"
His familiar letters and a number of essays, chiefly written in youth,
form the remainder of the miscellaneous works. Of the letters, some
have been quoted in this volume, and the reader can form his own
judgment of them. Of the small essays we may say that they augment, if
it is possible, one's notion of Gibbon's laborious diligence and
thoroughness in the field of historic research, and confirm his title
to the character of an intrepid student.
The lives of scholars are proverbially dull, and that of Gibbon is
hardly an exception to the rule. In the case of historians, the
protracted silent labour of preparation, followed by the conscientious
exposition of knowledge acquired, into which the intrusion of the
writer's personality rarely appears to advantage, combine to give
prominence to the work achieved, and to throw into the background the
author who achieves it. If indeed the historian, forsaking his high
function and austere reserve, succumbs to the temptations that beset
his path, and turns history into political pamphlet, poetic rhapsody,
moral epigram, or garish melodrama, he may become conspicuous to a
fault at the expense of his work.
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