Beirut , the capital of Lebanon , is home to two hippodromes , a historic one from the Roman era and a modern one that was built in the late 19th century.
72-994: The Roman Hippodrome , which occupies 3500 m² near the Maghen Abraham Synagogue in Wadi Abu Jamil , the historic, Jewish quarter of Beirut, was discovered in 1988. The Roman Hippodrome of Beirut was the second to be discovered in Lebanon after the Tyre Hippodrome , making Lebanon home to two of the five known Roman hippodromes in the Levant , the other three being in Caesarea in Israel, Jerash in Jordan, and Bosra in Syria. The Roman Hippodrome of Beirut
144-404: A "vivid historical narrative, ranging widely over period and place and enriched by analysis and reflection." Unusually for the 18th century, Gibbon was never content with secondhand accounts when the primary sources were accessible (though most of these were drawn from well-known printed editions). "I have always endeavoured," he says, "to draw from the fountain-head; that my curiosity, as well as
216-498: A chronic and disfiguring inflammation that left Gibbon a lonely figure. As his condition worsened, he underwent numerous procedures to alleviate the condition, but with no enduring success. In early January, the last of a series of three operations caused an unremitting peritonitis to set in and spread, from which he died. The "English giant of the Enlightenment" finally succumbed at 12:45 pm, 16 January 1794 at age 56. He
288-405: A club-complex that included a western style hippodrome and casino. In 1916, the wali of Beirut Azmi Bey, who supported the club project, entrusted its creation to Alfred Sursock, who financed the project. Sursock signed an agreement with the municipality of Beirut for the redevelopment of 600,000 square meters of Beirut pine forest. The project was to include a public causeway, a cinema, a casino, and
360-402: A distinct gap of some 50m between the carceres and the start of the ascending seating where there is apparently no structure. This appears to be an exception. The great majority of circuses fit the description above. Those that do not display two different variations: that at Emerita Augusta (Mérida, Spain), where the carceres end is substituted by a slightly curved 'straight' end joined to
432-533: A grieving but composed Sheffield. His health began to fail critically in December, and at the turn of the new year, he was on his last legs. Among Edward Gibbon's maladies was gout. Gibbon is also believed to have suffered from an extreme case of scrotal swelling, probably a hydrocele testis , a condition that causes the scrotum to swell with fluid in a compartment overlying either testicle. In an age when close-fitting clothes were fashionable, his condition led to
504-515: A lover, I obeyed as a son." He proceeded to cut off all contact with Curchod, even as she vowed to wait for him. Their final emotional break apparently came at Ferney , France, in early 1764, though they did see each other at least one more time a year later. Upon his return to England, Gibbon published his first book, Essai sur l'Étude de la Littérature in 1761, which produced an initial taste of celebrity and distinguished him, in Paris at least, as
576-558: A man of letters. From 1759 to 1770, Gibbon served on active duty and in reserve with the South Hampshire Militia , his deactivation in December 1762 coinciding with the militia's dispersal at the end of the Seven Years' War . The following year, he returned, via Paris, to Lausanne, where he made the acquaintance of a "prudent worthy young man" William Guise. On 18 April 1764, he and Guise set off for Italy, crossed
648-399: A model for Isaac Asimov in his writing of The Foundation Trilogy , which he said involved "a little bit of cribbin' from the works of Edward Gibbon". Evelyn Waugh admired Gibbon's style, but not his secular viewpoint. In Waugh's 1950 novel Helena , the early Christian author Lactantius worries about the possibility of "'a false historian, with the mind of Cicero or Tacitus and
720-505: A moment he described later as his "Capitoline vision": It was at Rome, on the fifteenth of October 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol , while the barefooted fryars were singing vespers in the temple of Jupiter , that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the City first started to my mind. Womersley ( Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , p. 12) notes
792-544: A penchant from his aunt for "theological controversy" bloomed under the influence of the deist or rationalist theologian Conyers Middleton (1683–1750), the author of Free Inquiry into the Miraculous Powers (1749). In that tract, Middleton denied the validity of such powers; Gibbon promptly objected, or so the argument used to run. The product of that disagreement, with some assistance from the work of Catholic Bishop Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627–1704), and that of
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#1732764995071864-588: A reading of Middleton is very unlikely, and was introduced only into the final draft of the "Memoirs" in 1792–93. Within weeks of his conversion, he was removed from Oxford and sent to live under the care and tutelage of Daniel Pavillard, Reformed pastor of Lausanne , Switzerland . There, he made one of his life's two great friendships, that of Jacques Georges Deyverdun (the French-language translator of Goethe 's The Sorrows of Young Werther ), and that of John Baker Holroyd (later Lord Sheffield) . Just
