Sucks books

It
was translated by Guizot into French, the first volume by Wenck into
German (he died before completing it); and it was edited by Dean Milman in
England.
The style of Gibbon is elegant and powerful; at first it is singularly
pleasing, but as one reads it becomes too sonorous, and fatigues, as the
crashing notes of a grand march tire the ear. His periods are antithetic;
each contains a surprise and a witty point. His first two volumes have
less of this stately magnificence, but in his later ones, in seeking to
vindicate popular applause, he aims to shine, and perpetually labors for
effect. Although not such a philosopher as Hume, his work is quite as
philosophical as Hume's history, and he has been more faithful in the use
of his materials. Guizot, while pointing out his errors, says he was
struck, after "a second and attentive perusal," with "the immensity of his
researches, the variety of his knowledge, and, above all, with that truly
philosophical discrimination which judges the past as it would judge the
present.


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