The General Biographical Dictionary. Revised by A. Chalmers

The General Biographical Dictionary. Revised By A. Chalmers presents a 19th?century encyclopedic biographical sketch focused on Edward Gibbon, the celebrated historian of Rome. It traces his early turn from minor literary projects to the monumental History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, the volume’s initial public demand in 1776, and the ensuing controversies over his Christian critique and religious polemics. The entry surveys his personal character, intellectual influences (notably Hume and French authors), and his evolving method as a historian, as well as the mixed judgments of contemporaries and later critics. It documents Gibbon’s move to Lausanne, his return to England, and the completion of the work by 1787, including later debates about decency in some notes and the posthumous reception of his writings. The piece also notes the Miscellaneous Works (1796) and their value for understanding his methods and correspondence. Beyond Gibbon, the excerpt opens into an extensive index of other biographies under names beginning with G, illustrating the dictionary’s broad cross?reference tradition in Britain and continental Europe from antiquity to the late 18th century.