The following references may be of use to a future editor of Gibbon; Mr.
Milman has not, I believe, rectified any of the mistakes pointed out by
the authors cited.
In the Netherlands ... 50,000 in less than fifty years were ...
sacrificed to the intolerance of popery. (Fra Paolo, _Sarpi
Conc. Trid._ 1. i. p. 422. ed. sec. Grotius, in his _Annal.
Belq._ 1. v. pp. 1G, 17. duod., including _all_ the persecutions
of Charles V, makes the number 100,000. The supposed
contradiction between these two historians supplied Mr. Gibbon
with an argument by which he satisfied himself that be had
completely demolished the whole credibility of Eusebius's
history. See conclusion of his 16th book.) [Mendham's _Life of
Pius V._, p. 303. and note; compare p. 252., where Gibbon's
attack on Eusebius is discussed.]
In Forster's _Mahometanism Unveiled_, several of Gibbon's statements are
questioned. I have not the book at hand, and did not think the
corrections very important when I read it some time {277} back. The
reader who has it may see pp. 339. 385. 461-2. 472. 483. 498. of the
second volume.
In Dr. Maitland's _Dark Ages_, p. 229. seq. note, a gross blunder is
pointed out.
See too the _Gentlemans Magazine_, July, 1839, p. 49.
Dr. Maitland, in his _Facts and Documents relating to the ancient
Albigenses and Waldenses_, p. 217. note, corrects an error respecting
the _Book of Sentences_.
"Gibbon, speaking of this _Book of Sentences_, in a note on his
54th chapter, says, 'Of a list of criminals which fills nineteen
folio pages, only _fifteen_ men and _four_ women were delivered
to the secular arm.' Vol. v. p. 535. I believe he should have
said _thirty-two_ men and _eight_ women; and imagine that he was
misled by the fact that the index-maker most commonly (but by no
means always) states the nature of the sentence passed on each
person. From the book, however, it appears that forty persons
were so delivered, viz., twenty-nine Albigenses, seven
Waldenses, and four Beguins."
The following mistake was pointed out by the learned Cork correspondent
of the _Gentleman's Magazine_, I think in 1838; it has misled the writer
of the article "Anicius", in Smith's _Dictionary of Ancient Biography_,
and is not corrected by Mr. Milman (Gibbon, chap. xxxi. note 14 and
text):--
"During the first five ages, the name of the Anicians was
unknown. The earliest date in the annals of Pighius is that of
M. Anicius Gallus, Tr. Plebis A.U.C. 506. Another Tribune, Q.
Anicius, A.U.C. 508, is distinguished by the epithet
Prænestinus."
We learn from Pliny, _H.N._ xxxiii. 6., that Q. Anicius Prænestinus was
the colleague as curule ædile of Flavius, the famous _scriba_ of Appius
Cæcus, B.C. 304, A.U.C. 450. (See Fischer, _Röm. Zeittafeln_, p. 61-2.)
Pliny's words are--
"[Flavius] tantam gratiam plebis adeptus est ... ut ædilis
curulis crearetur cum Q. Anicio Prænestino."
Gibbon's chapter on Mahomet seems to be particularly superficial; it is
to be hoped that a future editor will correct it by the aid of Von
Hammer's labours.