936-475: A result of the South Sea bubble stock-market collapse in 1720 but eventually regained much of his wealth. Gibbon's father thus inherited a substantial estate. His paternal grandmother, Catherine Acton, was granddaughter of Sir Walter Acton, 2nd Baronet . As a youth, Gibbon's health was under constant threat. He described himself as "a puny child, neglected by my Mother, starved by my nurse". At age nine, he
1008-499: A second Lausanne sojourn (September 1783 to August 1787) where Gibbon reunited with his friend Deyverdun in leisurely comfort. By early 1787, he was "straining for the goal" and with great relief the project was finished in June. Gibbon later wrote: It was on the day, or rather the night, of 27 June 1787, between the hours of eleven and twelve, that I wrote the last lines of the last page in a summer-house in my garden...I will not dissemble
1080-416: A sense of duty, has always urged me to study the originals; and that, if they have sometimes eluded my search, I have carefully marked the secondary evidence, on whose faith a passage or a fact were reduced to depend." In this insistence upon the importance of primary sources, Gibbon is considered by many to be one of the first modern historians: In accuracy, thoroughness, lucidity, and comprehensive grasp of
1152-507: A simple track in a field, through generations of wooden seating structures (frequently destroyed by fire or rot), before they finally began to be converted to stone. Although circuses such as the Circus Maximus (Italy) may have existed in some form from as early as around 500 BC, circuses were mainly constructed during the 400 years between 200 BC and 200 AD. The comparative dimensions of a circus may be measured in two basic ways: by
1224-456: A sleepless night, I trod, with a lofty step the ruins of the Forum; each memorable spot where Romulus stood , or Tully spoke, or Caesar fell, was at once present to my eye; and several days of intoxication were lost or enjoyed before I could descend to a cool and minute investigation. Here, Gibbon first conceived the idea of composing a history of the city, later extended to the entire empire ,
1296-455: A taste for books which is still the pleasure and glory of my life". From 1747 Gibbon spent time at the family home in Buriton . By 1751, Gibbon's reading was already extensive and pointed toward his future pursuits: Laurence Echard 's Roman History (1713), William Howel(l)'s An Institution of General History (1680–85), and several of the 65 volumes of the acclaimed Universal History from
1368-401: A vast subject, the 'History' is unsurpassable. It is the one English history which may be regarded as definitive...Whatever its shortcomings the book is artistically imposing as well as historically unimpeachable as a vast panorama of a great period. The subject of Gibbon's writing, as well as his ideas and style, have influenced other writers. Besides his influence on Churchill, Gibbon was also
1440-473: A year and a half later, after his father threatened to disinherit him, on Christmas Day, 1754, he reconverted to Protestantism. "The various articles of the Romish creed," he wrote, "disappeared like a dream". He also met the one romance in his life: the daughter of the pastor of Crassy, a young woman named Suzanne Curchod , who was later to become the wife of Louis XVI's finance minister Jacques Necker , and
1512-501: Is considered to have been the grandest of the five, having amphitheaters that are several meters high and a race track, which is more than 90 meters long. In 2009, Culture Minister Tamam Salam, had the site listed officially in the general inventory of historic buildings, ruling that it should be preserved in situ and turned into a tourist landmark. According to an article appearing in the French daily, L'Orient-Le Jour , Gaby Layoun,
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#17327649950711584-471: Is unclear whether or not the change of religion increased the amount of resources the empire spent on religion. Gibbon further argued that new attitudes in Christianity caused many Christians of wealth to renounce their lifestyles and enter a monastic lifestyle, and so stop participating in the support of the empire. However, while many Christians of wealth did become monastics, this paled in comparison to
1656-480: The Latin word that means "circle") was a large open-air venue used mainly for chariot races, although sometimes serving other purposes. It was similar to the ancient Greek hippodrome . Along with theatres and amphitheatres , circuses were one of the main entertainment venues at the time. Similar buildings, called stadia were used for Greek-style athletics particularly in the eastern, Greek speaking, part of
1728-627: The rights of man . Gibbon's work has been praised for its style, his piquant epigrams and its effective irony. Winston Churchill memorably noted in My Early Life , "I set out upon...Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire [and] was immediately dominated both by the story and the style. ...I devoured Gibbon. I rode triumphantly through it from end to end and enjoyed it all." Churchill modelled much of his own literary style on Gibbon's. Like Gibbon, he dedicated himself to producing
