftantinople ? — Some cavalry are faid c to hang on the lajfitude and diforder of Heraclius's rear V The expreflion is artificial and affected. The natural 1 p. 473. *P-5 02 ' 'P-5 11 - language 60 Review of Gibbon's Hiftory, language is, to hang upon his harajfed and disorderly rear. But nature was turned out to make way for art. Mr. Gibbon, with the fame fpirit of affec- tation, c educates the new recruits in the knowledge * and practice of military virtue 1 .' We fee the fame fpirit at work, though lefs offenfively, in making Heraclius £ by ajuft gradation of magni- c flcent fcenes,' that is, in the language of propriety and eafe, through fcenes gradually rifing in magnificence, c to penetrate to the royal feat of DaftagerdV And in p. 530 we have another oppofition, between the text and the notes. The text records * the * lofs of two hundred thoufand foldiers, who had * fallen by the fword' in the wars of Heraclius againft Perlia. But a note adds this obfervation : * Suidas — gives this number ; but either the Per/tan c muft be read for the Ifaurian war, or this paffage * does not belong to the emperor Heraclius.' He thus applies a paffage to the hiftory, without any hefitation ; when he is obliged at the very moment, either to alter or to rejeft it j and when he even owns, that he is. • The general independence of the Arabs,' he fays, in a note, f which cannot be admitted with- c out many limitations, is blindly afferted in a fepa- < rate differtation of the authors of the Univerfal c Hiftory, Vol. XX. p. 196—250. A perpetual * miracle is fuppofed to have guarded the prophecy, * in favour of the posterity of Ifhmael ; and thefe ' learned bigots are not afraid, to rifk the truth 'p. 512. a p. 5H- < of Vols. IV. V. VI. #0. 61 * of Chriftianity on this frail and flippery founda- * tion V With fuch a tone of infolence, can Mr. Gibbon abufe a champion of Chriftianity ! Like Virgil, he throws about his dung with an air of majefty. He did fo to Mr. Davis, in the very mo- ments in which he was complaining of Mr. Davis's rudenefs. Mr. Davis indeed had provoked him, with the rudenefs of refutation and detection. And the prefent author has alfo provoked him, by producing an hiftorical argument in favour of Ju- daifm and Chriftianity, which he could not refute and yet would not believe. He therefore took the natural courfe, of ridiculing what he could not anfwer, and of abufing what chagrined and gra- velled him. But he had been much wifer to have faid nothing, to have never noticed the difTertation, and fo to have concealed his own impotence of ma- lice againfl it. It was written by the late Mr. Swinr ton of Oxford, and proves the continued indepen- dency of the fons of Iihmael, by fuch a long train of hiftorical evidences -, as is very wonderful in it- felf, as unites moft powerfully to fupport the point afTerted, and as terminates in an argument of force and weight for the divinity of our religion. But the author is ' a learned bigot,' and £ a blind affertor,' with Mr. Gibbon. And yet what is very wonderful, Mr. Gibbon himfelf allows the continued independency of the Arabs, takes this ' blind afTertor' for his ora- cle, and unites with this f learned bigot' in his belief. This is perhaps almoft as wonderful, as the inde- » P. 4 6 5 . pendency 6l Review of Gibbon*s Hi/lory, pendency itfelf. c The general independence of the f Arabs/ he owns, ? can — be admitted with— f many limitations.' Mr. Swinton has accordingly fpecified from time to time, the c many limitations' with which the independence is to be afTerted ; in mewing all the Arabs not to have been reduced, when moil were j in fhewing the Bedoweens (who are peculiarly the fons of Ifhmael) not to have been, when the reft were; and in fhewing even thefe, when obliged for a moment to fubmit, never to have been thoroughly fubdued like the nations around them, and never, like them, incorporated into the fubftance of the AfTyrian, the Perfian, the Mace- donian, the Roman, or even the Turkifh empires. Mr. Swinton thus fcates the limitations, and Mr. Gibbon thus acknowledges the affertion. He ac- knowledges it, in the very moments in which he re- probates it. -He * admits' the point with the re- quifite f limitations.' In all this long chain of hif- torical arguments too, which ftretches out to the amazing length of nearly four thoufand years, which is therefore available (if weak) in fo many diffe- rent points, and in which the weaknefs of a fingle link would have deftroyed the whole ; Mr. Gibbon, with all the obvious defire to fhew, and with all the apparent capacity to difcern, does not point out one fingle link of weaknefs in the whole. And, what is more, in the text he afferts the doctrine, which he admits in the note ; afferts it without hefitation ; and afferts it, even without ftating Mr. Swinton's or his own limitations. t The fovereign of Perfia f and India,'- he fays^ * afpired to reduce under his * obedience Vols. IV. V. VI. 4/0. 63 c obedience the province of Yemen or Arabia Fe- f lix, the diftant land of myrrh and frankincenfe ; * which had escaped, rather than oppofed, the 1 conquerors of the east/ He thus acknow- ledges the faff in the plaineft manner. The Arabs of Yemen in every age to this period, he owns, * had efcaped' all fubjection to the various and fuc- ceflive c conquerors of the EaftV So confufed in his ideas does Mr. Gibbon here appear, as to affert in his text what he denies in his note, even there to admit in reality what he rejects in appearance, and to adopt the whole hiftory of Mr. Swinton even while he abufes him for it. So grofsly difingenuous alfo dees he appear, in attempting to difcredit an hiilorical evidence for Chriftianity, which he could not refute; fo wildly indifcreet, as to attack when he could not hurt it -, and fo daringly bold, as to treat with info- lence and abufe the very man, to whom he is obliged to fubmit even while he is fpurning at him. And we have entered the farther into the point, becaufe the conduct of Mr. Gibbon in it, ferves ftrongly to Hiew the impregnable nature of Mr. Swinton's ar- gument ; to add one ray more, to the glory of this honeft champion for Chriftianity j and to fecure the ftrong ground which he wifely took, in this inci- dental defence of our religion. The Ninth or laft chapter of this volume, the forty-feventh in the feries, is one of the wildeft and moft extrava- gant digreflions, that even Mr. Gibbon has yet made. It is a differ tation of no lefs than eighty -nine pages, tf 4 Review of Gibbon's Hiftory > pages, upon what ? upon the difputes among the Chrijiians concerning the nature of Chrift, and the opinions of the eajlern churches on the point from the beginning. Could we think it pofiible, if the fact was not apparent before our eyes ; that a man of judgment, that a writer even of common fenfe, could ever have introduced fuch a differtation into fuch an hiftory ? Any differtation of a length like this, would have been abfurd in any hiftory whatever. But fuch a long differtation upon a point of theology, mult be very abfurd. And fuch a long and theo^ logical differtation, in a hiftory only of the c decline c and fall' of the empire, and when we were to have only f the circumftances of its decline and * fall,' only the c important' too, and only c the c moft important ;' is infinitely abfurd. It would be a wildnefs worthy only of a Whifton and a Prieftley, in any hiftory; but it is a madnefs calculated merely for the meridian of deifm, in the prejent. The whole alfo is very dull. It is enlivened only, and dreadfully enlivened, by the wickednefs of it. And nothing keeps the hiitorical mind, from num- bering over the pages of it $ but the bold fallies of blafphemy in it. f The feeds of the faith, which had (lowly arifen c in the rocky and ungrateful foil of Judea, were f tranfplanted, in full maturity, to the happier climes f of the Gentiles 5 and the ftrangers of Rome or c Afia, who never beheld the manhood, were the c more readily difpofed to embrace [he fhould have ' faid Vols. IV. V. VI. tfo. 6$ c faid, to believe in] the divinity, of Chrift V We have felected this paffage, as a full fpecimen of the confufion, which hangs upon Mr. Gibbon's under- standing, and defeats all his theological efforts. The doctrine of our Saviour's divinity is here acknow- ledged, to have been preached originally to the Jews, by our Saviour and his apoftles. This doc- trine, we fee, c had flowly arifen — in the foil of * Judea,' It had even arrived at laft, to a £ full ( maturity' there. And it had fo done, before the preaching of the gofpel to the Gentiles. It was ' tranfplanted in full maturity to the — climes of the f Gentiles.' This therefore overthows all that he has faid before, of the Jews not knowing and not believing in the divinity of our Saviour. So pe- culiarly unfortunate is he, in annihilating his alle- gations by his affertions ! But he is Hill more fo. This paffage ftands as a middle point, betwixt the future and the pad. It looks forward to the Gen- tiles, as well as backward to the Jews. And it ac- knowledges the doctrine of our Saviour's divinity, to have been ( tranfplanted in full maturity' from f the foil of Judea', into c the happier climes c of the Gentiles.' It acknowledges the doctrine to have been received there, even with more readinefs than in Judea. The c foil of Judea' had proved [ rocky and ungrateful' to it. It had therefore rifen £ flowly,' though it reached a c full maturity,' at lait. But * happier' were f the climes of the c Gentiles.' c And the ftrangers of Rome and A- 'P-537- F < fia— 66 Review of Gibbon's Hiftory, 1 fia — were — more readily difpofed to embrace the ' divinity of Chrift.' So plainly does Mr. Gibbon here affert the divinity of our Saviour, to have been preached to the Jews, to have been preached to the Gentiles, and to have been believed in by both, from the very beginning of Chriftianity ! He thus dafhes afide, all that he afterwards infinuates rather than a- vers, againft the Gentile reception of the doctrine. And he ftands forward in this memorable pafTage, a Deift refuting the Arians, a reafoner wounded with the two-edged fword of his own pofitions, and a fingular monument of literary fuicide. In p. 569 we have another evidence, of Mr. Gibbon's love of obfcenity. I will not repeat the offence, by producing the pafTage. Modefty mufl for ever reprobate this ftrange tendency of his pen. And I cannot pafs thefe grols eruptions of fenfuali- ty from it, without a proper cenfure. ' The fynod of Chalcedon,' we are told, ' would c perhaps have reftored Neftorius to the honours, f or at leaft to the communion, of the church j the * death of Neftorius prevented his obedience to the ' fummons*.' This we take from the text. But let us look at the notes. f The invitation of Nef- * torius to the fynod of Chalcedon,' it fays, f is re- c lated by Zacharias — and the famous Xenaias, — c denied by Evagrius and Affeman, and ftoutlv 1 maintained by La Croze — : the fatl is not impro- ( table-, yet it was the inter eft of the Monophyfites,' as friends to Neftorius, c to fpread the invidious re- 1 P. 562-3. * port ; Vols. IF. V. VI. 410. 67 ■ port; and Eutychius — affirms, that Neftorius died c after an exile of /even years, and confequently ten c years be/ore the council of Chalcedon.' In what a ftate of conflict are the note and text here ! This af- firms without doubt and hefitation, that Neftorius was /nmmoned to the council, and that c death pre- 1 vented his obedience to the fummons,' and that, if death had not thus interpofed, c the fynod — would c perhaps have reftored him to the honours, or at leafi c to the communion > of the church.' But that tells us another ftory, though with great uncertainty and confufednefs. What is fo pofitively afferted in the text, we find difputed in the note, maintained by fome and denied by others. Mr. Gibbon, however, interpofes to arbitrate between the difputants j and by his arbitration inflames the difpute. Chaos umpire fits, And by decifion more embroils the fray. * The fact,' he fays, c is not improbable ;' when he has already afferted it to be more than probable, e- ven actually true. But, at the very next flep, he recedes even from this faint affertion of its probabi- lity. For f it was the interefl cf the Monophyfites,' he adds, f to fpread the invidious report.' He there/ore doubts even the probability, of what he himfelf has afferted po/iiively. And he inftantly goes on to fhow the very fal/ehocd, and even the very im- vo/jibility, of the fact afferted by himfelf. He pro- duces the fweeping teftimony of Eutychius, that Neftorius died no lefs than ten years before the coun- F 2 cil 6$ Review of Gibbon's Hiflory > cil fdt. And in this ftate of the evidence he leaves the point, oppofing his own intimated probability in the note, and giving the lie direct to his own affert- ed reality in the text. We have feen already fuch contradictions in the notes to the text, that we have been tempted to afk, Whether the text and notes could be written by the fame hand ? But the pre- fent pafTage fufficiently afllires us, that they could, The note is not more in oppofition to the text, than it is to itfelf. And the oppofition in all, arifes from the turn of Mr Gibbon's mind ; brilliant, excurfive, and ftrong, but not clear, difcriminative, and precife; having the wing of the eagle to fupport its long flight, but not pofTeffing the eye of the eagle for its keen refearches, only poifeiling indeed the eye of a common bird, and lb led the more iHuftrioufly aftray by its eagle's wing. CHAPTER THE THIRD. }HAVE already expofed the prepoiterous arrange- ment, which Mr. Gibbon has made of his mate- rials in the preceding volumes of his hiflory. I now come to his fifth volume. Here he fpeaks of his previous arrangement. ' I have now deduced,' he fays, ' from Trajan to Conilantine, from Conilantine ' to Heiaclius, the regular feries of the Roman em- c perors ; and faithfully expofed the profperous and c adverfe fortunes of their reigns V Such has been 1 P. i. the Vols. IV. V. VI. 4to. 6 9 the execution of the work, according to Mr. Gibbon himfelf ! And yet, according to himfelf, the plan was very different. c It is the defign of this and the two c Jucceeding chapters,' he told ns in the firft page of his firft volume, ' to defcribe the prosperous condi- c tion of the empire ; and afterwards, from the c death of Marcus Antoninus, to deduce the molt c important circumftances of its dec line and fall' So very oppofite is the plan and the execution, accord- ing to Mr. Gibbon's own account ! He who, after the death of Marcus Antoninus, was to give us only ' the circumftances,' and * the mc.ft important' too, c of the decline and fair of the empire j here con- fejfes he has given us f the regular feries of the Ro- ', man emperors,' from c Trajan to Conftantine, c from Conftantine to Heraclius j' and has f expof- * ed the profpero usf as well as c adverfe, fortunes cf ' their reigns.' Mr. Gibbon thus ftands convicted upon his own confeffion, of a wild and devious aber- ration from his own plan. And all that we have urged upon this point, againft his four volumes pre- ceding , is here juftified by himfelf, at the com- mencement of his fifth. But he is now determined to reform his execu- tion. c Should I perfevere in the fame courfe,' he adds, c fhould I obferve the fame meafure, a prolix ' and fender thread would be fpun through many a * volume y nor would the patient reader find an a- c dequate reward of inftrudtion or amufement V This is again an acknowledgment of his trefpafTe?, r Page i — 2, F 3 Mr. 70 Review of Gibbon's Hiftory, Mr. Gibbon, kneeling at the chair of confeftion, is very ingenuous. He owns the c prolix and flen- £ der thread' of hiftory, which he has * fpun' al- ready through four volumes. Yet, as his fpiritual father or his critical, I can only confider his inge- nuoufnefs to fix his fin more fully upon him. And I proceed to confider his reformation. The mode of execution, which he means now to adopt, is this. c It is in the origin and conquefts> he remarks, { in the religion and government,' of the ' new colonies and rifing kingdoms,' which imme- diately filled the loll provinces of the empire ■, c that e we mult explore the caufes and effects, of the de- c cline and fall of the eaflern empire '.' This is certainly no new mode of execution. It is the very fame, that he has purfued before with regard to the weftern. ' In the origin and conquefb, in the reli- ' gion and government,' of the Franks, the Van- dals, the Goths, and the Lombards, &c. ; has he ' explored the caufes and effects,' of its decline and fall. We are therefore to c perfevere in the fame courfe,' and to c objerve the fame meafure,' of writing. And Mr. Gibbon is confounding himfelf and his reader, by an inattention to his own con- duct. ( Nor,' he adds, c will this fcope of narra- * tive, the riches and variety of thefe materials, be f incompatible with the unity of defign and compofU 1 tion/ They will not be more incompatible than they have been, if only Jo purfued. But they will be greatly incompatible, as we have already ktn they Vols. IV. V. VI. A to. 71 they have been. And this intimation from Mr. Gibbon, fliews us at once his fufpicion that they have been, and prepares us to expect that they will be more. f As, in his daily prayers, the mufulman c of Fez or Delhi (till turns his face towards the * temple of Mecca,' an allufion fo replete with levity, that we cannot think it ierioufly applied ; c the hiftorian's eye fhall be always fixed on the 1 city of Conflantinople.' Nor is this a new mode of execution. Mr. Gibbon has always profefTed furely, to keep his eye upon the central point of his whole hiftory ; and, however large he may draw the circumference, ftill to make it move round its centre. But he has profefTed, and not performed. His hiftory has moved in no regular orbit. And we fhall foon find it moving fo again. c The ex- * curfive line may embrace the wilds of Arabia and * Tartary, but the circle will be ultimately reduced c to the decreafing limit of the Roman monarchy/ Here the new mode opens faintly upon the mind. We can hardly difcern the meaning through the metaphor. The one is incongruous, and the other is obfcure. But we difcern enough to fee, that Mr. Gibbon is preparing us for wilder excurfions than ever. And he accordingly pufnes his digrefiional extravagances, in the two next volumes j to a length even beyond that of all the preceding. Such is his reformation ! F 4 Chapter 7 1 Review of Gibbon's Hijiory, Chapter first or forty-eighth. Mr. Gibbon here gives us, in a courfe of eighty -fev en pages, l a period of fix ' hundred years,' and the reigns of f fixty em- f perors ' ;' defcribed in fuch a manner, that, as he himfelf allows, t our reafon — difdains the fixty phan- c toms of kings, who have palled before our eyes, * and faintly dwell on our remembrance*.' The whole indeed is cold, dull, and uninterefting, becaufe it is vague, general, and incomplete. It prefents a quick fucceflion of incidents and characters, too quick to enforce our attention or compel our re- gard. We are prefented with the various faces of a diamond, each of which calls a little luftre, but all do not unite in one general effulgence. And we foon turn away, tired with the tedious and unim- preffive variation of faintnefs. The whole chapter, alfo, is equally without notes and without references. Mr. Gibbon profejfes to give only c a rapid abftract, which may be fupport- * ed by a general appeal to the order and text of the 1 original hiftcrians V We therefore go on, entire- ly at the mercy of our conductor. He is equally left to the mercy of his own difcretion. And we know his conduct too well already, even when he was harneffed in the trammels of reference and authentication ; to truft this hiftorical Pegafus^ widiout either bit or bridle. » p. 85. * p- 86. * p. 4, But Vols. IV. V. VI. tfo. 73 Bnt there is a much greater fault behind. * In * this introduction,' fays Mr. Gibbon, concerning the prefent chapter, c I fhall confine myfelf to the re- 4 volutions of the throne, the JucceJJton of families, the * per/anal characters of the Greek princes, the mode * of their life and death, the maxims and influence of c their domeflic government, and the tendency of their * reign to accelerate or fitfpend the downfal of the eaft- 1 em empire '.' This is a very ingenious way of con- fining himfelf. He will confine himfelf toy?* points, when he ought to confine himfelf to one of them. The lafl is the only point, that carries any relation to the decline and fall of the empire. He therefore promif- ed formally at the beginning, to confine himfelf to the * circumftances,' and c the moft important' circumftances f of its decline and fall.' And the plain good-fenfe of criticifm,' the eternal laws of compofition, require that he mould adhere to his promife. Yet fo much has the habit of rambling gained the afcendant, over the fuggeftions of rea- fon, the convictions of his mind, and the promiies of his pen ; that he profeffes now to dwell only upon fix points, of which five are all extraneous to the purpofe. He will not fly to the fixed flars. He will go only to the moon. And yet, all the while, his bufinefs is wholly upon earth. ' Such a chronological review,' as the prefent chapter gives of the imperial hiftory, c will ferve to * illuftrate the various argument of the fubfequent •P. 5. chapters ; 74 Review of Gibbon's Hiftory y c chapters s and each circumftance of the eventful f hiftory of the barbarians, will adapt itfelf in a pro- c per place to the Byzantine annals '. We are thus to have the hiftory of the empire detached and entire by itfelf, and then the hiftory of its invaders equally entire and detached. This is furely a mod ftrange and abfurd difpofition, of the parts of his hiftory. It is fuch as was never projected and never executed, we believe, by any found under- ftanding before. The fubfequent chapters may be * illuftrated,' by the prefent ■, but the narration in them would have been infinitely more illuftrated, by the natural union of this with that. The cir- cumftances in the hiftory of the barbarians, may adapt themfelves to their proper places in the annals of Byzantium ; but they would have been infinitely better adapted, by an attual aflignment of them at the moment. Mr. Gibbon has robbed the domeftic and foreign hiftory, of all their reciprocal connexion j and fo has deprived each of all the feen and apparent illumination, that each cafts upon the other. He has thrown the hiftory of all the events, into great and independent maffes of narration. He has ranged them in a number of parallel lines, that never meet. And the grand fun of hiftorical information, he has cut and carved into a multitude of twinkling ftars. Nor is this conduct lefs injuri- ous to the unity of Mr. Gibbon's hiftory, than it is contrary to the principles of fenfe. Thofe parts of the domeftic hiftory, which fhould connect the foreign 'P. 5, with Vols. IV. V. VI. tfo. 75 with it, and fo unite to form one long and regular chain of hiftory ; are all formed into a little chain by themfelves, and leave the reft to be equally- formed into little chains, all unconnected with each other. And inftead of that golden chain, which fhould be linked to the head of the firft chapter, fp read thro' all the chapters fubfequent, and form one uni- verfe of harmonious hiftory ; we are prefented with a few links in one chapter, a few in another, all de- tached from all, and forming only the fragments of a difordered and broken fyftem. Yet all this was neceflary, to the profecution of Mr. Gibbon's pur- pofes. He found the regular and orderly fphere of hiftory, too narrow for his excurfions. He therefore frames a new one ! It is indeed a difgrace to his own judgment, and an affront upon his reader's un- derftanding. Yet he rifks the affront and he in- curs the difgrace, rather than not indulge himfelf ftill farther in his flights. And we muft prepare our minds for extravagances of digrefiion, beyond all the extravagances that we have feen before. From the ftrong and violent beating of its wings, we fee the eagle is anticipating a higher and a wider range, than it has taken yet. There are many inftances of harflmefs, in the language of this chapter. f I have now deduced — * the— /tries of the Roman emperors V c the pom- ' pous ceremonies, which formed the efjence of the € Byzantine ftate 2 ;' ' Martina reaped the harvefi of * his death ' V c their Jilence rejpecls the wifdomofhis 1 p. i. 2 p. 8, 3 p. 9. 1 adminiftration 76 Review of Gibbon's Hiftory, c admlniflration and the purity of his manners '/ where the double fenfe of the word refpetls con- founds the reader, and where the language fhould have been, their filence of reprehenfion Jhews a refpetl for, &c. j c when he was extinguified by a timely * death * ;' finally vanifhed inj read at c the pre- 5 fence of a foldier V c naval armies' for a fleet 4 ; ' the ceremony of his funeral was mourned,' read was attended, c with the unfeigned tears of his fub- c jects 5 ;' and ' a promife — was ftolen by a dex- f terous emiffary from the — patriarch 6 ,' read, drazvn artfully, as the context ihews the author means. There are feveral inftances of obfcurity. £ The c chances of fuperior merit in a great and populous c kingdom, as they are proved by experience, c would excufe the imputation of imaginary mil- c lions V l the tyrant, a law of eternal juflice, was ' degraded by the vices of his fubjects 8 ;' ( public ' method, of what? f fecured the intereft of the 1 prince and the property of the people 9 ;' * Con- c ftantine died before his father, whofe grief and c credulity were amufed by a flattering impoftor ' and a vain apparition' ,' an inftance of Mr. Gib- bon's rapid way of writing hiflory at times, as no more is faid, and as this only ferves to Fling half an image on the flraining eye; * fome evafion and perjury were required to filence 1 P. 21. a P-45- 3 ibid. * ibid. 5 P- 47- * p. 60. 7 P-3- 8 ibid. •p. 4*. 10 P- 43- < the Vols, IV. V. VI. 4/0. 77 c the fcmples of the clergy and people ', another inftance of the fame ; f the firft in the front of * battle was thrown from his horfe by the ftroke of c poifon or an arrow Y another inftance ; and f a * promife, which would have betrayed her falfehood * and levity, was ftolen by a dexterous emifTary f from the ambition of the patriarch ; Xiphilin at c firft alleged the fanctity of oaths and the facred ( nature of a truft, but,' &c '. There are even fome contradictions. Leo the emperor beholds Michael his fucceftbr, r releafed f from his chain 4 / and yet Michael has c the fet- c ters remaining on his legs, feveral hours after he f was feated on the throne of the Casfars 5 .' c Theophano, — after a reign of four years, — ( "mingled for her hufband the fame deadly draught, ( which fhe had compofed for his father V Yet all that we have heard of this before, was merely in thefe words : f the death of Conftantine was imput- c ed to poifon 7 / He was then fuppofed to be poifonedj it is now certain that he was, and by whom -, even by Theophano. And ' bis Jon Rg- * inanus,' as Mr. Gibbon told us before, was the perfon f Jufpetled of anticipating his inheritance 8 / c 77^«Romanusis/«/pi?^?c , Jofpoifoninghis father; now his wife Theophano is ajferted to have poifoned him. • c The promife — w&s ftolen by a dexterous emif- * fary from the ambition of the patriarch -, Xiphilin 1 p. 50. * p. 53. 3 p. 60. 4 p. 30. 3 p. 31. 6 p. 48. 7 p. ibid. 8 ibid. c at 7& Review of Gibbon's HiJiory 9 e at nrft alleged/ &c. ; f but a whifper— relaxed c his fcruples, and he — refigned the important paper \* How could he refign, what had been previouflyy^/fc/z from him ? There are aifo fome abjurdities. c By the im- ' pofition of holy orders, the grandfon of Heraclius c was difqualified for the purple ; but this ceremo- c ny, which feemed to profane the Jacraments of the € church/ &c, z -, where the papist unites with the deift, in making orders to be one of the Jacraments y and in fneering at them. c To her bloody deed, ' fuperftition has attributed a darknefs of feventeen c days, — as if the fun — could fympathife with the c atoms of a revolving planet V where the author plainly betrays himfelf to be, what he fo much en- deavours to conceal, an actual and ablblute atheist. — c Nor can we blame his pufillanimous refigna- ' tion, fince a Greek Chrifiian was no longer mafier of 1 his life''. This is another vindication of that horrible doctrine of self-murder, which this hif- torian has fo formally juftined before. And we thus fee him mounting in this fingle chapter, by a natural gradation of profligacy, from popery to deifm, to atheifin, and to felf-muider. Chapter the second, or forty-ninth. — This contains the hiftory of what? of the weft em empire again. We have an account 1 p. 6o. * p. II. s p. 27. 4 p. 84. of Vol. IV. V. VI. \to. 79 of the Lombards, of the Romans, and of the Franks. We fee the Remans renouncing the fo- vereignty of Conftantinople, the Lombards fup- porting it and attacking Rome, and the Franks marching over the Alps, crufhing the Lombards, giving the popes a fovereignty over Ravenna, and erecting for themfelves a new empire in the weft. And we have the general hiftory of this, of France, of Germany, and of Italy, to the fourteenth century. Thus doth the ghoft of the weftern empire, conti- nue to haunt us ftill. The tomb, in which we faw it quietly in-urn'd, Hath op'J its ponderous and marble jaws To let it out again. And we need only repeat what we have faid fo often before, that Mr. Gibbon was merely to give us, ac- cording to his own acknowledgment, £ the mod * important circumftances of the decline and fall' of the eaftern empire. Indeed in all this long de- tail of things foreign and adventitious, we lofe fight of the eaftern empire almoft entirely. We have only now and then a folitary and incidental mention of it. Our eye was very lately promifed, to be c always fixed upon the city of Conftantinople ;' yet we have merely one or two fquinting looks at it. And Mr. Gibbon forgets equally his firft and his laft promifes, in his overbearing love of the excentric and the extravagant. The harjh or faffs language in this chapter, may be thus exemplified : c the ample meajure of the ex- ' archate/ 8o Review of Gibbon* s Hi/lory, € archateY for the largefi dimenfions; f he fecretly c edified the throne of his fucceffbrs * ; 'his corona- e tion-oath reprefents a promife to maintain 3 , &c. inftead of contains ; c the foundation,' meaning the erellion, c of eight bifliopricks — define [defines]' for marks, f on either fide of the Wefe r, the bounds of • ancient Saxony 4 / and £ each city filled the meafure ' of,' for was commenfurate with, c her diocefe or dif- f tritt s : The following pafTages are proofs of obfcurity. — P. 90. ' the gracious and often fupernatural fa- f vours, which, in the popular belief, were fhower- c ed round their tomb,' that of faints and martyrs, ' conveyed an unquejiionable fantlion of the devout ' pilgrims,' &c. What does this mean ? P. 116, ' at the next affembly, the field of March or ' of May, his injuries were,' &c. P. '134, e the ' reign of Adrian the Firft furpafTes the meafure of ' paft or fucceeding ages,' in what ? in profligacy, we fuppofe from the context, but in number of years, as the note intimates. P. 159, * their revenue, c from minute and vexatious prerogative, was fcarcely ' fufficient,' &c. Nor are thefe pafTages more dark in the tranfcript, than they are in the original. Contradictions. In this chapter we come back to thofe fubftantial pillars of hiftory, notes and refe- rences. For want of them, the hiftorical edifice be- fore was only like a fairy fabric, reared upon a foun- dation of air, and glittering with the colours of the 1 P. 123. *p. 134. 3 p. 136. 4 p. 143. 