The centenary of the death of Edward Gibbon (died January, 1794, aged
fifty-six) was recorded by a public commemoration held in London in
November, 1894, at the instance of the Royal Historical Society. The
distinguished committee of English and foreign students, who were
associated on that occasion, invited me to become their President,
as representing the family with which Gibbon had been so intimately
connected, and which still retained the portraits, manuscripts,
letters, and relics of the historian. The exhibition of these in
the British Museum, and the commemoration held on November 15,
reawakened interest in the work and remains of one of the greatest
names in English literature; and a general desire was expressed that
the manuscripts should be again collated, and that what was yet
unpublished might be given to the world.
As is well known, it was my grandfather, the first Earl, who made
the historian almost his adopted brother, gave him a home both in
town and in country, was his devisee and literary executor, and
edited and published the famous Autobiography, the letters, and
remains. All of these passed under Edward Gibbon's will to Lord
Sheffield; and, together with books, relics, portraits, and various
mementos, they have been for a century preserved by my father and
myself with religions care and veneration in Sheffield Park. The
original autograph manuscripts of the _Memoirs_, the _Diaries_,
_Letters_, _Note-books_, etc., have now become the property of the
British Museum, subject to the copyright of all the unpublished
parts which was previously assigned to Mr. Murray. And it is with no
little pleasure and pride that I have acceded to the request of the
publishers that I would introduce these unpublished remains to the
world, and thus complete the task of editing the historian, to which
my grandfather devoted so great a portion of his time, not only as a
testamentary duty, but as a labour of love.
The connection of the historian with my grandfather, his early
friend, John Holroyd, and the members of the Holroyd family, forms
one of the pleasantest and also most interesting passages in literary
history. It was in no way interrupted by Lord Sheffield's public and
official duties; it was continued without a cloud to obscure their
intimacy, until it was sundered by death; and the Earl, who survived
his friend so long, continued to edit and to publish the manuscripts
left in his hands for some twenty years after the death of the
historian.
By a clause in the will of Edward Gibbon, dated July 14, 1788, his
papers were entrusted to Lord Sheffield and Mr. John Batt, his
executors, in the following terms:--
"I will that all my Manuscript papers found at the time of my
decease be delivered to my executors, and that if any shall appear
sufficiently finished for the public eye, they do treat for the
purchase of the same with a Bookseller, giving the preference to
Mr. Andrew Strahan and Mr. Thomas Cadell, whose liberal spirit I
have experienced in similar transactions. And whatsoever monies may
accrue from such sale and publication I give to my much-valued friend
William Hayley, Esq., of Eastham, in the County of Sussex. But in
case he shall dye before me, I give the aforesaid monies to the Royal
Society of London and the Royal Academy of Inscriptions of Paris,
share and share alike, in trust to be by them employed in such a
manner as they shall deem most beneficial to the cause of Learning."
In pursuance of the directions contained in the will and of many
verbal communications, Lord Sheffield, in 1799, published the
_Miscellaneous Works of Edward Gibbon, with Memoirs of his Life and
Writings_, in 2 vols., 4to. A third volume was added in 1815, and a
new edition of the whole, with additions, appeared during the same
year in 5 vols., 8vo. In 1837 another edition, in one large 8vo
volume, was published.
By a clause in his own will, Lord Sheffield directed that no further
publication of the historian's manuscripts should be made.
"And I request of my said trustees and my heirs that none of the said
manuscripts, papers, or books of the said Edward Gibbon be published
unless my approbation of the publication be directed by some
memorandum indorsed and written or signed by me. And I also request
the person entitled for the time being to the possession thereof not
to suffer the same to be out of his possession or to be improperly
exposed."
This direction has been strictly followed by my father, the second
Earl, and by myself; and it is believed that no person has ever had
access to any of the manuscripts for any literary purpose, excepting
the late Dean Milman, who, when editing his well-known edition of the
_Decline and Fall_, in 1842, was permitted to inspect the original
manuscripts of the Autobiography, on condition of not publishing any
new matter.
The commemoration of 1894, however, again raised the question
whether such an embargo on giving to the world writings of national
importance was ever meant to be, or even ought to be, regarded as
perpetual. Whilst persons named in these papers or their children
were living, whilst the bitter controversies of the last century
were still unforgotten, whilst the fame of Edward Gibbon had hardly
yet become one of our national glories, it was a matter of good
feeling and sound judgment in Lord Sheffield to exercise an editor's
discretion in publishing his friend's confession and private
thoughts. Now that more than a hundred years have passed since his
death, no such considerations have weight or meaning. And the opinion
of those whom I have consulted, both professionally and as private
friends, amply corroborates my own conclusion, that it is a duty
which I owe to my own ancestor and to the public to give to the world
all the remains of the historian which for more than a century have
been preserved in the strong room of Sheffield Park.
