He enjoyed access to the best society of the place, and the impression he made seems to have been as favourable as the one he received.
The influence of a foreign training is very marked in Gibbon, affecting as it does his general cast of thought, and even his style.
It would be difficult to name any writer in our language, especially among the few who deserve to be compared with him, who is so un-English, not in a bad sense of the word, as implying objectionable qualities, but as wanting the clear insular stamp and native flavour.
If an intelligent Chinese or Persian were to read his book in a French translation, he would not readily guess that it was written by an Englishman.

It really bears the imprint of no nationality, and is emphatically European.

We may postpone the question whether this is a merit or a defect, but it is a characteristic.

The result has certainly been that he is one of the best-known of English prose writers on the Continent, and one whom foreigners most readily comprehend.

This peculiarity, of which he himself was fully aware, we may agree with him in ascribing to his residence at Lausanne.