" The emptiness of
his letters as regards home politics perhaps admits of a more
favourable explanation, and may be owing to the careful suppression by
their editor, Lord Sheffield, of everything of real interest. It is
impossible to estimate the weight of this consideration, but it may be
great. Still we have a sufficient number of his letters to be able to
say that on the whole they are neither thoughtful nor graphic: they
give us neither pictures of events nor insight into the times. It must
be, however, remembered that Gibbon greatly disliked letter-writing,
and never wrote unless he was obliged.
It was no secret that Gibbon wanted a place under government. Moderate
as his establishment seems to have been, it was more expensive than he
could afford, and he looked, not without warrant, to a supplement of
income from one of the rich windfalls which, in that time of sinecures
were wont to refresh the spirits of sturdy supporters of
administration. He had influential friends, and even relatives, in and
near the government, and but for his parliamentary nullity he would
probably have been provided with a comfortable berth at an early
period.
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