he but bestowed
fair room, and dwelt with his ordinary energy on the sufferings of the
genuine witnesses to the truth of Christianity, the Polycarps, or the
martyrs of Vienne. And indeed, if, after all, the view of the early
progress of Christianity be melancholy and humiliating we must beware
lest we charge the whole of this on the infidelity of the historian.
It is idle, it is disingenuous, to deny or to dissemble the early
depravations of Christianity, its gradual but rapid departure from
its primitive simplicity and purity, still more, from its spirit of
universal love. It may be no unsalutary lesson to the Christian world,
that this silent, this unavoidable, perhaps, yet fatal change shall have
been drawn by an impartial, or even an hostile hand. The Christianity
of every age may take warning, lest by its own narrow views, its want
of wisdom, and its want of charity, it give the same advantage to the
future unfriendly historian, and disparage the cause of true religion.

The design of the present edition is partly corrective, partly
supplementary: corrective, by notes, which point out (it is hoped, in
a perfectly candid and dispassionate spirit with no desire but to
establish the truth) such inaccuracies or misstatements as may have been
detected, particularly with regard to Christianity; and which thus, with
the previous caution, may counteract to a considerable extent the
unfair and unfavorable impression created against rational religion:
supplementary, by adding such additional information as the editor's
reading may have been able to furnish, from original documents or books,
not accessible at the time when Gibbon wrote.

The work originated in the editor's habit of noting on the margin of his
copy of Gibbon references to such authors as had discovered errors, or
thrown new light on the subjects treated by Gibbon. These had grown
to some extent, and seemed to him likely to be of use to others. The
annotations of M. Guizot also appeared to him worthy of being better
known to the English public than they were likely to be, as appended to
the French translation.

The chief works from which the editor has derived his materials are,
I. The French translation, with notes by M. Guizot; 2d edition, Paris,
1828. The editor has translated almost all the notes of M. Guizot. Where
he has not altogether agreed with him, his respect for the learning
and judgment of that writer has, in general, induced him to retain the
s