Memoirs of My Life and Writings | Page 7

frenzy must not extinguish the praise, which is due to Mr.
William Law as a wit and a scholar. His argument on topics of less
absurdity is specious and acute, his manner is lively, his style forcible
and clear; and, had not his vigorous mind been clouded by enthusiasm,
he might be ranked with the most agreeable and ingenious writers of
the times. While the Bangorian controversy was a fashionable theme,
he entered the lists on the subject of Christ's kingdom, and the authority
of the priesthood: against the plain account of the sacrament of the
Lord's Supper he resumed the combat with Bishop Hoadley, the object
of Whig idolatry, and Tory abhorrence; and at every weapon of attack
and defence the non-juror, on the ground which is common to both,
approves himself at least equal to the prelate. On the appearance of the
Fable of the Bees, he drew his pen against the licentious doctrine that
private vices are public benefits, and morality as well as religion must
join in his applause. Mr. Law's master-work, the Serious Call, is still
read as a popular and powerful book of devotion. His precepts are rigid,
but they are founded on the gospel; his satire is sharp, but it is drawn
from the knowledge of human life; and many of his portraits are not
unworthy of the pen of La Bruyere. If he finds a spark of piety in his
reader's mind, he will soon kindle it to a flame; and a philosopher must
allow that he exposes, with equal severity and truth, the strange
contradiction between the faith and practice of the Christian world.
Under the names of Flavia and Miranda he has admirably described my
two aunts the heathen and the Christian sister.
My father, Edward Gibbon, was born in October, 1707: at the age of
thirteen he could scarcely feel that he was disinherited by act of
parliament; and, as he advanced towards manhood, new prospects of
fortune opened to his view. A parent is most attentive to supply in his
children the deficiencies, of which he is conscious in himself: my
grandfather's knowledge was derived from a strong understanding, and
the experience of the ways of men; but my father enjoyed the benefits
of a liberal education as a scholar and a gentleman. At Westminster
School, and afterwards at Emanuel College in Cambridge, he passed
through a regular course of academical discipline; and the care of his
learning and morals was intrusted to his private tutor, the same Mr.
William Law. But the mind of a saint is above or below the present
world; and while the pupil proceeded on his travels, the tutor remained

at Putney, the much-honoured friend and spiritual director of the whole
family. My father resided sometime at Paris to acquire the fashionable
exercises; and as his temper was warm and social, he indulged in those
pleasures, for which the strictness of his former education had given
him a keener relish. He afterwards visited several provinces of France;
but his excursions were neither long nor remote; and the slender
knowledge, which he had gained of the French language, was gradually
obliterated. His passage through Besancon is marked by a singular
consequence in the chain of human events. In a dangerous illness Mr.
Gibbon was attended, at his own request, by one of his kinsmen of the
name of Acton, the younger brother of a younger brother, who had
applied himself to the study of physic. During the slow recovery of his
patient, the physician himself was attacked by the malady of love: he
married his mistress, renounced his country and religion, settled at
Besancon, and became the father of three sons; the eldest of whom,
General Acton, is conspicuous in Europe as the principal Minister of
the king of the Two Sicilies. By an uncle whom another stroke of
fortune had transplanted to Leghorn, he was educated in the naval
service of the Emperor; and his valour and conduct in the command of
the Tuscan frigates protected the retreat of the Spaniards from Algiers.
On my father's return to England he was chosen, in the general election
of 1734, to serve in parliament for the borough of Petersfield; a burgage
tenure, of which my grandfather possessed a weighty share, till he
alienated (I know not why) such important property. In the opposition
to Sir Robert Walpole and the Pelhams, prejudice and society
connected his son with the Tories,--shall I say Jacobites? or, as they
were pleased to style themselves, the country gentlemen? with them he
gave many a vote; with them he drank many a bottle. Without
acquiring the fame of an orator or a statesman, he eagerly joined in the
great opposition, which, after a seven years' chase, hunted down Sir
Robert Walpole: and