I have got four dozen of Franks for you from Sir Gerard Napier, which
I shall send you by return of the waggon. In return I must beg the
favor of a book. It is Greek, but don't be frightened; you may easily
find it. It is a short but very thick folio, bound in parchment,
the title on the back in large letters, either Strabo, or Strabonis
Geographia, printed in two columns, one Greek, the other Latin. I am
pretty sure it is upon the couch. I hope you like the Devizes; the
place is good, & I think the neighbourhood to Bath no objection. I
hope soon to meet you there, and am,
Dear Madam,
Yours most affectionately,
E. GIBBON, JUNIOR.
[25] In June, 1759, Gibbon and his father joined the Hampshire
regiment of militia as respectively captain and major. The
South battalion, to which they belonged, was kept "under arms,
in constant pay and duty," from the date of its enrolment till
December 23, 1762, when it was disbanded as a permanent force.
The battalion was at Winchester Camp from June 25 to October 23,
1761, and from the latter date to February 28, 1762, at "the
populous and disorderly town of Devizes" (see next letter). His
_Autobiography_ shows that Gibbon found that "a camp," as Johnson
wrote to Mrs. Thrale in October, 1778, "however familiarly we
may speak of it, is one of the great scenes of human life," and
that, partially at least, he agreed with Lord Chesterfield, that
"courts and camps are the only places to learn the world in."
19.
_To his Stepmother._
Devizes, February the 14th, 1762.