Fox And Gibbon
When Mr. Fox's furniture was sold by auction, after his decease in 1806,
amongst his books there was the first volume of his friend Gibbon's
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: by the title-page, it appeared
to have been presented by the author to Fox, who, on the blank leaf, had
written this anecdote of the historian:--"The author, at Brookes's, said
there was no salvation for this country until six heads of the principal
persons in administration were laid upon the table. Eleven days after,
this same gentleman accepted a place of lord of trade under those very
ministers, and has acted with them ever since!" Such was the avidity of
bidders for the most trifling production of Fox's genius, that, by the
addition of this little record, the book sold for three guineas.
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