Date: w. 1788-93, 1796 (rev. 1815, 1827, 1837, 1897)
"But this obscurity sometimes proceeds from a mixture of light and darkness in the author's mind; from a partial ray which strikes upon an angle, instead of spreading itself over the surface of an object."
preview | full record— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)
Date: 1796
"He pronounced the most severe sentences upon offenders, which the moment after compassion induced him to mitigate: he undertook the most daring enterprizes, which the fear of their consequences soon obliged him to abandon: his inborn genius darted a brilliant light upon subjects the most obscure...
preview | full record— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)