Editing Edward Gibbon (section)

===Influence===
[[File:Edward Gibbon by Henry Walton cleaned.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Edward Gibbon by [[Henry Walton (English painter)|Henry Walton]]]]

Gibbon is considered to be a son of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] and this is reflected in his famous verdict on the history of the [[Middle Ages]]: "I have described the triumph of barbarism and religion."<ref>Womersley, ''Decline and Fall'', vol. 3, ch. LXXI, p. 1068.</ref> Politically, he rejected the radical egalitarian movements of the time, notably the [[American Revolution|American]] and [[French Revolution]]s, and dismissed overly rationalistic applications of the [[Human rights|rights of man]].<ref>Burke supported the ''American'' rebellion, while Gibbon sided with the ministry; but with regard to the ''French'' Revolution they shared a perfect revulsion. Despite their agreement on the FR, Burke and Gibbon "were not specially close," owing to Whig party differences and divergent religious beliefs, not to mention Burke's sponsorship of the [[Civil List and Secret Service Money Act 1782]] which abolished, and therefore cost Gibbon his place on, the government's Board of Trade and Plantations in 1782. see Pocock, "The Ironist," ¶: "Both the autobiography...."</ref>

Gibbon's work has been praised for its style, his piquant epigrams and its effective irony. [[Winston Churchill]] memorably noted in ''[[My Early Life]]'', "I set out upon...Gibbon's ''Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'' [and] was immediately dominated both by the story and the style. ...I devoured Gibbon. I rode triumphantly through it from end to end and enjoyed it all."<ref>Winston Churchill, ''My Early Life: A Roving Commission'' (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1958), p. 111.</ref> Churchill modelled much of his own literary style on Gibbon's. Like Gibbon, he dedicated himself to producing a "vivid historical narrative, ranging widely over period and place and enriched by analysis and reflection."<ref>Roland Quinault, "Winston Churchill and Gibbon," in ''Edward Gibbon and Empire'', eds. R.  McKitterick and R. Quinault (Cambridge: 1997), 317–332, at p. 331; Pocock, "Ironist," ¶: "Both the autobiography...."</ref>

Unusually for the 18th century, Gibbon was never content with secondhand accounts when the primary sources were accessible (though most of these were drawn from well-known printed editions). "I have always endeavoured," he says, "to draw from the fountain-head; that my curiosity, as well as a sense of duty, has always urged me to study the originals; and that, if they have sometimes eluded my search, I have carefully marked the secondary evidence, on whose faith a passage or a fact were reduced to depend."<ref>Womersley, ''Decline and Fall'', vol. 2, Preface to Gibbon vol. 4, p. 520.</ref> In this insistence upon the importance of primary sources, Gibbon is considered by many to be one of the first modern historians:

<blockquote>In accuracy, thoroughness, lucidity, and comprehensive grasp of a vast subject, the 'History' is unsurpassable. It is the one English history which may be regarded as definitive...Whatever its shortcomings the book is artistically imposing as well as historically unimpeachable as a vast panorama of a great period.<ref>Stephen, ''DNB'', p. 1134.</ref></blockquote>

The subject of Gibbon's writing, as well as his ideas and style, have influenced other writers. Besides his influence on Churchill, Gibbon was also a model for [[Isaac Asimov]] in his writing of ''[[The Foundation Series|The Foundation Trilogy]]'', which he said involved "a little bit of cribbin' from the works of Edward Gibbon".<ref>Groat, Brian. "[https://medium.com/self-starter/asimov-on-how-to-be-prolific-43ccd8042ccb Asimov on How to Be Prolific]". Medium.com, 25 October 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2018</ref>

[[Evelyn Waugh]] admired Gibbon's style, but not his secular viewpoint. In Waugh's 1950 novel ''[[Helena (Waugh novel)|Helena]]'', the early Christian author [[Lactantius]] worries about the possibility of {{"'}}a false historian, with the mind of [[Cicero]] or [[Tacitus]] and the soul of an animal,' and he nodded towards the [[gibbon]] who fretted his golden chain and chattered for fruit."<ref>London: Chapman and Hall, 1950. Chapter 6, p. 122.</ref>