Details
GIBBON, Edward (1737-1794). Autograph heroic couplets signed ('E. Gibbon'), 18 July 1779, eight lines on one page, 4to (inlaid).
Gibbon transcribes lines 51-58 from Pope's Eloisa to Abelard (written 1716), beginning: 'Heav'n first taught letters for some wretch's aid' and affirming how love letters 'Speed the soft intercourse from soul to soul And waft a sigh from Indus to the Pole.'
Even as a schoolboy he had enjoyed Pope, and having become a celebrity with the publication of volume I of Decline and Fall on 17 February, 1776, he may have copied out this mellifluous passage for a female admirer.
Gibbon transcribes lines 51-58 from Pope's Eloisa to Abelard (written 1716), beginning: 'Heav'n first taught letters for some wretch's aid' and affirming how love letters 'Speed the soft intercourse from soul to soul And waft a sigh from Indus to the Pole.'
Even as a schoolboy he had enjoyed Pope, and having become a celebrity with the publication of volume I of Decline and Fall on 17 February, 1776, he may have copied out this mellifluous passage for a female admirer.
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