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to take up his quarters there altogether. This he tells himself, in a letter to his bosom friend, John Hall Stevenson, of Skelton Castle, Yorkshire; and in regard to whom he says,-If I could tempt my friend, เ Mr. H., to come to France, I should be truly happy.' Indeed, however annoyed he might have been at his wife's discovery of his amatory vagaries and trespasses, he could not as a man of feeling, and a person alive to an honourable sense of shame, meet her, perhaps upbraiding, remonstrances in anger. Nor was she deserving of harsh and unjust treatment, as the following extract, from a letter of Sterne's to Hall Stevenson, will show. It is dated Coxwould, 1761. 'Curse of poverty, and absence from those we love! they are two great evils which embitter all things;—and yet เ Iwith the first I am not haunted much.-As to matriเ mony, I should be a beast to rail at it, for my wife 'is easy, but the world is not;-and had I staid from เ her a moment longer, it would have been a burning 'shame, else she declares herself happier without me; -but not in anger is this declaration made, but in pure sober good sense, built on sound experience.'He then playfully adds,' She hopes you will be able 'to strike a bargain for me, before this time twelve month, to lead a bear round Europe: and from this 'hope from you I verily believe it is, that you are so high in her favour at present. She swears you are a fellow of wit, though humorous, a funny, jolly 'soul, though somewhat splenetic; and (bating the 'love of women) as honest as gold:-how do you like 'the simile?'

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These characteristics of his friend, the author of 'Crazy Tales,' add an interest to this letter; and that interest is enhanced by what he says of himself. He is disagreeably affected by the sudden change from

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the captivating gaieties of London, and the triumphant honours he met with there from the admirers of Tristram Shandy,' to the quietude of Coxwold.— 'I should have walked about the streets of York for เ ten days,' he writes, as a proper medium to have passed through, before I entered upon my rest.— 'I staid but a moment, and have been here but a few, to satisfy me I have not managed my miseries like a wise man; and if God, for my consolation under them, had not poured the spirit of Shandeism into เ which will not suffer me to think two moments. upon any grave subject, I would else just now lie 'down and die-die;-and yet, in half an hour's time, 'I'll lay a guinea I shall be as merry as a monkeyand as mischievous too, and forget it all; so that this 'is but a copy of the present train running cross my 'mind.' This letter he ends in the following characteristic manner. 'To-morrow morning (if Heaven permit) I begin the fifth volume of Shandy.—I care 'not a curse for the critics.-I'll load my vehicle with 'what goods he sends me, and they may take 'em off my hands, or let them alone.-I am very valorous; ' and 'tis in proportion as we retire from the world, and see it in its true dimensions, that we despise it.No bad rant. God bless you! You know I am your affectionate Cousin,-LAURENCE STERNE.

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What few remain of the Demoniacs, greet;-and 'write me a letter, if you are able, as foolish as this.'

Sterne, on another occasion, writes to Hall Stevenson, that he was tired of his wife: and there is evidence to show that the estrangement was mutual. Nor was the cause of this fact dependent solely upon his sentimental amours; but arose, likewise, from the marked disparity of their dispositions. While in the south of France, he writes to Mr. H. Steven

son: My dear wife is against all additional expenses; which propensity (though not of despotic 'power) yet I cannot suffer- though, by the bye, 'laudable enough.-But she may talk, I will do my 'own way; and she will acquiesce without a word ' of debate upon the subject. Who can say so much ' in praise of his wife? Few, I trow.'

In allusion to a severe fever by which he was struck at Montpellier, he writes to his banker, Mr. Foley, at Paris, in January, 1764:-'I have suffered in this scuffle with death (a fever) terribly; but, unless the spirit of prophecy deceive me, I shall 'not die, but live. In the mean time, dear F., let 'us live as merrily, but as innocently as we can. It has ever been as good as a bishopric to me,-and 'I desire no other.'

In a letter to Mrs. Foley, he says:- After having 'discharged them (his physicians), I told Mrs. Sterne 'that I should set out for England very soon, but 'she chooses to remain in France for two or three years. I have no objection, except that I wish my girl in England.' And to show how tired he was of French society, he says:-'I believe I shall step into my post-chaise with more alacrity to fly from 'those sights, than a Frenchman would fly to them; 'and, except a tear at parting with my little slut, I 'shall be in high spirits; and every step that brings me nearer England, will, I think, help to set this poor frame to rights.' Here he gives a ludicrous account of the practice of the renowned physicians of Montpellier : 'My physicians have almost poisoned me with what they call bouillons rafraîchis'sants, -'tis a cock flayed alive, and boiled with poppy seeds, then pounded in a mortar, afterwards passed through a sieve.-There is to be one crawfish

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'in it; and I was gravely told it must be a male 'one-a female would do me more hurt than good.' This reminds one of Smollett's exposure of the ignorant quackery of the most noted physician of Montpellier. Having given his consent, evidently with painful reluctance, that his wife and beloved daughter were to remain in France for two years, he writes:My wife goes to Bagnières and I to my wife, the 'Church in Yorkshire.' And he thus strives to console himself by this reflection: We all live-we 'all live the longer, at least the happier, for having things our own way. This is my conjugal maxim :'I own 'tis not the best of maxims;-but I maintain ''tis not the worst.'

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Such was the unhappy ending of a tour through France, which was projected by Sterne for the purpose of sharing his own enjoyments with those of his wife and daughter;-and the affectionate and unselfish spirit, in which he induced them to join heartily in his proposal, affords strong evidence to show that he was not careless or neglectful of their happiness. Nor could he be indifferent to their long absence, when he wrote from Paris to Mrs. Sterne thus:-'I long to see you both you may be assured, my dear wife and child, after so long a 'separation. Do all for the best,

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เ as He who guides all things will, I hope, do for us! So heaven preserve you both!

'Love to my Lydia.-I have bought her a gold 'watch, to present to her when she comes.'

In the next letter he tells of the influence of fine clothes in France: These, I say, will cost you sixty guineas, and you must have them: for in this country nothing can be spared from the back ;'and if you dine on an onion, and lie in a garret,

'seven stories high, you must not betray it in your 'clothes; according to which you are well or ill 'looked upon.' How expressive of personal vanity is this trait of national character! And now,' he concludes, God knows that I have not a wish but 'for your health, comfort, and safe arrival here.'

The following extract from a letter, written to his wife, at this time, is given here, and it tends to place Sterne's disposition in an amiable light. * *

After that we shall have the sweetest season of the vintage to go to the south of France; but we will put our heads together, and you shall do just as you please, in this and in everything that depends ' on me,—for I am a being perfectly contented, when 'others are pleased;-to bear and forbear will ever 'be my maxim,-only I fear the heat through a journey of five or six hundred miles more for you ' and my Lydia, than for myself.' Surely he could not have the barefaced audacity to address his wife in this way, if there were a word of truth in the rumour, which was spread abroad, without the slightest evidence, namely,-that he had beaten her.

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An extract from the next letter will also be interesting, as regards the character of Sterne. 'I long 'to hear from you, and that all my letters and things are come safe to you, and then you will say that I 'have not been a bad lad. Dear Bess, I have a 'thousand wishes, but have a hope for every one of 'them. Do not say I forget you, or whatever may be 'conducive to your ease of mind, in this journey.—I ' wish I was with you to do these offices myself, and to 'strew roses in your way;-but I shall have time and 'occasion to show that I am not wanting. Now, my dears, once more pluck up your spirits, trust in God, -in me, and in yourselves;-with this, were you

VOL. I.

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