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“ Gibbon to Lord Sheffield at Brighton - Edward Gibbon, Autobiography [1795]Edition used:The Autobiography of Edward Gibbon (London: Dent, 1911). Introduction by Oliphant Smeaton.
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“Gibbon to Lord Sheffield at Brighton“ ‘St. James’s Street,Nov. 25th, 1793. “ ‘Though Farquhar has promised to write a line, I conceive you may not be sorry to hear directly from me. The operation of yesterday was much longer, more searching, and more painful than the former; but it has eased and lightened me to a much greater degree.1 No inflammation, no fever, a delicious night, leave to go abroad to-morrow, and to go out of town when I please, en attendant the future measures of a radical cure. . . .’ “On the 10th of December Mr. Gibbon proceeded to Sheffield Place; and his discourse was never more brilliant nor more entertaining than on his arrival. The parallels which he drew, and the comparisons which he made, between the leading men of this country were sketched in his best manner, and were infinitely interesting. However, this last visit to Sheffield Place became far different from any he had ever made before. That ready, cheerful, various, and illuminating conversation, which we had before admired in him, was not now always to be found in the library or the dining-room. He moved with difficulty, and retired from company sooner than he had been used to do. On the 23rd of December his appetite began to fail him. He observed to me that it was a very bad sign with him when he could not eat his breakfast, which he had done at all times very heartily; and this seems to have been the strongest expression of apprehension that he was ever observed to utter. A considerable degree of fever now made its appearance. Inflammation arose, from the weight and the bulk of the tumour. Water again collected very fast, and when the fever went off he never entirely recovered his appetite even for breakfast. I became very uneasy at his situation towards the end of the month, and thought it necessary to advise him to set out for London. He went to London on the 7th of January, and the next day I received the following billet, the last he ever wrote:— [1 ] Three quarts of the same fluid as before were discharged.—Sheffield. |