1800-460: The spina were usually marked by conical poles, called the metae (singular: meta ). The track of the circus was normally surrounded by ascending seating along the length of both straight sides and around the curved end, though there were sometimes interruptions in the seating to provide access to the circus or the seating, or to provide for special viewing platforms for dignitaries and officials. One circus, that at Antinoöpolis (Egypt), displays
1872-579: The Alps, and after spending the summer in Florence arrived in Rome, via Lucca, Pisa, Livorno and Siena, in early October. In his autobiography, Gibbon vividly records his rapture when he finally neared "the great object of [my] pilgrimage": ...at the distance of twenty-five years I can neither forget nor express the strong emotions which agitated my mind as I first approached and entered the eternal City . After
1944-571: The Circus Maximus (Italy). Circuses do not appear to have been constructed with any special compass orientation. Those that are well identified can be found with their round ends oriented around the compass. Examples include: N. Gerasa (Jordan); NE. Antinoöpolis (Egypt); E. Circus of Maxentius (Italy); E. Colchester (Britain); SE. Circus Maximus (Italy); S. Tyrus (Lebanon); SW. Gortyn (Greece); W. Circus of Nero (Italy). Circuses can be found at three distinct locations relative to
2016-522: The Culture Minister at the time, approved in March 2012 plans for a luxury residential complex to be built over the ruins of Beirut's Roman Hippodrome, bypassing the recommendations of three of his predecessors: Tarek Mitri, Salim Wardé, and Tammam Salam. The three previous Culture Ministers, Mitri, Wardé, and Salam criticized Layoun's move and reiterated the importance of protecting and preserving
2088-611: The Culture Ministry's decision, N˚ 849, to dismantle the Roman Hippodrome that would have allowed for the construction of a building project on the site. The site is protected for now. The current Hippodrome du parc de Beyrouth is a horse-racing facility in Beirut 's Horsh district adjacent to Badaro . In 1893, the “al-Marmah” hippodrome was founded, in the town of Bir Hassan . Wealthy Beirutis wished to create
2160-532: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , published in six volumes between 1776 and 1789, is known for the quality and irony of its prose, its use of primary sources , and its polemical criticism of organized religion . Edward Gibbon was born in 1737, the son of Edward and Judith Gibbon, at Lime Grove in the town of Putney , Surrey . He had five brothers and one sister, all of whom died in infancy. His grandfather, also named Edward, had lost his assets as
2232-505: The Earliest Account of Time (1747–1768). Following a stay at Bath in 1752 to improve his health at the age of 15, Gibbon was sent by his father to Magdalen College, Oxford , where he was enrolled as a gentleman-commoner . He was ill-suited, however, to the college atmosphere, and later rued his 14 months there as the "most idle and unprofitable" of his life. Because he says so in his autobiography, it used to be thought that
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2304-501: The Elizabethan Jesuit Robert Parsons (1546–1610), yielded the most memorable event of his time at Oxford: his conversion to Roman Catholicism on 8 June 1753. He was further "corrupted" by the 'free thinking' deism of the playwright and poet David Mallet ; and finally Gibbon's father, already "in despair," had had enough. David Womersley has shown, however, that Gibbon's claim to having been converted by
2376-521: The Gospel History . Gibbon's Memoires Litteraires failed to gain any notoriety and was considered a flop by fellow historians and literary scholars. After he tended to his father's estate—which was in poor condition—enough remained for Gibbon to settle fashionably in London at 7 Bentinck Street free of financial concern. By February 1773, he was writing in earnest, but not without
2448-421: The Roman Empire , was published on 17 February 1776. Through 1777, the reading public eagerly consumed three editions, for which Gibbon was rewarded handsomely: two-thirds of the profits, amounting to approximately £1,000. Volumes II and III appeared on 1 March 1781, eventually rising "to a level with the previous volume in general esteem." Volume IV was finished in June 1784; the final two were completed during
2520-471: The Roman Empire fell due to its embrace of Christianity, is not widely accepted by scholars today. Gibbon argued that with the empire's new Christian character, large sums of wealth that would have otherwise been used in the secular affairs in promoting the state were transferred to promoting the activities of the Church. However, the pre-Christian empire also spent large financial sums on religious affairs and it
2592-621: The archeological site. A march to protest the destruction of the hippodrome took place on March 24, 2012. The Association for the Protection of the Lebanese Heritage (APLH) organized the protest as an attempt to reverse the Culture Ministry's decision to allow the building over the hippodrome. Following the litigation brought by the Association for the Protection of Lebanese Heritage (APLH), the court suspended on May 31, 2012
