But at the present moment let us attend to a subject, less illustrious, undoubtedly, but more interesting to both of us; and it is a considerable matter that the same object can be interesting to two mortals, who have not seen, and scarcely even written to each other for yes, I declare-eight years. My pen, which is very lazy at the beginning, or rather before the beginning, travels along quick enough when it is once set a-going; but one reason that prevents my giving it its full scope, is the hope of soon being able to communicate with you by a still more convenient instrumentthe tongue. What a foolish animal is a man, an Englishman, the man Gibbon ! I hope it, I wish for it, I can accomplish it, and yet I do not know whether I will it, still less whether I shall execute that will. Here is my history as far as it can enlighten you, as far as it can enlighten myself on my real intentions, which appear to me to be very uncertain and equivocal: and you will have the goodness to tell me what shall be the course of my future conduct. You will recollect, sir, that my grandfather made his fortune, and that my father devoured it with rather too good an appetite, and that I am now enjoying the fruit, or rather the remainder, of their labours. You have not forgotten that I went into parliament without patriotism, and without ambition, and that all my views tended to the convenient and respectable place of a lord of trade. This situation I at length obtained; I possessed it for three years, from 1779 to 1782, and the net produce, which amounted to £750 sterling, augmented my income to the level of my wants and desires. But in the spring of last year, the storm burst over our heads; Lord North was overthrown, your humble servant turned out, and even the board of which I was a member, abolished and broken up for ever by Mr. Burke's reform, tegether with several other offices of the state and the king's household. To complete my misfortune I still remain a member of the lower house. At the end of the last parliament (in 1780) Mr. Eliot withdrew his nomination, but the favour of Lord North facilitated my re-election, and gratitude imposed on me the duty of making available for his service, the rights which I held in part from him. That winter we fought under the allied standards (you are acquainted with our history) of Lord North and Mr. Fox; we triumphed over Lord Shelburne and the peace; and my friend (I do not like to profane that name) remounted his steed in quality of secretary of state. Now he can easily say to me "it was a great deal for me; it was nothing for you;" and in spite of the strongest assurances, I have too much reason to allow me to have much faith. With great genius, and very respectable talents, he has now neither the title nor credit of prime minister; more active colleagues carry off the most savoury morsels, which their voracious creatures immediately devour; our misfortunes and reforms have diminished the number of favours; either through pride or through indolence, I am but a bad suitor; and, if at last I obtain something, it may perhaps be on the eve of a fresh revolution, which will, in an instant, snatch from me that which has cost me so many cares

and pains. If I consulted only my heart and my reason, I should immediately break this unworthy chain of dependence; quit the parliament, London, and England, and seek, under a milder sky and in a quieter country, repose, liberty, ease, and an amiable and enlightened society. I should spend a few years of my life without hope and without fear, finish my History, and return to my own land as a free man, rich, and respectable by station as well as by character. My friends, and particularly Lord Sheffield, will not permit me to be happy according to my own taste and apprehension. Their prudence demands that I should make every effort to obtain an employment which is, indeed, sure to be permanent, and which would afford me an annual income of a thousand guineas, but it would occupy me five days in every week. I have given in to their zeal, and have promised not to start till autumn, after having devoted the summer to this last attempt. Still, however, success is uncertain, and I do not know that I cordially desire it.

