Genealogical Study on the Historian Edward Gibbon

祖父爱德华·吉本，他的孙子是著名的历史学家爱德华·吉本，他是《罗马帝国衰亡史》的作者，在1720年南海泡沫破裂时，他是臭名昭著的南海公司董事之一。泡沫事件后，祖父受到议会法案的惩罚和罚款近10万英镑，并退休到他在普特尼的住所。到1692年6月，祖父在佛兰德斯为英国炮兵队服务，担任该队的出纳员。在欧洲大陆呆了几年后，他回到了家乡，成了一个主要的军事承包商和一个大债主。此外，从1710年起，他开始冒险汇款：代表政府向海外的英国军队汇款。在威廉国王战争期间和西班牙王位继承战争的早期，汇款由亨利·福内斯负责，1710年以后，汇款由几个汇款人负责，其中有约翰·兰伯特、西奥多·杨森、理查德·霍尔和爱德华·吉本。汇款活动是有利可图的，使他富有，并通过与高级政府官员和政治领导人的关系为他提供工作和职位。至于历史学家爱德华·吉本，我敢肯定，他在《历史》中对贸易和商业的看法受到了祖父贸易兴衰的影响。

The Grandfather Edward Gibbon, whose grandson was a famous historian Edward Gibbon, the author of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, has been known as one of the infamous derectors of the SouthSea Company when the South-Sea Bubble bursted in 1720. After the Bubble, the Grandfather was punished and fined nearly *100,000 by the act of the Parliament, and retired to his residence at Putney.By June of 1692, the Grandfather was under the service of British Artillery Train in Flanders as a post of Paymaster of the Train. After staying for some years in the Continent, he came home and came to be one of the dominant army contractors and one of the great creditors. Furthermore, from 1710 he ventured to remit money : to send money with exchange bills to British Forces abroad on the behalf of the Government. During the King William War and for the early years of the Spanish Succession War, the remittances were conducted by the hand of Henry Furnese, and after 1710 they were handed over the several remitters among whom there were John Lambert, Theodore Janssen, and Richard Hoare as well as Edward Gibbon.Remitting activities were profitable, made him rich, and promised him jobs and offices through the connections with high government officials and political leaders. As for the Historian Edward Gibbon, I'm sure, his idea of trade and commerce in his History was influenced by the rise and fall of the Grandfather's trade.