2664-431: The centreline. It is very probable that this can be done even when the circus is buried under subsequent constructions. Track lengths may vary from the 245 m of the circus at Gerasa (Jordan), to the 621 m of the Circus Maximus (Italy). The alternative comparative dimension is that of seating capacity. This is much more complex to measure as it requires that the dimensions of the original vertical and horizontal extent of
2736-463: The chapters excoriated the church for "supplanting in an unnecessarily destructive way the great culture that preceded it" and for "the outrage of [practising] religious intolerance and warfare". Gibbon, in letters to Holroyd and others, expected some type of church-inspired backlash, but the harshness of the ensuing torrents exceeded anything he or his friends had anticipated. Contemporary detractors such as Joseph Priestley and Richard Watson stoked
2808-597: The consequent erosion of its martial character. Such a view echoes the outlook of the Greek historian Polybius, who similarly explained the decadent Greek world's eclipse by the ascendant Roman Republic in Mediterranean affairs. In this understanding of Gibbon, the process of Rome's decay was well underway before Christian adherents numbered a large proportion of the empire. Hence, although Gibbon might have seen Christianity as hastening Rome's fall, he did not consider it as
2880-405: The coordinates in the following list are of a point that lies within the space of a circus. For the remaining circuses (those whose detailed location is not known) the point is for a location within the space of the historic nucleus of the associated town, or for a location within the associated archaeological site. These points are probably within 1.5 kilometres of the site of the circus, as a circus
2952-519: The empire, but these were typically smaller than circuses. According to Edward Gibbon the Roman people, at the start of the 5th century AD: ...still considered the Circus as their home, their temple, and the seat of the republic. The performance space of the Roman circus was normally, despite its name, an oblong rectangle of two linear sections of race track , separated by a median strip running along
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3024-408: The existence of "good reasons" to doubt the statement's accuracy. Elaborating, Pocock ("Classical History," ¶ #2) refers to it as a likely "creation of memory" or a "literary invention", given that Gibbon, in his autobiography, claimed that his journal dated the reminiscence to 15 October, when in fact the journal gives no date. In June 1765, Gibbon returned to his father's house, remaining there until
3096-418: The first emotions of joy on the recovery of my freedom, and perhaps the establishment of my fame. But my pride was soon humbled, and a sober melancholy was spread over my mind by the idea that I had taken my everlasting leave of an old and agreeable companion, and that, whatsoever might be the future fate of my history, the life of the historian must be short and precarious. Volumes IV, V, and VI finally reached
3168-491: The hippodrome on August 4. The hippodrome also hosts annual The Garden Show & Spring Festival, which attracts more than 160 exhibitors and over 24,000 international visitors. At the 2012 Garden Show & Spring Festival, the French rose producer, Meilland International , presented to the public the Beirut Rose , which was cultivated in tribute to Lebanon's capital. Circus (building) A Roman circus (from
3240-541: The hippodrome. The hippodrome was completed in 1921 by Amine and Bahjat Abdelnour while the casino structure became the seat of the French mandate authorities in Lebanon . In the 1960s, the Beirut Hippodrome became one of the busiest race tracks in the world, holding races twice a week, 52 weeks a year. The Israeli army occupied the hippodrome during the Invasion of Lebanon in 1982. The Israeli army entered
3312-623: The implacable enemies not only of the Roman government, but also of mankind. Gibbon is considered to be a son of the Enlightenment and this is reflected in his famous verdict on the history of the Middle Ages : "I have described the triumph of barbarism and religion." Politically, he rejected the radical egalitarian movements of the time, notably the American and French Revolutions , and dismissed overly rationalistic applications of
3384-403: The inclined seating be re-established. In many cases the full structure of the inclined seating has been destroyed beyond the point where this can be measured, or at the least would require a great deal more excavation than that required for the measurement of the track length. Seating capacity may vary from around 15,000 people at Gerasa (Jordan), to 150,000 (some estimates put it up to 250,000) at
3456-490: The latter's death in 1770. These five years were considered by Gibbon as the worst of his life, but he tried to remain busy by making early attempts at full histories. His first historical narrative, known as the History of Switzerland , representing Gibbon's love for Switzerland, was never finished nor published. Even under the guidance of Deyverdun, his German translator, Gibbon became too self-critical and completely abandoned
