Of course the grasp and penetrating
insight which are implied here, were part of Gibbon's great endowment,
which only Nature could give. But it was fortunate that his genius was
educated in the best school for bringing out its innate quality.
It would be difficult to explain why, except on that principle of
decimation by which Macaulay accounted for the outcry against Lord
Byron, Gibbon's solitary and innocent love passage has been made the
theme of a good deal of malicious comment. The parties most
interested, and who, we may presume, knew the circumstances better
than any one else, seem to have been quite satisfied with each other's
conduct. Gibbon and Mdlle. Curchod, afterwards Madame Necker, remained
on terms of the _most_ intimate friendship till the end of the
former's life. This might be supposed sufficient. But it has not been
so considered by evil tongues. The merits of the case, however, may be
more conveniently discussed in a later chapter. At this point it will
be enough to give the facts.
Mdlle. Susanne Curchod was born about the year 1740; her father was
the Calvinist minister of Crassier, her mother a French Huguenot who
had preferred her religion to her country.
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