5 p. 160. rainbow. Vols. IV. V. VI. ito. 8r rainbow. But, as we recover our notes, we return alfo to the old oppofition between them and the text. £ The inhabitants of the dutchy of Spoleto c fought a refuge from the dorm, declared themfehes c the fervants and fubjects of St. Peter, and com- c pletedy by this voluntary furrender, the prefent circle ( of the ecclefiaftkalftate'.' This is peremptory, for the furrender of themfehes and of their country to the popes. Yet the note, after citing the paffage on which the text is founded, contradicts the lat- ter in this manner : c it may be a que/Hon, whether ' they gave their own perfons or their country' — — { The king of the Franks and Lombards averted f the inalienable rights of the empire; and, in his c life and death, Ravenna, as well as Rome, was c numbered in the lift of his metropoiitical cities \* Ravenna then was confidered by Charlemagne, as his city. Yet the note fays thus of him : c Charle- c magne folicited and obtained from the proprietor £ Adrian the Firft, the mofaics of the palace of Ra- c venna.' c A fynod of three hundred bifhops was c affembled at Frankfort 3 .' But the fubjoined note fays, that this number c mull include, not only the 1 bifjops, but the abbots, and even the principal lay* * men.' — So much are the notes and the text, play- ing at crofs purpofes with each other ! Abfurdity. — * Both Selden — and Montefquieu— * reprefent Charlemagne, as the firft legal author of f tithes. Such obligations have country gentle- ■ men to his memory !' Country gentlemen have ' p. 124. * ibid. 3 p. 131. G neither $2 'Review of Gibbon* s Hiftory, neither obligation, nor difobligation, ro the memo- ry of Charlemagne, for this; iinlefs Mr. Gibbon thinks that there are any of them, who poflefTed their eftates before Charlemagne irnpofed the pay- ment of tithes. If they bought or inherited them, with the burden already upon them ; they are not injured. But indeed it is only ignorance, in Mr. Gibbon, Montefquieu, and Selden; that could at- tribute the firft payment of tithes to Charlemagne. He reigned from the middle of the eighth century, to the beginning of the ninth. And Boniface, arch- bifliop of Mentz but a native of England, who was born in 670 ; teftifies tithes to have been paid by the Englifh in his time, one whole cent my at leaft be- fore Charlemagne. They were paid undoubtedly ; and legally too, or they would not have been paid at all; from the firft legal eflablifhment of Chriftiani- ty, in the ifland and on the continent '. Chapter the third, or fiftieth. — This propofes to give us f the genius i of the Arabian prophet, the manners of his na- ? tion, and the fpirit of his religion}' which < in- * volve the caufes of the decline and fall of the eaft- * ern empire \' We have accordingly, up to p. 1 96, an account of Arabia, its geography, its man- ners, its hiftory, &c. To p. 219 we have Maho- met's parentage, life, and Koran, defcribed ; to p. 237 the fuccefs of Mahomet in converting his own family, his expulfion from Mecca, his reception at 1 Hift. of Manchefter, 11. quarto, 43.8-^-439. a p. 170. Medina, vols, m v. vi. 4/*. $3 Medina, and his plundering expeditions in the de« ferts of Arabia ; to p. 240 his reduction of Mecca ; and to p. 256 his hiftory to his death. We thus have eighty -fix quarto pages, one eighth of the whole volume, laid out in what is merely the private hif- tory (as if it were) of Mahomet. That the great and Unking principles of Mahometanifm, and the marking features of Mahomet's character and life, fhould have been produced before the reader ; was requifite to the illumination of the hiftory. But nothing more was requifite. And as this might have been executed in a quarter part of the fpace actually taken, fo would it have made a deeper im- preMIon on the reader. But Mr. Gibbon has al- ways an unhappy propenfity to differtation. He loves to fpin his long web of threads, that are rea- dy to break at every touch ; while he lays his hif- tory fairly to flumber. He forgets, in his travels through Arabia, and during his refidence in it, that he is writing the hiftory of the decline and fall of the Roman empire ; that, if one foot of his hiflori- cal compafTes may be ftretched with propriety, for a Ihort time, into the deferts there, it can only be for a Ihort time, and the other mull remain cen- tered and fixed at Conftantinople all the while j and that his own reafon has prefcribed, and his own pen has promifed, to dwell only upon the ( important/ and the f molt important,' circumftances of its de- cline and fall. But Mr. Gibbon has inflamed the abfurdity of this devious chapter, by giving us a lift and an ac- count of Mahomet's fucceflbrs, Abubeker, Omar, G 2 Othman, §4 Review of Gibbon s Hi/iory, Othman, and AH, to p. 262; with an account of the civil war between the Mahometans, p. 262 — 265 j the fuccefiion of Moawiyah, and the change of government from elective to hereditary, p. 266 — 27 1 ; all f anticipated' confefTedly, and therefore containing a hint in p. 262, that the Mahomet- ans had now reduced f Perfia, Syria, and Egypt/ and in p. 267, that they were even befieging Con- ftantinoplej when we have hardly feen them yet breaking out from Arabia. This c anticipation' feems to be purely the refult of wantonnefs, as we are afterwards to attend the progrefs of the Maho- metan arms, and to accompany the armies of thofe very men, Ali, Othman, Omar, and Abubeker, in their reduction of the countries. And the only rea- fon, which he has affigned for this act of wanton- nefs, is this ; ' that the merit and misfortunes of Ali 1 and his defendants lead him to anticipate, in this f place, the feries of the Saracen caliphs.' The reafon appears as trifling, as the conduct is extra- vagant. The hiftory in this chapter carries a peculiar air of objcurity with it. It is very frequently unintelli- gible. And we are ready to invoke CEdipus, to come and explain the enigmatic pafTages. But we paTs over the obfcure exprejfions, and alfo the falfe language^ in order to mark more fully fome contra- dictions and fome abjurdities. 1 Mahomet placed himfel£ with Abubeker, on a 1 throne or pulpit '.' So fays the text. But what adds tha note ? c The place, to which Mahomet retired 1 p. 232. c during Vols. IV. V. VI. ito. 85 1 during the aftion, is ftyled by Gagnier — umbra- c culum> une loge de bois avec une forte. The fame c Arabic word is rendered by Reifke, — by folium, c fuggejlus editior-, and the difference is cf the ut- ' moft moment, for the honour both of the inter- c prefer and the hero.' Yet without fettling or at- tempting to fettle, by arguments in the note, this 1 difference of the utmoft moment j' Mr. Gibbon has decided it without any argument in the text, and fixed it to be ' a throne or pulpit.' And then the note comes to decide againjl this decifion, to in- timate the place may be fome fried or cabin of wood, apd to fay that Mahomet c retired' to it during the action. Text. The f dream of a nocturnal journey is fe- c rioufly defcribed, as a real and corporeal tranfac- S tion V Note. f The nocturnal journey is cir- ( cumfiantially related by Abuifeda, — who wijhes to c think it a vifion. — Yet the Koran, without nam- ' ing either heaven, or Jerufalem, or Mecca, has f only dropt a myfterioui hint, laus illi qui tranfiulit ' fervum fuum ab oratorio Haram ad oratorium remo- c tijfimum. — A (lender bafis for the aerial ftructure c of tradition ! ' Mr. Gibbon firft make: the journey- to be a dream. He then refers to Abuifeda, who makes it a reality ; circumftantially relating it, and only wifhing, from the grofs abfurdity, to refoive it (if he could) into a dream. And he next produces a paffage from the Koran, which fhews it decifive- ly to be a reality. He produces it in confirmation of the text, and in evidence of its being a dream. Yet 1 p. 211. G 3 it $6 Review of Gibbon's Hif cry, it proves it not to be a dream, in the plainer!: man- ner. The paffage praifes God, for translating his fervant from the oratory Haram, &c. j < tranjlulit c fervum fuum ab oratorio Haram,' &c. And Mr. Gibbon, who fays the Koran mentions not Mecca, is deceived by his inattention • the f oratorium Ha- ram' being the temple of Mecca, which is called in Arabic Masjad al Haram, or fimply Al Haram and Haram, the facred temple ' j and Mr. Gibbon him- felf accordingly carrying Mahomet in the text, * from * the' very c temple of Mecca 2 , This dream, as Mr. Gibbon calls it, he thus de- fcribes in fhort. f A myftenous animal, the- Borax, *■ conveyed him from the temple of Mecca to that of Jerufalem ; with his companion Gabriel, he ' fucceflively afcended the feven heavens, and re- * ceived and repaid the falutations of the patriarchs, ' the prophets, and the angels, in their reipective € manfions.' But let us dwell a little more parti- cularly on this fubjecr, than Mr. Gibbon chufes to do. The dreams of fuch a Homer as this in theo- logy, are worth our attention. And as a narrative of this nofturnal journey will ufefully expofe the credulity of thofe, who, like Mr. Gibbon, think * a ' philofophical theift might fubferibe tae popular f creed of the Mahometans ? ; fo I lhaii foon fhew it to be a reality, even in the opinions of the Ma- hometans themfelves, and to form a fundamental article in that very creed. Al Borak then was an 1 Modern Univerfal Hift. i. 207, 74, and 28, oftavo. * p. 311. 3 p. 204. animal Vols. IV. V. VI. 4to. 87 r.nimal, which had a man's face, a horfe's jaws, eagle's wings, and eyes like liars ; which could move as fwift ac the lightning, but was informed with a rational foul, yet had not naturally the power ofjpeech ; which begged of Mahomet to be introduced into heaven at the day of judgment, and to which Mahomet actually promifed a place there. This hippogryffin of Mahomet's carried him to the temple of Jerufalem, where he met Abraham, Mo- fes, and our Saviour, with a number of prophets and angels. Thefe all went to prayer with him. He then afcended without the beaft, and with only the angel Gabriel, to the firft heaven ; where he law angels of all forts and lhapes. Some were in the form of birds y and fome in that of beaft s, being the angels that interceded for birds and beaft s reflective- ly. One of the former was a ccck, being the angel of cocks ;. and of fo prodigious a fize, that with his head he touched the fecond heaven, though a journey of Jive hundred years above the firft. In the fecond heaven he faw another angel, whofe head reached up to the thirds though equally a journey of five hundred years diji ant from it. In the third, he faw another, who was fo large and big, that the fpace between his eyes only, was a diftance equal to a journey offeven- ty thoufand days ; an angel, according to the propor- tions of this part of his body, that could not pojfibly have ilocd within any one, even of Mahomet's heavens. In the fourth heaven he faw an angel, as tall as any before, and reaching equally in height a journey of Jive hundred years. In the fifth and fixth he faw no G 4 more 8 8 Review of Gibbon's HiJlory y more of thefe tall angels. But, in the feventh, he faw one with Jeventy thoujand heads, Jeventy thoujand tongues in every head, and jeventy thoujand dijiincl 'voices coming at the fame time from every tongue-, and another with a million of heads, a million of tongues, and a million of voices. And, as he faw A- braham, Mofes, and our Saviour, at Jerufalem ; fo he faw Adam in the firft heaven, our Saviour again, and John, in the fecond, David and Solomon in the third, Aaron and Enoch in the fifth, Mofes again in the fixth, Abraham again, and again our Saviour, in the feventh -, and recommended him/elf to the prayers of our Saviour, though all the other prophets and faints recommended themjelves to Ma- homet's prayers. So truly in its fubjlance is this nocturnal journey a viftcn and a dream, even the dream of ficknefs, and the vifion of infanity ! Yet it was all related by Mahomet, as a reality. He re- lated it the next morning. But it was received, even by the credulous Arabs, with a general burfl of con- tempt. Some laughed at the extravagance of the fiction. Some were indignant at the effrontery of the impofture, Mahomet was very properly chal- lenged therefore, to afcend up to the heavens again, not by night but by day, and in the fight of them all. Yet this bold fiction was the grand hinge, up- on which the prophetic character of the impoftor turned. Could he not induce them to fwallow fuch fictions as thefe, he would have refigned his title of a prophet, and have funk into a mere warrior. But they did fwallow it. Their credulity was even as gigantic, Vols. IV. V. VI. 4M 89 gigantic, as his falfehoods. And as Abubeker vouch- ed at the time, for the truth and reality of all that Mahomet had related, when (according to Mr. Gibbon himfeif in a dijiant paffage) < the veracity of 1 Abubeker confirmed the. religion of the prophet ! „ s and as Mahomet introduces God in two parts of the Koran, fwearing by the itars, &c. to the truth of Mahomet's admiffion into his prefence : lb, even in the early days of Omar the fecond fucceffbr to Ma- homet, a Mahometan general alleges for the fur- rendery of Jerufalem tahim, that * Mahomet him- 1 felf went from it in one night to heayen ;' all the Mahometans in general have ever fince confidered a disbelief of this journey, to be a difoelief of the Koran itfelf ; and all the Turks in particular obferve a grand feftival to this day, on the twentieth night of their month Rajed, for the very night in which this journey was performed \ To fuch fottifhnefs of credulity are thofe reduced, who would fly from the myfteries of Chriflianity to the monfters of Ma- hometanifm ! Mahomet, fays Mr. Gibbon, in this nocturnal journey, l pafTed the veil of unity, and approached ' within two bowfioots of the throne, and felt a cold ' that pierced him to the heart, when his /boulder * was touched by the hand of God V What is this ' veil of unity,' and whence did Mr. Gibbon derive • P. 220. % Prideaux's Life of Mahomet, p. 53 — 66, 2d Edit. 1697; and Modern Univ. Hilt. 1. 65 — 81, and 4.24. ?p. 211. it? 5<> R&view of Cihfons Hijlory,. it ? There is no fuch c veil/ I apprehend, in the Mahometan accounts of this journey. Nor what a c veil of unity* means, is it eafy to guefs. And I iiifpect Mr. Gibbon to have borrowed it, by fome ftrange mifconception, from the feventy thoufand veils, that this madman reprefents to have been before the face of God V As to the < two bow-fhots,' thefe have been corrected by a late author into two bow- lengths 2 j though this very author has forgot to a- dopt his own correction, in the progrels of the hi£ tory 3 . And, as to the hand of God applied to the fhoulder of Mahomet, God is faid to have put one of Ms hands upon the fhoulder, and another upon thg Ireaft, of Mahomet 4 . • In the prophetic flyle, which ufes the prejent or e paft for the future, Mahomet had faid, appropin- ' quavit hora, etfciffa eft lima. — This figure of rhe- * toric has been converted into a faft, which is faid * to be attefted by the moft refpectable witnefles.— « * The feftival is ftill celebrated by the Perfians V Mr. Gibbon here, and in the paflage preceding, miitakes totally the nature of the Koran. The hints in it have not been made c the bafis of tradi- * tions.' The traditional is the full ftory, and the Koran contains only the abjlratt of it. We fee this very evident in the paflage before. The whole hiftory of Mahomet's nocturnal journey, from the temple of Mecca to the feventh heaven ; was related 1 PrideauXj p. 63. * Modern Univ. Hill. I. 76. 3 Ibid. 1.424. * ibid. 1.76. 212. ty Vols. IV. V. VI. 4/0. 91 ly himfelf the very next morning, to his countrymen of* Mecca. Yet the Koran contains no more ac- count of it, than this general one j that God ' tranf- * tulit fervum fuum ab oratorio Haram ad ora- 1 torium remotifiimiim ;' not as Mr. Gibbon has wildly averted before, f without naming either Hea- c ven, or Jerufalem, or Mecca,' which would make the whole moft amazingly ridiculous ; but naming Mecca (as I have already fhewn) by its cuftomary appellation among the Arabs, Masjed al Haram, or temple Haram ; and equally naming Jerufalem afturedly, by its equally cuftomary appellation a- mong them, of Masjed al Akfi or Akfa, the farther temple, or the temple moft remote, as the temple of Jerufalem is aclually denominated by the Ara- bian Abulfeda himfelf 1 . In the ideas of Mahomet himfelf, and of his followers for ages, there were on- ly two temples in the world worthy of their notice, that of Mecca, and this of Jerufalem - 3 that they called the Holy Mofque, and this they denominated the Farther one. This paffage in the Koran, there- fore, is aclually pofterior in time, to the recital of the ftory the next morning ; is to be explained by the tradition of it j and is accordingly explained fo by the Mahometans themfelves, to this day. And the cafe is nearly fimiiar, with the prefent paffage. It is no prophecy. It is merely, like the former, an intimation of a ftory related by himfelf. Only here the intimation is as full as the relation, and the Koran therefore is a fufficient witnefs of its own * Modern Univ. Hi ft, 3. 504. meaning. §1 Review of Gibbon's Hiftory, meaning. The Koran itfelf relates the incident, not as a future, but as a paft, fact. f The hour * hath approached,' it fays, f and the moon hath 4 been fplit afunder j but if they Jee afign, they turn c afide, faying this is a powerful charm ; and they * accufe of impofiure? &c. \ Here the context proves demonftrably, that the prophetic interpreta- tion of the paffage is only a forry fubterfuge of Mr. Gibbon's, equally againft grammar and good-fenfe. Mahomet here appears, actually alleging fuch a mi- racle to have been wrought by him, and confefling the people not to have believed it. Even one of his perfonal followers, Ebn Mafud, affirmed he beheld the miracle with his own eyes j and even faw mount Hara, one of the hills near Mecca, appear at the time between the two divifions of the moon \ Accordingly f it is faid,' Mr. Gibbon himfelf tells us, ' to be attefled by the moft refpectable eye-wit- * nerTes.' And, as the fact is believed by the Ma- hometans in general 5 -, fo Mr Gibbon again allows < the feftivai' of it, to be, f ftill celebrated by the '*. Ferfians' in particular. So unhappy is Mr Gib- bon, in ill his attempts to flrip Mahcmetanifm, of its pretended miracles of action, and its real prodi- gies of abfurdity ! Text. . ' A fmall portion of ground, the patri- 1 mony of two orphans, was acquired by gift or pur- f chafe.' Note. c Prideaux — reviles the wicked- * nefs of the impoftor, who defpoiled two poor or- 1 Modern Univ. Hift. i. 62. * Ibid. ibid. 3 Ibid. ibid, and 84- 4 i phansj Vols. IV. V. VI. 4J0. 93 ' phans, the fons of a carpenter j a reproach which c he drew from the Difputatio contra Saracenos, c compofed in Arabic before the year 1 130 ; but the f honeft Gagnier — has Jbezvn> that they were deceived e by the word Al Nag jar, which fignifies in this c place, not an obfcure trade, but a noble tribe of c Arabs. The defolate ftate of the ground is de- c fcribed by Abulfeda; and his worthy interpreter ' has proved, from Al Bochari, the offer of a -price ; 4 from Al Jannabi, the fair pur chafe ; and from Ah- ' med Ben Jofeph, the payment of the money by the c generous Abubeker. On thefe grounds the prophet ' muft be honourably acquitted' .' We here lee the zeal, with which Mr. Gibbon, taking the honeft and worthy Gagnier for his aflbciate in the work, labours to prove the innocence of Mahomet in this tranfac- tion. But the evidence of Gagnier in favour of Ma- homet, had been fairly Hated before in Modern Univerfal Hiftory z ; and the reader too candidly left to judge, between the accufation and the defence. Mr. Gibbon therefore has only the merit, of pro- ducing the evidence at fecond hand. Nor can we after all fay with Mr. Gibbon, that Mahomet c muft c be honourably acquitted.' To affert that Pri- deaux and his author f were deceived' into the fto- ry, by miftaking the name of an Arab tribe for the name of a bufinefs ; is only to trifle with the reader. A circumjhance, like this, cannot in the remoteft de- gree affect the fubftance of the flory. And, even in the point itfelf, whether a writer, who (as we fhall * p. 2*7. * Vol. 1. p. 95, 96. inftantly 94 Review of Giblotfs Hjfiory y inftantly fliew) lived in the court of a Saracen ea-» liph, was likely to confound the name of a Saracen tribe, with that of a particular profeffion, and to know the very language of the country, worfe than an European of the prefent century 5 or whether Peter of Toledo, who tranflated the Arabic original into Latin, was likely to know it worfe than Gagnier, who never Jaw the original^ and only gueflfed at it through and againfl the tranflation j let common-fenie decide. • It is recorded as an inftance of his [Ma- c hornet's] injuftice/ fays Prideaux on the authori- ty of Difputatio Chriftiani, c. 4, * that he violently * difpofTefTed certain poor orphans, the children of ' an inferior artificer a little before deceafed, of the * ground on which it,' a mofque at Medina, * flood j ' and fo founded this firft fabric for his worfhip, * with the like wickednefs as he did his religion V The work here alleged by Prideaux, fays Mr. Gib- bon, was written ( before the year 1130.' It was in all probability written very long before, as it was then tranflated out of Arabic into Latin. It was written too, by one who actually held an office in the court of a Saracen caliph ; and was addreffed by him to his friend, a Mahometan \ It forms therefore a very important authority. Againfl: it, is produced Al Bochari, who died in 869, Al Jannabi, whofe hiflory comes down to 1588, and Ahmed Ben Jo- feph, who finifhed his in 1599 3 . The only witnefs 1 Prideaux's Life of Mahomet, p. 76. * Prideaux's Letter to Deifts, p. 163. 3 Ibid. ibid. p. 157, 159, and 154. of Vols. IV. V. VI. &. 9| of moment againft him, therefore, is Al Bochari. And he attefts only ' the offer of a price f which is very confident with the relation of Prideaux's au- thor, and indeed implies it. A price being only offered, and not given-, it being inadequate, I iup~ pofe, and therefore refilled j the ground was taken away by violence. Nor, even if we admit all the three witneffes in favour of Mahomet, can he be acquitted. Al Bochari alleges, that a price was .of- fered. But Al Jannabi denies this, fays a price was given, and fo c a fair purchafe' was made by Ma- homet. And then Ahmed Ben Jofeph comes, con- tradicts Al Jannabi, and avers no purchafe to have been made by Mahomet, but the purchafe to have been actually made by Abubeker, he paying the mo- ney. Thus do Mahomet's witnefies confound them- felves, and confirm the accufation. But let us con- fider the ftory, upon the face of all thefe teftimo- nies united. From Al Bochari we learn, that a price was offered by Mahomet, and not accepted by the owners. From Prideaux's author we findj that the land was then taken away by Mahomet. From Ahmed Ben Jofeph we understand, that this violence was urged againft Mahomet, as it is actu- ally urged by Prideaux's author ; and that therefore Abubeker paid for it the money, which the owners had demanded for it. For this reef on Al Jannabi de- clares the ground to haye been fairly purchased. And, as this appears to be nearly or wholly the real date of the cafe, from Mahomet's living ten years after he had feized the ground, and buik x his 9 6 Review of Gibbon's Hi/lory, his mofque upon it \ and from Abubekcr's then fuc- ceeding Mahomet, and then paying the money ; fo the whole reflects all the difgrace upon Mahomet, that Prideaux had caft upon him for it. Mr. Gib- bon thus appears unfortunate again, in his zeal for the honour of Mahometanifm ! Nor is it worth while perhaps to notice his confufednefs of ideas, in all this. His text fpeaks of the land being c ac- * quired by gift or purcbafe.' Yet his note endear vours to difprove all c gift,' by proving the whole a c purchafe.' And, even though he brings feveral authorities, for a price being either offered or given for the land; he intimates the land to be worth no price at all, as c the dejolate ftate of the ground,' he fays < is defcribed by Abulfeda.' So much has the Mahometan here confounded the critic, in Mr. Gibbon ! c A friendly tribe, inftructed (I know not how) in * the art of fieges, fupplied him with a train of bat- ' tering rams and military engines, with a body of c five hundred artificers V He mould have faid in propriety, juft as the Mod. Univ. Hift. fays, f with * battering rams, catapults, and all ether military c machines employed in fuch operations ; together e with the moft Jkilful engineers to play them- y with 1 which he was fupplied by the tribe of Daws, the c the moft famous of all the Arabs for fuch artificers '.' This would have refolved his difficulty at once, con- cerning the derivation of fuch knowledge to the 1 Prideaux's Life of Mahomet, p. 88. *p. 241. 'Mod. Univ. Hift. 1. 185. tribe. Vols. U\ V VI. 4/0, 97 tube. It was common to all the Arabs. Only this tribe was the mofi famous among them for it. And accordingly Mahomet appears upon another occafion, and in another bijlory, to have { battered c the wall' of a town c fome day's, with his rams c and other military engines '.' P. 233. * Drams of filver.' Mr. Gibbon has here, and in 246, &c. &c. &c. confounded a weight with a coin. Thefe c drams offilver' were filver drach- m and to fave * their lives embraced the impofture V But let me add what is ftill more decifive perhaps, that it is dated in the fourth month of the fourth year of the Hegira, or flight of Mahomet; when the Hegira was not made an asra of computation, till eighteen years after the flight 4 . The inftrument is thus proved to be a forgery, by thofe ftrongeft fignatures of a for- gery, two falfe dates ! Mr. Gibbon's text, there- fore, is entirely overthrown, and his note is com- pletely fuperfeded. His remark too, concerning this diploma, from c Abulpharagius quoting the * impoflor's treaty with the Neftorian patriarch * and his reply to it, from * Abulpharagius being c the primate of the Jacobites;' is all confufion. Abulpharagius was not f primate of the Jacobites.' He v/as merely uphyfician among them 3 . And the treaty with the Neftorian patriarch, was fix years af- ter the date of this diploma 4 . c The perpetual independence of the Arabs has been c the theme ofpraife, among fir angers and natives ; c and the arts of controverfy transform this fingular c event, into a prophecy and a miracle, in favour of * the pofterity of Iihmael. Some exceptions, that can * neither be difTembled nor eluded, render this * Prideaux's Life of Mahomet, p. 157—158. * Compare Prideaux's Life, p. 158 with p. 78. 3 Ibid. Letter to Deifts, p. 153. 4 Modern Univ. Hift. 1. 205, 206. H 2 * mode i oo Reviezv of Gibbons liijhry, ' mode of reafoning as indifcreet as it is iuperflu- t ous.' He then mentions the exceptions, and adds : f yet ihefe exceptions are temporary or local; the body f OF THE NATION HAS ESCAPED THE YOKE OF THE ( MOST POWERFUL MONARCHIES ; the aims of Sefof- c tris and Cyrus, of Pompey and Trajan, could never 1 atchieve the conquejt of Arabia; the prefent ibve- c reign of the Turks may exercife a fhadow of ju- c rifdiction, but his pride is reduced to foticit the c friendfhip of a people, whom it is dangerous to pro- 1 voke and fruitlefs to attack '.' Thus does Mr. Gibbon, like a child at play, knock down his own Fabrication of cards with his own hand ! But, as he adds in a note, c a nameleis doctor (UniverfaJ Hift. c Vol. X X. oclavo edition) has formally demcnflrat- * ed the truth of Chriftianity, by the independence f f of the Arabs. A critic, beiides the exceptions of c fa6l,' which Mr. Gibbon has already allowed to be only temporary and local, and not to relate to the main body of the people ; l might difpute the meaning 'of the text (Gen. xvi. 12.),' when he allows the fail to be flriclly confonant to the -interpretation, c die 1 extent of the application,' when his own allowance mews this, ' and the foundation of the pedigree,' when lie does not dare to deny it, and when the very Arabs themfelves have always affirmed, and do Hill affirm it. Mr. Gibbon, we fee, could not be quiet becaufe he was beaten. He therefore returns to af- fault the baffling writer, a fecond time. He thus a fecond time proclaims his own rage, and betrays his own convictions, in the fame inftant. And the fer- ■ P. 178-179. pent, Vols. IV V. VL A io. iot pent, flill gnawing upon the file, and ftiil unable to break it, expofes his folly in his feeblenefs, and fhrinks into his hole covered with blood and fhame. * The writers of the Modern Univerfal Hiftory (Vol. I. and II.) have compiled, in 850 folio pages, the life of Mahomet and the annals of the caliphs. They enjoyed the advantage of reading, and Jometimes correcting) the Arabic texts ; yet, notwithftanding their high-founding boafts, I can- not find, after the conclufion of my work, that they have afforded much (if any) additional infor- mation. The dull mafs is not quickened by a fpark of philofophy or tafte ; and the compilers indulge the criticifm of acrimonious bigotry, a- gainft Boulainvilliers, Sale, Gagnier, and all who have treated Mahomet with favour, or even juf- tice\" The author of this arraigned portion of the Modern Univerfal Hiftory, I can inform the public, was the fame who afferted the independence of the Arabs, in lb fubftantial a manner ; the late Mr. Swinton of Oxford. Mr. Gibbon is angry at both thefe works, for the fame reafon ; the honour- able zeal for Chriftianity and for truth, that per- vades them. Yet in the Mahometan hiftory, it feems, Mr. Gibbon has not derived much) if any, in- formation from Mr. Swinton. If he has derived any, he has certainly ficlen it ; fcr he has made no acknowledgments. That he has however derived much) I am inclined to think from his own expref- 1 P- z 75- H 3 fions. io2 Review of Gibbon's Hiftory, fions. And indeed how can it be otherwife, when (according to Mr, Gibbon himfelf) Mr. Swinton had f the advantage of reading, and Jometimes cor- f retting, the Arabic text V But I could mention many paflages, in which Mr. Gibbon has apparent- ly copied Mr. Swinton. I fhall haftily cite one. In p. 221 Mr. Gibbon uies the word ' vizir/ as an appropriate term among the Arabs, for a deputy and fupporter; and fays in the note, that he ' endea- c vours to preferve the Arabian idiom, as far as he c can feel it himfelf in a Latin or French tranflation.' But he had the idiom preferved before, and the word adopted m an Englifh hiflory. Mr. Swinton in i. 47 — 48, at this very point of the hiflory, had ufed the term j and even fubjoined a note to explain the meaning. i Who,' fays Mahomet there to his few followers, { will be my wazir or afliftant — and be- c come my brother and my vicegerent ?' and ( the * word wazir or vifir> adds a note, — ( properly * Agnizes a porter or carrier of burdens j but, in a 4 more noble fenie, it is taken for a privy eounjellor, s or rather a prime mini/ler, who is the perfon that ' bears the whole burden of the administration.' At ' the commencement of the Turkifh empire, — the ( office of vif.r was finally eftabliihed, and conti- c nues to this day. None of thoje authors who have * favoured the public with a hiftory of wazirs, feem ' to have traced thisfuperemwent dignity to its original ' fource.' But I could point out alfo many paflages of Mr. Gibbon's hiflory, in which he might have borrowed to his advantage from Mr. Swinton. I have Vols. IV. V. VI. 4/0. 103 have actually pointed out a remarkable one before. And upon the whole, and after examining both the hiftories, I am compelled to fay j that tlie darknefs, the abruptnefs, and the unfairnefs of Mr. Gibbon's, render the reading of Mr. Swinton's abfolutely necef- fary, to the inveftigation of the hiftory and the ac- quirement of the truth. Mr. Swinton indeed does take pains, to expofe the folly and to repel the effrontery of Sale, Gagnier, and Boulainvilliers, thole half-re- negadoes from Chriftianity and from reafon. This was requifite to the purity of the hiftory. But I could produce many inftances of his candour and fairnefs. I have actually produced a ftriking one .before. And, as to his c acrimony,' I am glad that Mr. Gibbon feels > and I am lure that he retort s> it. But that hiftory, it feems f is not quickened by a ' fpark of philofophy and tafte.' It certainly is wanting in vivacity and fentiment. Mr. Swinton was weak enough, to give us fubftantial criticifms for ' tafte,' and to fubftitute folid truths for < philo- ( fophy.' And, with all this weabiefs, he has actu- ally given us a body of hiftory, that wants indeed fome nice proportions, fome graces of movement, and fome brilliancy of afpecl ; and that yet will be furveyed with profit and iatisfaction, when the dref- fed and painted dolls of the prefent day, will be caft away with the fantaftic faihion that produced them. I have more than once before noted the ftrong turn of obJcenity t that runs through Mr. Gibbon's hiftory. I have too much occafion, to notice it here again, I will venture to cite a couple of pafTages. H 4 c Seventy-two 104' Review of Gibbon's Hiftory, f Seventy-two hcuris, or black-eyed girls/ fays Mr. Gibbon concerning the fenfual paradife of the Ma- hometans, ' of refplendent beauty, blooming youth, ' virgin purity, and exquifite fenfibility, will be cre,- ' ated for the ufe of the meaneft believer ; a mo- ? ment of pleafure will be prolonged to a thoufand ( years, and his faculties will be increafed an hundred ' fold to render them worthy of his felicity '.' Mr. Gibbon, we fee, dwells upon the piclure with pecu- liar relifh. I even fufpect him to have added frcm his own pencil, two of the ftrongeft ftrokes in* it. But in the next page he returns to his feaft of (en- fuality. c Ufelefs would be the refurrection of the ' body/ he fays in his own character or in that of a Mahometan, and perhaps the difference is very little ; c unlefs it were reftored to the poffemon and 1 exercife of its ivorthieft faculties ; and the union of • c fenfual and intellectual enjoyment is requifiie> to com- s plete the happinefs of the double animal^ the perfect * man.' This is iufficient for a talle of Mr. Gibbon's libidinous fpirit. I need only refer to a flight quota- tion of obfcenity in p. 253, and to a very impudent quotation and paffage in p. 254. And Mr. Gib- bon feems to be equally happy, in any opportunity of ftiewing his infidelity, and in any occafion of ex- hibiting; his lafcivioufnefs. *s Chapter fourth or fifcy-firft. In this chapter, after fome premto* jy matter, we have the reduction of Perfia by the 5 P. 218. Saracens Vols. IV. V. VI. tfo. • : io$ Saracens (p. 283 — 295), a point of hiftory, totally foreign to the decline and fall of the Roman empire; and ftill more foreign (if pofiible) to a work that is to confine itfelf to the ' circumftances/ the c im- ' portant,' and even f the moil' important, in the account of this decline and fall. We have then the reduction of Syria (p. 296—331), and of Egypt (p. 331 — 349), by them. We have next their conqueft of Weftern Africa, to the Atlantic (p. 349 — 363); all -as foreign as that of Perfia, becaufe the hiftory of it was finifhed, when we clofed the career of the weftern empire. And we have final- ly the reduction of Spain, equally foreign with both (p. 364 — 381); and fome remarks at the clofe, to fhew the triumph of the Arabick religion over that of Chriftianity (p. 381 — 391). Had Mr. Gibbon materials, he would fwell every chapter of digiefilon into a volume 3 and expand and dilate the hiftory of the decline and fall of the empire, into a large libra- ry. Give me but a foot to ftand upon, fays this hiftcrical Archimedes, and I will fhake and agitate the whole globe at my pleafure. And he writes, and writes, and digrefles, and includes one hiftorical fa- renthejis within another, in an almcft infinite feries. From p. 276 to p. 296, we never think of the empire or emperor at all. In p. 303 we have the firft mention of the latter. We then find him ' in f his palace cf Conftantinople or Anlioch.' And we fee him, like the reader, 4 awakened*- to a fil- ing for the empire. In p. 296 — 331 the fun of Jiiftory rifes and ihines upon the empire. But it th?n io6 Review of Gibbon's Hiftory, then finks in the weft. And it goes to fhine in o- tber worlds. There is alfo great confufion, in the feries of the hiftory. The reduction of Perfia comes firft, and is placed by Mr. Gibbon himfelf in p. 290, 'A. D. 637 — 651.' We are next prefented with f the con- c queft of Tranfoxiana,' as p. 294 tells us, ' A. D. • 710.' But we have then • the invafion of Syria, c A. D. 632/ We thus, like a crab, go backwards in our courfe. And what fhews the abfurdity of fuch an irregular arrangement at once, we fee the emperor in p. 303, c awakened by the invafion of € Syria, the lofs of Bofra, and the danger of Damaf- c cusj' when, in the previous part of the hiftory, e- vents a thoufand times more formidable to him have happened, and the whole empire of the Perfians has been fubdued by the Saracens. Contradictions.— -P. 287. ( The walls of Ctefi- c phon or Madayn, which had refilled the battering- * rams of the Romans, would not have yielded to c the darts of the Saracens.