GIBBON AND THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG. [To THZ EDITOR or
THE " SPECTATOR."]
Sze,—Now that the oldest reigning Royal House in the world, the House of Hapsburg, has ceased to hold sway, it is interesting to recall the famous quotation from Gibbon made by Thackeray in his English Humorists of the Eighteenth Century in his lecture on Fielding.:- "' Our immortal Fielding,' Gibbon writes, ' was of the younger branch of the Earls of Denbigh, who drew their origin from the Counts of Hapsburg. The successors of Charles V. may disdain their brethren of England; but the romance of Torn Jones, that exquisite picture of humour and manners, will outlive the palace of the Escurial and the Imperial Eagle of Austria.'" Verily, the pen is. mightier than the sword, and those who are born great have less security of tenure than those who achieve greatness in the field of letters.—I am, Sir, &c., The Manse, Dungannon, Co. Tyrone. JOHN WATSON.
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