Editing Edward Gibbon (section)

====Work====
In June 1765, Gibbon returned to his father's house, remaining there until the latter's death in 1770.<ref>Cecil, Algernon. ''Six Oxford thinkers: Edward Gibbon, John Henry Newman, R.W. Church, James Anthony Froude, Walter Pater, Lord Morley of Blackburn.'' London: John Murray, 1909, p. 59.</ref> These five years were considered by Gibbon as the worst of his life, but he tried to remain busy by making early attempts at full histories. His first historical narrative, known as the ''History of Switzerland'', representing Gibbon's love for Switzerland, was never finished nor published. Even under the guidance of Deyverdun, his German translator, Gibbon became too self-critical and completely abandoned the project after writing only 60 pages of text.<ref>Cecil, Algernon. ''Six Oxford thinkers: Edward Gibbon, John Henry Newman, R.W. Church, James Anthony Froude, Walter Pater, Lord Morley of Blackburn.'' London: John Murray, 1909, p. 60.</ref>

Soon after abandoning his ''History of Switzerland'', Gibbon made another attempt towards completing a full history. His second work, ''Memoires Litteraires de la Grande Bretagne'', was a two-volume set describing the literary and social conditions of England at the time, such as [[George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton|Lord Lyttelton]]'s history of Henry II and [[Nathaniel Lardner]]'s ''The Credibility of the Gospel History''.<ref>Cecil, Algernon. ''Six Oxford thinkers: Edward Gibbon, John Henry Newman, R.W. Church, James Anthony Froude, Walter Pater, Lord Morley of Blackburn.'' London: John Murray, 1909, p. 61.</ref> Gibbon's ''Memoires Litteraires'' failed to gain any notoriety and was considered a flop by fellow historians and literary scholars.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Morley |first1=John |title=English Men of Letters |date=May 1878 |publisher=Macmillan and Co. |pages=61–62 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m10LAAAAIAAJ&q=Gibbon%27s+Memoires+Litteraires&pg=PA62 |access-date=3 May 2020}}</ref>

[[File:Blue Plaque - Edward Gibbon.jpg|thumb|left|Blue plaque to Gibbon on [[Bentinck Street]], London]]

After he tended to his father's estate&mdash;which was in poor condition&mdash;enough remained for Gibbon to settle fashionably in London at 7 [[Bentinck Street]] free of financial concern. By February 1773, he was writing in earnest, but not without the occasional self-imposed distraction. He took to London society quite easily, joined the better social clubs (including [[Samuel Johnson|Dr. Johnson]]'s [[The Club (dining club)|Literary Club]]), and looked in from time to time on his friend Holroyd in Sussex. He succeeded [[Oliver Goldsmith]] at the Royal Academy as 'professor in ancient history', an honorary but prestigious position. In late 1774, he was initiated as a [[Freemasonry|Freemason]] of the [[Premier Grand Lodge of England]].<ref>i.e., in London's ''Lodge of Friendship No. 3''. See [http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/gibbon_e/gibbon_e.html Gibbon's freemasonry].</ref>

He was also, perhaps least productively in that same year, returned to the House of Commons for [[Liskeard (UK Parliament constituency)|Liskeard]], Cornwall through the intervention of his relative and patron, [[Edward Craggs-Eliot, 1st Baron Eliot|Edward Eliot]].<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/gibbon-edward-1737-94|title= Gibbon, Edward (1737–94), of Bentinck St., London; Buriton, Hants; and Lenborough, Bucks|publisher= History of Parliament Online|access-date = 10 May 2016}}</ref>  He became the archetypal back-bencher, benignly "mute" and "indifferent," his support of the [[Whig (British political party)|Whig]] ministry invariably automatic. Gibbon lost the Liskeard seat in 1780 when Eliot joined the opposition, taking with him "the Electors of Leskeard [who] are commonly of the same opinion as Mr. El[l]iot." (Murray, p.&nbsp;322.) The following year, owing to the good grace of Prime Minister [[Lord North]], he was again returned to Parliament, this time for [[Lymington (UK Parliament constituency)|Lymington]] on a by-election.<ref>Gibbon's Whiggery was solidly conservative, in favour of the propertied oligarchy, while upholding the subject's rights under the rule of law&mdash;though staunchly against ideas such as the natural rights of man and popular sovereignty, which he referred to as "the wild & mischievous system of Democracy" (Dickinson, "Politics," 178–179).</ref>