* Mr. Gibbon forgets, that he has already given them battering-rams once; and he knows not that he ought to have given them twice. But this ftrange forgetfulnefs concerning himfelf, and this grofs miftake concerning the A- rabs, who had all the Greek engines o{ war j as we have already feen them, and fhall fee them ftill more, having the Greek coins among them; runs through his whole hiftory here, and lends a falfe co- louring to it. Thus he fays in p. 305, concerning the fiege of Damafcus : ' the art, the labour, the mi- ( litan Vols. IV. V, VI 4to 107 f litary engines ', of the Greeks and Romans, are fel- f dom to be found in the fmple, though fuccefsful, * operations of the Saracens j it was fufficient for * them, to inveft a city with arms rather than with c trenches, to repel the fallies of the befieged, to at- ' tempt a ftratagem or an affault, or to expect the c progrefs of famine or difcontent.' Yet he him- felf in p. 307 fpeaks thus, concerning this very fiege : ( Elmacin — notices the ufe of Bali/l* by the Sara- ' cens (Hift. Saracen, p. 25, 32).' This is in A. D. 634. And A. D. 638 he notices ftill in oppofitio^ to all, that ' the military engines, which battered ' the walls' of Alexandria, * may be imputed to * the art and labour of— Syrian allies' (p. 335J. We have already (ken Mr. Gibbon, making fhrange miftakes about the coins of the Arabians. We fee him making ftill more, in this chapter. P. 289 he fpeaks of c twenty thoufand drams? p. 293 of c drams of filver,' and p. 280 of ' drams * or pieces of filver/ when he ihould have faid, drachma or dirhems of filver 1 ! P. 327 he mentions s two hundred thoufand pieces of gold-,' and p. 279 ' five pieces of gold-,' when he ihould have mentioned as many dirhems of filver 1 . P. 338 he notices ( two pieces of gold/ p, 349 * four millions * three hundred thoufand pieces of gold/ p. n%% ( thoufands of pieces of gold/ p. 294 « two thou- ' fand pieces of gold/ and p. 325 £ three hundred c thoufand pieces of gold/ when he ihould have fpoken more fpecifically, have turned his pieces of f Mod. Univ. Hift. 1, 433, * Ibid. 1.471 and 379. gold 10S Repieiv of Gibbon's Hifiory, gold into denarii or dinars ', and given us the cor-' refpondent value in Englifh money. We fhould then have had fome idea of the iums intended ; and not been left, as we now are, totally in the dark about them. And in p. 381, at laft recovering the fpeci^ fie name, he reckons c twelve millions and forty - * five thoufand dinars or pieces of gold,' to be c a- ' bout fix millions of Iterling money;' when the dinar appears to have been about 13J. 6d. in value \ and the fum confequently is above eight millions. P. 345. Mr. Gibbon notices a point, as notdif- covered by c the felf-fufficient compilers of the ' Modern Univerfal Hiftory.' This is another ftroke at Mr. Swinton. But it cannot hurt his re- putation. I may very fafely lay ltill, that for truth, for facts, and jbmetimes even for charallerijlic facts, we muft refer to Mr. Swinton ; though, for bril<- liancy and pointednefs, we muft go to Mr. Gibbon.. And I cannot refrain from marking with, furprife, the charge of f felf-fuffkiency' from fuch a writer as Mr. Gibbon. He who comes forward .in his text, with fuch an air of fuperior obfervation ; he who fills his notes with an hundred references, quo- tations, fneers, farcafms, and caricatures; and he, who appears in his- notes and text, like another Bri-r dreus, wielding his hundred arms againfl heaven it- felf; even he taxes the felf-Jufficiency of Mr. Swin- ton. And the fact preients us with a wondeiful 1 IVIod. Univ. Hift. 1. 488, Renaudot, 334 ' aurci denarii,' Mod. Univ. Hilt. 1. 433, Ibid. 1 1, 76, « 2000 dinars,' and ibid. 1. 455. * Ibid. 1. 196. picture^ Vs% IF; -V. : VL 4/*. ■ 109 picture, of the blindnefs incident to the human mind v and of the partiality fcftered in the human heart. Mr. Gibbon would otherwife have never prefumed, to charge another with his own dar- ling fin. The giant, in compliment to himfelfi would have fpared the pigmy. And Sir John Cut- ler, that king of mifers, would norhave had the ef- frontery to accufe a prudent ceconomifl, of avarice. P. 344. f Renaudot anfwers for verfions of the c Bible, Hexapla, Catena Pair urn. Commentaries c ( p. 170).' This gives us an inftance, of what I have previoufiy dwelt upon, the unfaithfulnefs of Mr. Gibbon in his references. He has marked in Italics the Italicifed words above. Yet thefe very words are not in Renaudot, p. 170. The paf- fage runs thus : £ Verfionum facrce fcripturas, com- £ mentariorum, hexaplorum, et aliarum ejufmodi £ lucubrationum.' And this ferves ftrongly to con- firm, all that I have faid of Mr. Gibbon before ; fucli a falfification of the paffage as this, being either merely the refult of his habitual carelefTnefs, or the wilful fuggeftion of his farcaftic genius. P. 299. The text mentions f the ringing of c bells.' But the note fays : l I much doubt, whe- c ther this, expreflion can be juftiried, by the text of ' Al Wakidi or the practice of the times.' So far I note the paflages, only to fhew the contradiction between them. But the contradiction is heighten- ed, as the note goes on. And I wifh to afcertain the point denied in it, and fo to vindicate the text in oppofition to the note. c Ad Grascos, fays Du- c cange 1 10 Review of Gibbon's Hiftory, e cange (Gloflar. med. et in fin. [infinite] Gr&- ' citat. torn. I. p. 774) campanarum ufus fe- ' rius tranfit [tran/foV], et etiamnum rarifiimus. * The oldeft example, which we can find in * the Byzantine writers, is of the year 1040 ; ' but the Venetians pretend, that they intro- * duced bells at Conftantinople, in the ninth * century.' This is a ftriking fpecimen of that fpirit of learning, which overlooks the object direct- ly under its feet, while it is gazing for it among the ftars. At the very furrender of Jerufalem to the Arabs, one of the articles impofed by the conquer- ors on the Chriftians, is this j that, c they mall not ' ring, but only toll, their bells '.' Very foon after this event, one Kais being afked by the emperor concerning Mahomet, how at the time he had per- ceived himfelf infpiredj faid that ' fometimes he ' heard a found refembling that of a bell, but * ftronger and fharper V Then comes c the ring- * ing of bells' in the text, at the fiege of Bofra. And, what is a remarkable conclufion to the whole, only fix pages after Mr. Gibbon has adopted in the text, and refuted in the note, this early ufe of bells ; and in his account of the clofely following fiege of Damafcus j he himfelf fays, that c the fignal was ' given by a ftroke on the great bell 1 .* P. 312. Mr. Gibbon in the text fpeaks of c the * fair of Abyla, about thirty miles from Damafcus.' ' Dair Abil Kodos,' fays a note, c after retrenching * Mod. Univ. Hift. 1. 429. * Ibid. 1. 449—450. 3 P. 307. « the Vol. IV. V. VI. 4/*. in c the laft word, the epithet holy ; I difcover the A- c bila of Lyfanias, between Damafcus and Helio- * polis ; the name {Abil fignifies a vineyard) con- c curs with the fituation to juftify my conjecture * (Reland Paleftine. torn. 1. p. 307, torn. 11. p. f 525 — 527).' This is all a feries of errors. The place is not a town. It is only a monaftery. Mr. Gibbon's own narrative fhews this plainly, * The ' hermit ,' he fays himfelf p. 3 1 4, * was left alive, in c the Jolitary fcene of blood and devaluation.' Dair Abil Kodos, therefore, cannot be the town of Abilci Lyfani Scurura or Caraw, and being probably the prefent monaflery of Der Mar Taccb to the well of Caraw, and far to the north of Abila '. I have noticed before, the mean and wretched love of objeenity in Mr. Gibbon. He has yet to learn, That want of decency is want of feme. And he mofl fhamefully breaks in upon all decency, in this chapter ; wounding the delicacy of his reader in p. 278, with a long and impudent quotation in Latin, concerning a fcene of Mahometan fenfuality. Senfuality is the life and foul of Mahometanifm. c In the eyes of an inquifitive polytheift/ fays Mr. Gibbon for that very reafon, I doubt not, l it mufl c appear worthy of the human and the divine na- c ture V * It mud appear' peculiarly ' worthy of c the human — nature ;' becaufe it ' reltores' this na- ture even in paradife, as we have feen before, c to c the pofTeffion and exercife of its worthieft facui- c ties V There is an air oiobfeurity in the narration too, that frequently diffracts the reader. We cannot under- Hand the hiflory, unlefs we are previoufly acquaint- ed with it. This obfeurity often lies alfo, in flngle and detached fentences. — c . Perhaps the Perfians,' he fays, { who have been the matters of the Jews, ' would afiert the honour, a poor honour — of being '_ their mailers V I give the paffage as the prefs * Mod. Univ r . Hlft 1 . 392 — 394. ' C'AnvLle's map, and map in Pococke, vol. 2d; corrected, the one by the other. l p. 382. 3 p,'2.i9-. 4 P-3 8 J- Vols. IV. V. VI. 4/0. 113 gives it me. Nor is the context more clear, than the extract. And what is the poflible meaning of it ? Once the proverb of a diamond cutting a diamond, is very indifcreetly ufed in the hifijory. But the vulgarity is at once covered and betrayed, by this pedantry of learning: c it was a maxim among ' the Greeks, that, for the purpofe of cutting a dia- c mond, a diamond was the moft effectual V c In c the name of the city,' Jerufalcm, f the profane c prevailed over the facredY He mould have faid in propriety, that the modern and the Roman pre- vailed over the ancient and the Jewifh. c Jerufa- s lem was known to the devout Chriftians — j but c the legal and popular appellation of Atlia — has c paffed from the Romans to the Arabs.' The name of Jerufalem was known equally to the Arab.Sj as to the Chriftians. Nor was the appellation of^EUa* the legal and popular one. The town indeed is cal- led only JEKdi in Omar's fecund addrefs to the patriarch 5 . But it is called e iElia or Jerufalem/ in his firfi 4 . And as in the nocturnal journey of Mahomet, we apprehend it is denominated Jerufa- lem only s -, fo is it certainly denominated only Jeru- falem by the Roman hiftorian Ammianus Marcelli- nus, about two centuries and an half after Adrian had impofed the name of JElia upon it 6 . Mlia there- fore was the legal name, but Jerufalem the popular 1 P- 3*7- 2 P- 3 2 °- 3 Mod. Univ. Hift. i. 43 1. 4 ibid. 1. 450. s Prideaux's Life, 54 and 64, and Mod. Univ. Hift. 1. Cy and 77. 6 L. xxiii. c, 1, p. 350. Vatefii < apud Hiefoiblymam templum.' I one; H4 Review of Gibbon's Hiflory, one; among the very Romans firft, and confe- quently among the Arabs afterwards. We have feveral inftances difalje langudgc, in this chapter : p. 349, c two authentic lifts, of the pre- c fent and of the twelfth century, are circumfcribed c within,' that is, contain only, c the refpectable c number of two thoufand feven hundred villages * and towns' in Egypt; p. 325 * the luxury of An- * tioch,' for the luxurious Antioch, c trembled and ' obeyed;' p. 327, c bidding an eternal farewell * to Syria, he — abfolved the faith of his fubjects/ or, as he mould have faid, he abfolved his fubj eels — from their fealty ; p. 3 1 8, they c overturned,' for 0- verthrew, ' a detachment of Greeks;' p. 355, c the * well-known cities of Bugia and Tangier define,' for mark c the — limits of the Saracen victories ;' p. 372, ' the maritime town of Gijon was the term ' of the lieutenant of Mufa;' and p. 375, ' from ' his term or column of Narbonne he returned.' We have alfo one contradiclion. P. 374. 'The r Goths were purfued beyond the Pyrencan moun- 1 tains.' So fays the text. But the note doubts this. c I much queftion,' fays the author there, 1 whether Mufa ever palled the Pyrenees.' And yet the text in p. 376 repeats this much queftioned affertion ; and fays pofitively, c he was preparing to s r or even c to equal) in fertility the greater part of Spain V So fpeaks the note. But, in the very next page, the text tells us of fome Spanifo Arabs, whom he calls * a band of Andalufian volunteers "V that P- 432- 4 P- 433- 3 P- 434- 4 P- 434— 43 8 - 5 P- 444—445- 6 P- 447— 44 8 « 7 P-449— 45 2 - 8 p. 452—456. 9 P-435- " P-435- I 4 * they 1 20 Review of Gibbon's Hijlory, € they faw, they tafed, they envied, the fertility of c Crete.' 5 In the — city of Mopfueftia,' fays. the text, c — two hundred thoufand Modems were c deftined to death or flavery •, a furprifmg degree c of population, which muft at lead: include the f inhabitants of the dependent diflricls ', But the note adds : l yet I cannot credit this extreme po- i puloufnefs.' Then why did he infert in it his text ?- We are told, c that the liberal Alma- c mon was fufficiently engaged in the reftorati»n c of domeftic peace, and the introduction of foreign c fcience y and in the very next words are further told, that, c under the reign of Almamon, — the f idands of Crete and Sicily were fubdued by the f Arabs Y c They breathed at Dorylasum, at the diftance c of three days 5 j' that is, three days after their flight they refted at Dorylaeum. c Their retreat f exonerated the quarrel of the townfmen and mer- f cenaries Y that is, occafioned a quarrel between them, as we have heard of none exifling before. 4 From — Elmacin and the Arabian phyficians, fome c dinars as high as two dirhems — may be deduced 'V that is, it may be deduced that there were fuch. ? Three thoufand pieces of gold 6 ' fhould be as in Mr. Swinton, we apprehend, * three thoufand c pounds weight of gold 7 .' * The gold dinars,' which the Saracens now coined in their own mints, "p. 460. a p. 435. 3p-444- 4 p. 461. s p. 397 . * p. 395. ?Mod. Univ. Hift. 11. 78. ? may Vols. IV. V. VI. 4/0. j 2l f may be — equivalent to eight millings of our fler- 1 ling money ' :' when there are nine very fine di- nars, at this time preferved in the Bodleian col- lection at Oxford ; and there was another lately in that of the Rev. Mr. Brown, fellow of Trinity col- lege there ; f whofe value, fays Mr. Swinton ex- prefsly, ' according to weight, amounts to about f thirteen /hillings and fixpence,' Englifh money \ ' I f have reckoned the gold pieces,' meaning (as he Jhould have /aid) the dinars, * at eight fliillings 3 •* when he ought to have reckoned them at leafi, for thirteen ihillings and fixpence. f One million of c pieces of gold,' he mould again have faid dinars., 1 about four hundred thoufand pounds fterljng 4 ;' a- bove feven hundred and fifty thoufand pounds. And a perfon ' conjecrates a fum of two hundred c thoufand pieces of gold, to the foundation of a col- c lege at Bagdad, which he endowed with an ample £ revenue of fifteen thoufand dinars s ;' when the dinars and the pieces of gold are the fame in reality, though they are diftinguifhed fo much by name. Chapter sixth, or fifty-third. This chapter contains an account, of the f royal volumes of Conflantine Porphyroge- * nitus' (p. 464 — 468), and of f the Legatio * Liutprandi, Epifcopi Cremonenfis ad Nicepho- 1 p. 397 2 Modern Univ. Hift. 1. 196. 3 p. 419. *p. ^8. * p. 424. f rum 12.2 [ Review ofGilbotfs Hiftcry, ( rum Phocam' (p. 468), as the fources of intel- ligence for Mr. Gibbon's prefent chapters of the prefcnt ftate of the provinces of the empire (p. 468 — 470) ; of the general wealth and populoufnefs of the empire (p. 471 — 472); of the particular ftate of Peloponnefus (p. 472 — 478); of the revenue of the empire (478—479); of the pomp and luxury of the emperors (p. 479 — 483 ); of the honours and titles of the imperial family (p. 483 — 485) ; of the tides and names for the officerG of the palace, the army, and the ftate (p. 485— 487) ■, of the ado- ration paid to the emperor, recepticn cf ambafTa- dors, procefiions, and acclamations (p. 487 — 490) ; marriage of the defers with foreign nations, ima- ginary law of Conftantine forbidding it, firft excep- tion, fecond, third, &c. (p. 490 — 494) ; defpotic power and coronation-oath cf the emperor (p. 495 —496) ; military force of the Greeks, Saracens, and Franks (p. 496 — 499) j tactics and character of the Greeks (p. 500 — 502) j tactics and charac- ter of the Saracens (p. 502 — 504) j the Franks or Latins (p. 504 — 506); their character and tac- tics (p. 506 — 508) 3 the difufe of the Latin language (p. 508 — 511); the period of ignorance (p. 511 . — 512); the revival cf Greek learning (p. 512 — 515); decay of tafte and genius (p. 515 — 517), and want of national emulation (p. 517 — 518). Thefe are points, fome more proper for a note than the text, fome fo wildly devious from his fub- ject, and all fo petty and uninterefting ; that I need only contraft them with the often cited promife, of giving Vols. IV. V. VI. 4to. 123 giving merely * the circumftances/ the * impor- f tant' circumftances, and the ( mod important,* of the decline and fall of the empire. And we cannot cenfure this labyrinth of digrefiions and mi- nutiae with more fe verity, than by thus contrafling it and the promife together. Objcure. ' At length the approach of their hof- e tile brethren extorted a golden bull, to define the ' rights and obligations of the Ezzerites and Milen- ' gi '.' This is darker than the Delphic oracle. ■ ' Yet the maxims of antiquity are ftill embraced ' by a monarch formidable to his enemies ;' who is this ? < by a republic refpe&able to her allies z ;' which is this ? £ The Franks, the Barbarians, c and the Varangi or Englifo 5 ;' who are thefe ? We know not and we cannot guefs, till we come two chapters afterward, to find fome Scandinavian pirates ' faluted with the title of Varangians or corfairs 4 $' and till in the page following we fee, that * the new Va- 1 rangians were a colony of Englifb and Danes, who * fed from the yoke of the Norman conquer or V * This fcholar mould be likewife a foldier; and ' alas ! Quintus Icilius is no more V We under- derftand not this, till we come to a very diftant page ; where we find that f Q. Icilius (M. Guif- * chard)' analyfed the operations of Cxfar's cam- paigns in Africa and Spain 7 . So flrangely does Mr. Gibbon write, to ufe Angular and extraordinary appellations without any explanation, and then to 'p. 473. a P-479- 3 p. 486—487. ♦p. 561. 5 p. 562. «p. 467. 7 p. 6l6. re-ufe 124 Review of Gibbon s Hijfory, re-ufe them with one. His hiftory is thus like a glow-wormy and carries its light in its tail. Falfe Englijh. He mentions ' a golden bull to ' define the rights and obligations of the Ezzerites * and Milengi, whofe annual tribute was defined,* for fixed, c at twelve hundred pieces of gold y that is, dinars, fomething more than our old marks. * By this impious alliance he accomplifhed,' for com- pleated, < the meafure of his crimes Y ' No con- * fideration could difpenfe from, 1 read with, i the 1 law of Conftantine Y c Difcern and opprefs the ' hjfitude of their foes V Contradiction. After various intimations in the text, concerning the fcandalous conduct of Hugo's family , and after feveral references to and quota- tions from Bifhop Liutprand in the note., as a deci- five authority for them ; Mr. Gibbon fweeps away at once the note and the text from the face of authentic hiftory, by this dafhing ftroke at the clofe j c yet it muft not be forgot, that the Bifhop * of Cremona was a lover of fcandalY Such an un- lucky hand has Mr. Gibbon, in fetting afide his ewn authorities, and in overthrowing his own naiv rative ! Chapter seven tr or fifty-fourth. — This chapter propofes to be ' fome ,J inquiry into the doctrine and flory,' of whom ? f of ' P-473- *P-492. 3 ibid. 4 P 504- s P- 493- 1 the Vols. TV. V. VI. 4/*. 125 * the V autumns' (p. 510). Thefe, c I am confi- dent,' fays Mr. Gibbon, f gloried in their affinity to f the apoftle of the Gentiles' (p. 521). He ac- cordingly recounts their origin (p. 522); their fcrip- tures (p. 523); their not worshipping images, re- lics, or faints; their confidering the true crofs as a mere piece of wood, and the body and blood of Chrift as mere bread and wine (p. 523); their quaker-like rejection of baptifm and communion (p. 523) ; their condemning the Old Teflament, as the invention of men and daemons (p. 524); their allowing the godhead, but denying the per- fonality, of Chrift; giving him a body merely fpi- ritual, that was not bound and could not be cruci- fied (p. 524) ; and holding a god of goodnefs and a god of malignity (p. 524); their loofely fpreading over the provinces of Afia Minor (p. 525), the perfecution of them (p. $26 — 528), their revolt (p. 52S — 530), their decline in one part of the empire (p. 530), and their tranfplantation from another (p. 531); their continuance in their new fettlement (p 53 1 — S33)> their difiemination from thence into the Weft (p. $33 — 534)) their perfecu- tion there (p. 534 — S3^)> anc ^ their being the be- ginners of the Reformation (p. $36) ; with an efTay at the end of all, on the charadter and confequences of the Reformation (p. 536 — 540). This is obvi~ oufly fuch a detail of little and infignificant points, fo far as it relates to the empire at all ; and fuch a mere diifertation on ecclefiaftical hiftory, in all the great remainder 5 as is equally contrary to his promife, 126* Review of Gibbon's Hiftory, promife, and repugnant to his purpofe. The pope claims all temporal authority f in ordine ad fpiri- c tualia.' And Mr. Gibbon, like an infallible mo- narch in hiftory, abfolves himfelf from the obliga- tions of his promifes, abfolves himfelf from all pro- prieties of conduct, and arrogates every part of hif- tory, ecclefiaftical or civil ; in order to the hiftory of the Roman empire, the hiftory only of its de- cline and fall, and the hiftory only of the molt im- portant circumftances in either. c We cannot be furprifed, that they mould have c found in the gofpel, the orthodox myftery of the * trinity ; — the rational Chriftian — waS' offended, ' that the Paulicians fhould dare to violate the ' unity of God; — their belief and their truft was in 9 the Father, of Chrift, of the human foul, and of ' the invifible world 1 / This feems to me as contradictory, as it is abfurd. — — c They likewife ' held the eternity of matter, a ftubborn and re- ' bellious fubftance, the origin of a fecond prin- c ciple, of an active being, who has created ' this vifible world/ &c\ Is the ftrangenefs here, the refult of folly in thefe Paulicians, or of injudi- cioufnefs in their hiftorian ? Chapter eighth or fifty-fifth. — This chapter relates the tranfac- tions of the Bulgarians with the empire (p. 542 — *p. 5 2 4* * ibid. 547) J vols. iv. r. vi. A to. 127 547) ; the origin of the Hungarians (p. 548 — 551) ; the tadlics of the Hungarians and Bulgarians (p. 551 — 553); the inroads of the Hungarians into Ger- many, Eaftern France, and Italy (p. 553 — 556), all foreign to, the hiftory of the empire, and doubly fo- reign to the hiftory of its decline and fall j the Hun- garian reduction of the Bulgarians, and inroad up to the gates of Conftantinople (p. 546); the ex- pulfion of the Hungarians from Germany (p. 556— 559), all equally foreign; crigin of the Ruffians (p. 560 — 563), geography and commerce of Ruffia (p. 563 — 566), the wars of the Ruffians with the empire (p. 566 — 574), and the converficn of the Ruffians to Chriftianity (p. 574 — 579). The chap- ter therefore contains many parts, that have not the fiighteft connexion with Mr. Gibbon's fubjecT. And, even in fuch as have a connexion, the thread of hiftory is evidently fpun too fine and long. The faffs bear little proportion to the dtfquifitions. A large fabric is reared upon a flender pillar. And Mr. Gibbon's vaft fyftem of hiftory, like that of the univerfe, moves for ever upon an imaginary pole. 1 If in my account of this interefting people c the Saracens,' fays Mr. Gibbon, f I have deviated * from the fir iff and original line of my undertaking, * the merit of the fubjecl: will hide my tranfgrejfion, f or Jolicit my excaje\ y I have already fhewn him to have * deviated' moft wildly from f the ftrict/ and alfo from the c original, line of his undertaking.' He here acknowledges in effecl, that he has. But 'P-541- he ia£ Review of Gibbon* s Hiflory, he hopes his c tranfgreffion' will be hid, or at leafi his c excufe' will be c foliated, ' by f the merit of c the fubjecV Yet his f excufe' may be c foli- c cited/ and his c tranfgreffion' will ftill not be c hid.' He has even pleaded f the merit and mis- * fortunes of Ali and his defendants' before, for confefTedly f anticipating — the feries of the Saracen c caliphs V But no f merit of a fubjecV can alter the unchangeable law of propriety. And what- ever Mr. Gibbon may wifh to fugged in extenua- tion of his conduct, it is not one particular fubjecl: that has carried him off in a parabola ; it is many ari one, it is almoft every one. The centripetal power in him is very weak. The centrifugal is very ftrong.* And he is perpetually flying off in a tangent, and running away into the wilds of (pace. Contradictions. Text. c The Hungarian lah- ' guage — bears a clofe and clear affinity to the c idioms of the Fennic race Y Note. c I read in * the learned Bayer — , that although the Hungarian * has adopted many Fennic words (innumeras voces), * it ejfentially differs, toto genio et natural Where then is, or where can be, the ( clofe and clear affi- * nity,' in it ' to the idioms of the Fennic race j' when ( the whole genius and nature' of that is * ef- c fentially' different from this ? Falfe language. P. 552. f Their fole induftry was c the hand of violence and rapine \, p. 554 £ their — € fettlements extended — beyond the meqfure/ read founds, * of the Roman province of Pannonia / p* ■ p. 256—271. 2 P-55°' 557* Vols. IV. V. VI. 4J0. 129 £57, * prevent their fecond difcharge by the — career ' of your lances ;' — c Otho difpelled the confpiracy / p. 558, f the rejcurces of difcipline and valour were ' fortified by the arts of fuperftition;' p. 574, < Con- ( ftantinople was ajiomfhed to applaud? read with afio- ni foment applauded, f the martial virtues of her fove- c reign j' and p. 577 c a religion — different — from c the worfhip of their native idols/ worftip made 3 religion I Chapter ninth, .and fifty-fixth.— This gives us the wars of the Greeks, Latins, and Saracens in Italy (p. 580 — 587), all fo^ reign ; the wars of the Normans with all three in the fame country (p. 587 — 594), all equally fo- reign ; the wars of the Normans with the Latins only (p. 594 — 598), ftill more foreign ; the pedi- gree and character of Robert Guifcard the Norman (p. 5.98 — 601) ; his general fuccefs againft the La- tins, the Greeks, and the Saracens, in Italy and Sicily (p. 601 — 603), ftill foreign, as ftill within the ground of the late empire of the Weft j his par- ticular fucceffes in Italy (p. 603 — 604), ftill fo- reign ; the learning of Salerno, one of his new ac- quifitions (p. 604), a digreflion upon the back of a digreflion ; the trade of Amalphi, another of his ac- quifitions (p. 605 — 606), another digreflion upon the back of the firft ; the conqueft of Sicily from the Saracens by his brother Roger (p. 606 — 609), ftill foreign j Robert's invafion of the empire (p. 609 — 620); the expedition of Henry the emperor of -Germany againft Rome (p. 621 — 623), ftill fo- K reign ; 130 Review of Gibbon's Hi/lory, reign ; Robert's re-invafion of the empire (p. 623 —626)5 the conduit of Robert's brother Roger, againft his Norman brethren, the pope, and the Pi- fans, in Sicily and Italy (p. 626 — 629), ftill fo- reign ; his fucceffes over the Saracens in the Weft of Africa (p. 629 — 631), ftill foreign; his invafion of the empire (p. 631 — 633); the invafion of I- taly by the emperor (p. 633 — 637), ftill foreign; the laft invafion of the empire by the Normans (p. 63% — 644); and the wars of the Normans and Germans in Italy and Sicily (p. 638 — 644), again foreign. The chapter thus gives us a lively pic- ture, of the digrefhonal fpirit of the author. Out of the feventeen points which I have here enume- rated, five only relate even diftantly to his fubject, and twelve are the mere fupplement of injudiciouf- nefs and extravagance. And Mr. Gibbon's hifto- ry is become like the great whirlpool of Norway, that is fo terribly denominated the navel of the fca ; and fucks into its eddy, bears, whales, fhips, and every thing, that come within any poffible reach of its engulphing ftreams. Falfe language. P. 612. ■ The provtfions were 1 either drowned or damaged;' p. 631, c the ve- c nerable age of Athens — was violated by rapine and 1 cruelty;' and p. 639, c the afcendant of the eu- * nuchs/ for the principal of them. Contraditlicn. The pope c conferred on Robert and ■ c his poflerity— all the lands,' &c. c This apojiolk * Janclion might juftify his arms, but',' &c. The 1 P. 601 — 602. text Vols. IV. V. VI. 4/0. 13 f text thus fays pofitively, that the pope did confer thefe lands. The note accordingly adds, that c Baronius — has publifhed the original a".' Yet, after all, Mr Gibbon remarks with equal weaknefs and contradietorineis, that Baronius, c profefTes to c have copied it from — a Vatican M. S.';' but that c the names of Vatican and Cardinal awaken the c Jujpicions of a proteftant, and even of a phiiofo- c pher.* Mr. Gibbon thus jujpfts the truth, of what he himfelf has afferted peremptorily. And he often throws in a dafli of his fceptical pen, as we have ken. before, in this felf-confounding manner. Indeed be may well doubt the evidence of others, who is often doubting the teftimony of himfelf . Chapter tenth, or nfty-leventh. This exhibits to us the hiftory of that greateft of the Turkifh princes, who reign- ed in the eaflern provinces of Perfia, and fubdued Hindoftan (p. 645 — 651), all foreign as -particular hiftory; general manners of the Turkmans, eaft and weft of the Cafpian (p. 651) ; nrft emigration of the eaftern to their reduction of Perfia (p. 652 — 653), all foreign ; their hiftory in Perfia (p. 654— 656) ftill foreign 5 their conduct to the Saracen ca- liphs (p. 656 — 658), ftiii foreign ; their invafion of the empire (p. 6^—666); the death of their fo- vereign (p. 666 — 667); the general fuccelTes of the next fovereign, in Turkeftan, in the Tartary ad- K 2 joining 132 Review of Gibbon's Hiftory, joining to China, in Arabia Felix, and in the empire (p. 667 — 669), ftill foreign for every part but the laftj the manners of this fovereign (p. 669 — 670), his death (p. 670 — 672), and divifion of his em- pire into three parts (p. 672 — 673), all foreign as particular j reduction of Afia Minor by the Turks (p. 673 — 677); and ftate of Jerufalem under the caliphs and under the Turks (p. 677 — 684), ftill foreign, as reflecting a city that had long been rent from the empire. Thus does Mr. Gibbon perfifl to the end of the volume, in that extravagant fpirit of rambling with which he began it. He promifed indeed at his outfet, to give us only f the mod im- 1 portant circumftances' of the decline and fall of the empire. He promifed alfo, at the commence- ment of this volume, not to fpin fuch a prolix and flender thread of hiftory, as he had fpun through the four volumes preceding. And he has kept both his promifes, by giving us the moil w«-important cir- cumftances in that of the empire, by giving us the circumftances of the decline and fall of every em- pire connected with it, by fpinning his thread of hiftory ftill more flender and more prolix, and fo making his very reformation the caufe and cover of greater tranfgreffions. Nor mull we cenfure Mr. Gibbon very fharply, however fnarply we may cen- fure his hiftory, for this. He cannot help it. He has a clear and ftrong judgment. This fhews him the right line, in which he ihould move. But he has a powerful principle within him, that is always carrying him off from it, and twifting his courfe into obliquities Vols, IV. V* VL 4*0. 133 obliquities upon one fide and into curvatures on the other. And his right line, as traced by a criti- cal eye through the long range of his volumes, is nothing but a feries of zigzag3. CHAPTER THE FOURTH. AVING gone over the fourth and fifth vo- lumes of this extenfive hiftory, we now come to the sixth and laft. Chapter first, or fifty-eighth. In this we have the preaching up of the firit crufade by Peter the Hermit, i — 3 j the pope calling a council to promote it, 3 — 5 ; his calling a fecond council, 5 — 8 ; an inquiry into the juftice of the crufade, 8 — 1 1 ; the fpiritual mo- tives to it, 11 — 14^ the temporal, 14 — 17; the march of the vanguarcl of crufaders to Conftanti- nople, 16 — 21; the leaders of the main body, 21 — 16 i the march of this to Ccnflantinople, 26— 32; the conduct of the emperor towards them, 32—34; their doing homage to him, 34 — 37; the infolence of one of their officers to him, 37 — 38 ; the numbers, nations, and character of their army, when reviewed in Afia, 38 — 40; Nice, the capital K? of 134 Review of Gibbon's Hiftory, of the Turks, taken by them, 40—42 ; their defeat of the Turkifh fuitan, 42—44; their march through Afia Minor, 44 — 45 ; one of them founding a prin- cipality beyond the bounds of the empire, 45 ; their re- duction of Antioch, 46 — 48 ; their being befieged in it themfelves, 48 — 49 ; their fallying out and de- feating the befiegers, 49 ; their difirds before they Tallied out, 49 — 51 ; their Tallying out in confe- quence of a pretended miracle, 51 — 53 5 their de- feating the Mahometans in confequence of this and another, 53—54; the former endeavoured to be proved a fiction, 54 — 55 ; the ftate of the Turks and Saracens at this period, 55 — 56 ; the flow pro- ceedings of the crufaders, 56 — 57 ; their march to- wards J erufalem, 57 ; their fiege and reduction of Je- rufalem, 59 — 6 r ; their appointment of one of them to the throne of Jerulaiem, 61 — 62; their defeating the Saracens of Egypt, 62; the extent and ftrength of their kingdom of Jerufalem, 63 — 66 •, its feudal te- nures, 66 — 67 ; its feudal courts, 67 — 68 ; its modeof determining fuits by combats, 68 — 70 ; its court of burgcfTes, 70 ; its Syrian fubjedts, 70 — 71 ; and its villains and flaves, 71. From this detail, therefore, the chapter appears to be all a firing of digreffions. In a hiftory of the crujades, perhaps in a full hiftory of the empre or of Mahomet anifm, Mr. Gibbon might allowably take this ample iweep of particu- lar narration. But in a hiftory of the decline and falj of the empire, he is only adding digrefiion to di- greflion ; and piling one mountain upon the head cf another, t-har. he may lofe himfelf in the clouds. 