Should I be exiled, my choice will not be dubious. Lausanne had my first-fruits; it will always be endeared to me by the sweet recollections of my youth. After thirty years I recall to mind the young rakes who are now judges, the little maidens of the "Spring" society, who are now become grandmothers. Your country is delightful, and in spite of Jean Jacques Rousseau's disgust, the manners and genius of its inhabitants appear to me to be very well suited to the banks of the Lake of Leman. But there is a treasure which I could find only at Lausanne; which is a friend who agrees with me in ideas and feelings, and with whom I have never experienced a moment of tedium, coolness, or reserve. Formerly, in the freedom of our mutual communications, we formed a hundred times the design of living together, and a hundred times have we decked it in all the details of romance, with a warmth that has astonished even ourselves. At present he dwells, or rather you dwell, (for I am tired of this studied style) in a convenient and delightful house; I can see from hence my apartment, our common parlours, our table, our walks; but this marriage will be useless unless it is equally convenient to both the espoused, and I am sensible how many local circumstances, new tastes, and fresh connexions may stand in the way of the fulfilment of those designs, which appeared to us, in the distance, most agreeable. To settle my ideas, and to prevent our after regrets, you must disclose to me, with the frankness of which I have given you the example, the external and internal picture of George Deyverdun. My affection is too delicate to bear indifference and cold respect, and I should be ashamed of a happiness for which I should be indebted not to my friend's inclination but to his fidelity. To arm myself against possible, and alas! but too probable misfortunes, I endeavoured to detach my thoughts from this favourite project, and to fancy myself at Lausanne as your good neighbour, without being altogether your table companion. Were I compelled to that, I would not begin housekeeping, as well on account of economy as to avoid the disagreeableness of eating alone. On the other hand a boarding-house,

if it were established on the former plan of that of Mesery, would be no longer suitable either to my age or disposition. Shall I pass my life amidst a crowd of young Englishmen just escaped from college, when I should love Lausanne a hundred times as well, if I could be the only individual of my nation there? I must, then, have a convenient and cheerful house, of a superior class to those of the trades-people, an intelligent host, a hostess who shall not resemble Madame Pavilliard, and the assurance of being received as the only son, or rather as the brother, of the family. That we may make our arrangements without difficulty, I will very willingly furnish a pretty apartment under the same roof or in the vicinity; and since the most sparing economy still leaves sufficient means for good cheer, I should not be obliged to squabble about the pecuniary terms. Should I be disappointed of this last hope, I shall renounce with a sigh, my second native country, to seek a new asylum, not at Geneva, that sorrowful abode of labour and discord, but on the banks of the Lake of Neufchatel, among the good Savoyards of Chambery, or under the fine atmosphere of the south of France. I finish abruptly, for I have a thousand things to say to you. I think in our correspondence we are very much like each other. For learned or even for friendly chit-chat I am of all men the most indolent, but when it concerns a real object or an essential service, the first post always bears my answer. At the end of a month I shall begin to count the weeks, the days, and the hours. Do not make me count too many of them. Vale.

CLI.-MR. DEYVERDUN TO MR. GIBBON.

Strasburg, June 10, 1783.

Sir, and my dear Friend,-I know not how to communicate to you the variety and strength of the sensations which were occasioned me by your letter, and which have ended in a depth of hope and pleasure that will remain in my heart until you drive them thence.

A singular analogy of circumstances contributes to make me hope that we are destined to live for some time agreeably together. I am not disgusted with an ambition which I never knew; but, owing to other circumstances, I find myself in the same embarrassing and uncertain situation as you yourself are at the present moment. A year ago, your letter, my dear friend, would doubtless have given me pleasure, but at the present moment it does much more, it, in some sort, comes to my assistance.

Since my return from Italy, not being willing to sell my house, tired of being alone (for like you, sir, I hate to eat without company), and unwilling to let it to strangers, I took the resolution of arranging my dwelling very prettily on the first floor, and giving up the second to a family of my friends, who would board me while I lodged them. This arrangement has now for a long time appeared to contribute to the happiness of both the parties concerned. But in this world every thing is transitory. My house will be empty, to all appearance, about the end of the summer, and I find myself beforehand as em

barrassed and undecided as I was a few years ago, knowing not what new society to choose, and very much inclined at last to sell this property, which has been the cause of many pleasures and many troubles. My house is, then, at your disposal this autumn, and you will arrive like a god who, in poetical machinery, disentangles the intricacies of the plot. So much for myself. Now let us talk about yourself with the same sincerity.

