childhood. He left one son (the late Sir Stanier Porten) and three
daughters; Catherine, who preserved her maiden name, and of whom I
shall hereafter speak; another daughter married Mr. Darrel of
Richmond, and left two sons, Edward and Robert: the youngest of the
three sisters was Judith, my mother.] My lot might have been that
of a slave, a savage, or a peasant; nor can I reflect without
pleasure on the bounty of Nature, which cast my birth in a free and
civilized country, in an age of science and philosophy, in a family
of honourable rank, and decently endowed with the gifts of fortune.
From my birth I have enjoyed the right of primogeniture; but I was
succeeded by five brothers and one sister, all of whom were snatched
away in their infancy. My five brothers, whose names may be found
in the parish register of Putney, I shall not pretend to lament: but
from my childhood to the present hour I have deeply and sincerely
regretted my sister, whose life was somewhat prolonged, and whom I
remember to have been an amiable infant. The relation of a brother
and a sister, especially if they do not marry, appears to me of a
very singular nature. It is a familiar and tender friendship with a
female, much about our own age; an affection perhaps softened by the
secret influence of sex, and the sole species of Platonic love that
can be indulged with truth, and without danger.

At the general election of 1741, Mr. Gibbon and Mr. Delme stood an
expensive and successful contest at Southampton, against Mr. Dummer
and Mr. Henly, afterwards Lord Chancellor and Earl of Northington.
The Whig candidates had a majority of the resident voters; but the
corporation was firm in the Tory interest: a sudden creation of one
hundred and seventy new freemen turned the scale; and a supply was
readily obtained of respectable volunteers, who flocked from all
parts of England to support the cause of their political friends.