6 . None Vols. IV. V. VI. tfo, 135 None of thefe accounts marks any fymptom of de- cline, or fhews any tendency of falling, in the em- pire. They all indeed unite to note the very re- verfe. The empire, the extinction of which was threatened in the danger of the capital, is refcued from every danger, and faved from every threat. The narrow dimenfions of the empire are enlarged. The loll provinces are recovered, by the homagers of the empire. The internal power of it is aug- mented, by ftrong colonies of foreigners. And the two great kingdoms of the Mahometans, that had fucceffively menaced the deftruction of it, are now humbled by the armies of its fpirited auxiliaries from the Weft, Yet all this is related, with a circum- ftantial minutenefs of narrative, and with digreflion- al difiertations concerning the juftice of the expe- dition, its fpiritual and temporal motives, the fali'e- hood of one of the miracles in it, the extent and ftrength of the kingdom erected in it at Jerufalem, and its laws and cuftoms ; in a hifcory, that pro- fefTes to give us only the decline and fall of the em- pire, and that promifes to produce merely the im- portant circumftances of it. The decline of the empire is ihewn — in die reftoration of it. The fall is exhibited — in the enlargement. And the ap- pearance behind the mirrour, is totally different from the figure before it. Mr. Gibbon inquires into the juftice of the cru- fade. He urges, that the Chriftians of the Weft might equitably preferve the endangered empire of Conftantinople, and relieve their opprefted brethren K 4 ot 1^6 Review of 'Gibbon's Hijlory, of the eaftern churches ; ' but this falutary pur- ' pofe might have been accomplifhed by a mode- ' rate fuccour ; and our calmer reafon muft difclaim ' the innumerable hofls and remote operations, which 1 overwhelmed Afia and depopulated Europe.' Their refolution alio to recover Jerufalem, was a wild one, he adds : as ' Pakftine could add nothing ' to the ftrength and fafety of the Latins, and fana- ' ticifm alone could pretend to juftify the conqueft c of that diftant and narrow province V And he farther adds, that the Mahometans had as good a right to their conquered territory in the Eaft, as the Chriftians themfelves had to theirs in the Weft ; both being equally the refult of conqueft. With thefe ar- guments dees Mr. Gibbon mean to condemn the crufades. He who, at the eruption of the Saracens from the deferts of Arabia, inftitutes no inquiry in- to the juftice of their proceedings, and throws no formal ftain upon the honefty of their arms ■, infti- tutes one of condemnation againft the Chriftians. But the crufades may be juftified, upon the plaineft principles of honeft policy. A nation had burft from the wilds of Tartary, had embraced the religion of Mahometanifm, had in the courfe of a few years reduced all the Euro- pean fide of Afia, and now menaced the immediate deftruction of the empire. In thefe circumftances of alarm and danger, well might the nations of the Weft be apprehenfive for themfelves. They had recently feen their, own folly in their own fuffer^ P. 5— -xi. ings. Vols, IF. V. VI. 4/*. 137 ings ; when they had permitted the firft flight of thefe Mahometan locufts, to make the fame fettle- ments unrefifted. The Saracens had then reduced Africa, to its weftern frontier ; had fubdued Sicily and Spain; and had ravaged France and Italy. The Turks were the Saracens revived, with their religion, their enthufiafm, and their victorioufnefs. And the fame confequences would be fure to refult, from the fame inattention to their progrefs in the nations of the Weft. Thus reflecting; and they could not but reflect in this manner, if they thought at all; they muft naturally wifh to prevent the re- invafion of Europe, by difpofTefiing thefe formidable Tartars of their nearer conquefcs in Afia. The long line of coaft, that ranges from the Euxine to Egypt, would be their object. And to beat back thefe fanatic favages into the inland countries, per- haps beyond the Euphrates, and perhaps into Tar- tary ; would be their wifli. They would thus think as Hannibal thought, and thus act as Hannibal acted, with the fpreading conquerors of Rome. So indeed every man muft act and think, who has dis- cernment enough, to apprehend clearly the future from the part ; and who has vigour enough, to re- folve upon preventing the evils by his refolution, which he cannot but forefee in his fagacity. Even Mr. Gibbon objects not to the principle. He only makes exception to the numbers, with which it was purfued. But the exception is furely a very poor one, the petty effort of a mind, that would make ex- ceptions though it could not object. The principle 1 35 Review of Gibbon's Hijfory, of Hannibal's warfare, on this mode of reafoning, was equally juft and wife j but why fhould he carry fuch a large army with him, for the execution of his views ? His < falutary purpofe' of keeping the K.omans from Africa, by invading their own coun- try of Italy j { might have been accomplifhed by a • moderate fuccour' to the Gauls of Italy. « And c our calmer reafon muft difclaim ;' not indeed, as Mr. Gibbon difclairns in die crufaders, ( the remote * operations' of Hannibal in Italy, becaufe the ' o- ( perations' there would be equally ' remote,' either with a large or with a moderate army ; but « the innumerable hofts' of Africans and Spaniards, c with which' he £ overwhelmed' the regions of I- taly, f and depopulated' thofe of Carthage. So truly ridiculous does Mr. Gibbon's exception ap- pear, when applied to an expedition, projected upon a fimilar principle, and executed nearly in the fame manner. Yet the refolution of wrefting Paleftine out of the hands of the Mahometans, adds Mr. Gibbon, was very fanatic. It was not fo in itfelf, as I have al- ready fhevvn. And, if it was made (6 by the leaders or by accident, it was fo made very ufefully. Thofe elder brothers in fanaticifm, the Saracens, who had become fo truly formidable from the military genius of Mahometanifm ; and their younger brothers, the Turks, who had imbibed their fpirit, and were treading in their fteps j could only have been en- countered by an equal principle of fanaticifm or of religion, in the endangered kingdoms of the Weft. Nothing Vols. IV. V. VI. 4*§. " T39 Nothing lcfs than fuch a ftrong principle as this, which by the novelty, the grandeur, and the affect- ingnefs of its object, would ftrike powerfully upon the foul, pufti with a vigorous fermentation through all the iubftance of its hopes and fears, and even roufe them to an energy unfelt before; could pofll- bly have done this. And the introduction of reco- vering Paleftine from the Mahometans, and refcuing the fepulchre of our Saviour out of the polluting hands of the infidels; was certainly one of the hap- pieft ftrokes of policy, or one of the luckieft inci- dents of chance, that could come in aid of fuch a rational policy. It became the active fpirit, that vivified the whole 'mafs. In vain would the re- mote concerns of futurity have been held up, to the generality of the world. They would have heard, have been convinced, and ftill flept over the dan- ger. But when an object of their religion was ex- hibited along with it ; when the fepulchre of Him, in whom they all believed, and from whom they all hoped for falvation, was exhibited to them, as pol- luted by the hands of his and their enemies ; and when to refcue this was confidered as an act of high religion, a glorious exertion of faith, and a deed of Chriftian heroifm ; all were ftruck, all were wrought upon. The wicked had ftill their inward reverence, for all that was facred in their religion. This reve- rence was now touched in its tendered firing. It vibrated therefore very feelingly from the impulfe. And the heart, which would not be holy in or- 4er to gain heaven, and yet ftill foftered the vain hope ?40 Review of Gibbon's Hi/hrj f hope of gaining heaven without holinefsj readily caught at this furer way of gaining it, by the eafier mode of righting for it. Nor was this delufive kind of reafoning peculiar to thofe times. We fee the fame continually in our own ; external deeds fubftituted for internal rectitude. But the good felt the impulfe much more powerfully. Their practice continually cherifhed the vital flame in their heart. Their fpirits were ready to kindle, at any offered incentive of religion. And Shakefpeare has ac- cordingly ftated in an age of commencing proteft- antifm, this motive for a crufade in fuch a manner j as is felt (we believe) by our own age, and was more felt probably in his : ■ therefore, friends, As far as to the fepulchre of Chrifr. (Whofe foldiers now, under whofe blcffed crofs We are imprefled, and engaged to fight) Forthwith a power of Englilh (hall we levy ; Whofe arms were moulded in their mothers' wombs. To. chafe thefe pagans in thole holy fields, Over whofe acres walk'd thofe blefied feet, Which, fourteen hundred years ago, were nail'4 For our -advantage, on the bitter crofs. Yet Mr. Gibbon objects, that the Chriftians had no more right to difpolTefs the Turks of Palestine, than the Turks had to deprive them of their domi- nions in the Weft; and that they fanatically fup- pofed Paleftine to be theirs, becaufe of their Sa- viour's fufferings in it. So fuppofjng, they were only thinking with a portion of that over-religiouf- % nefs Vols. IV. V. VI. 4*o. j 4! nefs or fanaticifm, which was requifite to the gene- ral undertaking. This was only a mark of the height, to which the neceflary fpring-tide of religion was rifcn. Nor was there any injuftice in it. The Turks had no right, and the Saracens had none ; except what the fword of conqueft had given them. To this right of theirs, might with equal juftice be oppofed the right of a new conqueft. But the only nation befides, that claimed the country, the Ro- mans, urged more equitably againft it their long porTefiion, their recent lofs, and their prefent claim. On this footing Hand all the national rights in the world. Take away this j and the world becomes one great fcene of national fcrambles, without right, or pofiibility of right, in any of the nations. And the Romans solicited the afiiftance of their brother Chriftians of the Weft, for the prefervation of the empire and the recovery of its provinces. What then, but the rank and fcetid fanaticifm of the Ko- ran, can pretend to doubt the right of the Chriftians, to afilft the reduced empire, and to wreft back its provinces from the plunderers ? On thefe folid and fubftantial grounds cf juftice, and with this ftrong body of policy animated with that lively foul of religion ; did the nations of the Weft come gallantly forward to the cm fade. Their conduct forms a very wonderful objecr. of curiofity, to the philofopher, the politician, and the hiftorian. The difunited kingdoms of the late empire of the Weft, that had been overwhelmed with a deluge of barbarians from Germany and the Bakick ; that had however 142 Review of Gibbon's RifiorJ, however fubdued this wild accefilon of foreign foil* had incorporated it into its own fubftance, and had rifen at laft. the ftronger and the more luxui iant from it ; now united into a kind of loofe republick again,* under the feeming fovereignty of the ecclefiailicr:! king of Rome too, and in order to relieve and re- ftore the remaining half of the empire, They thus fhewed an attention to that grand principle of mo- dern policy, of which we feel the want in all the progrefs of the Roman arms, and which we vainly fancy to be the refinement of thefe latter days* They alfo carried their attention to a length, to which the poor and feeble policy of modern times has never been capable of going. And this extra- ordinary difplay of policy, and this aftonifhing erup- tion of religion, unite to make one of the moil lin- gular epochas in the hiftory of human nature; and ferved, with wifdom and with juftice, to fave the em- pire of Conftantinople for ages, and to keep the Turks out of weftern Europe for ever. * If the reader will turn to the firft fcene of the c Firft Part of Henry the Fourth, he will fee in c the text of Shakefpeare the natural feelings of c enthufiafm ; and in the notes of Dr. Johnfon, the ' workings of a bigotted though vigorous mind, * greedy of every pretence to hate and perfecute * thofe who diffent from his creed V The reader has already turned to the text ; let him now turn to the notes. c The lawfulnefs and juftice of the holy wars,' fays Dr. Johnfon, c have been much difputed j but 'P. 9. c perhaps Vols. IK V. VI. 4h\ 143 ' perhaps there is a principle, on which the queftion ' may be eafily determined. If it be part of the ' religion of the Mahometans, to extirpate by the * 1 word all other religions ; it is, by the law of felf- ' defence, lawful for men of every other religion, ' and for Chriftians among others, to make war * upon the Mahometans, fimply as Mahometans, ' as men obliged by their own principles to make c war upon Chriftians, and only lying in wait till ' opportunity fhall promife them fuccefs.' Are thefc then all ' the workings of a bigotted though vigo- < rous mind,' that we were to fee here ? Is this then that ftriking evidence to which we were refer- red, for Johnfon being f greedy of every pretence, to f hate and perfecute thofe who dijent from his creed?* The charge recoils forcibly upon the bringer of it. And the bigotry , the hatred, and the perfecution, are beaten back in the face of the accufer. Mr. Gib- bon evidently caught at this opportunity of infulting the dead lion, for the many triumphs which it had made in its life, over the proltrated carcafe of in- fidelity. He thus defeated his purpofe by his eager- nefs. There is not much c vigour,' in the fhort paffage. Nor is there one particle of c bigotry,' of c hatred,' or of f perfecution,' in it. There is on- ly one miftake, in fuppofmg it to be c part of the * religion of the Mahometans, to extirpate by the c fword all other religions.' This indeed was actu- ally praclifed, on the firfi ground of their religion. ' Under the reign of Omar' the fecond fuccefTor of Mahomet, fays Mr. Gibbon himfelf, c the Jews of ( Chaibar 144 Review of Gibbon's Hiflory, ' Chaibar were tranfplanted to Syria ; and the caliph c alleged the injunction of his dying matter, that c one and the true religion fliould be profeiTed in his c native land of Arabia 1 .' But the Mahometans necejjarily refrained from praclifing it, in their other conquefts. And Dr. Johnfon only produces the al- legation as a conditional one, though Mr, Gibbon choofes to confider it as pofitive. £ If it be part of * the religion of the Mahometans,' he fays, c to ex- * tirpate,' &c. But let us change the word extirpate into fubdue, and then the allegation may become abfo- lute, and the argument will be decifive. c As it is part ' of the religion of the Mahometans/ Dr. Johnfon would then fay, c to fubdue by the fword all other reli- c gions ; it is, by the law of felf defence, lawful for c men of every other religion, and for Chriftians a- c mong others, to make war upon Mahometans, * limply as Mahometans, as men obliged by their * own principles to make war upon Chriftians, and * only lying in wait till opportunity mall promife c them fuccefs,' And Mr. Gibbon himfelf allows us, c that, in peace or wary they affert a divine and * indefeafible claim of univerjal empire *.' I thus yindicate the character and the reafoning of Dr. Johnfon, from die abufe of a writer, who, I know, at once hated and dreaded him in his life-time. In all this hiflory of the firft crufade, we lee a ftudied defign to made the glory of the Chriftians, to place their failings and vices in the fulleft point of light, and to break into the great order of narration ■* Vol. v. p, 237. * Vol. v\ t p. jo. witl* Vols. IV. V. VI. 4to. • 145 with the view of leffening their victories. We fee all this particularly exemplified, in the hiftory of the fiege and battle of Antioch. We have firfl a ge- neral and rapid account of the fiege; too general to catch the attention much, and too rapid to reft upon it long. Inftantly as this is ended, without paufjng one moment upon the grcatnefs and im- portance, of winning fuch a town after fuch a refift- ance ; we fee the Chriftians within it, furrounded by a large army of Mahometans. The good-for- tune of having entered the town, before the Maho- metans came up to relieve it ; is not touched upon. To have done fo, would have betrayed fome fymp- toms of remaining Chriftianity in Mr. Gibbon's head. And he could not be capable of fuch a weaknefs. But the deliverance of the Chriftians, is as fudden and Ihort as their danger. They < fallied,' out, and ( in a fingle memorable day annihilated ( or difperfed the hoft of Turks and Arabians.' Mr. Gibbon then points at ' the human caufes' of their victory. c Their fupernatural allies,' he fays, 1 I fhall proceed to confider' hereafter. He thus deprives us of the pleafure, of dwelling upon this victorious battle of the Chriftians. For he haftens back, to tell us of their intemperance from plenty, of their diftrefs from famine, cf their vicioufnefs a: the fiege of the town, and during their blockade in it by the Mahometans. c The Chriftians were ie- * duced,' he fays, f by every temptation that nature ' either prompts or re-probates ' j' when his own note ' P- 5°- L to X46 Review of Gibbon's Hiftory, to the paffage mews only one fugle incident, and that not of luft which c nature reprobates/ but of * an ' archdeacon of royal birth — playing at dice with a ' Syrian concubine ;' and when this ferves to refute the infamous calumny in that. He then tells us of a pretended miracle, that inipii ited the Chriftians ; of their marching out to attack the Mahometans ; and of another miracle being fuppofed to be feen by them, in their march. But, juft as we expect fome account of the charge, the battle, the victory, and its glorious confequences ; we are inftantly turned off with one inquiry, into the reality of the firft mi- racle, and with another into the ftate of the Turks and Saracens, &c. &c. And thus artfully loft in its effect upon the reader, by being broken into frag- ments, the battle being feparated from the victory, and the interval filled up with invectives againft the conquerors ; and thus difgraced by falfehoods more than Mahometan, againft thefe ' barbarians of the 4 Weft,' as he prefumes to call them ' ; the hiftory mult be fpurned at with difdain, by every friend to truth, to honefty, and to Chriflianity. Indeed in all the narrative of this chapter, we fee the Mahometan fo rampant in Mr. Gibbon; and the love of anti- chriftian falfehoods in him, fo much ftronger than a regard to himfelf and a reverence for honour, thofe two pillars of heaven and of hiftory ; that we cannot truft his word for a moment, and we cannot but de- fpife his fpirit continually. ' The mother of Tancred was Emma 3 fitter of the * P- 55- * great Vbls. IV V. VI. 40. 147 c great Robert Guifcard; his father, the Marquis c Odo the Good. It is fingular enough, that the * family and country of fo illuftrious a perfon iliould 4 be unknown 1 .' This is all a miftake, I appre- hend. Tancred was not nephew to Robert Guif- card, and fori to Odo. He was the fori of Roger, Count of Apulia, nephew to Bohemond, Prince of Tarento, and grandfon to Robert Guifcard. This a letter of Bohemond's own fhews. Mr. Gibbon quotes it himfelf. There, he remarks, c Tancred is c ftyled jfr/Mtf j of whom? certainly not of Roger, ' nor of Bohemond V And on this account, and becaufe Godfrey of Bouillon and Hugh are called brothers in it, fworn~brothers y I fuppofe ; he calls it c a very doubtful letter.' But we have another from Bohemond to his brother Roger. f I fuppofe you,' it fays from Antioch, f to have underftood by the ( letters ol your fonne Tancred,' &c. j c I allure you c much of the valour of your forme Tancred V This fettles at once the unknown c family and country' of Tancred's paternal anceftors. And Tancred is accordingly called the nephew of Bohemond, c Tan- 1 credus nepos Boamundi ;' by a very reipectable hiftorian of the time 4 . ( At the fiege of Antioch,' fays Mr. Gibbon, * Phirouz, a Syrian renegado, had acquired the fa- e vour of the Emir and the command of three 1 p. 25. * p. 43. 3 Knolles, 19. ■♦William of Malmefbury, p. 79, edit. 1596. So alfo in fol. 85 concerning him and Bohemond, ' haud pudendus avunculo ' nepos.' L 2 c towers. 14S Review of Gihforfs Hijiory, c towers. — A fecret correfpondence, for their mutual c interejiy was foon eftabliihed between Phirouz and £ the prince of Tarento ; and Bohemond declared 1 in the council of the chiefs, that he could deliver 1 the city into their hands. But he claimed the fo- vereignty of Antioch, as the reward of his fervice ; and the propofal, which had been i ejected by the ' envy, was at length extorted from the dijirefs, of his ' equals.' The town was taken. ' But the citadel f dill refufed to furrender ; and the victors them- c felves were jpeedily encompaffed and befieged' by the Turks '. Here are feveral miftakes, which a letter of the time decifively corrects. ' King Caf- c fianus,' lays Bohemond himfelf concerning the Turkifh governor of Antioch, f had required a time c of truce,' a circumflance totally omitted by Mr, Gibbon -, c during which ourfoldiers had free recourfein- f to the citie without danger J a ftriking feature in the complexion of thefe crufades, that is equally unno- ticed by Mr. Gibbon ; * untill that by the death of ' Vollo a Frenchman, flaine by the enemie, the ' truce was broken. But, whilft it yet feemed an * hard matter to winne the citie, one Pyrrhus, a c citizen of Antioch, of great authority, and much c devoted unto mee, had conference with me concern- £ ing the yeelding up of the citie ; yet upon condi- c Hon, that the government thereof fjculd be committed ' to me, in whom he had repofed an efpeciall truji. ' I conferred of the whole matter, with the princes 1 and great commanders of the armiej and eafily 1 P. 4S. f obtained. Vols. IV. V. VI. aJo. 149 1 obtained, that the government of the citie was by 1 their generall confent allotted unto me. So our c armie, entering by a gate opened by Pyrrhus, tooke ' the citie. Within a few dales after, the towne A- ' return was by us affaulted, but not without fome c lofTe and danger to our perfon, by realon of a ' wound I there received '.' Here we fee, that the correfpondence between Bohemond and Pyrrhus be- gan, in the extraordinary intercourfe permitted by the truce, and then Pyrrhus had fhewn himfelf much devoted to Bohemond ; that Bohemond did not carry it on for his 'private intereft ; that Pyrrhus made it an exprefs ftipulation of his opening the gates to the Chriftians, Bohemond fhould have the government of it afterwards ; that he did this, unin- fluenced by Bohemond, and purely confidering his own intereft, he being a citizen of great authority, and wanting to retain it under a governor, to whom he was much devoted, and in whom he repofed an ef- fected trujl ; that Bohemond mentioned the propofal and the ftipulation to the other generals, and the latter was not c rejected by their envy,' and ' at f length extorted from their diftreis,' but was c eafi- 4 lv obtained' from them ; and that, after taking the town and before the coming up of the Turks, the town of Aretum was attacked, and Bohemcnd was wounded in the affault. Such a number of miftakes have we here, in this fnort paflfage ! c I have been urged to anticipate on the ftory of c the crufades,' p. 293 4 their portable treaftires 1 Knoilcs, \^. h 3 * was,* 150 Review of Gibbon's Hiftory y c was, p. 29 ; c had almoft reached the firft term c of his pilgrimage/ p. 30. — c In feme oriental tale c I have read the fable of a fhepherd, who was ' ruined by the accomplifhment of his own wifhes : < — fuch was the fortune, or at leaft the apprehen- 4 lion, of the Greek emperor V This is the ftyle of a diflertation, and not of a hiftory. But Mr, Gibbon is perpetually confounding the two ideas. And his whole hiftory hitherto is little more, than one extenfive and amplified diflertation. — * He was * himfelf inverted,' fays Mr. Gibbon in his very frequent obfeurky, ' with that ducal title, which c has been improperly transferred to his lordfhip of f Bouillon in the Ardennes,' p. 11 ■> c they overran c — the hills and fea-coaft of Cilicia, from Cogni to 1 the Syrian gates,' p. 449 ; &c. &c. Abulpharagius is again * the Jacobite primate,' p. 53 ; when he was only a phyfician among the Ja- cobite Chriftians. — In his firft volume Mr. Gibbon, from the littlenefs of his fpite againft the Jews, cal- led them ' the moft defpifed' portion of the Afiy- rian flaves •, when he had no authority but his fpite, for faying they were defpifed at all. In the fame petty malice of infidelity he fays here, that Jerusa- lem had f derived /owe reputation from its fieges V when its fieges are the moft memorable in hiftory, — Conrad's wife c confeffed the manifold proftitu- e tions, to which fhe had been expofed by a huf- < band, regardlefs of her honour and his own.' 3o fays the text p. 4. ' Yet it ihould feem,' adds, • p. 32, *P-57« the Vol IV. V. VI. 4/0. 151 the note, c that the wretched woman was tempted by 1 the priefts, to relate or iubfcribe fome infamous c flories of herfelf and her hufband.' It ftoould Jeem then, that the charge in the text is net true, or at leaft the afferiion in it is doubtful e Their fiege,' fays Mr. Gibbon, p. 59, concern- ing the crufaders before Jerufalem, c was more rea- s fonably directed againft the northern and weftern ' fides of the city. Godfrey of Bouillon erected his ( ftandard on the firft fwell of Mount Calvary,' which is on the north- weft ' ; c to the left,' which is therefore to the eaft, c as far as St. Stephen's gate,' which lies about the middle of the eajlern fide % * the line of attack was continued by Tancred and f the two Roberts; and Count Raymond eftablifh- 1 ed his quarters from the citadel,' which was (as we fhall (hew immediately) on the fouth-weft, c to c the foot of Mount Sion, which was no longer m- * eluded within the precincts of the city/ was not ally but was in party even in great part, and lay to the Jouth of Calvary 5 . What a labyrinth of confu- fion have we here ! The attack is directed only a- gainft the northern and weftern (ides. Godfrey ac- cordingly encamps on the north-weftern. But then the attack is diverted by Mr. Gibbon's miftake, from the right to the left, and from the weftern to the eaftern fide. "Yet we inftantly find, that this eaft- em was meant for the weftern ; as the line of at- tack is continued round by the Jouth-wefty to the 1 See Pococke, 11. Part 1. 7. Plan, a Pococke. 3 Pococke, L 4 Jouth, 152 Review of Gibbon' 's Hiftory, Jouth. Where indeed < the citadel' lies, is not ex- plained here by Mr. Gibbon. But it is hereafter. Two pages afterward he makes it to be the Pifan Caftle, which was a little to the north of the fouth- weftern angle \ And as we can know the true hif- tory of reducing Antioch and Jerufaiem, not from Mr. Gibbon, but only from Knolies ; Co we may obferve the accuracy of Knolies contrafted with the confufednefs of Mr. Gibbon, in this very pafTage. c The Chriftians,' he fays, c with their armies ap- f proching the citie, encamped before it on the ' north; for that, towards the eaft and Jouth, it was c not well to be beficged, by reafon of the broken c rocks and mountaines. Next unto the citie lay f Godfrey the duke, with the Germanes and Lo- c ranois ; mere unto him lay the Earle of Flanders and i Robert the Norman ; before the weft gate lay Tan- 1 cred and the Earle of ThouloufeY At this fiege, c the fcanty Jprings and hafty tor- 4 rents were dry in the fummer feafon; nor was the f thirft of the befiegers relieved, as in the city, by * the artificial fupply of cifterns and aqueducts V This is not true. A letter of the time, as given us by Knolies, ihews it not to be fo. c After long travel),' fays the writer, ' having firft taken certaine towncs, { we came to Jerufalem; which citie is environed 1 with high hills, without rivers or fountaines, except- f ing onely that of Solomon's, and that a verie little one, 1 Fococke. * JCnolles, p. 22. 3 P- 59- < In Vols. IV. V. VI. 4/0, 153 ( In it are many cefterns, wherein water is kept, * both in the citie and the countrey thereabout'.' In florming Jerufalem, fays Mr. Gibbon, ever eager to lay load upon the crufaders, * a bloody fa- * crifice was offered by his miftaken votaries, to c the God of the Chriftians — j they indulged them- c felves three days in a promifcuous maffacre/ A note adds, that c the Latins --are not ajhamed of the c mailacrej' but pretends not to point out any of them. c After feventy thoufand Modems had been ' put to the fword,' &c. c Tancred alone betrayed ' fome fentiments of companion. ' And £ the felfifh ' lenity of Raymond — granted a capitulation and ' fafe conduct, to the garrifon of the citadel.' Note adds, that this was named c Caftellum Pifanum/ and c the Tower of David 1 . ' It was, as I have no- ticed before, near the fouth-weftern angle of the city; and confequently upon Mount Sion, the feat of David's city. But I have produced this pafTage, in order to collate it with that original letter of the time, which I have cited in part before. ' In the ' aflault of the citie,' fays Godfrey of Bouillon him- felf, ( I firft gained that part of the wall that fell ( to my lot to ailaile, and commanded Baldwin to ' enter the citie; who, having (lain certaine com- c panies of the enemies, broke open one of the c gates for the Chriftians to enter. Raymond had c the citie of David, with much rich fpoile, yeelded c unto him. But, when we came unto the temple c of Solomon, there we had a great conflict, with 1 Knolles, 24. 2 p. 60 — 61. < fo 154 Review of Gibbon's Hijiory, e (o great {laughter of the enemie, that our men c flood in blood above the ancles ; the night ap* c proching, we could not take the upper part of * the temple, which the next day was yeelded, the e Turks pitifully crying cut for mercie: and fo the c citie of Jerufalem was by us taken the fifteenth of e July : befides this, the princes with one con- * fent faluted me (againft my will) King of Jeru- c falem.' This is the mod authentic account of the ftorm of Jerufalem, that the nature of hiftory can pofilbly furnifh; becaufe it is a cotemporary one, given by an eye-witnefs, and drawn up by the grand actor and conductor of the whole. Yet how aftonifhingly does it differ from Mr. Gibbon's ! The aiierted ' mafiacre of three days,' of which c the ' Latins' are faid to be * not afhamed,' is fhewn to be abfolutely falfe by the very general of the Latins. The ftorm of Jerufalem was like many other florins of cities, a progreflive fcene of righting and blood through the ftreets, up to the level of Mount Mo- riah. There had flood the temple of Solomon. There now flood another temple, the prefent mofque, with * colonades' to it, c which have a * grand appearance, and are of very good Corin- * thian architecture V It was therefore a Chriflian church before, built in the time of the Romans; and had been turned into a mofque, as it is now turned again. To this ground, as to the mofl re- tired and defenfible part of the whole town, and into this mofque upon it, had many of the Turks retreated. Here they were attacked by the 1 Fococke, 14.. victorious Vols. IV. V. VI. 4-to. 155 victorious Christians. Inftantly there was c a great c conflict.' This was carried on f with fo great a ( flaughter of the enemie, that' the aflfailants c flood f in blood above the ancles.' This is a ftroke moft formidably pieturefque, to mark the flaughter of the < conflict.' But the Turks, though driven from the interiour of the temple, ftill maintained them- felves upon the roof of it, and beat off the Chrif- tians. f The night approching,' they c could not ' take the upper part of the temple.' They defifted from their attempts, for the night. But c the next day' they were preparing to renew them. The Turks, feeing this, c pitifully cried out for mercie.' Mercy was promifed them. The roof c was c yeelded' up. t And fo the citie of Jerufalem c was by them taken,' without any more blood- fhed.' Such is the certain account of this ftorm ! Where then is the horrible ' maflacre' of c three f days?' There was no maflacre at all. There was even no blood-fhed, except fuch as is always made in a ftorm, while the oppojition lofts. Nor was this f for three days.' It was for one only. And the very next morning, when the Turks on the roof of the temple cried out for quarter, it was granted them. What then fhall v/e fay, to the bold and daring falfhood in Mr. Gibbon ? We hope he was deceived by, as he actually refers us to, c Elmacin (Hift. Saracen, p. 2^3)y Abulphara- * gius (Dynaft. p. 243), and M. de Guignes (torn, * 11. p. 11. p. 99) from Aboulmahafen.' But at the belt, and fuppofing him not to have falfified their reports 5 yet he has certainly been very credulous, in 156 Review of Gibbon's Hi/lory, in leaning upon fuch/ecoudary authorities, when he had fuch a primary one at hand. And his credulity, every one muft obferve, is never exerted except on the anti-chrijlian fide. Nor is this all his miftake, In this defcription of the florin. He chofe again to confound the natural courfe of the narration, which is all regularly given in Knolles T , in order, no tloubt, to ferve the fame purpofe as before, of dif- torting the facts, breaking their unity, and dimi- nifhing their force. He thus omits all mention whatever, of the ftand at the temple or mofque on Mount Moriah, of the bloody conflict held in it, and of the mercy fhewn to thole upon the roof of it. This grand and mem . incident in the ftorm, did not fuit with his views of writing hif- tory. It would have precluded his c maffacre of f three days.' It was therefore fupprefTed. Yet he lays, immediately previous to the parages above, that ' the fpoils of the great mojch, feventy lamps f and mafiy vafes of gold and filver, rewarded the ' diligence — of Tancred.' And he, who notices the fpoils of the temple, and takes no notice of the fharp conflict at it, mult have wilfully fupprefTed the latter. But Raymond, he fays finally > 'granted c a capitulation and fafe conduct to the garrifon of * the citadel.' This is evidently faid from its final po- rtion, in order to fingle him out as one, who fhewed kindhefs amid the bloody fpirit of his mafiacreing companions. Yet the fact, is, that it happened in the very beginning of the ftorm. One of the gates, 1 P- 23. fays Vols. IF. V. VI. tfo. 157 fays Godfrey, was < broke open — for the Chriftians c to enter:' Raymond had * the citie of 'David, 7 that is, all that large part of it, the ground of which was within the walls, c with much rich fpoile, yeelded * unto him ;' but, when we f came to the temple c of Solomon,' &c. That was not ftormed, but yeelded to him ; juil as the upper part of the tem- ple was afterwards to the reft. And Mr. Gibbon either dire£t\y precludes the yielding of the latter, and the mercy fhewn at it, by declaring that, ( of thefe ' favage heroes of the crofs, Tancred alone betrayed c fome fentiments of companion,' as Raymond did of c felfifh leniiyj' or elfe alludes to the mercy at the temple, in what he thus fays of Tancred, and in what he alfo hints of c the fpoils of the great c mofch—difplaying the generofity of Tancred ;' and fo glances obfcurely, at what he fully knew and choje not to reveal. He fully knew all, no doubt. Yet he chofe not to reveal it. He aclnally has fal- fified the alleged evidence of the Latins. And, on the whole, he appears in fuch a light upon the prefent occafion, as muft blaft his hiftorical credit with the critical world, and annihilate his perfonal reputation with the Chriftian, for ever. £ The expulfion of the Greeks and Syrians' from the holy fepulchre at Jerufalem, c was juftified by { the reproach of herely and fchifm (Renaudot, f Hift. Patriarch. Alex. p. 479)'.' We have {em Mr. Gibbon before, making very free with the authority of this very Renaudot j and even fixing ' P- 6 3- fbecbl 15S Review of Gibbon* s Hi/lory, fpecial and marked words upon him, that he never* ufed. We fee fomething like this literary leger- demain, exercifed here. The c Greeks and Sy- rians' of Mr. Gibbon, are neither in Renaudot. They are merely the Jacobite Chriftians of Egypt. * Mirum nemini elTe debet, ea clade tantopere per- c culfos Mahomedanos fuifie, qui urbem celebrem c fanctitate, et ad quam Chrifliani ex toto orbe c confluerent, ereptam fibi deplorabant. Sed non c minor fuit Jacobitarum JEgyptiorum dolor — . Inde c factum eft,' fays an author quoted by him ' ut c nos Chrifliani Jacobite Coptit quod ' vermiculatum erat, vends in fajligio turris expojito, * lignum Chriftianum laetis fragoribus ingeminant, ' Deus vulty Deus vult -, Turci experrecti, et fopo- ' ris penuria inertes, fugam per angiportus inva- * dunt.' The Turkifh army comes, and furrounds them in the town. Diftrefs enfues in it. ' Qua- * propter, triduano prius cum letaniis exacto jejunio, ' legatus Petrus her emit a mittitur ad Turcos.' He offers them the alternative, either to move away from before the town, and return into Perfia, or agree to M fight 1 62 Review of Gibbon's Hi/lory, fight them the next morning; c fortem per duos vel c quatuor vel otto experiantur, ne pericuium ad to- c turn vergat exercitum.