The unlocking of the cases in which these manuscripts were secured
was quite a revelation of literary workmanship, and has led to a
most interesting problem in literary history. The manuscripts of
the historian are all holographs--the text of the famous Memoirs
being written with extraordinary beauty of calligraphy, and studied
with the utmost care. But, singularly enough, none of the texts are
prepared for immediate, or even direct, publication. The historian
wrote, at various intervals between 1788 and 1793, no less than
_six_ different sketches. They are not quite continuous; they partly
recount the same incidents in different form; they are written in
different tones: and yet no one of them is complete; none of them
seem plainly designed to supersede the rest. There is even a small
seventh sketch, from which one of the noblest and most famous
passages that Gibbon ever wrote has been excised, and inserted in the
published Autobiography.
Lord Sheffield executed his editorial task with extreme judgment,
singular ingenuity, but remarkable freedom. He was assisted in
preparing the manuscripts for publication by his wife and by Lady
Maria Holroyd, his eldest daughter, who became by marriage the first
Lady Stanley of Alderley. This very able and remarkable woman,
of whose abilities the historian expressed in letters his great
admiration, evidently marked the manuscripts in pencil handwriting
(now recognized as hers) for the printer's copyist. These pencil
deletions, transpositions, and even additions, correspond with the
Autobiography as published by Lord Sheffield. Quite a third of the
whole manuscript is omitted, and many of the most piquant passages
that Gibbon ever wrote were suppressed by the caution or the delicacy
of his editor and his family.
The result is a problem of singular literary interest. A piece, most
elaborately composed by one of the greatest writers who ever used
our language, an autobiography often pronounced to be the best we
possess, is now proved to be in no sense the simple work of that
illustrious pen, but to have been dexterously pieced together out of
seven fragmentary sketches and adapted into a single and coherent
narrative. The manner and the extent of this extraordinary piece of
editing has been so fully explained in the address of November 15,
published by the Centenary Committee, that it is not necessary for me
to enlarge upon it further.
No sooner had the discovery of the process by which Gibbon's
_Autobiography_ had been concocted been made public, than a general
desire was expressed to have the originals published in the form
in which the historian left them. It was no case of incomplete or
illegible manuscripts, nor of rough drafts designed only as notes
for subsequent composition. The whole of the seven manuscripts
are written with perfect precision; the style is in Gibbon's
most elaborate manner; and each piece is perfectly ready for the
printer--so far as it goes. It was impossible to do again the task
of consolidation so admirably performed by Lord Sheffield. Nothing
remained but to print the whole of the pieces _verbatim_, as the
historian wrote them, not necessarily in the order of time of their
apparent composition, but so as to form a consecutive narrative of
the author's life.
The reader may now rest assured that, _for the first time_, he has
before him the Autobiographic Sketches of Edward Gibbon in the exact
form in which he left them at his death. The portions enclosed in
dark brackets are the passages which were omitted by Lord Sheffield,
and in the notes are inserted the passages or sentences, few and
simple in themselves, which Lord Sheffield added to the original
manuscript. For various reasons it was found impracticable to print
the six sketches in parallel columns; but the admirers of the
historian and all students of English literature will find abundant
opportunity for collating the original texts with each other, and
with the text as published by the editor, and now for a century
current as one of the masterpieces of English literature.
The _Letters_ of the historian, the bulk of which were addressed
to Lord Sheffield and his family, were published in part by my
grandfather in one or other of the editions of _The Miscellaneous
Works of Edward Gibbon_. But in this collection many letters
were omitted, and most of them were printed with some omissions
and variations. These omissions have now been restored; and the
_Letters_, like the other papers of our author, are now for the first
time given to the world in the form in which they were composed.
I cannot pretend to any rivalry with my grandfather in the matter
of the skill with which he performed the task of editing and
selecting for publication the remains of his friend. But I can
assure the reader that _every piece contained in this volume as the
work of Edward Gibbon is now printed exactly as he wrote it without
suppression or emendation_. And in transferring these literary
treasures to the nation, and in giving them to the world, I feel
that I am fulfilling the trust which the historian reposed in my
grandfather, and am acting in the spirit of the lifelong friendship
that bound him to my family.
I cannot conclude these prefatory remarks without acknowledging to
the fullest extent the obligation I am under to Mr. Frederic Harrison
for the assistance he has given me in the preparation and composition
of this Preface.