16th Edward Gibbon died, 1794.

In most of the essential qualifications of a historian Gibbon was equal to either Hume or Robertson. In some he was superior. He had greater depth and variety of learning, and a more perfect command of his intellectual treasures. It was not merely with the main stream of Roman history that he was familiar. All its accessories and tributaries—the art of war, philosophy, theology, jurisprudence, geography, every shade of manners, opinions and public character he had studied. These solid and bright acquirements of the historian were not without their drawbacks. Deficient in depth of moral feeling. Gibbon seldom touches the heart or inspires true enthusiasm. The reader feels that, as in the state of Imperial Rome itself, the seeds are developed amidst flattering appearance. "The florid bloom but ill conceals the fatal malady that preys upon the vitals."

Chambers' Cyclopedia of Literature.