* Thisfingular, humane, and wife propcfal, which recalls to our minds an image of the earliefr. times of the Romans, the Turkifh Sultan received in this finking manner j without anfwering, f Jcaccbis ludens, et dentibus infrendens> c inanem dimifit.' The Chriilians then prepared to attack the Turks, the next day. But not the leaft notice is taken of the holy lance, fo much dwelt upon by Mr. Gibbon, and even noticed by Florence of Worcefter, a writer cotemporary with Malmei- bury '. Yet the appearance of St. George, and of ■St. Demetrius (inftead of St. Theodore and St. Maurice), is noticed by Malmefbury though, unno- ticed by Florence, and is even affirmed to be true. The oider, in which the Chriilians marched out of the town, is particularly told. Even one incident of the battle is noticed, to the honour of two English- men. Robert, eldeft fon to the Conqueror, c vic- * toriam pulchra experientia nobilitavit. Nam cum c Turci — , fubito terrefacci, fugas fe dediffent, nof- c trique palantes vehementer impeterent; Corba- ' nach Dux,' the commander of the Turks, * ge- c nuinas virtu tis memor, retento equo fuos inclina- f vit, famulos ignayos et annofarum victoriarum c oblitos vocans, nt viclores quondam orientis pa- ' terentur fe ab advena et pene inermi pcpulo finibus c excludi. Quo clamore multi refumentes ani- £ mum, Francos converfi urgere et propiores caede- 1 p. 467. Edit. 1592. c re Vols. IV. V. VI. 40. 163 c re ccepere ; Corbanach fuos animante et hoftes fe~ c riente, ut imperatoris et militis officium probe ex- * equeretur. Turn vero Normanmis Comes, et Phi- c lippus cleric us filius Roger ii Comitis de Monte Gome- '*■ rico, et Warinus de Taneo caftello Cenoman- c nico, mutua vivacitate fe invicem hortati, qui fi- ' mulata ante fuga cedebant convertunt cornipedes, c et qui/que Juum comparem incejfens dejiciunt. Ibi c Corbanach, quamvis Comitem cognofceret, folo * tamen corpore mcnfus,' Robert being (as Malmef- Jbury fays before) of a fmall ftature, f fimul et fu- * gere inglorium arbitratus, audaciam congrejfils morte c propinqud hit vitali ftatim fpiritu privatus. Cujus * nece vifa, Turci, qui jam gloriabundi ululabant, c fpe recenti exinaniti fugam iterarunt. In eo tu- * multu Warinus cecidit, Robertus cum Philippo c palmam rctulit. Philippus hac militia pr^cluus c [prasclarus], Jed Jerojolymis (ut fertur) bono fine f f unci us -, piaster exercitium equeftre Uteris clarus V This very extraordinary fact, the killing of the Turkifli general with Robert's own hand, is whol- ly unnoticed by Mr. Gibbon. Yet he willies Malmefbury had given us fome accounts, of the c adventures' of our countrymen. And though he has given us fome, Mr. Gibbon omits them all j either ignorant of their exiftence> or unwilling to dwell upon them. The Chriftians thus defeating the Turks, c reverfi vero in predam, tanta in illo- ' rum calms reperiunt, quas cujuflibet avariflimi ' exercitus fatietatem poffent vel temperare vel ex- » Fol. 86. M 2 * tinguere/ 164 Review of Gibbon's Hi/lory, ' tinguere.' Yet all thefe circumftances are omit- ted by Mr. Gibbon. The Chriftians now advance by Tripolis, Beri- thus, Tyre, Sidon, Accaron, Caipha, and Casfarea; there leave the fea-coaft to the right ; and penetrate through Ramula to Jerufalem. But here let me fubjoin a circumftance, that is omitted equally by Mr. Gibbon and by Malmefbury, but is peculiarly characleriftick of the fpirit of thefe crufaders. — ( Marching from Ruma,' fays Knolles, c and draw- f ihg neere to Jerufalem, they in the vantgard of * the armie, upon tbefirfi def crying of the holy citie, 4 ' gave for joy divers great fhouts and out cry s, which * with the like applaufe of the -whole armie, was fo * doubled and redoubled, as if therewith they would * have rent the verie mountaines and pearced the high- 4 ejl heavens. There might a man have ieene the c devout paflions of thefe moft worthie and zealous * Chriftians, uttered in right divers manners: fome ' with their eies and hands caft up towards heaven, ' called aloud upon the name and helpe of Chriji Jejus ; ' fome, projlrat upon their faces, kiffed the ground, * as that whereon the Redeemer of the world fometime < walked; others joyfully Jaluted thofe holy places, * which they had heard fo much of and then firft 1 beheld : in briefe, everie man in fo?ne fort exprejfed ( the joy he had conceived of the fight of the Holy * Citie, as the end of their long travell V This paflage carries fuch a lively affedtingnefs with itj that I well remember the impreflion which it made 1 Knolles, p. 21. tipon Vols. IV. V. VI. #0. 165 upon my mind, when I lafi read it, and nearly half a century ago. And jfurely fiich circumftances as thefe fhould be caught at with eagernefs, by every hiflory, by the philofophy of hiftory particularly, if this philofophy means any thing beyond the pet- tinefs of oratorical parade, or the monftroufnefs of in- fidel credulity; as what peculiarly catch the man- ners of the moment while they are rifing, and re- flect them back in all their vivacity and vividnefs to pofterity. In fo finking a way did the crufaders act at the firft view of Jerufalem. They befiege it. * Nor was the thirft of the befiegers relieved,' fays Mr. Gibbon ; € nor were there any trees for the * ufes of {hade •* but, as Malmefbury, with a more judicious appofitenefs to the months of June and July, obferves, c nee quifquam fibi obfejfor verebatur 1 in cibatu vel in potu, quod merles in agris, uvas * in vineis, maturaverant; fola jumentorum cura c erat miferabilis, quae pro quaiitate loci et tem- ' poris nullo fuftentabantur irriguo.' The com- manders take their polls. * Raimundus vero turris * Davidic<£ impiger afiiftebat : hasc ad occafum Jolis ( urbem muniens, ad medium fere tabulatum qua- c dratorum lapidum plumbo infujo cempaginata, om- ' nem metum obfidentium paucis intus defendenti- 1 bus repellit.' The befiegers however afTaulted the town ; not, as Mr. Gibbon lays, * in the fanatic * hope of battering down the wails without engines, 1 and of fcaling them without ladders * ;' but ' for- c xxxndxnf calls ereclis tentarunt, in refiftentes volaticas 'P. 59 M 3 * moliti 1 66 Review of Gibbon's Hijlory, c molitijagittas* They were beaten off, not though* as Mr. Gibbon again fays, ' by dint of brutal force e they burft the firft barrier $' but * quia erant fcaLe e pauae et aicendentibus damnofe.' They then made two moveable turrets, one e quod noftri f Suem, veteres Vineam vocant.' This he defci ibes, and adds, c protegit in fe fubfidentes, qui, quad e more fuis, ad murorum fuffbdienda penetrant fun- e damenta ' The other, f in moduna redificiorum c fatla, Berefreid appellant ', quod fafligium muro- ' rum asquaret.' The aflault begins. This is de- imbed by Malme/bury, with a particularity and fpirit that are very engaging, and that we in vain look for in Mr. Gibbon. This author referves his particularity for the- vices of the Chriftians, and his fpirit for the victories of the Mahometans. The af- fauit continued one whole day, without effect, The next morning it was renewed, with more fuccefs. Malmefbury is flill particular and fpirited. He fets caufes and effects, plain before our eyes. The Chrif- tians under Godfrey and the two Roberts, gain the wall and enter the city. Raymund learns the fact, from hearing the clamour of the enemy, and feeing them throw themfelves headlong over the walls. He enters the town. ' Quingcntos qucque sEthicpas 3 c qui, in arcem David refugi, claves portarum, pol- 1 A falfe reading for Bdfrid, fee Bu Frefne's Glofiary, Sene- dicYme edition 5 our prefent belfrcy for a church-fteeple, and the French belfrey for a fteeple and a turret; a name, not communi- cated from the turret to the fteeple, as ~Di. Johnfon fuppofee, but, as the former half of the name, and the previous ufe of bclls s concur tp fhew, derived from the fteeple to the turret. x % licita Vols. IV. V. VI. A to. 167 ' licita membrorum itnpunitate, tradideraht, fpefba- c to prasfentis pads commodo incolumes Afcalonem * dimifit.' Then, fays Malmefbury, but not with ftrict propriety, as we have feen before, and fhall in-ftantly fee here again, the Turks had no place of refuge, { nee ullum erat tunc Turcis refugium -, ita ' et fupplices et rebelks,' a word that (hews the op- pofition to have ftill continued, c infatiabilis vic- < torum ira confumebat.' Ten thoufand took re- fuge in the temple of Solomon, and were flain there; c decern millia — interfecla.' Then, ' peft hasc,' the dead bodies were collected and burned. This took up the army two or three days, after the grand day of the ftorm. ( Ita c^de infidelium ex fiat a urbe, fe- c pulchrum Domini, quod tamdiu defideraverant, ' pro quo tot labores tulerant, fupplicibus cordibus f et corporibus petierunt.' Yet, adds Malmefbury, concerning the day of ftorming the town, and the days of burning the dead, c illud infigne continentise * in omnibus optimatibus exemplum fuit; quod * nee eo die, nee cenfequentibus, quifquam refpectu c praxlae avocavit animum, quin cseptum perfeque- ' rentur, triumphum.' There was only one excep- tion. It was made by Tancred, the very hero of Mr. Gibbon's hiftory, and praifed by him for his ' generofity' on this very occafion. c Solus Tan- ' credus, intempeftiva cupidine occupatus, quasdam c precioliflima de templo Salomcnis extulkj fed f poftmodum fua confeientia. et aliorum conventus 1 [convictus] colloquio, vel eadem vel appreciata c loco reftituit.' And this fufpenfion of all the ftrpng feelings of avarice, for fever al days j a victo- M 4, rious 1 68 Review of Gibbon's Hiftsry, rious army abftaining from touching the vafl booty under their hands, in the very moments of rapine j and continuing calmly and fteadily to abftain, till they had cleared the city from the flaughter in it, and fo had been able with propriety to make that religious procefiion, which they had always intended, to the tomb of their Saviour ; forms one of the mod ftriking pictures in the hiftory of man, and is wor- thy of celebration by the tongue of the philofopher, and the pen of the hiftorian, for ever. When this was all over, and not before, f turn quicunque ege- * nus vel domum, vel aliquas divitias, invafit, nun- * quam ulterius ullius locupletis tulit convicium, fed * femel pofTelTa in jus adoptavit hsereditarium.'— Such is the full, the lively, and the curious hiftory of the firft crufade, in William of Malmefbury ! So thoroughly unjuft, is Mr. Gibbon's flighting infinua- tion againft it 1 He willies Malmefbury had 7/0/ given it, when eve- ry reader muft thank him very cordially for it. He fancies Malmefbury had only liftened, to the < tenue ' murmur' which had pafTed the Britifh fea. How could he fo fancy, when Malmefbury has given us fuch a particular and pointed account of the crufade? But at the end of this general account, Malmefbury propofes to enlarge and continue it 3 to give the parti- cular hiftory, of each leader in this and the future crufades. c Singulorum procerum facia et exitus '? fcripto infigniam,' he fays j c nee quicquam veri- c tati, fecundum relatorum meorum credulitatem, * fubtraham : nullus vero, cui amplior provenit * geftorum notitia, me pro incuriofo arguat ; quia ' trans Vols. IV. V. VI. 4/*. 169 4 trans oceanum Britannicum abditos, vix tenui { murmure, rerum Afianarum fama illuftrat Y He thus apologifes for the future flendernefs of his mate- rials, in this minute and fucceeding hiftory. And he accordingly gives us directly, the ipecial hiftory of Godfrey, King of Jerufalem, of Baldwin his brother and fucce/Tor, and of the fecond Baldwin, the fuc- ceffor of both ; declaring that he takes his account of the former Baldwin, ' fidei foliditate accommo- * data dictis Fulcherii Carnotenfis, qui, capellanus ' ipfius, aliquanta de ipfo fcripfit, ftilo non equidem ' agrefti, fed (ut dici folet) fine nitore ac pakeftra, c etqui alios admonere potuit ut accu.atius fcribe- s rentY He then proceeds to the hiftory ofBo- hemund King of Antioch, and of Tancred and Ro- ger, his refpective fuccefibrs. The account of Rai- mund follows next, and of his fons William and Pontius, fucceflively kings of Tripolis. And the whole clpfes with the private adventures, of Robert Duke of Normandy. Malmefbury therefore means .not to cenfure his preceding and general accounts, as if they were only the effusions of a flight and (len- der report. They are evidently fometning, infinitely fuperior to this. Indeed, I muft fav it in juftice to the truth, that they are even Jwperiour to Mr. Gib- bon's ; being not bent by the force of c philofophy,* into all the little frauds of writing, the artful fup- preflion, the dexterous diftortion, and the wilful falfehood - t and exhibiting the heroes of the crufade, • Fol. 80. fol. 81. in 170 Review of Gibbon's Eiflory, in their native colours and juft proportions, in all their romantic majefiy of character. Malmefbury, fays Mr. Gibbon, * wrote about ' the year 11 30.' But he wrote earlier. The ten - clufion of his fifth book is dated by himfelf in the 2,8 th of Henry the Firft, according to one copy, and in the 20th, according to the common and earlier copies. f Hasc habui — de geftis Anglorum qure * dicerem,' he fiys to Robert Earl of Gloucefter, c ab adventu eorum in Angliam ufque in annum vicefimum faelicifiirrii regni patris veftri r .' And, as Henry began his reign in Auguft 1 100, Malmefbu- ry wrote the hiftory of- the crufades in his fourth book, on or before 1 1 20, and about twenty or twen- ty-two years only after the ftorm of Jerufalem. As a cotemporary and a dignified writer, therefore, he ought to have been felccted by Mr. Gibbon, for one of his principal authorities in the firft crufade. We have already feen fome errours that Mr. Gibbon would have avoided, and many beauties that he might have adopted, by doing fo. His fiege of Je- rufalem would have been particularly improved, by the act ; and his ftorm of Jerufalem have been fav- ed from that accurfed calumny, with which it is now polluted. But he chofe to infert the calumny. He chofe to take for his authors, Elmacin, Abulphara- gius, and M. de Guignes from an unknown Aboul- 1 Fol. 98. So in fol. 87, concerning Robert Duke of Nor- mandy imprifoncd by Henry the Firft in i io6, one copy fays « utrum aliquando fit exiturus, vero vacillante, in dubio/ and another, ' nee uncjuam ufque ad obituin relaxatus.' mahafenj Vols. IV. V. VI. 4/0. 171 mahafen ; becaufe they had it. Yet, why did not he alfo chufe to take Abulfeda with them j who ex- tends their maffacre of c three days' over ' a c whole week j' and makes the Chriftians to flay feventy thousand perfons in the temple or mofque on Mount Moriah \ when we know for certain from Malmefbury that there were only ten thoufand, and when thefe furely are fufRcient for the garrilbn of a fmgle mofque ? He was afraid to ftretch the impro- vable faifehood of that, to fuch a {training length of incredibility. The feventy thoufand perfons in the mofque too, he thought proper to overlook ; and makes them the amount of all, that were flaughtered jn the whole town '. He thus deviates from Abulfeda, while he follows authors not fuperiour in reputation; and corrects him though he cites him not. And he chofe to wander, in the train of Elmacin, Abulpha- ragius, and the unpublifhed Aboulmahafen, for the length of the flaughter and the number of the flain; rather than follow the beft authority in the world, the letter of Godfrey himfelf, which ftiews the {laughter to have continued only for one day and during the refiftance ; and rather than copy the next beft account in the world, the narration of a judici- ous cotemporary, which coincides with the letter en- tirely, proves the 1 laughter in the ftreets to have been only during the florin and the refiftance, and ftates the number flain at the mofque to have been only ten thoufand. To the teftimony of a very refpectable cotemporary, and to the concurrent evidence of an ■ Mod. Univ. Hift. iii. 304. * p. 60. eye-witnefs, 172 Review of Gibbon* s Hijfory, eye-witnefs, an aftor, and a commander j he prefers the authority of Elmacin, who lived near a century and a half afterwards, of Abulpharagius, who wrote near three centuries from the time, and probably, though uncited, of Abulfeda, who died near threl centuries and a half later than the fact '. Having faid this, I will annex the account of this part of the ftorm, which is given us by Knolles, and is all conformable to what I have faid. c In this ' confufion/ fays the truly refpectable author, if refpectabiiity is attached to veracity in preference to falsehood, * a wonderful number of the better fort of * Turks, retiring unto Salomon's temple, there to ' do their laft devoire, made there a great and ter- * rible fight, armed with defpaire to endure any * thinge ; and the victorious Chriftians no leffe dif- * darning-, after the winning of the citie, to find 4 there fb great refinance. In this delperat con- ' fiicl:, fought with wonderful obftinacie of mind, * many fell on both fides : but the Chriftians came * on fo fiercely with defire of blood, that, breaking * into the temple, the foremofl of them were by the * prejfe that followed after, violently thrufl upon the * weapons of their etmnies, and fo miferably flaine. c Neither did the Turks, thus opprefTed, give it o- ' verj but, as men refolved to die, defperatly ' fought it out with invincible courage, not at the ' gates of the temple only, but even in the middefl * thereof alio j where was to be feene great heapes, » Prideaux's Letter to aDeift, p. 163, 153, and 1541 « both Vols. IV. V. VI. 4/0. 173 ' both of the vigors and the vanquijhed, Jlaine indif- * ferently together. All the pavement of the temple € fwam zvith blood ; in fuch fort, that a man could not ' Jet his feet, but either upon fome dead man, or over ' thefhooes in blood. Yet, for all that, the obftinate ' enemie (till held the vaults and top,' meaning the arches within and the roof above, * of the temple ; ' when as the night came fo faft on/ it being, as Knolles has faid before, * midday' when the ftorm began, f that the Chriftians were glad to make an c end of the (laughter, and to found a retrait. The f next day (for that proclamation was made, for mercie ' to be /hewed unto all fuch as mould lay downe their * weapons) the Turks, that yet held the upper part * of the temple, came down and yeelded them/elves, ' Thus was the famous citie of Jerufaiem with great ' bloodfhed, but far greater honor, recovered by 4 thefe worthy Chriftians, in the yeare 1099 '. And fuch is the hiftory, which is given us by the pen of Chriftian probity j the very oppofite of that, which is held out to us by the hand of Mahometan kna- very ! Text. ' The northern monarchs of Scotland, Den- f mark, Sweden, and Poland, were yet ftrangers to i the pafiions and interefts of the fouth V Note. * The author of the Efprit des Croiiades has doubted, c and might have difbelieved, the crufade and tragic ' death of Prince Sueno, with 1500 or 15000 Danes, * who was cut off by Sultan Soliman in Cappado- 1 Knolles, p. 23. a p. 21. * cia, 1 74 Review of ' Gibbon's Hi/lory, * cia, but who ftill lives in the poem of Taflb (torn. « iv. p. 1 1 1 — 1 1 5 ).' Yet Mr. Gibbon in a diftant page inconfiftently fays, that there were in the cm- fade c bands of adventurers from Spain, Lombardy, e and England; and from the diftant bogs and * mountains of Ireland or Scotland, iffued fome naked c and favage fanatics, ferocious at home but unwar- c like abroad 1 .' Note fays, that c William of c Malmefbury exprefsly mentions the Weljh and c Scots, &c. ;' and that Guibert notes c Scotorum, c apud fe ferocium, alias imbellium, cuneos,' where f the cms intetlum and hifpida chlamys may fuit the c Highlanders, but the finibus uliginofis may rather c apply to the Irifh bogs/ The Scotch of Guibert may feem to be the Irifh only, from the f finibus c uliginofis.' Nor would the drefs be any argu- ment to the contrary. The Irifh at this period wore the fame drefs, with the Highlanders. But the Scoti of Guibert are what their name imports, the prefent inhabitants of Scotland, and the fame with the Scots of Malmefbury. And it was then as common with foreigners, to difcriminate Scotland by its bogs, as it now is with ourfelves to denote Ire- land. This is evident from the circular letter of Frederick Emperour of Germany, to the nations around ; on the wild irruptions of the Tartars. It is in M. Paris, p. 498, and is quoted by Mr. Gib- bon himfelf in p. 304. There the writer fpeaks of c cruenta Hybernia cum agili Wallia, paluftris Sco- * tia* &c. And, as Mr Gibbon might have faved 1 p - 39— 4°« at Vols. IV. V. VI. 4?o. 175 at once the uncertainty and the contradiction, Im- itating the truth ■, fo he fhould never have run into the new contradiction, of aficrting thofe to be < naked' in die text, whom he covers with a rough mantle, c hiipida chlamys,' in the note. This is bringing back that poetical bull of Blackmore's,. which (I understand) is fupprejfed in the late edition or editions of the poem -, A pointed veft Prince Vortiger had on, Which from a naked Pitt his ffrandfire won. Nor is Mr. Gibbon's conduct lefs remarkable, in other points. He intimates that Scotland fent no adventurers to the cruiade. Yet he cites Malmef- bury, for Scotland actually fending fomej and Guibert, for the character of the fent. He cites Guibert in the note, as confirmed by Malmefbury, for the Scots actually going; and yet in the text ftates them to be either Scots or Iriili. But let us alfo obferve Mr. Gibbon's conduct about Denmark. This, we are told, equally fent no men to the cm- fade. Yet afterwards. Mr. Gibbon cites a paffagc from Malmefbury, that proves it did fend fome. Fie however quotes only till he comes to the proving words, and then laps up the fentence with an &c. 'William of Malmefbury exprefsly mentions the c Welfh and Scots, &c. y This pregnant &c. pro- duces thefe words in William : f tunc Wallenfis c venationem faltuum, tunc Scotus familiaritatem * pulicum, tunc Danus contlnuationem potimm, tunc c Norkus 176 Review of Gibbon s Hi/ory, ' Noricus cruditatem reliquit pifcium V And the whole gives us a remarkable proo£ of Mr. Gib- bon's aftonifhing inattention to his own affertions and evidences. The Norwegians, the Danes, and the Scots appear as crufaders in the very pafiages to which Mr. Gibbon has referred, in the very quota- tions which Mr. Gibbon has produced, and in his own notes and text. But Mr. Gibbon's manage- ment of this laft reference fhews us fomething more. He cites Malmefbury for the Weljh going to the crufade; and then, either ftrangely omits them in his text, or more ftrangely comprehends them under the Englijh. In this paflage alfo, Malmefbury fpccifies the Dane and the Norwegian as equal crufaders with all. Mr. Gibbon, however, flops fhort in his quotation from it, Ihuts them both out of his note, and excludes them both from his text; becaufe he recollects what he has faid before of Denmark fending no crufaders, and fore- fees the authority clafhing with his afTertion. He thus fhews us his memory, at the expence of his probity. And he keeps the reft of the paflage un- der his thumb, becaufe it will encounter what he has faid before j and fuppreffes the contradicting au- thority, rather than turn back, and correct the falfe afTertion by it. Nor is the ft®ry of Sueno the Dane, which the author of Efprit de Croifades doubts, and which Mr. Gibbon dijbelieves, improbable in itfelf, or unfounded (I apprehend) on a fact. In Norway fays Malmefbury, * filii ultimi Magni, Haften et Si- ' Fol. 7$. 1 wardus Vols. IV. V. VI. 4/0. 177 € wardus, regno adbuc divifo imperitant : quorum * pofterior adolejcens fpeciofus et audax, non multum eft f quod Jerofolymam per Angliam navigavit ; innumera f et praclara facinora contra Saracenos con/unmans, c praefertim in obfidione Sydonis, quae pro confcien- * tia Turcorum immania in Chriftianos fremebat V This is, in all probability, the very hero of Taffo. He was indeed a Norwegian. But Norway having fome time before been reduced by Denmark 2 , the Dane and the Norwegian would eafily be confound- ed in the South. We have indeed an aclual King of Denmark, engaged in the crufade > but lie died at fea before he reached Jerufalem. Henry, c Je- £ rofolymam adiit medioque mari fpiritum evo- f muit V And all ferves to fhew the exiftence, in the frequency, of Danifh and Norwegian crufaders* very decifively againft Mr. Gibbon. Chapter second or fifty-ninth. This gives us the fuccefs of the Greek emperor with his own troops over the Turks* in confequence of the crufade, 72 — 73; the anger of the crufaders at the emperor, for leaving them* 7 3 ; one of their leaders palling back into Europe for fuccours againft the emperor, 73 — 74; his inef-^ fectual return with them, 74 ; a fupply fent to the firft crufaders, 7 5 ; fecond crufade, 7 5 j third, 7 5 j the general numbers and character of each* 75 — 77 j x Fol. 60. * fol. 59. 3 fol. 60. N the 178 Review cf Gibbon's Hifleky, the conduct of the emperours towards them, 77— ' 80 j the general hiftory of the fupply fcnt to the firft crufade, 80 ; that of the fecond crufade, 80 — 81 j that 'of the third, 81 — 82 ; the perfeverance of Europe in the crufades, 82 — 83; the character of St. Bernard, 83 — 845 his fuccefs in preaching up the fecond crufade, 84 — 85 ; fuccefs of the Turks againft the crufaders, 84 — 87 ; the character of him who was the caufe of their fuccefTes, 37 — 88 ; the taking of Egypt from the Saracens by the Turks, 88 — 89} the calling in of the crufaders by the Sara- cens, 89; the expulfion of the Turks by the cru- faders, 89; their return, 89 — 90; their fecond ex- pulfion, 90; their return and reduction of Egypt, 90 — 91 ; the revolt of Egypt from the Turks un- der the commandant of their mercenaries, 92 — 93 ; the general fuccefs of his fon, Saladin, over the Sara- cens, the crufaders, and the Turks, 93 ; the cha- racter of this fon, 94 — 95 ; his reduction of the holy land up to Jerufalem, 95 — 97 ; his taking Jerufa- lem, 97 — ioo; the third crufade, 100 — 101 ; his being beat oft from Tyre by the crufaders, xoi ; their befieging Acre, 10 1 ; their battles with Sala- din before it, 102; their taking it, 103; the con- duct of the kings of France and England refpectively in Palestine, 103—104; the particular exploits of the king of England, 105 — 107 5 his treaty with Saladin and departure for England, 107 — 108 ; the civil wars among the Turks on Saladin's death, 108 ; the character of Innocent III. Pope of Rome, 108 — 109; author of the fourth and fifth crufades, 109 j an account of the fourth referved for the next chapter, Vols. IV. V. VI. 4I0. 179 chapter, 109; an account of the fifth, 109; its ill fuccefs, and the reafbns, 109— no; a new crufade under Frederic III. Emperor of Germany, no — ■ in; his general fuccefs, though oppofed and be- trayed by the eaftern Chriftians, in — 113; the irruption of the Carizmans into Paleftine, 113; the fixth crufade, that of St. Louis into Egypt, 113; his character, 113 — 114; his forces, 114; his ill fuc- cefs, 115 — 116; the feventh crufade, the fecond under St. Louis, n6j his death at Tunis, 117; the ftate of Egypt under the Mamalukes, 1 17 — 1 18; our Firft Edward in Paleftine, 118; reduction of almoft all Paleftine by the Mahometans, 119; the ftate of the only town left, Acre, 119; its fiege by the Mamalukes, 120; and its furrendery to them, 120. Such are the contents of this chapter. Nor let any one of my readers be too much ftartled, when I rudely awaken him from his dream of reading, by telling him j that this was to be the hiftory of the eaft> ern empire's decline and fall. That it was to be, and this it is. And the reader, who has been awake to the digrefiions from the beginning of the chapter, muft have gone on ftep by ftep in the turnings and windings of the whole labyrinth, expecting that every turn would be the laft, and that he fhould then recover the original line of the hiftory. Yet he has found himfelf to his amazement, ftill going on in the winding courfe ; one turn coming after ano- ther, till he has been involved in mazes upon mazes, loft in the inextricable labyrinth, and obliged to ad- vance with his author and with c confufion worfe * confounded/ to the end of the whole. N 7. In i So Review of Gibbon* s, Hiftory, In this hiftory of events, either totally irrelative to the hiftory of the decline and fall of the eaftern empire, or affecting it only in a 'point or two of the whole ; Mr. Gibbon has parTed over fome inciden- tal touches of the times, that are peculiarly pleafing in themfelves, and ought to have been ftudioufly felected by him. Concerning /agar fays Pliny : c Saccharon et Arabia fert, fed laudatius India ; eft ' autem mel in harundinibus collectum, gummium { modo candidum, dentibus fragile, ampliflimum c nucis avellanas magnitudine, ad medicine tantum f ufum V But this plant had been brought in the days of the crufades, into other countries of Afia. Baldwin the fecond, King of Jerufalem, marched by Antioch to Laodicea towards Jerufalem ; but v/as much diftreffed in the way between Jerufalem and Laodicea, by the want of proviftons, &x. c At vero famem nonnihil levabant,' fays an hif- torian of the times, f arundines mellitas conti- f nue dentibus terentes, quas Cannamellas> compo- < fito ex canna et melle nomine, vocant: fie hi, f omnino a Tripoli tanis et Cafarienfibus immenfo c aEre neceftaria nacli, Jerofolymam venere V And this was in all probability the firft time, that the fugar-cane, hitherto applied only to medicinal pur- pcfes, was now ujed as feed \ and the juice of it, which now cenftitutes fo important an - article in the food of the weftern Europeans, began to be fo in all probability, from this adventure of the cru- 4 Nat. Hill. xii. 8. * Malmefbury, fcl. 81. faders. Vols. IV. V. VI. 4it. i Si faders. This eaflern honey-cane was now brought into Europe, was afterwards carried by the Portu- guefe to Madeira with thofe vines which confcitute the great commerce of that ifland, and was thence tranfplanted to the grand nurfery of the cane for Europe at prefent, the Weft Indies. The Portu- guefe, fays a Jew who wrote in Italy about the year 1502, in difcovering Madeira { in ea planta- c runt — cannas fro meilel he ufmg nearly the very language of Malmefbury, f ad faciendum faccha- rum, — et vinea ex vitibus Candi quo ejus genitalia cancer, 4 morbus incurabilis, exesit V And as this lady came from Sicily, which had long been in the pof- feffion of the Arabs ; we apprehend the diforder to have been derived from the fame quarter, from which the fmall-pox is known to have been, even from Arabia-, and fo to have formed with that, two of the curfes which Mahometanifm inflicted upon Europe, which perhaps have outdone in mif- chief the ravages of its arms, and have certainly furvived them in their confequences. This hifto- rical argument, too, is apparently corroborated by the relative appellations, with which thefe two dif- eafes are diftinguifhed by us Europeans ; the great and the/mall pox, * la grojje' and c la petite verole,' &c. plainly denoting the one to be co-temporary with the other, in the knowledge of Europe. — The black woolly hair of the natives on the coaft of Guinea, is a very flriking circumftance in the aipect of them. The general blacknefs of their appearance they fo far ihare in common with others, as not to be blacker than their fouthern neighbours, and to be only a degree or two blacker than their eaftern. But their woolly hair is the (lamp of nature, by which ihe has marked them as diftincl from all. Thefe heter oolites of the human race, were unknown 1 Malmefbury, fol. 84. to Vols. IV. V. VI. sjo. 183 to the Europeans in general ; till the Portuguefe, beyond the middle of the fifteenth century, puihed their navigation along the weftern coaft of Africa, and difcovered them. And yet we have a curious paffage in Malmeibury's hiftory of the crufades, which pointed them out very ftrongly to the eye of Britain particularly -, about two centuries and a half before. Baldwin the fecond, he fays, marched from Jerufalem to Afcalon, then turned up into the mountains in purfuit of the Turks, beat them out of their caves by fmoke, directed his courfe towards Arabia, and went by Hebron to the Dead Sea. ( Evadentes ergo lacum, venerunt ad villam fane ' locupletiffimam, et mellitis pomis quae dactylos f dicunt fecundam — ;' dates from the neighbour- ing palms of Jericho : c csetera timore incolarum ( abrafa, praster aliquantos ALthiopes ferruginea 1 capillorum lanugine fuliginem prcetendentes.' Thefe were evidently the blacks of Guinea, Their name of Ethiopians, alfo, points out diitinctly the channel, by which they had been derived from that diftant coaft. In 651 the Mahometan Arabs of Egypt c ib harraffed the king of Nubia' or Ethiopia, ' who was a Chriftian ; that' he agreed c to fend the 1 Arabs annually, by v/ay of a tribute, a vaji num- c her of Nubian or Ethiopian flaves into Egypt. Such ' a tribute as this at that time was more agreeable to * the Khalif, than any other -, as the Arabs then 1 made no fmall account of tkofe /laves'.' At this 1 Mod. Univ. Hift. i. 525. N 4 time 1 84 Review of Gibbon's Hi/lory, time therefore, began that kind of traiBck in hu- man flefh, Which fpoils unhappy Guinea of its fons. Compelled to furnifh ' a vaft number' of flaves every year, to the Arabs of Egypt ; the king of Ethiopia naturally endeavoured to feed this great drain upon his fubjefts, from the natives of the neighbouring countries ; ranged accordingly into all that vaft blank of geography upon the map of the world, the fpreading bofom of this ample continent j and even pufhed through it to its farthefl extremi- ties in the Weft. He thus brought the blacks of Guinea for the firft time, into the fervice and fa- milies of the Eaft. All thefe flaves, whether de- rived from the nearer neighbourhood of Ethiopia, fetched from the Mediterranean regions of Africa, or brought from the diftant fliores of the Atlantickj would all be denominated Ethiopians, from the country by which they were conveyed to the Arabs of Egypt. The Arabs therefore appear to have trained up blacks for the ufes of war, as we do a few occafionally for drummers and fifers to our regiments j and even to have thrown them into large bodies of foldiery by themfclves. So early as the fiege of Jerufalem by the crufaders in 1099, when the Arabs of Egypt were now in poiTeffion of the city, having recently taken it from their Maho- metan brethren the Turks ; there were no lefs than five hundred Ethiopians at the ftorm, that took refuge from it in the Tower of David, and there furrendered to the crufaders, on condition of being allowed Vols. IV V. VI. 4/0. 