CHAPTER I.
GIBBON'S EARLY LIFE UP TO THE TIME OF HIS LEAVING OXFORD CHAPTER II.
AT LAUSANNE CHAPTER III.
IN THE MILITIA CHAPTER IV.
THE ITALIAN JOURNEY CHAPTER V.
LITERARY SCHEMES .-- THE HISTORY OF SWITZERLAND .-- DISSERTATION ON THE SIXTH AENEID .-- FATHER'S DEATH .-- SETTLEMENT IN LONDON CHAPTER VI.
LIFE IN LONDON .-- PARLIAMENT .-- THE BOARD OF TRADE .-- THE DECLINE AND FALL .-- MIGRATION TO LAUSANNE CHAPTER VII.
THE FIRST THREE VOLUMES OF THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAPTER VIII.
THE LAST TEN TEARS OF HIS LIFE AT LAUSANNE CHAPTER IX.
THE LAST THREE VOLUMES OF THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAPTER X.
LAST ILLNESS .-- DEATH .-- CONCLUSION GIBBON CHAPTER I.
GIBBON'S EARLY LIFE UP TO THE TIME OF HIS LEAVING OXFORD.
Edward Gibbon[1] was born at Putney, near London, on 27th April in the year 1737.

After the reformation of the calendar his birthday became the 8th of May.

He was the eldest of a family of seven children; but his five brothers and only sister all died in early infancy, and he could remember in after life his sister alone, whom he also regretted.
FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 1: Gibbon's Memoirs and Letters are of such easy access that I have not deemed it necessary to encumber these pages with references to them.

Any one who wishes to control my statements will have no difficulty in doing so with the Miscellaneous Works, edited by Lord Sheffield, in his hand.

Whenever I advance anything that seems to require corroboration, I have been careful to give my authority.] He is at some pains in his Memoirs to show the length and quality of his pedigree, which he traces back to the times of the Second and Third Edwards.