One word by way of preamble. However much interested I may be in your resolution, convinced of the necessity of loving our friends for their own sake, and persuaded moreover how dreadful it would be to me to see you regretting it, I give you my word and honour that my interest does not in the slightest degree influence what I am going to write to you, and that I shall not say a single word to you which I should not, if the hermit of the grot was a different person from myself. Your English friends love you for their own sake; I only wish for your own happiness. Recollect, my dear friend, that I saw with regret your entrance into parliament, and I think I have been but too true a prophet. I am sure that this cause has occasioned you more privations than enjoyments, and more pains than pleasures. I have always thought, ever since I have known you, that you were destined to be made happy by the pleasures of the study and of society, that every other course was a departure from the path of felicity, and that only the united qualities of a man of letters and an amiable man in society, could procure you glory, honour, pleasures, and a continual succession of enjoyments. At the end of a few turns in your parlour, you will clearly feel that I have seen it in the right light, and that the event has justified my opinions. When I learnt that you were a lord of trade, I was grieved at it; when I knew that you had lost that place, I rejoiced for you; when I heard that Lord North had remounted his steed, I fancied I could see you, very ill at your ease, on the crupper behind him, and I was in trouble on your account. I am, therefore, delighted to know, my dear friend, that you are still on foot, and I very sincerely advise you to remain in that position, and, far from soliciting the office in question, to refuse it, if it were offered you. Will a thousand guineas recompense you for five days taken out of the week? Supposing, what I can, however, scarcely believe, that you will tell me yes; yet do the variations and perpetual inconstancy of your ministry allow you to hope for a constant enjoyment of it for any length of time, and is it not more unpleasant, my dear sir, to lose an income of £1000 sterling, than it was agreeable to have had the enjoyment of it? Besides, will not you always be able to re-enter on the career, when ambition or the desire of serving your country should again taken possession of you; and would not you re-enter it with more honour when, your income being spontaneously increased, you will be a rich and independent man?

By making this retreat into Switzerland, besides the beauty of the country and the pleasures of society, you will acquire two possessions that you have lost, liberty and wealth. You will not, moreover, be

useless; your works will continue to enlighten us, and, independently of your talents, the polite and gallant man is never useless.

It remains that I should present you with the picture of what you will meet with. You were once fond of my house and garden, but they are very different now. On the first floor, which overlooks the descent towards Ouchy, I have formed a range of apartments which will be sufficiently commodious for myself. I have a servant's room, two parlours, and two studies. I have, on a level with the terrace, two other parlours, one of which serves as a dining-room in summer, and the other as a drawing-room. I have made a new wing of three rooms, in the space between the house and the coach-house, so that I can offer you all the large wing, which now consists of eleven rooms, large and small, facing to the east and south, furnished without misplaced magnificence, but with a sort of elegance which, hope, will please you. The terrace is a little altered; but it is terminated by a large study, better proportioned than the preceding one, and is garnishod throughout its whole length with orange trees in boxes of earth. The overhanging vine, which you are not indifferent to, has grown handsomer, prospered, and reaches almost to the very end. Arriving at this end, you find a little path, which leads you to a cottage placed in a corner, and from this corner following, along another path made in the English style, the wall of a riding-house, you reach, at the end, a small lodge, with stable, dairy, small door, small study, small library, and a gallery of gilded wood, from whence you may see all who go out and in at the gate of the Oak, and all that passes in that quarter of the town. I have bought the vineyard at the bottom of the garden, I have cleared away all that is before the house, and have made out of it a smooth carpet of green sward watered by a fountain; and, all around this little park, I have made a walk, very much diversified by different prospects and even by interior objects, first kitchen-garden, then flower-garden, then vineyard, then meadows, and afterwards lodge, cottage, and small hill; in short, strangers come to see and admire it, and in spite of the pompous description I have given you, you will be very well pleased with it. N. B. I have planted a number of excellent fruit trees.

To come to myself;-you understand very well that I have grown older in every thing, except in sensibility; I am in the fashion-my nerves are affected; I am more melancholy, but have no more whims; you will only suffer negatively, at any rate, from my troubles. Living together, yet separated from each other by our apartments, we shall enjoy the greatest freedom towards each other. We will engage a good-tempered and intelligent housekeeper, more for convenience than through necessity; for I should not be afraid of taking the superintendence upon myself. I have, for some time, conducted the housekeeping of a family of four; I have conducted my own, and I find that it all goes on very well alone, when it is once set a-going. Young ladies, who have only this one qualification, make a great noise about nothing. My garden will furnish us with abundance of fruit and of excellent vegetables. As for the