185 allowed to march out to Afcalon ' ; and, in the fol- lowing year, the crufaders met with fome Ethio- pians near Hebron, that are diitinguifhed from the former by their woolly heads, and were therefore the blacks of Guinea. So much earlier did the purchafe of the inhabitants for (laves commence, than has been ever imagined ; even ages before the Portuguefe laid open their country, to the intercourfe of Europe. Even after they had, the inhabitants were as regu- larly purchafed for flaves by fome of the ftates ad- joining, as they are now by the maritime Europeans. The Arabs of Egypt having reduced all the north of Africa, and carrying with them their love of black fervants, would be fure to open a ready com- munication for themfelves to their country. They certainly had one fo early a.s 15 12, and before the Europeans had any, for that purpofe. They went from Barbary by a route, that was fo much prac- tifed, as to be denominated exprefsly c the way of ' the Camels.' Meeting together at c the town of i Cape Cantin,' that of Valadie near it, the com- mercial caravan traverfed c the vaft deferts,' thole of Sarra which run, like the Tropic of Cancer over them, in a long line acrofs the country ; to * a place ' of great population called Hoden,' the Waden or Hoden of our maps, and a little to the fouth-weft of Cape Blanco. From Hoden they diverted on the left, and pufhed directly into the inteaiours of rhe continent, to reach c Tegazz;:,' the Tagazel or Tagaza of our maps, and lying nearly eaft of Ho- ' M:;lnc!bury, p. 80. den. 1 86 Review of s Gibbon's Hi/lory, den. Here afiuredly they did, as the caravan dees certainly at this day ; and added to the other wares upon their camels, a quantity of fait from thofe mines of rock fair, which are extraordinary enough to be noticed as rocks in our maps. This they car- ried, as they ftill carry it, to c Tanbut,' the Tom- but of the maps, and a town in the heart of the A- frican continent. And from this town they turned on the right for the fea-coaft again, and reached it in * the great kingdom of Mele,' the Melli of our maps, to the fouth of the Gambia, and juft at the fpringing (as it were) of that grand arch of fea, which curves fo deeply into the body of the land, and conftitutes the extenfive Gulph of Guinea. At Melli and at Tombut they received a meafure of gold for a meafure of fait. The caravan collects gold at Tombut, to the prefent time. But at Melli they purchafed gold, and alfo fifoer, in pieces as large as pebbles. And at Hoden they had a great mart for flaves ; the blacks being brought thither from the countries adjoining, and bartered away to the trad- ers \ Such was the Slave Coaft and the Gold Coaft, of former days ! The ftaple commodity of Ho- den, is only transferred now to Whidah ; and diverted from the Arabs of Barbary, to the Chriftians of Eu- rope. And fhould any thing fo wildly incredible happen, as that all the nations of Chriflendom, in one common paroxyfm of philanthropy, fhould 1 Peritfol, p. 122 — j 25, and maps for Mod. Univ. Hill. Perit- fol wrote (as I have obferved) about 15 12, in general (p. 179) j but after 1534, in one particular, p. 91. abandon Vols. IV. V. VI. \to. 187 abandon this commerce in fervants, which has been profecuted in all ages and under all religions ; they would only abandon it to thofe, who were originally pofTefTed of it, who ftill penetrate into the country, and who even pufh up to Gago at the very head of the Slave Coaft j and leave the wool-headed natives of it, to Mahometan matters in preference to ChriJ- tian. Under fuch matters they were in Judea, at the time of the crufades. Nor had any European eye then feen one of theje blacks. This is plain from what immediately follows in Malmefbury. * Quo- ' rum casdem,' he adds, c noftri sftimantes infra 1 virtutem fuam, non eos irsL,fed rij'u, dignati funt V And an army of Europeans, finding a number of Guinea blacks left in a town, near the fouthern end of Judsea ; feeing thefe blacks for the flrtt time; and burfting out into a general fit of laughter, at the fight of them ; forms one of the moft curious Sketches in hiftory. In the arrangement of the parts of this chapter, we have great confufion. In p. 75 we have an inti- mation of a fupply fent to the firft crufaders, of a fe- cond crufade, and of a third. We then have an ac- count, of the general numbers and character of each, 75 — 77; the conduct of the emperours towards them, 77 — 80 ; the general hiftory of the fupply, 80 ; of the fecond crufade, 80— 81 ; and of the third, 81 — 82 ; and of the perfeverance of Europe in thefe crufades, 8 2 — 83. And, after all, we come back in 83 — 84.tot.he character of St. Bernard, and his fuccefs in preach- ing up — a new crufade, to be fure. But let not the 1 Fol. 83. reader 1 8 8 Review of Gibbon's Hijlory, reader prefume too freely on propriety, in Mr. Gib- bon. The crufade, which St. Bernard is now preaching up, is one of the foregoing. It is one of thofe which we have already difpatched. It is not even the laft of diem. It is the fecond. So ftrangely are we moving fornetime backwards and fometimc forwards, in the conrfe of the hiftory ! But there is alfo a grand omiffion in it. In p. 73 we are told, that Bohemond and ( his Norman fol- * lowers were inefficient to withftand the hojlilities of c the Greeks and Turks.' But what had provoked the hoftilities of the Greeks, whether actual or ap- prehended, between this Norman prince of Antioch and the Greek emperor ? This Mr. Gibbon has moil ftrangely concealed. And, for want of this ne- cefTary information, the reader is all in the dark a- bout the meaning of the movements before him. He fees Bohemond f embracing the magnanimous c refolution of leaving the defence of Antioch to his f kinfman, the faithful Tancred; of arming the * Weft againft the Byzantine empire ; and of exe- f cuting the defign, which he inherited from the c lefibns and example of his father Guifcard.' But what the caufe, real or pretended, of this refolution is ; Mr. Gibbon does not tell us. We then behold Bohemond f embarking clandeftinely' for Europe, received in France with applaufc, married to the king's daughter, and * returning with the braveft ( fpirits of the age.' Yet ftill what the ground for ali this is^ Mr. Gibbon never tells us. And his hif- tory, for want of this intelligence, becomes a mere fcene of puppet-fhow to us ; movements without any moving principles, and operations without any im- 9 pelling Vols. IV. V. VI. 4/0. 189 pelling caufe. Mr. Gibbon fhould have told as, that the emperour required Bohemond to hold the fovereignty of Antioch in dependence upon him ; a point, to which Mr. Gibbon himfelf, however ab- furdly with his previous fupprefTion of it, makes a direct reference in p. 74, when, on terminating the quarrel, he fays c the homage was clearly ftipulatcd :' that Bohemond refuied, even claimed Laodicea from the emperour as a part of his principality of Antioch, and even went fo far as to feize it ; another point to which Mr. Gibbon himfelf alludes, when, at the fame time, he fays c the boundaries' of his prin- cipality f were ftrictly defined :' and that, in confe- quence of this rebellion againft and attack upon him, by one of the chief of the crufaders; the emperour attacked and defeated a Meet of new crufaders, coming from the Weft'.' Thefe incidents throw a full light upon the darkened narrative. We fee the defigns of Bohemond, and the hoftilities of the Greeks, clearly elucidated. And the fcene of pup- pet-fhow becomes, a picture of living manners and of human tranfaclions \ f The principality of Antioch was left without a c head, by the furprife and captivity of Bohemond ; * his ranfom had oppreffed him with a heavy debt V What all this means, no one fhall know from Mr. Gibbon. He muft refer to Malmefbury or fome other author, to be his commentator upon Mr. Gib- 1 Ant. Univ. Hill. xvii. 151. * It is remarkable, that Malmefbury has equally omitted t'.efe impelling incidents. *P- 73- bon. 1^0 Review of Gibbon's Hifory, bon. From Malmefbury he will then learn, < Boa- ' mundum-— captum et in catenas ejectum, a quo- * dam Danifman gentili, et in illis terris potenti ;' that { pollicitus — Boamundus continuam gentili con- c cordiam,' and not, as Mr. Gibbon dates it, paying a ranfom, c revertit Antiochiam, argent eos compedes c quibus illigatus fuerat deferens fecum V This is another inftance, of Mr. Gibbon's dark mode of writing the hiftory, where he thinks himfelf obliged to be brief. And thefe unite with many other in- ftances to fhew us, that this hiftorical painter knows not how to give us the features of the times, com- prefled into a miniature piece ; and that he can work only upon figures nearly as big as the life. ' The fword, which had been the inftrument of * their [the crufaders] victory, was the pledge and c title of their juft independence. It does not ap- c pear, that the emperor attempted to revive his ob- c folete claims over the kingdom of Jerufalem ; * but the borders of Cilicia and Syria were more * recent [he fhould have faid more recently\ in his c pofremon.' Note. ' The kings of Jerufalem ' fubmitted however to a nominal dependence, and ' in the dates of their infcriptions (one is flill legible ' in the church at Bethlem) they refpectfully placed c before their own, the name of the reigning empe- ' rour Y We here fee again what we mull again call, the natural confufednefs of Mr. Gibbon's under- ftanding. The fword of the crufaders, we are told, became with them c the pledge and title of their * Fol. 82 and 85. *P-73- 'juft Vols. IV V. VI. tfo. 191 c juft independence,' Yet with, this fword in their hands, and in their moft powerful kingdom, we find, they actually refigned their c juft independence,' and f fubmitted to a — dependence' upon the empe- rour. This dependence is faid indeed to have been * nominal ;' but what did the emperour afk more, or what more did their fword refufe to allow him ? When the difpute with the kingdom of Antioch was ter- minated by the emperour, as Mr. Gibbon himfelf tells us, ' the boundaries were ftrictiy defined,' and ' the homage was clearly flipulated.' The homage, therefore, was all. This was a real, not a nominal, dependence. As fuch, it was infilled upon by the emperour ; and, as fuch, it had been refufed by Bo- hemond before. It was as real, as the definition of the boundaries was. The kings of Jerufalem always paid it, we/»i/, though the flrft king of Antioch re- fufed it i becauje there was no difpute between them and the emperour, as there was between the empe- rour and him. And accordingly we find alfo, from that moft authentic of all evidences, a formal inferip- tion fet upon a church by them; that they fkpuoed and owned their real dependence upon the emperour, in the moft ftriking way in which they could own and ftiew it, by { refpectfully placing before their c own the name of the reigning emperour.' Yet c it * does not appear, we are told by Mr Gibbon, c that c the emperour attempted to revive his obfolcte claims ' over the kingdom of Jerufalem.' It certainly does appear from Mr. Gibbon himfelf. It appears from this very infeription. He not only attempted to revive his claims, but actually revived them with- § out 192 Review of Gibbon s Hifiory, out fefifiance. Yet, becaufe Mr. Gibbon finds no refiftance, he ailerts there was no revival; and the unrefifted acknowledgment of the claim, he con- fiders as an evidence againft it's exiftence. So ftrangeiy does his understanding wrefl cbje&s, from their natural and obvious propriety ! At laft how- ever he found an apparent and a pofitive proof, of their dependence. He did not then correct what he had faid before, by what he had difcoyered now. No ! he was too indolent, or too prefuming, for that. He makes this new difcovery to bend and warp with his old ideas. He afferts the new-difcovered de- pendence, to be merely nominal; when even, if no- minal, it goes againft his afTerticn, and when it is apparently real. And he finally places this new difcovery at the foot of the old aflertion, muffled in- deed by this diilimftion of a nominal dependence, and yet fpeaking loudly againft the aflertion. But we have not done with this paffage. The claim of the emperotir over the kingdom of Jerufa- lem, is faid to be f obfoiete.' This therefore is urged as an argument, irhy he did not attempt to revive his claim. Yet he revived it, as Mr. Gib- bon has already fhewn us, over Antioch. In what year, then, was Antioch reduced by the Saracens, and in what Jerufalem ? Jerufalem was reduced in 637, according to Mr Gibbon himfelf, and Antioch, according to Mr. Gibbon alfo, in — 638 \ Yet the emperour's claim of homage from Jerufalem, was never revived becaufe it was obfolete ; and was not too 1 Vol. v. 320 and 323. obfolete Vols. IF. V, VI. 4to. 193 obfolete, to be revived over Antioch. So much ef- ficacy has the difference of a fingle year, in annihi- lating and preferving rights ! But the * borders of c Cilicia and Syria were more recent in his pofieffion,* than Jerufalem. Was not Antioch, then, on the borders of Syria towards Cilicia ? It certainly was. All Syria, according to Mr. Gibbon himfelf, was reduced by the Saracens in 638 ' j and, f to the north of ' Syria, they parled mount Taurus,' in 63 9, lays the margin, c and reduced to their obedience the province c of Cilicia Y So much more l recent' in their pof- fefllon were c the borders of Cilicia and Syria,' than Jerufalem ! They were even one or two years. This, in Mr. Gibbon's forgetfulnefs of facts and indiftinctnefs of recollection, is made equivalent to one or two ages. And, what aggravates very greatly the contradiftorinefs of all this, he has laid it all, concerning the objoletenejs of the emperour's claim over the kingdom of Jerufalem in the province of Syria, concerning his not attempting to revive it, and concerning the borders of Cilicia and Syria being more recent than Jerufalem in his poiTefiion, and therefore claimed by him ; when he previoufly tells us in the molt explicit terms, that f his ancient and * -perpetual claim fiill embraced the kingdoms of Sy- ( ria and Egypt 1 * Such a chaos of confufion, fuch a mafs of fighting and warring elements, dees ths hand of contradiction work up, in the pages of Mr. Gibbon's hiftory ! ' Vol. v. 326 a Vol. v. 330. O Text. 3 P- 34 1 94 Review of Gibbon's Hiftory t Text. c The Seljukian dynafty of Roum' had, c after the lofs of Nice' to the crufaders, f Cogni or ' Iconium for its capital' Note. ' See, in the ' learned work of M. de Guignes — , the hiftory of c the Seljukians of Iconium — , as far as may be colletled < from the Greeks, Latins, and Arabians. The lafi c are ignorant or regardlefs of the affairs of Roum V This is a very extraordinary inftance of contra- diction, in two near and neighbouring pofitions. In proof that c the Seljukian dynafty of Roum' had Iconium for its capital, we are referred to a hiftory in M. de Guignes. In proof that this hiftory is fuffi- cient evidence, we are told it is collected from the Greeks, Latins, and Arabians. And then we are finally told, that it cannot be collected from the Ara- bians, becaufe the Arabians are f either ignorant or ' regardlefs' of this part of the hiftory. Text. c Iconium, an obfcure and inland town.' Note. c I- f conium is mentioned as a ftation by Xenophon, ' and by Strabo with the ambiguous title of Kw^o- ' ttoAk,' or the city-village. f Yet St. Paul found * in that place a multitude (zrXrftoq) of Jews and 1 Gentiles. Under the corrupt name of Kunijah, * it is defcribed as a great city — (Abulfeda — ) Y Thus Iconium is pronounced an obfcure town. The •"Evidence for this is one authority, which fpeaks of it • as a mere Jiation ; two authorities, that make It a great and populous town ; and a fourth, that trims be- tween the oppofed teftimonies, and calls it a city and a village in one. We thus advance by regular 1 P- 74- a P- 74- fteps Vols. IV. V. VI. \to. 195 fteps from an obicure and ftationary town, to a city- like kind of village, and to a populous and large city. And three out of the four references, contra- dict at once the firft and the text. Text. f Only 4 one man was left behind for — feven widows.' Note. ' Pene jam non inveniunt quern apprehendant fep- c tern mulieres unum virnm V The pene of the primary hiftorian is made only in the fecondary, and the text violates the truth of the note. We faw in the lart volume, that Mr. Gibbon made a grand attempt, to prove the nocturnal journey of Mahomet from Mecca to Jerufalem, and from Jerufalem to heaven, not intended by Mahomet for a reality, but only a dream. I particularly produced in proof to the contrary, that the general of Omar, the fecond fucceffor of Mahomet, confidered it as a reality ; becaufe he urged the furrender of Jerufalem to him, as the place, from the temple of which Maho- met afcended in one night to heaven. I might alfo have added, that, in the very fame year, one Kais Ebn Amer, an old man who had been particularly converfant with Mahomet, being brought as a pri- foner before the Roman emperour, and being inter- rogated by him concerning Mahomet, anfwered; c that he really performed a night- journey to heaven, ' affually converfed there with God himfelf, and f received feveral institutions immediately from him 1 .' And, to my agreeable furprife, I find in this volume, that Mr Gibbon now is entirely of my opinion. The Mahometans at Jerufalem, he fays, were allowed to * P. 85. a Mod. Univ. Hiit. i. 450. O 2 f pray i 96 Review of Gibbon's Hiftcry, ' pray and preach in the mofch of the temple' [he fhould have faid, in the mofch or temple], ' from ' whence the prophet undertook his noElurnal journey to * heaven*. ' So litrle impreflion do Mr. Gibbon's own arguments make upon himfelf even in points important to his caufe of Mahometanifm, and la- boured with particular care by his pen 5 that he foon forgets them, relapfes back into the opinions that he had refuted, and fhews the triumph of nature evident over the fophiftications of art. In the two preceding volumes, I have pointed out the frequent recurrence of Mr. Gibbon's fpirit, to ideas of lafcivioufnefs and to intimations of im- purity. We have another inflance of this, in the prefent volume. This is fuch as I can lay before my readers, without offending their delicacy. I mail therefore do fo. Text. ' Only one man was \ left behind for the conjolation of feven widows.' Note. ' Pene jam non inveniunt quern apprehen- dant feptern midieres unum virumV Here is no hint about widows ; the paffage fpeaks only of women. The conjolation alfo is adminiftered merely, by the prurient pen of Mr. Gibbon. And, to crown this fally, Mr. Gibbon adds this to the note : * We muft be careful not to conftrue -pene as a fub- ftantive.' So apt is Mr. Gibbon to take fire in his fancy, at the flighted approach of a fenfual idea; and fo ready to twift and torture an innocent word, in order to gratify his fenfual luxuriance of tafte ! Mi/quotations. ' In the caliph's treafure were 113. * p. 85. * found Vols. IV. V. VI. 4/0. 1 97 ' found a ruby weighing feventeen Egyptian drachms —-(Renaudot, p. 536) V The words in Renaudot are thefe : ' Rubinorum majorum, qui drachmarum ' Egyptiacarum feptemdecim pondus sequabant, c Hnea> a firing of rubies, not a fingle ruby. . * The moft numerous portion of the inhabitants was * compofed of the Greek and Oriental Chriftians, * whom experience had taught to prefer the Maho- c metan before the Latin yoke (Renaudot, — p. f 545 ) 1 *' Renaudot's words are diefe : £ Mox Sa- f ladinus Hierofolyma obfedit ; nee cepifTet abfque f civium difcordia et Chrifiianorum Melchitarum pro- ' ditione. Nam per quendam Jofephum Elbatith 1 ex eddem fetid, qui negotiandi caufa mukoties in c urbem receptus erat, eos ad excutiendum Fran* f corum jugum, quos numero fuperaban:, incitavit.' Here we have no intimation, whatever we may have in Mr. Gibbon, of f experience having taught' the old and Melchite Chriftians of Jerufalem, to prefer the Mahometans to the Latins for mailers. A fear of the fiege, a feeling of its terrours, a dtfpair of relief, and a promife of favourable terms, might each or all induce them to clamour for a capitula- tion. And Mr. Gibbon has again loaded the credit of Renaudot, by faying from him what he does not fay himfelf. • p. 88. ■ p. 98, O 3 Chapter 198 Review of Gibbon s Hijlory, Chapter third, or Sixtieth. This reprefents to us the Greeks arrogating to themfelves the knowledge of divinity, and the Latins defpifing the fubtilty of the Greeks in it, 122; the differences between theeaftern and weftern churches, concerning the procefTion of the Holy Ghoft, 1 22-1 23 ; the ufe of leavened or un-lea- vened bread in theeucharift, 1 23 ; the eating of things flrangled and of blood, failing on Saturday, eating milk and cheefe in the firft week of Lent, and in- dulging the weak monks with fleih, 1 23 ; concern- ing the ufe of animal oil inftead of vegetable in the unction of baptifm, referving the adminiftration of this unction to bifhops, decorating the bifhops with rings, fhaving the faces of priefts, and baptiz- ing, infants by a fingle immerfion, 124; and con- cerning the fupremacy of the patriarch of Con- ftantinople and the Pcpe of Rome, 124-126; the mutual hatred of the Greeks and Latins in the crufades, 126-127 ; many Latins, who were fettled at Conftantinople, mafTacred, 127-130 ; the reign of Ifaac Angelus emperor of Conftantinople, 130- 131 ; the revolt of the Bulgarians and Wallachiar.s from the empire and church of Conftantinople, 1 3 1- 13 2; Ifaac depofed by his brother Alexius, 132-133; the fourth crufade preached up, 134- 135; the perfons engaged in it, 135-136; their application to the Venetians for ihips, 136-137; the general hiftory of Venice to this time, 137-139; die confederacy between the crufaders and Ve- netians, 139-141; the crufaders affembling at Ve- nice Vols. IV. V. VI. tfo. 199 nice and being diverted into Dalmatia, 141-144; again diverted towards Conftantinople, by Alexius fon to the depofed emperor Ifoac, 144-145 ; a part of the army, on this, leaving the reft and going for Jerufalem, 146; and the reft failing for Conftanti- nople, landing at it, befieging it, admitted into the town on the reftoration of Ifaac, again befieging the town on the fecond depofition of Ifaac, taking, and plundering it, 146-173. All the firft part of this chapter, therefore, is a ftring of digreflions. The differences between the two churches, had either no influence at all, or a very flight one, in this attack of the Latins upon the Greek empire. They do not feem to have had any at all. Or, if they had, they were only as the duft of the fcale in addition to the weight within it. And they ought not, if the flighteft attention had been paid to propriety by Mr. Gibbon, to unity of defign and to refponfive- nefs of execution; to have been once thought of in a work, that is to give us only the f important,' and c the moft' important, circumftances of the hiftory. But nothing can flop Mr. Gibbon's predominant love, for theological diftertation. He burfts every band, that would tie him up from indulging it. And then he riots in the ufe of his liberty, like the full- fed ftallion of the Iliad. Eiw?wj tezo-Qui euppEiog Tudlafj.oio^ Kyeraw ia{,jj 3e *ap) zyth a(*

a\r)!pi ote;™^, P i,u.£« e yzva ' and p. 155, f he found the fix weary diminutive battles ( of the French, encompafifed by fixty fquadrons of ' the Greek cavalry.' Here the word battle is ufed in an acceptation, that is occafionally given it by our old writers. But it is an acceptation very harm and violent. It is thus ufed as an abbreviation for battle-array , and means a divifion of an army arrayed for battle j juft as it feems to be ufed for battle-axe in this un- noticed paffage of the Pfalms, { there brake he * the arrows of the bow, the Jloield, the /word, and * the battle.' And as the ufe of battle for battle-axe would be very harm in a modern writer, however countenanced by this and perhaps other pafTages in our old authors; fo the adoption of battle for the divifion of an army, however fanctioned by a num- ber of our old authors, is very violent. But in p. 154 we have another word derived from this ancient fource. ' The numbers that defended the 4 vantage-ground] meaning not a real elevation of ground, but the height of the ramparts, ( repulfed ' and opprejjed the adventurous Latins.' And, as cpprejjed is very improper in military language, and mould be prejfcd or overpowered ; fo vantage ground is equally improper in itfelf, and in its application. Nor can we too much wonder at the injudiciouihefs of a writer, who could here take the momentary fancy, of fprinkling his compleady modern language with any antiquated terms of hiftory ; and of felecl:- ing Juch only, as were obvioufly improper in their antient ufe, and are doubly improper now in his. We may fpeak, and fome wi iters have fpoken, of 9 the Vols. IV. V. VI. 4/a. 203 the f vantage of ground.' But the prefent modes of elegance certainly require us, to call it the c advan- s tage of ground.' And both elegance and ufe unite to interdict us, from talking of the c vantage ' ground' with Mr. Gibbon. The words vantage ground and battle, as here ufed> are indeed fuch a barbarijm in one of them, as we mould never have expected in Mr. Gibbon, and fuch a Jolecijm in the other, as we mould laugh at in any writer. Mi/quotation. Text. £ Pope Innocent the Third * accufes the pilgrims of refpecting, in their luft, c neither age nor fex 1 .' But the Pope, as quoted by Mr. Gibbon himfelf in the note, is by no means fo compi ehenfive and general, as Mr. Gibbon makes him. He ipeaks not of the pilgrims at large. He notices only fome of them. f Quidam (fays Inno- c cent-) nee religioni nee setati,' &c. And this furnifhes another inftance, how free or how carelefs Mr. Gibbon is in the application of his authorities. Nor does the Pope mean what Mr. Gibbon's words import when he fpeaks even of fome not iparing either age or fex. Pie fays, indeed, that thefe 1 nee religioni nee astati nee fexui pepercerunt.' But his meaning is fufficiently reftricted, by his words immediately following ; { fed fornicationes, * adulteria, inceftus in ocul s omnium exercentes,' &c. And Mr. Giobon himfelf ftates the fact in oppofition to his language, to be that c fornication, * adultery, and inceft were perpetrated.' Even as to tncefti the original author means no more what 1 p. i6Q. his 204 Review of Gibbon's Hifiory, his tranflator means by inceft, than he does what the other fignifies by/ex. The impurities were all with women. But the fornications and adulteries were with widows and with wives. And the incejl was with nuns. ' Non folum maritatas et viduas, fed * et matronas et virgines Deo — dicatas, expofue- c runt,* &c. And, as Mr. Gibbon (I fear) meant to infinuate more than he dared to avow, fo he has certainly fixed the vicioufnefs upon all, when it apparently belonged only to fome. Chapter the fourth or fixty-firft. — This {hews us the nomination of an emperour by the Latins, 174 — 177 j the divifion of the provinces of the empire among them, 177 — 180 j the provinces (till (landing out againft them, j 80 — 183 j the difcontent of the Greeks at Con- ftantinople, 183 — 184; the confpiracy of the Bul- garians with them, 184 — 1 85 j the Greeks marTa- creing the Latins, 185 ; the approach of the Bul- garians, 185 j the Latin emperour defeated and taken, 185 — 186 j the Latin empire reduced to little more than the capital, 186 — 188 ; the fecond Latin emperour, 1 S3 j his misfortunes, 189; his fucceffes, 189 — 191 ; his admifiion of the Greeks into offices, 191 j other parts of his conduct, 191 — 192; the third Latin emperour, a Frenchman, crufhed with all his army in marching towards Con- fhmtinople, 192 — 1945 the fourth Latin empe- rour equally a Frenchman, reaching Conflantino- 8 pie, Vols. IV. V. VL 4/tf. 205 pie, 194; his misfortunes, 194 — 195; the fifth Latin emperour, 196 — 197 ; his fuccefs againft the Greeks of Nice and the King of Bulgaria, who befieged Conftantinople, 1 97 ; the fixth and laft Latin emperour, 198; his misfortunes, 198 — 199; his mortgaging the holy relics, 200 — 202 ; the Greek empire of Nice gaining greatly upon him, 202—203 » furprizing Conftantinople itfelf, 204 — 206 ; the general confequences of the crufades upon weftern Europe, 206 — 211 ; and f a digrefiion on the family of Courtenay,' from which fome of the Latin emperours were derived, 211 — 220. This acknowledged f digrefTion,' fays Mr. Gibbon, c the * purple of three emperours, who have reigned at * Conftantinople, will authorije or excuje.* Mr. Gibbon has fo vitiated his understanding by the habit of indulgence, that he can no longer difcern the groffeft abfurdity of digrefiion. Blinded by the blaze of the fun which has been fo licentioufly gazed upon, the eye is no longer able to behold an oppofed mountain. And the addition of a genealogical eflay to the hiftory of this chapter, is one of the moft wanton and whimfical effufions of injudicioufnefe, that even the prefent produftion can furnifh. I need not fay, that the very purport of his work, and the very profeffions of his preface, confine him to the hiftory of the Roman empire, reftrain him to the hiftory of its decline and fall, and tie him down to the moft important circumftances of either. There is no need of a fingle argument, upon 206 Review of Gibbon s Hiflory, upon the point. The digreflion fpeaks fufficiently, for its own intrufivenefs and effrontery. And this moil ridiculous of all ridiculous digreflions, this clumfily ftitched-on affumentum to the records of hiftory, and this awkwardly protuberant botch upon the mantle of it ; could not, even in the judgment of Mr. Gibbon, enflaved as his judgment is by the perpetual practice of digreflions, have been deemed capable of any excufe, much lefs of any fanction ; if another principle had not come in to delude him. The zeal of Mr. Gibbon betrays his vanity. He has fome real or pretended connection, we doubt not, with the family which he blazons fo ftudioufly. For the fake of gratifying this petty pride, the hifto- rian of the world is content to fink into the humble annalift of a family ; the purblind critic takes care to fruit his eyes entirely •, and the race-horfe, that was perpetually Striking out of the courfe, reiblves to quit it with a bold leap at once. And all ferves ftrongly to imprefs a full conviction upon our minds of the weaknefs of Mr. Gibbon's judgment, when it comes to druggie with -his habits, and to contend with his pafiionsj and of its readinefs when it is reduced into fervitudej to efpouie the caufe of its mafters, to c excufe' what it would heartily con- demn in its free ftate, and even to f authorife' the moft favage intemperances of tyranny over it. I have already juftiued the crufades fufficiently, upon principles of policy and upon grounds of pro- bity. Nor fhall I now examine any new intima- tions Vols. IV. V. VI. aJq. 207 tions againft them, in Mr. Gibbon. Only I can- not but notice the very violent zeal of Mr. Gibbon, which has incidentally charged the crufaders with a ?nofi extraordinary crime. This is no lefs an enor- mity, than working, — not upon Sundays— but — in Paffion Week. f Such was the pious tendency of * the crufades,' he fays at the fiege of Adrianople, f that they employed the holy week/ and the margin adds March ; f in pillaging the country for fubfiftence, ' and in framing engines for the definition of their c fellow Chriflians'.' c The empire, at once in a ftate of childhood < and caducity V This is worfe than the worft of Johnfon's Jefquipedalian words. It is alfo abfurd. Caducity forms no contraft to childhood. And feni- lity fhould have been the latinized word. Text. c The — poverty of Baldwin was alle- * viated, — by the alienation of the marquifa&e of 1 Namur and the lordfhip of Court enay.' Note. * Louis IX. difapproved and flopped the alienation { of Courtenay V This is very ftrange. But we have ieen fo much of the ftrangenefs in the text and notes already, that even thefe moft amazing of all contrarieties lofe their effect upon us, and con- tradictorinefs becomes familiar in Mr. Gibbon. In every other author, the text and the notes go on in loving fellowfhip together. The note indeed always plays the parafite to the text. * p. 186; - p. 1S7. 