and in the pursuit of an
unpopular minister, he gratified a private revenge against the oppressor
of his family in the South Sea persecution.

I was born at Putney, in the county of Surrey, April 27th, O. S., in the
year one thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven; the first child of the
marriage of Edward Gibbon, esq., and of Judith Porten. [Note: The union
to which I owe my birth was a marriage of inclination and esteem. Mr.
James Porten, a merchant of London, resided with his family at Putney,
in a house adjoining to the bridge and churchyard, where I have passed
many happy hours of my childhood. He left one son (the late Sir Stanier
Porten) and three daughters; Catherine, who preserved her maiden name,
and of whom I shall hereafter speak; another daughter married Mr. Darrel
of Richmond, and left two sons, Edward and Robert: the youngest of the
three sisters was Judith, my mother.] My lot might have been that of a
slave, a savage, or a peasant; nor can I reflect without pleasure on the
bounty of Nature, which cast my birth in a free and civilized country,
in an age of science and philosophy, in a family of honourable rank, and
decently endowed with the gifts of fortune. From my birth I have enjoyed
the right of primogeniture; but I was succeeded by five brothers and
one sister, all of whom were snatched away in their infancy. My five
brothers, whose names may be found in the parish register of Putney, I
shall not pretend to lament: but from my childhood to the present hour
I have deeply and sincerely regretted my sister, whose life was somewhat
prolonged, and whom I remember to have been an amiable infant. The
relation of a brother and a sister, especially if they do not marry,
appears to me of a very singular nature. It is a familiar and tender
friendship with a female, much about our own age; an affection perhaps
softened by the secret influence of sex, and the sole species of
Platonic love that can be indulged with truth, and without danger.

At the general election of 1741, Mr. Gibbon and Mr. Delme stood an
expensive and successful contest at Southampton, against Mr. Dummer and
Mr. Henly, afterwards Lord Chancellor and Earl of Northington. The Whig
candidates had a majority of the resident voters; but the corporation
was firm in the Tory interest: a sudden creation of one hundred and
seventy new freemen turned the scale; and a supply was readily obtained
of respectable volunteers, who flocked from all parts of En