rises above the common level has received two educations: the first from his teachers; the second,

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de s'assujettir à la pratique d'une église qu'il ne reconnoissoit plus pour infaillible; que si même cette pratique avoit eu quelque utilité dans son institution, cependant elle n'en avoit aucune en elle même, puisqu'elle ne contribuoit en rien à la pureté des mœurs, qu'ainsi il n'y avoit aucune raison, ni dans l'institution de cette pratique, ni dans la pratique elle même, qui l'autorisât à s'y soumettre qu'aujourdhui ce n'étoit qu'une affaire d'intérêt, puisqu'avec de l'argent on obtenoit des dispenses pour manger gras, &c. de manière que je l'ai ramené à la liberté Chretienne avec beaucoup de peine et seulement depuis quelques semaines. Je l'ai engagé à vous écrire, pour vous manifester les ́ sentimens où il est, et l'état de sa santé; et je crois qu'il l'a fait.

From Mr. GIBBON to Mrs. PORTEN.*

Dear Madam,

I have at length good news to tell you. I am now good Protestant, and am extremely glad of it. I have in all my Letters taken notice of the different mouvements of my mind, entirely Catholic when I came to Lausanne, wavering long time between the two systems, and at last fixed for the Protestant—when that conflict was over, I had still another difficulty-brought up with all the ideas of the Church of England, I could scarce resolve to communion with Presbyterians, as all the people of this country are. I at last got over it, for considering that whatever difference there may be between their churches and ours, in the government and discipline, they still regard us as brethren and profess the same faith as us-determined then in this design, I declared it to the ministers of the town, assembled at Mr. Pavilliard's, who having examined me, approved of it, and permitted me to receive the communion with them, which I did Christmas day from the bands of Mr. Pavilliard, who appeared extremely glad of it. I

This letter is curious: as it shews in how short a time (not more than a year and a half) he had adopted the idiom of the French language and lost that of his own.

more personal and important, from himself. He will not, like the fanatics of the last age, define the

am so extremely, myself—and do assure you, feel a joy extremely pure, and the more so, as I know it to be not only innocent but laudable.

Madam,

Mr. PAVILLIARD to Mrs. PORTEN.

Lausanne, January 28, 1755.

As I have a piece of news extremely interesting to acquaint you with, I cannot any longer defer answering to the letter you honoured me with. God has at length blessed my cares, and heard your prayers; I have had the satisfaction of bringing back Mr. Gibbon to the bosom of our reformed church; he has communicated with us Christmas day last, with devotion: he appears satisfied with what he has done, and I am persuaded is at present as little inclined to the sentiments of the Church of Rome, as I am myself. I have made use with him, neither of rigour nor artifice. I have never hurried him in his decisions, but have always left him the time to reflect on every article; he has been persuaded of the integrity of my intentions, he has heard me as a friend, and I have served him as guide to enter into the road of the truth. God Almighty be blessed for it; I pray that God to strengthen him more and more in the right way, and to make him a faithful member of his church. I ought to render him the justice to say, I never found him obstinate; he has been fixed in his ideas, but when he has seen the light, he has rendered himself. His behaviour has been very regular and has made no slips, except that of gaming twice and losing much more than I desired. I hope, Madam, you will acquaint Mr. Gibbon with your satisfaction and restore him your affection, which though his errors may have shaken, they have not, I am sure, destroyed. As his father has allowed him but the bare necessaries, but nothing more, I dare beg you to grant him some tokens of your satisfaction. I am convinced he will employ them well, and I ever flatter myself he will give me the direction of them, for he has promised me never to play any more games of chance. I wish you, Madam, all kinds of prosperity.

the moment of grace; but he cannot forget the æra of his life, in which his mind has expanded to its proper form and dimensions. My worthy tutor had the good sense and modesty to discern how far he could be useful: as soon as he felt that I advanced beyond his speed and measure, he wisely left me to my genius; and the hours of lesson were soon lost in the voluntary labour of the whole morning, and sometimes of the whole day. The desire of prolonging my time, gradually confirmed the salutary habit of early rising; to which I have al- ways adhered; with some regard to seasons and situations but it is happy for my eyes and my health, that my temperate ardour has never been seduced to trespass on the hours of the night. During the last three years of my residence at Lausanne, I may assume the merit of serious and solid application; but I am tempted to distinguish the last eight months of the year 1755, as the period of the most extraordinary diligence and rapid progress. In my French and Latin translations I adopted

JOURNAL, December 1755.]-In finishing this year, I must remark how favourable it was to my studies. In the space of eight months, from the beginning of April, I learnt the principles of drawing; made myself complete master of the French and Latin languages, with which I was very superficially acquainted before, and wrote and translated a great deal in both; read Cicero's Epistles ad Familiares, his Brutus, all his Orations, his Dialogues de Amicitia, and De Senectute; Terence, twice; and Pliny's Epistles. In French, Giannone's History of Naples, and l'Abbé Bannier's Mythology, and M. De Boehat's Mémoires sur la Suisse, and wrote a very ample relation of my tour. I likewise began

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adopted an excellent method, which, from my own success, I would recommend to the imitation of students. I chose some classic writer, such as Cicero and Vertot, the most approved for purity and elegance of style. I translated, for instance, an epistle of Cicero into French; and after throwing it aside, till the words and phrases were obliterated from my memory, I re-translated my French into such Latin as I could find; and then compared each sentence of my imperfect version, with the ease, the grace, the propriety of the Roman orator. A similar experiment was made on several pages of the Revolutions of Vertot; I turned them into Latin, returned them after a sufficient interval into my own French, and again scrutinized the resemblance or dissimilitude of the copy and the original. By degrees I was less ashamed, by degrees I was more satisfied with myself; and I persevered in the practice of these double translations, which filled several books, till I had acquired the knowledge of both idioms, and the command at least of a correct style. This useful exercise of writing was accompanied and succeeded by the more pleasing occupation of reading the best authors. The perusal of the Roman classics was at once my exercise and reward. Dr. Middleton's History, which I then

began to study Greek, and went through the Grammar. I began to make very large collections of what I read. But what I esteem most of all, from the perusal and meditation of De Crousaz's Logic, I not only understood the principles of that science, but formed my mind to a habit of thinking and reasoning I had no idea of before.

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appreciated above its true value, naturally directed me to the writings of Cicero. The most perfect editions, that of Olivet, which may adorn the shelves of the rich, that of Ernesti, which should lie on the table of the learned, were not within my reach. For the familiar epistles I used the text and English commentary of Bishop Ross; but my general edition was that of Verburgius, published at Amsterdam in two large volumes in folio, with an indifferent choice of various notes. I read, withi application and pleasure, all the epistles, all the orations, and the most important treatises of rhetoric and philosophy; and as I read, I applauded the observation of Quintillian, that every student may judge of his own proficiency, by the satisfaction which he receives from the Roman orator. Í tasted the beauties of language, I breathed the spirit of freedom, and I imbibed from his precepts and examples the public and private sense of a man. Cicero in Latin, and Xenophon in Greek, are indeed the two ancients whom I would first propose to a liberal scholar; not only for the merit of their style and sentiments, but for the admirable lessons, which may be applied almost to every situation of public and private life. Cicero's Epistles may in particular afford the models of every form of correspondence, from the careless effusions of tenderness and friendship, to the well-guarded declaration of discreet and dignified resentment. After finishing this great author, a library of eloquence and reason, I formed a more extensive plan of reviewing the