N. NICHOLLS

No. LXXIIL

Extract of a Letter from Gnrcorr Lewis Way, Esq. to Lord SnerrreLn.

Spencer Farm, August 28th, 1796.

I wave finished the first volume of the Gibbonianis, With parts of it

I was delighted and interested: extremely. Of his satire on Oxford I : 3 , can

can hardly be deemed an impartial reader. His opinions on publie affairs and public men, I swallowed with avidity and approbation. But his French letters of courtship to Deyverdun are delicious indeed: and in the minute incidents connected with his Work, I stand invisible behind him ; I steal along his grove of Acacias, and my mind participates in his exultation and in his gloom. Shall I add, that in his honest and manly retirement from public life, and in his estimate of the comparative charms of politics and philosophy, he has also a powerful echo in my bosom? I trust that, like him, I should have been able, in spite of “ mes amis, qui ne veulent pas me permettre d’être heureux suivant mon goût, et mes lumières,” to have persisted in a like line of conduct ; since I have his authority for flattering myself that I ‘* possess a disposition somewhat similar to his own.” The names of Chelsum and Randolph I have not forgotten, though I suspect myself of never having read their books.

No. LXXIV.

- -Samvesz, Rose, Esq. to Lord Suerriern.

My Dear Lorp, Denham Lodge, Sept. 7th, 1796.

I wave been in Oxfordshire, and am now in Norfolk, visiting my valuable but unhappy friend Cowper, who, though certainly better than he has been, still continues a victim to melancholy and despair. It is a dreadful sight !—such talents so laid waste by so merciless a disorder claim our pity now, as much as, in a different state, they before excited our admiration. But it is not the object of this letter to communicate to your Lordship those painful sensations which must necessarily be felt by every benevolent mind at hearing of the continued misery this . gentleman suffers. It is rather the object of this letter to give you pleasure, who are ever so active in creating and promoting the enjoyment of others.

I Jately heard from my friend Mr. Mackenzie of Edinburgh, who has distinguished himself in the literary world by his Man of Feeling, and other ingenious publications. He speaks in the following just and

| appropriate

appropriate terms of your Lordship's last work, which I transcribe with great satisfaction, as they express my sentiments upon the subject, and as they come with weight from so distinguished a character as Mr. Mackenzie :

“With Mr. Gibbon’s volumes, particularly the first, I was much entertained and gratified. To see so much of the life and manners of a celebrated man, is always gratifying; in this case it was peculiarly so, from the increased esteem which it excited for that man, by exhibiting him in so amiable a view as a relation and a friend. Lord Sheffield and. his family formed a very interesting group in the picture. Among authors and public men it is not very common, and it is very pleasing, to find such continued and warm affection and attachment; and the man of taste, as well as of virtue, is deeply indebted to the editor, who can thus unfold to him such sources of moral as well as literary pleasure.”

This is one, among many honourable testimonies, you have received of the value and importance of your very entertaining publication ; a publication which will increase in the good opinion of the public, in proportion as they become better acquainted with its contents.

Your Lordship’s obliged and affectionate, SAMUEL Roses.

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The Remains of Mr. Gibbon were deposited in Lord Sheffield’s Family Burial-Place, in | Fletching, Sussex ; whereon is inscribed the following Epitaph, written at his Lordship's — request by a distinguished scholar, the Reo. Dr. Parr :—

EDVARDUS GIBBON CRITICUS ACRI INGENIO ET MULTIPLICI DOCTRINA ORNATUS IDEMQUE HISTORICORUM QUI FORTUNAM IMPERII ROMANI VEL LABENTIS ET INCLINATI VEL EVERSI ET FUNDITUS DELETI LITTERIS MANDAVERINT OMNIUM FACILE PRINCEPS CUJUS IN MORIBUS ERAT MODERATIO ANIMI CUM LIBERALI QUADAM SPECIE CONJUNCTA IN SERMONE MULTA GRAVITATI COMITAS SUAVITER ADSPERSA IN SCRIPTIS COPIOSUM SPLENDIDUM CONCINNUM ORBE VERBORUM ET SUMMO ARTIFICIO DISTINCTUM ORATIONIS GENUS RECONDITÆ EXQUISITÆQUE SENTENTLE ET IN MONUMENTIS RERUM POLITICARUM OBSERVANDIS ACUTA ET PERSPICAX PRUDENTIA VIXIT ANNOS LVI MENS. VII DIES XXVIII DECESSIT XVII CAL. FEB. ANNO SACRO MDCCLXXXXIV ET IN HOC MAUSOLEO SEPULTUS EST EX VOLUNTATE JOHANNIS DOMINI SHEFFIELD QUI AMICO BENE MERENTI ET CONVICTORI HUMANISSIMO H. TAB. P. C:

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