Edward Gibbon (27-04-1737 - 16-01-1794)

He was born in Putney, Surrey, England and, at that time, his father was a member of the English Parliament. He was the greatest and most prominent English historian in the 18th century.

In 1761, he published his first book in French, a research in literature study. In 1774, he won a seat in the House of Commons for eight years. He is famous for his six-volume book The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire which he wrote in 1776-1788. He died in London.

From The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire:

A philosophic theist might subscribe

“A philosophic theist might subscribe the popular creed of the Mahometans; a creed too sublime, perhaps, for our present faculties.”[1]

[1]Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 5:78-79.