Gibbon’s ’earliest use of irony’ revealed by manuscript

A newly-discovered manuscript may represent Edward Gibbon's earliest experiment in the irony for which he would become famous, an Oxford University English academic has found. Professor David Womersley of Oxford University's English Faculty discovered the manuscript written by the 19-year old Edward Gibbon, which had been left in the attic of a house in Lausanne for many years. The manuscript reveals what may be Gibbon's earliest use of irony as scholarly polemic - a technique he polished in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire . The full manuscript can be viewed in this week's Times Literary Supplement . It also reveals that some memorable turns of phrase in Gibbon's most controversial use of irony in chapter 15 of The Decline and Fall were borrowed from a Christian apologist writer who had been on the sharp end of Gibbon's barbs. 'This new manuscript, although quite short, gives an important insight into the origins of Gibbon's distinctive ways of thinking and writing,' said Professor David Womersley. 'The paper is important because it is perhaps the earliest example of the adolescent Gibbon experimenting with irony for purposes of scholarly polemic - a technique which made The Decline and Fall notorious.' He added: 'Exploration of the context of the manuscript leads to the surprising discovery that some memorable turns of phrase in Gibbon's most controversial use of irony in chapter 15 of The Decline and Fall came from an unexpected source: Lettres sur le déisme by the Swiss academic theologian Jean Salchli, a critique which Gibbon himself criticised.