rough indolence I am but
a bad suitor, and if at last I obtain something, it may perhaps be on
the eve of a fresh revolution, which will in an instant snatch from me
that which has cost me so many cares and pains."

Such a letter speaks for itself. Gibbon might well say that he entered
parliament without patriotism and without ambition. The only redeeming
feature is the almost cynical frankness with which he openly regards
politics from a personal point of view. However, it may be pleaded
that the letter was written to a bosom friend at a moment of great
depression, and when Gibbon's pecuniary difficulties were pressing him
severely. The Coalition promised him a place, and that was enough; the
contempt for all principle which had brought it about was not thought
of. But even this minute excuse does not apply to the way in which,
years after, when he was in comfort at Lausanne, he refers to the
subject in his Memoirs. The light in which the Coalition deserved to
be regarded was clear by that time. Yet he speaks of it, not only
without blame or regret, but contrives to cast suspicion on the
motives of those who were disgusted by it, and bestowed their
allegiance elsewhere.

"It is not the purpose of this narrative to expatiate on the
public or secret history of the times: the schism which
followed the death of the Marquis of Rockingham, the
appointment of the Earl of Shelbourne, the resignation of
Mr. Fox and his famous coalition with Lord North. But I may
assert with some degree of assurance that in their political
conflict those great antagonists had never felt any personal
animosity to each other, that their reconciliation was easy
and sincere, and that their friendship has never been
clouded by the shadow of suspicion or jealousy. The _most
violent_ or _venal_ of their respective followers embraced
this fair occasion of revolt, but their alliance still
commanded a majority of the House of Commons, the peace was
censured, Lord Shelbourne resigned, and the two friends
knelt on the same cushion to take the oath of secretary of
state. From a principle of gratitude I adhered to the
Coalition; my vote was counted in the day of battle, but I
was overlooked in the division of the spoil."

From this we learn that it was only the _violent_ and the _venal_ who
disapproved of the Coalition. One would like to know how Gibbon
explained th