s

LIFE OF

ill the south battalion of the Hampshire militia; in which heafterwards became lieutenant-colonel commandant. Of theprogress of his military acquirements he thus speaks : “ Theloss of so many busy and idle hours was not compensated byany elegant pleasure; and my temper was insensibly souredby the society of our rustic officers. In every state thereexists, however, a balance of good and evil. The habits of asedentary life were usefully broken by the duties of an activeprofession: in the healthful exercise of the field I huntedwith a battalion, instead of a pack; and at that time I wasready, at any hour of the day or night, to fly from quarters toLondon, from London to quarters, on the slightest call ofprivate or regimental business. But my principal obligationto the militia, was the making me an Englishman and a sol-dier. After my foreign education, with my reserved temper,I should long have continued a strauger in my native country,had I not been shaken in this various scene of new faces andnew friends; had not experience forced me to feel the cha-racters of our leading men, the state of parties, the forms ofoffice, and the operation of our civil and military system. Inthis peaceful service I imbibed the rudiments of the languageand science of tactics, which opened a new field of study andobservation. I diligently read, and meditated, the MemoiretMilitaires of Quintus Icilius , (Guicliardt,) the only* writerwho has united the merits of a professor and a veteran. Thediscipline and evolutions of a modern battalion gave me aclearer notion of the phalanx and the legion ; and the captainof the Hampshire grenadiers (the reader may smile) has notbeen useless to the historian of the Roman empire.”

While thus engaged in military service, Mr. Gibbon’s tentand quarters were often encumbered with the unusual furni-ture of Greek and Latin books ; and though in a school sounfavourable to literature, his bent of mind was continuallyturned to study. On May 8, 1762, he thus delineates his owncharacter; “ This was my birth-day, on which I entered intothe twenty-sixth year of my age. This gave me occasion tolook a little into myself, and consider impartially my goodand bad qualities. It appeared to me, upon this inquiry, thatmy character was virtuous, incapable of a base action, andformed for generous ones ; but that it was proud, violent, anddisagreeable in society. These qualities I must endeavour