3528-463: The length of about two thirds the track, joined at one end with a semicircular section and at the other end with an undivided section of track closed (in most cases) by a distinctive starting gate known as the carceres , thereby creating a circuit for the races. The Circus Maximus epitomises the design. The median strip was called the spina and usually featured ornate columns, statues and commemorative obelisks . The turning points on either end of
3600-399: The length of the track, and by the seating capacity . Other dimensions, such as the external dimensions of the structure may vary considerably depending on the location, the site, and on specific architectural characteristics. The simplest comparative measurement of a circus is its track length. This is the most easily measured dimension, as it only requires small excavations at either end of
3672-435: The most furious massacres and insurrections. Humanity is shocked at the recital of the horrid cruelties which they committed in the cities of Egypt, of Cyprus, and of Cyrene , where they dwelt in treacherous friendship with the unsuspecting natives; and we are tempted to applaud the severe retaliation which was exercised by the arms of legions against a race of fanatics, whose dire and credulous superstition seemed to render them
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#17327649950713744-466: The mother of Madame de Staël . The two developed a warm affinity; Gibbon proceeded to propose marriage, but ultimately this was out of the question, blocked both by his father's staunch disapproval and Curchod's equally staunch reluctance to leave Switzerland. Gibbon returned to England in August 1758 to face his father. No refusal of the elder's wishes could be allowed. Gibbon put it this way: "I sighed as
3816-526: The nascent fire, but the most severe of these attacks was an "acrimonious" piece by the young cleric, Henry Edwards Davis. Gibbon's apparent antagonism to Christian doctrine spilled over into the Jewish faith, leading to charges of anti-Semitism . For example, he wrote: From the reign of Nero to that of Antoninus Pius, the Jews discovered a fierce impatience of the dominion of Rome, which repeatedly broke out in
3888-628: The occasional self-imposed distraction. He took to London society quite easily, joined the better social clubs (including Dr. Johnson 's Literary Club ), and looked in from time to time on his friend Holroyd in Sussex. He succeeded Oliver Goldsmith at the Royal Academy as 'professor in ancient history', an honorary but prestigious position. In late 1774, he was initiated as a Freemason of the Premier Grand Lodge of England . He
3960-423: The participants in the imperial bureaucracy. Although Gibbon further pointed out that the importance Christianity placed on peace caused a decline in the number of people serving the military, the decline was so small as to be negligible for the army's effectiveness. Many scholars argue that Gibbon did not in fact blame Christianity for the empire's fall, rather attributing its decline to the effects of luxury and
4032-512: The presence of the Duchess of Devonshire at Lausanne. Gibbon's wish that his 6,000-book library would not be locked up 'under the key of a jealous master' was effectively denied by Beckford who retained it in Lausanne until 1801 before inspecting it, then locking it up again until at least as late as 1818 before giving most of the books back to Gibbon's physician Dr Scholl who had helped negotiate
4104-531: The press in May 1788, their publication having been delayed since March so it could coincide with a dinner party celebrating Gibbon's 51st birthday (the 8th). Mounting a bandwagon of praise for the later volumes were such contemporary luminaries as Adam Smith , William Robertson , Adam Ferguson , Lord Camden , and Horace Walpole . Adam Smith told Gibbon that "by the universal assent of every man of taste and learning, whom I either know or correspond with, it sets you at
4176-413: The project after writing only 60 pages of text. Soon after abandoning his History of Switzerland , Gibbon made another attempt towards completing a full history. His second work, Memoires Litteraires de la Grande Bretagne , was a two-volume set describing the literary and social conditions of England at the time, such as Lord Lyttelton 's history of Henry II and Nathaniel Lardner 's The Credibility of
4248-560: The publication process alongside Lord Sheffield . With that accomplished, in 1789 it was back to Lausanne only to learn of and be "deeply affected" by the death of Deyverdun, who had willed Gibbon his home, La Grotte. He resided there with little commotion, took in the local society, received a visit from Sheffield in 1791, and "shared the common abhorrence" of the French Revolution . In 1793, word came of Lady Sheffield's death; Gibbon immediately left Lausanne and set sail to comfort
4320-407: The races to be run round the spina in an anticlockwise direction. The form of the carceres appears to have been standardised throughout the Roman world. The similarity in form among the carceres of circuses of many different sizes suggests that carceres were constructed according to a series of proportional mathematical relationships or formulas. It is not clear when the earliest carceres of