3 p. 199. Quicquid 208 Review of Gibbon's Hijlory, Quicquid dicunt, laudo; id rurfum fi negant, laudo id quoquc; Negat quis i nego ; ait ? aio : poftremo imperavi egomet miki, Omnia adfentari ; is quasftus nunc efl multo ubenimus. But Mr. Gibbon repeatedly breaks in upon this pa- rafitical humour, and deftroys this loving fellow- fliip. His notes are behaving like impudent varlets to their matters, and giving them the lie dirett* This does, we fee, in the boldeft manner. And yet we find f the cattle of Courtenay' actually alie- nated afterwards, becaufe it is faid to be ' profaned c by a plebeian owner V So, with an equally ob- vious though much lefs remarkable contradiction, Mr. Gibbon makes c the nummus aureus — about ten c millings fterling in value Y when he has previ- oufly made it, c equivalent to eight millings of our c fterling money'/ Both unite with the embojfed di- greflion above, to fhew digreflions and contradic- tions continuing to go on together ; and to mark by their union j the natural unfixednefs of Mr. Gib- bon's fpirit, and the habitual unfteadinefs of Mr* Gibbon's judgment. 1 p. 215. * p. 200. 3 vol. v. 397. Chapter Vols. IV. V. VI. 4tc. 299 Chapter the F 1 f t h, and lixty-fecond — Here we fee the private hiftory of the empire of Nice, before Conftantinople was recovered ftom the Latins, 221-222 -, in the con- duct of the firft and fecond emperors, 222-224; in that of the third, 224-225 ; in that of the guar- dians of the fourth, 226-231 ; and in that of the fifth to the taking of Conftantinople, 231-232. So much of the chapter is all digreflicnal. ( In the c decline of the Latins,' fays Mr. Gibbon, { I have * briefly expofed the progrefs of the Greeks ; the f prudent and gradual advances of a conqueror, c who, in a reign of thirty-three years, refcued the t provinces from national and foreign ufurpers, till * lie preffed on all fides the imperial city, a leaflefs ' and faplefs trunk which rauft fall at the firft * ftroke of the axe. But his interior and peaceable * adminiftration is ftill more deferving of notice * and praife V He therefore purfues the fubjedfc. He thus digreffes widely from the hiftory of the * decline and fall' of the Roman empire, more widely from the c important' circumftances of either, and dill more widely from c the molt important.* But his digreflion does not confift merely, in exe- cuting what he lb digrefiionally propofes. The 4 interior and peaceable adminiftration,' in his am- 1 P. 22 Z. P pKfying 2 1 o Review of Gibbon's Hiftory, plifying hands, becomes a hiftory. And it is not the hiftory merely, of the conquerour here alluded to : it is the hiftory of his fon, of his fon's fon, &c. Thus does one digreflicn come riding upon the back of another, Velut undo, fuper the whole we are told, after the Tartars had proved totally innoxious to the Roman empire ; that ' the 1 decline of the Moguls gave a free fcope to the rife e and frogrefs of the Ottoman empire.' He thus erects the empire of the Tartars, to fweep it away with a brum of his hand, and to raife the empire of the Ottomans upon the ground ; and two-and- twenty pages are employed, when two would have been too many. The chapter then goes on to the origin of the Ottoman Turks, 310-311 ; the fuc- cefTes'of their founder Othman againft the empire, 3 1 1-3 1 2 i the fuccefles of his fon Orchan againft it, 312-315 ; the fir ft pafTage of the Turks into Eu- rope, 315-316; Orchan's marriage with a daughter of the Roman emperour, 316-317; the eftablifh- ment of the Ottomans in Europe, 318-319; their making Adrianople their capital there, 319; their reduction of Bulgaria, &c. 3 19-320 ; their appoint- ment of the Janizaries, 320-321 ; their reduction of Macedonia, Theflaly, and Greece, 322; the cha- racter of the conqueror, 322-323; his invafion of Hungary, 323 ; his defeat of the Hungarians and French, 323-325 ; his conduct of his French cap- tives, 325-327 ; the dhTentions among the Greeks, 327-329; the diftrefs of the empire, 329; Con- ftantinople befieged by the Turks, 329; relieved by a fleet of French, 329-330 ; again befieged by the Turks, and again relieved accidentally by Ta- merlane, 23°' Thus, more than half of the whok chapter, is entirely foreign to it. Yet, in this very chapter, Mr. Gibbon can fpeak of the hiflory of Chalcondyles, as one c whole proper fubject is q f drowned Vols. IV. V. VI. 410. 219 * drowned in a fea of epifode.' So keen is Mr. Gibbon to difcern the faults of another, and fo blind to the view of his own, even when he is juft come from the particular commiflipn of them. We are not acquainted with the hiftory of Chalcondyles. But no words can more appofitely picture forth Mr. Gibbon's. His ' proper fubject is' actually c drowned in a fea of epifode.' And he has dafhed off his own character very happily, in that of the other. ■ I have long fince afferted my claim/ he fays on preparing to wander away with the Tartars above, c to introduce the nations, the immediate ' or remote authors of the fall of the Roman em- * pire j nor can I refufe myfelf to thofe events/ the conquefts of the Tartars, f which, from their ' uncommon magnitude, will intereft a philofophic 1 mind in the hiftory of blood '.' This is Mr. Gibbon's apology, for rambling over half the globe with the Tartars. He fulpected he was going to be devious, and thought to deceive himfeif and his reader by an apology. The eye of the mole can juft difcern light enough, to know he is expofing himfeif to the danger of being feen. But he in- flantly dives, to avoid his danger. And Mr. Gib- bon fees, excufes, and runs into it. He has long { afferted his claim to introduce the nations, the im- * mediate or the remote authors of the fall cf the % Roman empire.' He therefore c introduces a na- *' tion,' that, hy his own account, was not c the imme- * diatej was not even c the remote, author of the * p. 288. « fan: 2.20 Review of Gibbon's Hiftory , t * fall* This is a glaring proof of Mr. Gibbon's powers of reafoning. * Nor can I refufe myfelf he acids, ( to thofe events,' not as in the chain of thought and of propriety he ought to have faid, which relate to fome fpecial c authors of the fall -*■ but i which, from their uncommoyi magnitude^ will In- i terejl a fhikfofhic mind in the hiftory of blood.* Mr- Gibbon evidently faw the abfurdity of his di~ greffion, but ' could net refufe himfelf 3 to it. The paroxyfm of rambling was upon him, and he could not refift it, His mind is ever ready to catch at any 'event: cf uncommon magnitude,' however fo- reign they may be to his plan, and however con- trary to his promife. It was fo, at his outfet in the hiftory. It is now a thoufand times more fo} from his long habits of digreffion. And, from both, unable to withftand the temptation, yet fenfible it was a temptation, he throws the duft of an apology in his own eyes and the reader's j but wilfully turns off in it from his natural courfe of ideas, which would have led the reader and him to detect th&faifenefs of the apology, Inftead of reprefenting the Tartars, as * authors' in any degree < of the fall of the Roman { empire ;' he reprefents their tranfaclions as events, that ( will mtereft a philofophic mind in the hiftory * of blood.' He thus acknowledges, very plainly, the epifodical nature of his Tartar hiftory here 3 by deferring the ground of juftification, which he had taken firft, and on which alone it could be juf- riiied 3 and turning off to a ground, upon which he niighr juftify the hiftory of any active nation, or account of my turbulent empire, upon the face of the earth, S Contradiolicns n Vols. IV. V. VL 4$, ,• ■ Lontraditlicns. Text. c The Khan of the Ke- * raites, who, under the name of Prefter John, had * correfponded 'with the Roman pontiff and the princes 1 of Europe,' &c. Note. * The Khans of the Ke- c raites were moil probably incapable of reading the c pompous epiftles compojed in their name by tht * Neftorian miffionaries '.' Text. * In the at* 1 tack and defence of places' by the Chinefe and Tartars, f — the ufe of gunpowder in cannon and bombs c appears as a familiar practice V Note. c I depend 1 on the knowledge and fidelity of the Pere Gau- { bil, who tranflates the Chineje text of the annals c of the Moguls or Yuen (p. 71, 93, 153).' So far the note goes hand in hand with the text, 'then a flight doubt concerning the veracity of the text, intrudes upon us : c but I am ignorant, at what ' time thefe annals were compojed and publijhed' Yet, upon the credit of thefe very annals, Mr. Gibbon has afferted the ufe of gunpowder, to have been c a familiar practice' at that particular time. He then advances into higher than doubts. He brings a ftrong argument of prefumpticn, againfi both their veracity and his own. { The two uncles c of Marco Polo, who ferved as engineers at the c fiege of Siengyangfou (1. ii. c. 61. in Ramufio, c torn. ii. See Gaubil, p. 155-157), mv.ft have felt * and related the effecls of this dejtrucl'rce powder ■, * and their filence is a weighty } and almofl decifve, ( objection.' Mr. Gibbon has thus brought an ob^ jection ' weighty, and almofl decifive,' againft the 1 p. 2 8 ;.;■*— 2.90. x p. 298. truth 22* Review of Gibbon's Hiflory, truth of his own afiertion. And he arraigns himfelf and his text o{faljhood y at die bar of his notes. Chapter Eighth or fixty- fifth. This contains the private hiftory of Tamerlane to his gaining the royalty of Tran- foxiana, 331-335, all digrefiional ; his conquefls in Perfia, 335-336, equally digrefiional; his reduction of Ormuz, Bagdad, Edefta, and Georgia, 336-23"/ ', equally digrefiional ; his fuccelTes in Turkeflan, Kipzak, and Rufila, 338-339, equally digrefiional ; his reduction of Azoph, Serai, and Aftrachan, 338-339, equally digrefiional ; his conquefls in In- dia, 339-341, equally digrefiional; angry letters be- tween him and the Turkiilt emperour, 342-345, equally digrefiional ; his invafion of Syria, now pof- fcfied by the Mamalukes of Egypt, 345-347, equally digrefiional ; Ms march into the Turkifh do- minions, 348-349 j his defeat of the Turks, 349- 351 ; his reduction of all their dominions in Afia, 351-352', n ' s reception of the Turkifh emperour, 352-353, again digrefiional; the ftory of his putting him in an iron cage examined, 353-3567 equally digrefiional ; his making the Roman emperour fwear to pay him the fame tribute, which had been paid to the Turks, 357 ; his fuccefies againft ether powers, 359, again digrefiional; his triumph and feflivity after all, 359-360, equally digrefiional; his preparations for invading China, 360, equally digrefiional ; hi» death baffling his defigns, 360-36 1, equally digrefiional ; his character examined and his merits afcertained, 361-364, equally digref- fional ;< Vols. IV. V. VL 4/0. 523 iional ; the hiflory of the Turks after Bajazet's de- feat, 364-36 7, equally digreflional ; the Genoefe af- fifting the Turks of Afia to reduce the Turks of Europe, 367-368, equally digreflional ; the Hate of the Roman empire, 369; the emperour offending both the rival kings of the Turks, 370-371 ; Con- ftantinople befieged by the victorious rival, but beat- ing him off, 37 1 ; the emperour fubmitting to pay a tribute as before, and to relinquiih almoft all the country without the fuburbs of the city, 371 ; the hereditary fucceflion of the royalty among the Turks, 372-373, again digreflional ; the education and dif- cipline of the Turks, 373-375, equally digref- fional j and an efiay on the invention and ufe of gunpowder, as prac~cifed in the late fiege of Con- stantinople, 375-377. Thus, out of twenty- {even articles, no lefS than nineteen are merely digreflional j having only a general connexion with the full hiftory of the empire, having none at all with the hiftory of its decline and fall, and having lefs than none (if pofiible) with the important circumfhnces of either. But Mr. Gibbon catches at the flighteft thread that is floating in the air, in order to waft hi mfelf along in quell of his prey. If the Turks be foes to the empire, he wili give us circumftantial accounts of the Turks. If the Tartars of Tamerlane be fees to the foes of the empire, he will be equally circumftantial concerning the Tartars.. And inftead of a really general account, that fhall juft Jketch out their hiftory to the period of their connection 224 Review cf Gibbon's Hi/lory, connexion with the empire, and then dwell upon it particularly -, he gives us bis general hiflory, re- plete with particular anecdotes, and fpreading through a variety of pages g and is as circumflan- tial before the connection, as after it. We have feen this, in the hiflory of Zingis and his Tartars before ; though their tranfactions had only a nega- tive connection with the empire, and the account of them concludes with their not affecting the em- pire at all. We here fee it again, in the hiflory of Tamerlane and his Tartars : where the only fpiders thread of connection is, that they advanced to the Hellefpont, after having reduced die Turks in Afia ; and made the emperour vow the homage, and promife the tribute, which he had paid to the Turks before. Yet that is twenty pages in quarto, and this fixteen. Thus, becaufe the dread of Zin- gis prevented the Swedes and Frizelanders, from going to the herring-fifhery of England ; and the Engli/h, having all the fifhery to themfelves, low- ered the price confiderably in all the markets of England : from this almofl invifible filament of air, if he was writing the hiflory of England, he would think himfelf jufliried, in giving us his circumftan- tial abflract of the tranfactions of Zingis, even in fuch a hiflory. No fence can ferve to keep in this fkipping deer. And his whole hiflory flrongly re- minds, us of the ifland at Rome, which has two bridges to it, and a church and a monaflery upon it; and yet was formed originally, of Tarquin's /heaves of corn. The hiflory of the decline and fall of Vols. IV. V. VI\ tfo. 11$ of the Roman empire, is thus formed by accretions and deterrations, from the full hiftory of the em- pire, and from almoft every other hiftory in the world. Nor has the author the difcretion in digref- fing, to keep off all fubordinate and acceflary digrcf- fions. He indulges himfelf in the full and free li- cence of digreflions upon digreflions. When he has led Tamerlane by the hand, to the defeat of the Turks ; he muft fuperadd to his general digrefilon, a particular one by the way, in a difiertation about the iron cage of Bajazet. Nor has he even the prudence, when he has brought down thisjide-hif- tory to that point of his own, for which he wrote it; there to terminate all his digreflions, to leave the bye-road by which he had been rounding about to the main one, and now to purfue the main road fteadily for a while. No ! He ftrikes directly acrois the main road again, and diverges from it on the other fide. And when he has made Tamerlane, after all his conqueib, to reduce the empire into die fame fubmiffion and tribute, which it had paid the Turks; he does not then clofe his divarications with Tamerlane, as we expect even the mod im- pertinent of digrefifcrs to do, becaufe he has reached the grand goal of all his digreflions. He goes on in his excurfions, to give us Tamerlane's fuccefles againft other powers, to paint his triumph and feftivity after all, nay to tell us his preparations for invading China, to baffle them by his death, even then to examine his character formally, and to as- certain his merits precifely. Mr. Gibbon muft Q^ thus 226 Review of Gibbon's Hiftory, thus appear, with every allowance that can be made him, and with every fobriety that can be ufed in confidering his conduct ; the moft aftonifh- ing digreflbr that ever pretended to write hiftory, even when he has fome little femblance of connec- tion, between his hiftory and his digrefiions. Mr. Gibbon has gravely adopted a wild ftroke of Oriental bombaft, as his own : c whole forefts were ' cut down to fupply fuel for his kitchens '/ at a particular feaffc. Contraditlions. Text. c It is believed in the em- « pire and family of Timour, that the monarch him- * felf compofed — the injlitutions of his government V Note, f Shaw Allum, the prefent mogu], reads, 1 values, but cannot imitate, the injlitutions of his c great ancejlor.' The text afferts the exiftence of Tamerlane's injlitutions, only as an object of belief The note indirectly contradicts the text, by mounting much higher in the fcale of affurance, and turning belief into certainty. Shaw Allum ac- tually ' reads,' actually c values,' this work ' of his c great anceftor' Tamerlane. Yet we have ftill doubts thrown out immediately, as if Shaw Allum was not fo good a judge as Mr. Gibbon, what is really the composition f of his great anceftor/ * The * Englifh translator,' as the note adds, f relies on ' their internal evidence ; but, if any fufpicions Jhould * arife of fraud and ficlion, they will not be dijpelled ! by Major Davy's letter. The Orientals have never x P- 352- * P- 352. 5 cultivated Vols. IV. V. VI. 4/0. 227 * cultivated the art of criticifm.* Thus, what is no- ticed in the text as only believed, is then afterted in the beginning of the note to be certain, and is left at laft doubtful. And, after all, Mr. Gibbon repeat- edly refers to the work as not doubtful, as more than believed, as certain again. The judgement of a fceptick, may become fo vitiated and debilitated by the exercife of fcepticifm, I fuppofe ; as not to fettle peremptorily upon any point, to fluctuate be- tween certainty and doubt on the plained, and to be fometimes doubtful, fometimes certain, and yet doubtful {till. Scepticifm is thus to the mind, what opium is to the body; an enlivener of the fpirits, and an illuminator of the underflanding, in a very moderate degree; but dangerous in the ufe, and fatal in the excefs ; enfeebling the nerves of the foul, defhoying the tone of the thoughts, and reducing the unhappy man into a drunken paraly- tick in intellect. Text. ' Timour flood firm as a rock '.' Note fays, that Arabfhah makes Timour run away: and adds concerning the very author, from whom he has afferted Timour to ftand firm as a rock; c perhaps Sherefeddin (1. iii. c. 25) has magnified c his courage.' He therefore, perhaps, did not ' ftand 1 firm as a rock,' though the text alTerts pofitively that he did. Text. * The Mogul foidiers were en- ' riched with an immenfe fpoil of precious furs, of \ the linen of Antioch, and cf ingots of gold and fil- 1 p- 336. Q^2 *. ver.' 228 Review of Gibbon's Hifory, ' ver '.* Note. ' The furs of Ruflia are «w* cre- c dible than the ingots ;' when both are reprefented above to be ccrtahu f But the linen of Antioch has ' never been famous; and Antioch was in ruins. y The /#tf therefore fpeaks fdfely. c I fufpecl:,' he adds, f that it was fome manufacture of Europe, * which the Hanfe merchants had imported by the ' way of Novogorod.' Yet he exprefsly calls it the linen of Antioch. And what rnuft be the in- toxication and palfy of a mind, from the opium of fcepticifm ; that can thus give itfelf the lie, in one breath aver a point boldly and confidently, and in the very next find fufficient reafon to reprobate its own averment? Chapter the ninth, or fixty-fixth. We have here a detail of the Greek emperours, applying for relief to the Weft, and offering to unite the eaftern and weftern churches, 378-384 s the perianal vifit of one of them, for the fame relief and with the fame offer, 385-387; that of another for relief only, 387-390 ; the defcriptions of Germany, France, and England, as given by the attendants of thefe emperours, 390- 393 ; application again for relief with the old offer, 394-395 ; the ftate of the imperial family, 395-397 j the corruptions of the Latin church, 397-398; the fchifm in the Weft from the co» 1 P- 338—339- exiflence Vols. IV. V. VI. tfo. o 29 exiftence of two popes, 398 ; the councils of Pifa and Conftance, 398 ; the council of Bafil, 399- 400 ; this council inviting the emperour and his patriarch to come to it, 400 ; his embafTadours re- ceived honourably by it, 400 ; the council and pope being at variance, the place of meeting fixed by the pope's management to be at Ferrara, 400- 401 ; both fitting out gallies for fetching the em- perour, but the pope's taking him on board, 400- 402 ; the emperour's train, 402-404 ; his arrival at Venice, 404-405 ; his arrival at Ferrara, 405 ; the form of the council there, 405-406; the coun- cil adjourned, 406 ; the emperour flaying in Italy, 406-407 ; the council re-afTembled at Florence, 407 ; the debates in it on the points of union be- tween the churches, 407-410 ; die points fettled, 410-414 j the flate of the Greek language at Con- ftantinople, 414-416 ; the Greeks and Latins com- pared in learning, 416-417; the Greek learning revived in Italy, 417-418; the fludies of Barlaam there, 418-419; thofe of Petrarch, 41 9-420 ; thofe ofBoccace, 421-422; the knowledge of the Greek language fettled in Italy, 423-424; a fuccefTion of Grecians teaching Greek there, 425-426 ; their faults and their merits, 426-427 ; the fludy of the Platonic philofophy, 427-428; the emulation and progrefs of the Latins, 429-431 ; and the ufe and abuie of antient learning, 431-433. We have thus a flrange kt of articles, forming the fubflance of this chapter. The applications of the emperours for relief, and their endeavours to back their appli- Qjj cations 23© Review of Gibbon's Hiftory, cations by offers of uniting the churches, might perhaps be properly noticed ; as evidences of the felt and acknowledged debility, to which the eaflern empire was now reduced. But, as they terminated in no relief, they mould have been noticed only in a flight manner. Two or three pages would have been fufficient, when fix-and-thirty are employed. But Mr. Gibbon has fuch a loquacioujuejs in writing, .hat he mufc talk on when he has got upon a fub- ect. Nothing can flop the torrent of indifcretion. Labitur, et labeiur, in omne njolubilis a^'vitm. Beginning thus with the application enforced by the offer, he turns afide with the offer, goes on to the corruptions of the Latin church, the anti-popes in it, the councils, &c. &c. &c. And he dwells upon all thefe digreffional points, with the fame amplitude of defcription and the fame circumftantiality of in- cident, as if the whole formed a very important part in the decline and fall of the empire. He is as much at home in every the moft diflant digref- fion, as he is in the regular line of his fubjecl; -, and Then he will talk, good gods ! how he will talk ! equally upon a point that has only the flighteft re- lation to his hiftory, or even upon one that has none at all, as upon one that has the clofeft con- nection with it. In the leaji excurfive of his digref- fions, he will make a flight and almoft impercepti- ble point, the central pin of a large formation j juft i as Vols. IV. V. VI. 4/0. a 31 as a fmgle grain of fand becomes the nucleus to an ample Hone, in the human body. We fee this in the long detail of the prefent chapter, concern- ing the union of the churches. But, in others of his excurfions, he fcorns even this c difcretion in f running mad.' He afks for no central pin. He rolls round no nucleus. But he paftes on his matter at once. We have feen this exemplified feveral times before. And here we fee it again, in the defcription of Germany, France, and England, given by the attendants of the emperours. f It c may be amufing enough,' we are told f -perhaps c inftruclive, to contemplate the rude pictures of 1 Germany, France, and England, whofe ancient c and modern flate are fo familiar to our minds V We are thus to be amufed y at the expence of every propriety. We are c perhaps' to be c inftru&ed,' by the violation of every decency. And, after all, this epifode is nearly as petty as it is impertinent. But Mr. Gibbon, in modelling his hiftory, is like an engineer conftru£ting one of our navigable ca- nals. He endeavours to draw every lively brook in the neighbourhood, into his own capacious refer- voir. Like a wild one therefore, he turns, and twifts, and doubles the line of his canal, in queft of it. And in fome point of his courfe, where he fees a fine quantity of water, he commits every vio- lence upon nature, in railing vallies, in finking mountains, and in toffing up a whole river by the 1 p- 39i- Qj. aid 13 2 Review of Gibbon' 's Hiftory > aid of machinery, that he may have the ufe of it. Mr. Gibbon having finifhed his ecclefwftkal hiftory, goes on to what is equally impertinent with his Grecian defcription of England, France, and Ger- many ; to the revival of the antient learning of the Greeks, in the weft of Europe. This he purfues, through a train of eighteen or nineteen quarto pages ; and in little differtations, on the ftate of the Greek language at Conilantinople, on the Greeks and Latins compared for learning, on the revival of the Greek literature in Italy, on the ftudies of Bar- laam, Petrarch, and Boccace there, &c. &c. &c. Such digreflions as thefe flare fo full in the face of criticifm, that I hardly know at which I mould wonder moft, the aftoniihing monftrofity of them, or the eafy acquiefcence of the publick under them. There never was, I believe, a hiftory written fince the creation of the world, ib monftrouily digreflional as this. And I cannot refrain from declaring, that nothing, but fomc wild extravagance of underftand- ing in Mr. Gibbon, could have generated fo many monfters of digreflions as thefe. Chapter tenth or fixty-feventh.- This gives us a general account of Constantinople at this period, 434 — 437 ; the op- pofition in the Greek chjjrch to the union fettled with the Latin, 437 — 440 ; the reign of Amurath the Se- cond emperor of the Turks, 440 — 443 j the Poles and Hungarians engaging in war againft the Turks, 443 —445 j their fucceffes, 445 — 447 ; their fwearing to 1 a peace. Vols. IV. V. VI. 4to. 133 a peace, breaking their oath, and renewing the war, 447 — 448; their defeat, 448 — 451 ; the family, life, and death of him who perfuaded the perjury, 45 1 — 452 ; the family of him who commanded the army, his life to his defeat, his life afterwards, and his fon's, 452 — 454; the birth and education of Scanderbeg, 454—456 ; his revolt from the Turks, 456 — 457 j his valour, 457 — 458 ; his death, 458 — 459; the accefllon of Conflantine, the laft of the emperours, to the throne of the empire, 459 — 460 j the embaflies of Phranzafor him, 460 — 462 ; and the (late of the Byzantine court, 462 — 463. This fhort chapter of not more than thirty pages, is full of digreflions. Mr. Gibbon is fo much in the ha- bit of digrefiing, that he cannot refill the tempta- tion. And the naturally (lender fhape of his hiflory, requires to be fluffed out with wadding and wool to the bulk wanted. The account of the oppofi- tion to the union in the Greeks, is juft as digref- fional ; as the narrative of the union before. It has no relation to the hiflory. It haflened not the fall, before it was accomplished. It delayed not the fall, afterwards. It has no influence upon the civil hif- tory at all. Not a pin or a v/heel in the political machine, is affected by it. But Mr. Gibbon pro- ceeds to flill worfer digreflions. He gives us the hiflory of the Poles and Hungarians, in their wars with the Turks. He adds the hiflory of Scander- beg, in his revolt from the Turks, and in his wars with them. He dwells upon both, with all the cir- cumflantiality of particular hiflory. And he fuper- adds to the former, an account of the family, life, and 234 Review of Gibbon's Hijiorjj and death of him, who perfuaded the Poles and Hungarians to renew the war; of the family of him, who commanded their army in the prefent and the former war ; of his life to his defeat, even of his life afterwards, and even of his fon's too. Yet, in both thefe wars, how is the decline and fall of the empire concerned ? The Polifh and Hungarian wars, we are exprefsly told, the emperour ' feems to have c promoted by his wifhes, and injured by his fears'.' During thefe, he f engaged to guard the Bofphorus 1 ;' but, c according to fome writers, — had been awed c or feduced to grant the paffage V This was all his concern in the bufinefs. If this could make it proper to fhew the debility of the empire, in its be- ing c awed or feduced' to break its own ftipula- tion in the alliance ; then the war fhould have been noticed flightly, in proportion to the flight concern of the empire in it. But indeed it fhould not have been noticed at all. It was not one of the c im- c portant' circumftances, in the decline and fall of the empire. It was flill lefs one of c the mofi im- * portant.' And none but thefe were to be noticed. Mr. Gibbon however advances an argument, for mentioning the wars of Scanderbeg, and of the Poles and Hungarians united ; that * they are both ' entitled to our notice, fince their occupation of the * Ottoman arms delayed the ruin of the Greek em- * pireV f Entitled to our notice* they may be. But are they to a particular and circumftantial 1 P. 445- * p. 445- 3 P-449- * P- 454- defcription ? Vols. IV. V. VI. 4to. 235 defcription ? This he gives, though he talks only of that. Yet thefe wars, it is alleged, diverted the arms of the Turks and delayed the ruin of the em- pire. On the fame principle however, he might notice, and even defcribe, every war in which the Turks were engaged, every negociation in which they were concerned, every commotion among their people, and even every fever, or every pleafure, which detained their fovereign from war. And ac- cordingly Mr. Gibbon defcribes to us in this very chapter, the reign of Amurath the Second empe- rour of the Turks, becauje he did not attack Con- ftantinople, during the abfence of the emperour in the Weft ; when this very point had been noticed in p. 402 before, when it is merely negative, and when he might as juftly have given us the hiftory of all the furrounding nations. But digrefTions pro- duce digreflions. Refigning himfelf up to the in- viting- hiftories of Scanderbeg's and the Hunga- rian wars, he feels himfelf allured ftill farther. The more he defcends from the natural road, at the top of the precipice ; he feels it the more difficult to reftrain his courfe, and goes on with the more head- long violence. He could not but defcribe the birth and character of Scanderbeg, -previous to his wars with the Turks. He could not but defcribe the fami- ly and life of him, who occafioned the fecond war of the Hungarians and Poles with the Turks. He could not but defcribe the family of him, who conduced the Poles and Hungarians in both thefe wars j his life before the defeat -, even his life after it ; and even his very yew's too. And he has thus clapped a large and 1$ Re-view of Gibbon's Hiftory, and coloured badge upon the patched mantle of his hiftory, that ferves to mark its poverty, and bis dii- trefs, to every eye. There are therefore only four articles out of fixteen in this chapter, that have any juft connection with it ; the firft, concerning Con- ftantinople ; and the three laft, concerning the ac- ceflion of Conilantine to the throne, the embaffies which he fent, and the ftate of his court. Three even of thefe are hardly to be reckoned, among the 1 moll important circumitances' of the decline and fall of the empire. But the intermediate points, are entirely the very wantonnefs and whimficalnefs of digreflion. ' Voltaire — admires le philofophc Turcj would ' he have beftowed the fame praife on a Chriftian * prince, for retiring to a monaftery ? In his way, ' Voltaire was a bigot, an intolerant bigot V We have produced this pafiage, in order to honour the fairnefs cf it. It is indeed an aftonifhing proof of fairnefs, in Mr Gibbon. It is a vivid flafh of inge- nuoufnefs, breaking through the deep gloom of his anti-chriftian prejudices. And we therefore behold it with wonder, and mark it with applaufe. But it is the more aftonilhing, when we confider the cha- racter to be equally adapted to Mr. Gibbon himfelfj as to Voltaire. The keen atmofphere of feverity, which continually wraps Mr. Gibbon round when he fpeaks cf Judaifm and of Chriftianity ; fhews clearly the inclement rigour of his fpirit towards them. The faucy {train of authority too, with •P. 442. which Vols. IV. V. VI. 4/0. 237 which he prefumes to dictate upon points of divi- nity i to penetrate with a glance, through all the folds of the mod complicated doctrines ; and to de- cide in an inftant upon myfteries, that he has never familiarifed to his mind 3 marks plainly that high conceit and overweening confidence of opinion, which always forms the fluff and fubftance of a per- fecutor. And the imperious tone of infolence with which lie fpeaks of divines, even in their own pro- vince ; men likely to have as good talents from na- ture, as any infidel in the kingdom ; men, fure to improve them in the bufmefs of their own profef- fion, by the general habits of a fcholaftick education, and by their particular attention to their profefllonal ftudies ; and men, actually Alining in every depart- ment of fcience, and peculiarly eminent in their own, as all the world can witnefs : is not merely to infult the common-fenfe of mankind, but to betray the violence of the inquifitor under the moderation of the philofopher ; beneath the gown and furs of religious apathy, to difclofe the flame-coloured veil of perfecution ; and to prove Mr. Gibbon f m bis ' way/ to be equally with Voltaire in bis, f a bigot, ' an intolerant bigot.' Chapter eleventh 1 or fixty-eighth. In this are the character of Mahomet II. emperour of the Turks, 464 — 466 ; his reign, 466 — 468 j his unfriendlinefs towards the Roman empire, 468 — 469 j his avowal of intended hof^lities, 23 8 Review of Gibbon's Hijiory, hoftilities, 469— 470 ; the hefitating conduct of the empire, 470 ~~ 471 ; the provoking and hoftile be- haviour of the Turks, 471 — 473 ; the preparations of the Turks for the fiege of Conftantinople, 473 — 475 ; the great cannon, 475 — 477 ; the prepara- tions of the Greeks for the defence of Conftanti- nople, 477 — 478 ; Mahomet advancing and begin- ning the fiege, 478 ; the forces of the Turks, 478 — 479; thofe of the Greeks 479— 480 ; the em- perour having previoufly fought for aid from the Weft, by an offered union of the churches, 480 — 48 1 j a Latin prieft that officiated at St. Sophia's, having railed a great ferment among the Greeks, 481 — 483 j the behaviour of the Greeks in the firft part of the fiege, 484; that of the Turks, 484 — 485 ; the effect of the Turkifh batteries, 485 i the advance of the Turks to the ditch, 485 — 486 ; their attempt to fill the ditch baffled, 486 ; the Turks attempting mines, but again baffled, 486 ; other ex- pedients tried by them, 486 — 487 j a breach made, but the Turks beat off for the day, 487 ; at night the breach built up again, 487 ; fome veffels break- ing through the whole Turkifh fleet, and bringing fuccours, 487 — 490 - 3 Mahomet inclining to difcon- tinue the fiege, but relblving upon another effort, 490 j tranfporting his navy over land into the har- bour, 49 1 i attacking the wall of the city there, 492 j the city reduced to diftrefs, 492 ; being in diffen- fions, 493 ; the Turks preparing to give the affault, 493 — 495 i the Greeks preparing for the expected affault of the morning, 495 — 496 ; the affault given, 496 — 498 ; the Turks gaining the walls, 498 —499; Vols. IV. V. VI. 4/0. 