Gibbon

EDWARD, (gib'bun,) a celebrated English historian, B. at Putney, 1757, after producing several critical works, gave to the world in 1776 the 1st vol. of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, which commanded an instant succe of no ordinary character. This great work, which was completed in 1788, ranks among the few great histories that the world po e es, and it stands among the highest glories of English literature, even though the sceptical and rationalist tendencies of the author's mind, regarding religion, communicated to its pages, have been severely animadverted upon and taken exception to. D. 1794. [s. 407]