4392-555: The root cause. Gibbon's work has been criticised for its scathing view of the Christian church as laid down in chapters XV and XVI, a situation that resulted in the banning of the book in several countries. Gibbon was accused of disrespecting, and none too lightly, the character of Christian doctrine, by "treat[ing] the Christian church as a phenomenon of general history, not a special case admitting supernatural explanations and disallowing criticism of its adherents". More specifically,
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#17327649950714464-509: The sale in the first place. Beckford's annotated copy of the Decline and Fall turned up in Christie's in 1953, complete with his critique of what he considered the author's 'ludicrous self-complacency ... your frequent distortion of historical Truth to provoke a gibe, or excite a sneer ... your ignorance of oriental languages [etc.]'. Defunct A view frequently attributed to Gibbon, that
4536-421: The same opinion as Mr. El[l]iot." (Murray, p. 322.) The following year, owing to the good grace of Prime Minister Lord North , he was again returned to Parliament, this time for Lymington on a by-election. After several rewrites, with Gibbon "often tempted to throw away the labours of seven years," the first volume of what was to become his life's major achievement, The History of the Decline and Fall of
4608-545: The standardised form was constructed, nor whether there exists documentary evidence for the existence of such formulas. Some of the best examples of carceres can be found at: Gerasa (Jordan) and the Circus of Maxentius (Italy). The best preserved circuses include: Emerita Augusta (Spain), Caesarea Maritima (coastal) (Israel), Circus of Maxentius (Italy), Gerasa (Jordan), Tyrus (Lebanon), Leptis Magna (Libya). Download coordinates as: Unless otherwise indicated
4680-441: The straight sides of ascending seating by rounded corners of ascending seating; and a few in which the carceres end is substituted by a second semi-circular end to produce an oval shaped arena. These latter circuses are normally small ( Nicopolis (Greece) and Aphrodisias (Turkey)), and should probably be considered stadia . Differently from other major Roman structures circuses frequently evolved over long periods of time from
4752-405: The towns to which they belong: The carceres , or starting gates, had a distinctive, slanted, slightly curved, plan form, designed to compensate for what would otherwise be significant differences in the distances from the individual starting gates to the start of the first section of straight track on the right hand side of the spina (as seen from the carceres ). The carceres were designed for
4824-528: The very head of the whole literary tribe at present existing in Europe." In November 1788, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society , the main proposer being his good friend Lord Sheffield. In 1783 Gibbon had been intrigued by the cleverness of Sheffield's 12-year-old eldest daughter, Maria , and he proposed to teach her himself. Over the following years he continued, creating a girl of sixteen who
4896-481: Was almost always within this distance from its associated town. (ordered initially by country; number of circuses at latest count (2012-04-01): 63) (not the circus; approximate nucleus of Roman town; centred on Pompey's Pillar) Download coordinates as: Edward Gibbon Edward Gibbon FRS ( / ˈ ɡ ɪ b ən / ; 8 May 1737 – 16 January 1794) was an English essayist, historian, and politician. His most important work, The History of
4968-665: Was also, perhaps least productively in that same year, returned to the House of Commons for Liskeard , Cornwall through the intervention of his relative and patron, Edward Eliot . He became the archetypal back-bencher, benignly "mute" and "indifferent," his support of the Whig ministry invariably automatic. Gibbon lost the Liskeard seat in 1780 when Eliot joined the opposition, taking with him "the Electors of Leskeard [who] are commonly of
5040-401: Was both well educated, confident and determined to choose her own husband. Gibbon described her as a "mixture of just observation and lively imagery, the strong sense of a man expressed with the easy elegance of a female". The years following Gibbon's completion of The History were filled largely with sorrow and increasing physical discomfort. He had returned to London in late 1787 to oversee
5112-677: Was buried in the Sheffield Mausoleum attached to the north transept of the Church of St Mary and St Andrew, Fletching, East Sussex , having died in Fletching while staying with his great friend, Lord Sheffield . Gibbon's estate was valued at approximately £26,000. He left most of his property to cousins. As stipulated in his will, Sheffield oversaw the sale of his library at auction to William Beckford for £950. What happened next suggests that Beckford may have known of Gibbon's moralistic, 'impertinent animadversion' at his expense in
5184-493: Was sent to Dr. Woddeson's school at Kingston upon Thames (now Kingston Grammar School ), shortly after which his mother died. He then took up residence in the Westminster School boarding house, owned by his adored "Aunt Kitty", Catherine Porten. Soon after she died in 1786, he remembered her as rescuing him from his mother's disdain, and imparting "the first rudiments of knowledge, the first exercise of reason, and
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