239 — 499; the emperour (lain, 499 — 500 j the Turks entering the city, 500 ; the -confufion of the inhabi- tants, 500 — 501 j the Greeks made captives, 502; their treatment, 502 — 503 ; the pillage of the city, 504 — 505 j Mahomet entering into it, 505 — 507 ; his behaviour 507 — 508 ; his repeopling and adorn- ing the city, 508 — 510; the future hiftory of the Imperial family to its extinction, 511 — 514; a refolution made in the Weft for a crufade againft the Turks, but ending in nothing, 514 — 516 j even though Mahomet invades Italy, 516 — 517. In this interefting chapter, we meet with little of that everlafting difgrace of Mr. Gibbon's chapters, the impertinence and abfurdity of digreffions. There is ib little, that I (hall not notice it. And I am happy to clofe the afiual narrative of the eaftern empire, in a chapter fo juftly connected with the hiftory, and forming fuch a regular conclufion to it. Falfe language. f I regret the map or plan' [he fhould have faid, f I regret the want of the map or ' plan'] ' which Tournefort fent to the French mi- * nifter of the marine'.' ' To approve' |_he mould have faid, { to make proof of] ' their patience and c long-fuffering V * That Conftantincple would f be the term of the Turkifh conquefts .' I could t wifh — to prolong the term of one night V c The ' Greeks, now driven from the vantage ground, meaning the top of the walls s . c The term of the * hiftoric labours of John Sagredo V ♦ p. 469. 2 p. 47Q. 3 p. 490. ♦p. 491. s P-499- 6 ?-5i7- I have 240 Review of Gillon's Hjfiory, I have noticed before the mean and vulgar fpite of Mr. Gibbon, againft the Jews. It breaks out remarkably again, in this chapter. c What ufe or * merit,' he fays concerning a Turkifh emperor, who was learning Chaldaic with fome other languages ; c could recommend to the ftatefman or * fcholar, the uncouth dialetl of his Hebrew jlaves \ ? ' The fpite of Mr. Gibbon here is pure frenzy.. But let me now afk at the clofe, What is the caufe of this marked refentment againft the Jews, that runs through his whole hiftory ? I naturally attributed it at firft, to that union of character and of intereft, which Judaifm has the honour to mare with Chrif- tianity. Yet, on revifing the whole, I lee the re- fentment is too violent, to be merely the refult of fuch a collateral connection. Something more operative than any principle of unbelief, muft have occafioned it. I therefore believe it to be this. Mr. Gibbon, I have other reafons for thinking, has been fufficiently acquainted with the ufurious part of the modern Israelites, to have fuffered Jome of their ufual deeds of oppreffion in his own perfon. The feeling of this is conftantly floating upon his mind, I fuppofe, and is conftantly giving a pungency to his fpecula- tions of diilike. And this has united with his prin- ciples in the prefent inftance, I believe, to work him up into a frenzy of illiterate fanatic ifm, againft the whole race. Yet we fee in this chapter a ftroke of ingenuouf- nefs, that ought to be ranked with the remarkable * p. 4 6 5- one Vols. IV. V. VI. 4to. 241 one before. c Thefe annals,' he fays concerning the Turkifh annals of Cantemir, ' unlefs we are e Jwayed by antkhrijiian prejudices, are far lefs va- * luable than the Greek '.' This is another flafh of ingenuoufnefs, not fo ftrong and vivid as the former, but very fimilar to it. The flroke of this lightning too, I believe, is equally with the force of that di- rected at the head of Voltaire. Mr. Gibbon ap- pears to have conceived a moffc un-brotherly hatred, for an hiftorian who is very like himfelf, lively, ab- lurd, a falfifier, and an infidel. He is not fuch an impertinent digrefifor as Mr. Gibbon, I apprehend; and Mr. Gibbon, I prefume, is not fuch a fuperfi- cialift in hiftory as he. Mr. Gibbon therefore had once, I know, a very natural fympathy for the hifto- rical character of Voltaire. Yet he has now a pointed averlion to him. f See Voltaire ,' he fays in this very chapter : c he was ambitious of uni- ' verfal monarchy ; and the poet frequently afpires to 1 the name and jiyle of an afironomer, a chymijl, &c V In another page he adds, that * the pious zeal of c Voltaire is excejjive, and even ridiculous*.' But how nicely does Mr. Gibbon again dafh out the very por- trait of himfelf, in this fecond character of Voltaire ! c He' too is l ambitious of univerfal monarchy ; c and the digrejfor frequently afpires to the name * and ftyle of an aflronomer, a chymift, &c. ;' and, very frequently too, * the pious zeal of Mr. Gibbon 1 is exceffive, and even ridiculous.' So juftly has *p. 47 i. 2 p. 4-6. 3 P»495- R Mr. 242 Review of Gibbon's Hi/lory, Mr. Gibbon given us his own face, in his angry at- tempts to draw the deformed one of Voltaire ! This vain old man of Ferney, the perpetual prater of in- fidelity to his numerous vifitants, had ihewn fome difrefpect to Mr. Gibbon (I fuppofe) during his loft retreat into Switzerland, had flung his pride, and had provoked his choler. And Mr Gibbon himfelf becomes half a Chriflian at times, we fee, in mere oppofition to Voltaire. Such are the principles and practices, of thefe mock-dotlors in philofophy ! But let it alfo be obferved, that Mr. Gibbon's ani- mofity is as prudent, as it is ftrong. He attacks not Voltaire in this bold manner, till he comes near to the conclufion of his work. And Voltaire, as well as Dr. Johnfon, was dead; before the hero prefumed to afTault him. Such is the gallantry of a writer, who would crouch before the living lion, and trample upon the dead one ! Contradictions. Text. Mahomet c removed the f caufe of fedition, by the death, the inevitable death, 1 of his infant brothers '.' Note. * Calapin, one of 1 thefe royal infants, wzsfaved from his cruel brother' What was un-avoidable is actually avoided, and what was dead is raifed to life again. Mr. Gib- bon very properly appeals, in oppofition to the fcepticifm and chemiftry of Voltaire, to a fingular fact in Baron de Tott's Memoirs. Yet, when he has done this in the note and text, he adds finally to the note thus : c but that adventurous traveller c does not poffefs the art of gaining our confidence V 'P. 467. * P . 47 6. And Vols. IV. V. VI tfo. 243 And Mr. Gibbon thus countermines himfelf. — — f His fon,' Mr. Gibbon tells us concerning a youth, whom the Turkifh emperour wanted to abufe un- naturally; c — — preferred death to infamy, and c was (tabbed by the royal lover V The note at firfi confirms this peremptory account. ' See Phran* * za,' it fays concerning the very father of this youth ; c his expreffions are pofitive.' He then quotes them. And, after all, he fays thus , e yet 4 he could only learn from report the bloody or * impure fcenes, that were acted in the dark recelTes f of the feraglio.' Like Sampfon, blind in his ftrength, he is tugging at the very pillars that pro- tect himfelf, and going to tear down the edifice upon his own head. We have now purfued the hiftory of the eaftern empire, to its final extinction in the reduction of Constantinople by the Turks. Yet, to our furprife, we find Mr. Gibbon's hiftory of it not compleated. His tragedy is ended, but he claps an epilogue to the tail of it. He has no lefs than three chapters of hiftory more. But what can he find to fay upon the fubject, after fo many digreffions to the right and left, and with fuch a fweeping conclufion to the whole ? This Appian way, having run many a league, broad and lofty, the admiration of numbers, and the theme of all ; but more confpicuous than ufeful, a monument more of vanity and oftentation in the conftruttor, than of fervice and benefit to the r P- 5°3- R 2 world 5 ^44 Review of Gibbon's Hi/lory, world; and having turned afide repeatedly in its progress, to take in towns and to traverfe regions, that were not in its natural line, and are now deferted by all who purfue that* at lad lofes itfelf near the end of its courfe, by plunging into the body of a great bog. c The final extinction,' fays Mr. Gibbon, c of the two laft dynafties which have reigned in 1 Constantinople, Jhould terminate the decline and * fall of the Roman empire in the Eaft V It Jhould, but it will not. For in the very next paragraph he goes, to the f grief and terror of Europe,' upon the lofs of Constantinople. f As I am now,' he adds in another page, c taking an everlajling farewell of 'the * Greek empire j' he fubjoins a fhort note concern- ing fome of his authors \ And, after an l everlaft- € ing farewell'of his fubject, what can even this uni- verfal gleaner find to collect ? He finds matter, that mull furprife every reader. It thoroughly aftonifh- ed me, ufed as I was to the rambling genius of his hiflory, when I firfl beheld it. Much as I have dwelt upon his ftrange excurfions before, and much as I prepared myfelf for a continuance or an enlarge- ment of them, I did not expect fuch a wildgoofe excurflon as this. Nor will the reader be lefs fur- prized, when I tell him what it is. Pie cannot pof- iibly conjecture. And he muft look, and flare, and wonder, when he hears. * Nor fhall I difmifs the * prefent work/ fays Mr. Gibbon, as he firfl dif- clofes this amazing codicil to his long will ; £ till I c have reviewed the fiate and revolutions of the Ro- •P. 511. * P- 5 1 ?- " ' MAM Vols. IV. V. VI. 4fo. 14$ c man city,' meaning Rome, the late capital of the late empire of the Weft, the hiftory of which was terminated in the reduction of the capital, at the clofe of the third volume; * which' city of Rome c acquiefced under the dominion of the popes, about c the fame time that Ccnftantinople was enflaved 1 by the Turkifh arms V The poor, feeble, and petty pretence, for tacking- on fu ch a hiftory to the hiftory preceding, is merely, we fee ; that the main point of it is almoft coincident in time, with the concluding point of the other. Never perhaps did digreflicn attempt to cover its wantonnefs, with fuch thin and ragged fhi eds before. Yet with thefe does Mr. Gibbon go on, through a cumbrous epi- logue of no lefs than one hundred and twenty -eight pages in quarto. I fhall therefore excufe myfelf, from reviewing thefe chapters as I have reviewed the others. I fhall only give my ufual abftract of each, that my readers may not take my words for this enormous and exorbitant digreflion, but may fee it themfelves; and that they may not compre* hend it merely in general, but mark it in all its full and affecting detail. The contradictions •, the ribaldry, and the mifiakes, I fhall pafs over entirely. For who can ftop to count the ftars, when a large meteor is tzreaming before his eyes ? 519. H 3 !n 24-6 Review of Gibbon's Hijtory, In Chapter the twelfth, or fixty-ninth, we fee the French and German em- perours of Rome, 519 — 520 ; the turbulence of the Romans towards them, 520 — 521 j the autho- rity of the popes in Rome, 521 — 523; the turbu- lence of the Romans towards them alfo, 523 — -526 ; particular inftances of this, 526 — 528 ; the general character of the Romans at this period, 528 — 529; a revolt at Rome. 529 — S3 2 > tne revolters reduced, 53 2 ~ 533 » tne °ld republican government revived in part, 533 — 535 ; the capitcl fortified, $35 — 536; the coinage of money given to the fenate, $36 — 537; the prefect of the city appointed by the fe- nate and the people, 537 — 538 3 the number and choice of the fenate, 538 — 539 3 the office of fenator of Rome, 539 — 540 ; an account of one, Branca- leone, 540 — 541 j of another, Charles of Anjou, 541 — 542 ; of another, Pope Martin IVth, 542 ; of another, Emperor Lewis of Eavaria, 542; the addrefs of Rome to one of the German emperours, 542 — 544; another addrefs to another empercur, 544—545 ; the reply of the latter, 545 — 546 ; his march to Rome in favour of the pope, 546 -, his befieging Rome, and being baffled, 546 — 547 ; the wars of the Romans with the neighbouring towns, 547— 549 ; the election of the popes by the fenate and people, 550 ; by the cardinals alone, 550 —551 ; the mftitution of the -conclave, 551 — 552; the people claiming a right to elect, 552 — 553-, but Vols. IF. V. VI. 4to. 247 but finally giving it up, 553; the abfence of the popes from Rome, 553 ~555 ; their tranflation of the holy fee to Avignon, 5$$- 5$~: i the inflitution of the jubilee, 557 — 560 ■, the nobles or barons of Rome, 560— 561 •, the family of Leo, &c. 561 — 562; of the Colore, 562 — 565 ; and of the Urfi- n \ y ^^—^66. This chapter of near forty pages, is obvioufly upon the face of the abftract, almoft as abrupt as it is digrefiional, and as frivolous as it is devious. In Chapter the thirteenth or feventieth, we have an account, of Petrarch, 567 — 570 ; his poetic coronation at Rome, 570 — 57 1 j birth, character, and patriotic defigns of one Rien- zi at Rome, 572 — 5745 his affuming the govern- ment of Rome, 574 — 576 ; his taking the title of tribune, 576 -, his new regulations, 576 — 573 j the freedom and profperity of Rome under him, 578 — 580 j his being reflected in Italy, &c. 580 — 581 j his vices and follies, 581 — 583 - } his being knight- ed and crowned, 583 — 585 ; the rifing envy of the people againft him, 585 j the nobles confpiring a- gainft him, 585 — 586; his feizing, condemning, pardoning, and rewarding them, 586 — 587 ; their rifing in arms againft him out of the city, 587 ; at- tempting to enter it, but beaten off, 588 j Rienzi alienating the people more, 588 — 589; being ex- communicated by the pope, and abdicating the go- vernment, 5905 feuds again at Rome, 590—591 j R 4 again 248 Review of Gibbon's Hifiory^ again a revolt, 591 ; Rienzi's return to power, 591s his adventures after he had abdicated, 591 — S93> his being made fenator of Rome, 593 ; his conduct, 593 — 594; his being maiTacred in a tumult, 594 — 59S ; Petrarch's inviting and upbraiding the empe- rour Charles IV. 595 — $9&i his requefting the popes to return to Rome, 596 — 597 ; their return, 597 i their leaving Rome again, and finally return- ing to it, 597 — 599; a pope and anti-pope, 599 — 601 j a fchifm, 601 ; calamities of Rome, 601 — 602 -, negotiations for union, 603 — 604 ; the fchifm inflamed, 604 — 605 ; at laft healed, 605 -606 ; the coinage of money refumed by the popes, 606 — 607 ; the laft revolt of Rome, 607 ; laft coronation of a German emperour at Rome, 608 ; the govern- ment and laws of Rome under the popes, 608 — 610 ■> a confpiracy againft the popes, 610 — 612; but crufhed, 6 1 2 ; laft diforders of the nobles of Rome, 612 — 613; the popes acquiring the abfo- lute dominion of Rome, 613 — 615; and the nature of the ecciefiaftical government of Rome* 616 — 618. This chapter of more than fifty fages, is merely a military cheft of the old Romans, a pay- mafter's hoard of brafs farthings. The only parts, that can attract our attention at all, are the internal convulsions of Rome. But Rome is now fo infig- nificant in itfelf, and become fo from being lately fo fignificant - } that, though its dififenfions are nearly on as large a fcale as thofe, which embroiled its infant fcate, yet they are nothing to the mind, in this its fe- cond infancy. And after all the grand events, that have been brought into the compafs of this hiftory, like Vols. IV. V. VI. 4/0. 249 like the wild beafts into the pit of a Roman amphi- theatre ; fome from the neighbouring regions, moft from the diftant and fequeftered parts of the globe, and all to exhibit themfelves in heir boldeft attitudes before us ; the fquabbles of a town in Italy, that had fome ages before been the capital of the world, had then become the capital of the Weft, and was now merely the capital of a diftricl:, are little better to the raifed conceptions of the reader, than the dif- putes of the ruffs and the reeves among the birds. In Chapter the fourteenth or feventy-firft, is a view of Rome from the capitol in the fourteenth century, 620 621 ; an account of the ruins two hundred years before, 622 — 623 ; one of four caufes of their deftruction, 623 — 626; another, 626 — 628; another, 628 — 632; another, 632—635; the Colifeum, 635 — 637; the games of Rome in it, 637 — 639; its injuries, 639— 640; the ignorance and barbarifm of the Romans, 640 — 643 j the reftoration and ornaments of the city, 643 ^645 ; and the final conclufion of the work, 645 — 646. This chapter of forty '-fix pages, is digref- fion rioting in its own digrefTivenefs, digreffion mounting upon the fhoulders of digreffion, and ex- pofing its general abfurdity the more by its particu- lar excefs. And it ferves with a moft admirable congruity of folly, to put a finifhing clofe to mis ftrange digreffion, and to reduce it to a point of ab- furdity, 250 Review of Gibbons Uifiory y furdity, which all fnall fee and all fhall acknov/- ledge. In reviewing the whole work before, we have frequently been obliged to (top, and paufe, and re- flect ; to interrogate ourfeives what we were reading, to recur in our minds to die title and preface of the whole, and to compare the current pages with both. Had we not done fo, we fhould have been loft, like the author, in the progreflive labyrinth of facts, opinions, and remarks. So, we believe, have many of Mr. Gibbon's readers been. They have glided down the ftream of the hiilory, turned in with it to the right, then turned out to the left, doubled this point, and rounded that ; without re- flecting on the promifed direction of their voyage, and without confidering the actual tendency of their motions. They muft have been ftartled at length however, to find themfelves fo wide of the line ex- pected by themfelves, and fo diftant from the end to which they propofed to go ; frill turning round new points, ftill running down new reaches, and ftill di- verting from the main channel of the river. But, though ftartled, they have been overborne ; per- fuaded that their conductor was rambling with them, yet not prefuming to rely upon their own judgment; ftifling their perfuafions with their modefty, be- lieving againft alTurance, and confiding againft con- viction. And, after all their circumnavigations ; when they were arrived at the very ground, to which their views had been fo long and Co mortify- ingly directed ; and when they had even moored fall Vols. IV. V. VI. 4to. 251 faft at the very wharf, to which they were going, and were now to terminate all their difappoint- ments, by ftepping upon the land; to find their captain throw off the fattening in an additional fit of wantonnefs, to fet away with them again, and to carry them round fome of the very capes, which they had repeatedly doubled before, merely that they might fee, in what condition they were fince they vifited them loft; is fuch an enormity of wantonnefs, fuch 2. jwperf station of impertinence, as muft make even the molt drunken of his admirers to flare with aftonifhment. All indeed arifes from Mr. Gibbon's redundancy of ideas. He feels them continually overflowing upon him. He feels his brooks fweiling into ri- vers, his rivers widening into feas, and his feas ex- panding into an ocean. And the fame organization of mind, which, unchecked by judgment, made hirn a wild infidel j uncontroulabie from indul- gence, renders him as wild a digreflbr. He can- not confine his thoughts within any circumfcription of order ; or reduce them under any difcipline of propriety. He has therefore rambled through hif- tory, with all the excentric;ty of one, who Is of imagination all compact. # # # # # Tb' hiftorian's eye, in a fine frenzy rowling, Has glanc'd fromheav'n to earth, from earth to heav'n. # # # # * Such tricks hath ftrong imagination! But 452 Review of Gibbon's Hiftory, But it concludes with one trick, that greatly exceeds all the reft. We have feen the two empires of Eaft and Weft, after a tedious illnefs and a lingering death, fucceflively buried under the earth. The weftern we have particularly buried, fome nine or ten centuries ago. Yet, to our amazement, we are now fet by Mr. Gibbon to dig into the grave of the latter, to hunt for the poor and periihing re- mains of it, and to collect the little handful of its allies from their old repofitory. The modern hif- tory of Rome is placed before us, becaufe we have had the ancient. We are even to take Mr. Gibbon for our Ciceroni> and make the antiquary's tour of Rome ; becaufe we have been reading its ancient hiftory. Juft fo, in writing the annals of a king, becauje f a man may fifh with the worm that hath ' eat of the king, and eat of the fifh that hath fed * of that worm i' a mad Hamlet would ' fhew you, * how the king,' after he was dead, ' went a pro- * grefs through the guts of a beggar.' But no words can fully expofe, the aftoniihing devioufnefs of fuch a digreftion as this. Never, I believe, has any thing like it been attempted before, in the world of hiftory. It is certainly a flight beyond the moon. And it marks in the ftrongeft colours, the progrefs of ima- gination in the mind, and the operation of digref- fion in the hiftory, of Mr. Gibbon -, of imagination kindling with the motion of its own ideas, and of digreflion growing licentious from the exercife of its own liberty ; both rifing gradually from a lefier folly to a greater, adding impertinence to imperti- nence, Vols. IV. V. VI. $to. 253 nence, and accumulating abfurdity upon the head of abfurdity; till they have clofed at laft, in a full confummation of enormity and wildnefs. CHAPTER THE FIFTH. H AV E thus reviewed the three laft volumes of this hiftory, with a circumftantiality, which has hardly ever been ufed upon a work before ; but which the prefent, from its peculiar quality, de- manded of me. And I am now to draw my con- clusions, from the whole. This is a work of a very extraordinary nature. It is not in the common rank of publications, aim- ing at a moderate mare of reputation, and content to reft in a mediocrity of character. It muft either be highly cenfured or ftrongly praifed, or praiied and cenfured with an equal degree of energy. It is indeed a production, that has a thoufand beauties and a thoufand blemifhes. It fhews a large and comprehenfive range of erudition, a range amazing- ly comprehenfive and large. But the author is even more oftentatious of his learning, tiian Milton himfelf ; and, even oftener than Milton, clouds and obfcures what he writes by it. His notes are fo frequent in themfel /es, and fo full of foreign mat- ter, that the reader is perpetually drawn off from the Subject of the text, and his mind is diftracted in 254 Review of Gibbon's Hiftory, in an endlefs variety; being toffed backwards and forwards, between hiftorical narrative and critical obfervations, the deeds of the actors on the ft age above, and the characters of the writers in the ' cellarage' below. And all forms luch a compli- cation of incongruous parts, that the one counter- acts the other in its impreffion upon the mind, and the clafhing of both deftroys half the energy of either. The language of Mr. Gibbon alfo, is fre- quently harfh from the foreign idioms, and from the affectation of vigour, in it. The harfhnefs is that of one of Dr., Johnfon's differtations, utterly in- compatible with the native eafe and the familiar dignity of hiftorical language. The meaning too is repeatedly obfcure. This arifes generally from the quick and fhort allufivenefs of it. Mr. Gib- bon's ftyle thus becomes like Tacitus's, too rapid to be clear, and too fantaftically infolded to be readily intelligible. Yet a much more formidable failing than thefe, has evidently been detected be- fore. The felf-contradictorinefs of Mr. Gibbon is very wonderful. In diftant, in adjoining parts of his hiftory, it is too apparent. And the oppofition of the notes to the text, and of one part of the note or of the text to the reft, are ftriking proofs of his confufednefs of judgment. We have feen his po- rtions fighting, like fo many gladiators, before us j and deftroying one another. But we are ftill more difgufted in reading this work, with the length and the frequency of its di- greflions. Two thirds of the whole, we may fairly fay, Vols. IV. V. VI. 4*7. is 5 fay, are quite foreign to it. The digreflions too continue to grow in length, and to rife in abfurdity, to the very end. Indeed they are fo abfurd and fo long at laft, that hardly any images in nature can fully reprefent them, to the imagination of our readers. And one of the Jatellites of Saturn, relin- quilhing its mafter-orb, and running the round of the folar fyftem ; or the moon, deferting her duty of attendance upon our earth, and lofing herfelf in the wildernefs of fpace ; can alone image forth the ftrange excurfivenefs of Mr. Gibbon in hiftory. But the grand fault of the whole, I believe, is its unfaith- fulnefs. There is no dependence to be made, I ap- prehend, upon any one reference, or even any one citation, in it. This I have {hewn fufficiently be- fore, I think, by fome fpecial inftances. It could not be expected, that in an examination of this na- ture I could be more particular. Yet I have done full enough, to tempt the curiofity or to urge the zeal of others. And I doubt not, but the more Mr. Gibbon is followed clofely through all his quo- tations and references, he will the more be found either negligently, or difhoneftly, doubling in them. Thefe are broad fpcts upon this hiftorical fun. They require no critical telefcope to view them. They come forward to the naked eye. But the laft, from its very nature, is fatal to the whole. And, as Mademoifelle de Keralio has very juitiy obferv- ed, c on peut etre eloquent > on peut avoir un fiyle * Jeduijant et ncble, mais n'eft -pas hiftcrien.' Mr. Gibbon's hiitory, therefore, is only an elegant froft- x piece, 256 Review of Gibbon's Hijiory, piece, the production of a night; which glitters to the eye, plays upon the fancy, and captivates the judgment for a ihort period ; but diffblves in the frailty of its fine materials, and fades away into air, as foon as the fun begins to fhine upon it. , But what are thefe faults, to the wickednefs that pervades the whole ? Obfcenity ftains it through its very fubftance. This mufl difcredit it with all, who love modefty, who cultivate a fpirit of ele- gance in their fouls and of delicacy in their language, and are not compleatly vulgarized by their animal inftincts. In his preface to thefe volumes Mr. Gib- bon very truly informs us, that he is f now defcend- c ing into the vale of years ;' and the volumes them- felves aflure us, that he is defcending with all the grofs lafcivioufnefs of unblufhing youth about him, How full mufl be the fountain of impurity in the heart, when the ftream is foaming and frothing fo much through the page ? Yet even this bold note of wantonnefs is exceeded, by the daring tone of in- fidelity. Mr. Gibbon comes forward with all the rancour of a renegado, againft Cliriftianity. He tramples upon it at firft, with the cloven-foot of Heathenifm. He dungs upon it at laft, from the dirty tail of Mahometanifm. And literary abfur- dity, however glaring, even practical profligacy, however flaming, are both loft for a moment in the fenfe of this volcanick eruption of antichriftian in»- piety. The friends of literature, then, may equally triumph and lament, at a work like this. They may triumph, when, with the ufual perfunctorinefs of Vols. IV. V. 11. ArtO. 257 of criticifm, they confider the wide range of reading in it, the fplendour of the fentiments, the depth of the reflections, and the vivacity of the language. But they muft lament, when they come to fcrutinize it with a ftricter eye, to mark the harfh and the falfe language, the diffraction occafioned by the parade of reading, the obfcurity in the meaning, the con- tradictorinefs of the parts, the endlefs labyrinth of digreflions, and the carelefs or wilful unfaithfulnefs in the narrative. The fiends of religion alio, muft grieve with a jufter forrow, over the defpe- rate profligacy of all. But let not one friend to religion be weak enough co fear. There is not a particle of formidablenefs in the thoufand ftrokes, that this blafted arm of infidelity has been laying upon the fhield of Chriftianity. That fhieJd is the immortal segis of wifdom. Againft fuch a cover, if we are not feared with the glitter, we need not to dread the edge, of Mr. Gibbon's fvvord. Mr. Gib- bon is only angry at Chriftianity, becaufe Chriftiani- ty frowns upon him. He has been long endeavour- ing to fliake off the terrours, which his Chriftian education has impreffed upon him j but he cannot do fo. ' He fcorns them, yet they awe him.' He is therefore acting towards Chriftianity, like a bull caught in a net ; making every defperate effort, to break the cords that ftill encompafs him j and {training every nerve in an agony of exertion, to burft away into the undifquieted wilds of animal S enjoyment. 1$% Review of Gibbon' s Hiflory, &c. enjoyment. And I think I cannot better conclude my review of his hiftory, than by applying to him this character in Milton ; as, equally in the praife and in the cenfiire, truly defcriptive of him. ■ On th' other fide up rofe Belial, in atl more graceful and humane : A fairer perfon loft not heaven ; he leem'd For dignity compos'd and high exploit, But all was falfe and hollow ; though his tongue Drcpt manna, and could make the ivorje appear The better reafon, to perplex and dajh Maturejl counfels ; for his thoughts were low, To vice induftricus, but to -noble deeds Timorous and flothful ; yet he pleafcd the ear, And with perfuafve axcent thus began. FINIS. the following Books, written by Mr, Whitaker, are fold by J. Murray, No. 3 1, Fleet Street, London. ARY QUEEN of SCOTS VINDICATED. By John Whitaker, B. D. and Re&or of Ruan-Lanyhorne, Cornwall. The fecond edition, greatly enlarged and corredled, Svo. 3 vols, price One Guinea in boards. 4f I If the Author has been able to execute his own intention, this work will be found to contain a full examination of all the charges that have been latterly brought forward againft the un- fortunate MARY ; and a complete refutation of them from evi- dence of the moll unquestionable authority. II. The HISTORY of MANCHESTER, with plates, 2 vols. 4to. by the fame Author, price il. 16s. boards. t-J-f Thefe volumes contain the Roman, the Roman-Britifh, and the Saxon Period of our Hiftory. III. The GENUINE HISTORY of the BRITONS avert- ed againft Mr. Macpherfon, 8vo. price 5s. bound. Where may be had the following Hijlorical and oth-er Performances. 1. An HISTORICAL VIEW of the ENGLISH GO- VERNMENT; from the Settlement of the Saxons in Britain to the Acceffion of the Houfe of Stewart. By John Millar, Efq. Profeflbr of Law in the Univerfity of Glafgow. The fecond e- dition, 4to. price 1 8s. in boards. 2. ANNALS of SCOTLAND, from the Acceffion of Ro- bert I. furnamed Bruce, to the Acceffion of the Houfe of Stewart. By Sir David Dalrymple, Bart, one of the Judges of the Court of Seffion in Scotland, 4to. 2 vols, price il. 7s. 6d. in board*. 3. A VIEW of SOCIETY in EUROPE, in its Progrefs from Rudencfs to Refinement; or, Enquiries concerning the Hiftory of Law, Government, and. Manners, 4to. 15s. boards. By Gilbert Stuart, LL. D. 4. An HISTORICAL DISSERTATION concerning the ANTIQUITY of the ENGLISH CONSTITUTION, °8vo. fecond edition, 5s. bound. By the fame. 5. HISTORY of the REFORMATION of RELIGION in SCOTLAND, 4to. 10s. 6d. boards. By the fame. 6. ORATIONS of LYSIAS and ISOCRATES, tranflated from the Greek; with fome Account of their Lives, and a Dif- courfe on the Hiftory, Manner?, and Character of the Greeks, from from the Conclusion of the Peloponncftan War, to the Battle of Chasronea. By John Gillies, LL. D. 4-to. price il. is. in boards. 7. CAMPBELL'S LIVES of the BRITISH ADMI- RALS, with Maps and Cuts, brought down to 1779. Four Volumes large Octavo, price il. 8s. bound. 8. GAST's HISTORY of GREECE; from the Accef- fion of Alexander of Macedon till its final Subjection to the Ro- man Power, in one large Volume Quarto, price One Guinea in boards. 9. A VIEW OF ANCIENT HISTORY ; including the Progrefs of Literature and the fine Arts. By William Ruther- ford, D.D. Mailer of the Academy at Uxbridge. Two Vols, large 8vo. illuitrated with a Map of the ancient World very handfomely engraved, price 14s. in boards. N. B. In conrpofing a Work originally intended for the In- ftruction of Youth, the Author has fludied to felecl his Mate- rials from the moil authentic Sources ; to feparate the Region of Fable from that of Hiltory ; and to fuggeit fuch Views of human Affairs, as ferve not only to enlighten the Mind, but to form the Heart to Virtue, and infpire Principles of true Reli- gion. 10. TRAVELS ROUND THE WORLD, in the Years 1767, 1768, 1769, 1770, 1 77 1. By Monfieur de Pages, Captain in the French Navy, Chevalier of the Royal and Mi- litary Order of St. Louis, and correiponding Member of the Academy of Sciences at Paris. Translated from the French. Uluilrated with a Frontifpiece reprefenting a Scene in the De- fert of Arabia. Two Vols. 8vo. price 8s. in boards. ;rjp Thefe interefling Travels, among various and important information, contain the bell account which has yet tranfpired refpefting the actual condition of the Spanifh Well Indies, over which the Court of Spain has long been felicitous to call a myf- terious and impenetrable veil. The fpi.ited, intelligent, and philanthropic narrator was in habits of particular friendlhip with the philofophic and learned Buffon; and he leems indeed highly to have deferved the efleem of fo diflinguiihed a ge- nius, by his moral qualities, as well as by his ingenious, lively and penetrating mind. 11. The HISTORY of ENGLAND from the earliefl Times to the Death of George the lid. By Dr. Goldfmith. Octavo, 3 vols, il. 4s. bound. 12. ORIGINAL ANECDOTES of PETER the GREAT, collected from the Converfation of feveral Perfons of Diltinc- tion at Peterfburgh and Mofcow. By Mr. Stcehlin, Member of the Imperial Academy at Peterfburgh. Octavo, price 6s. in boards. «