Watch-Coat, as a succession of struggles for an old coat, an old pair of breeches, an old velvet cushion and "the great green pulpit cloth." The old breeches, which stand in the allegory for the commissaryship of Pocklington and Pickering, worth five guineas a year, fell to Lorry Slim, an unlucky wight, by whom they are still worn." Lorry Slim, says the key, is Mr. Sterne himself.

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From Sutton" a poor eight miles away" -Sterne could "take a wheel" into town any morning early enough to breakfast with a friend and put in a whole day; and on occasion he might prolong his sojourn for a week. When in York there was for Sterne sufficient amusement. It seems to have been his custom to stroll about among the shops, cheapening small wares and indulging in sentimental conversation over the counter just as Yorick afterwards did at Paris. If there was to be a concert at the Assembly Rooms in the afternoon at three, he would likely drop in, for he himself played the cello and the violin. A part of the evening might be passed among the jesters that assembled at the public coffee-house, where he was given the seat of honor. But there could be no typical day for a man who

was guided by whim. At one time Sterne took to painting portraits and sylvan scenes. Then, I suppose, he would pass his afternoons at York with a certain Thomas Bridges, who practised the same art. Each painted the other on the same canvas Sterne as mountebank and Bridges as quack-doctor, humbugging the crowd at a fair. For a whole year Sterne had the rare good fortune of associating with Christopher Steele, the portrait painter, who set up his studio in York, bringing with him an apprentice afterwards famous -- George Romney. Steele made a portrait of Sterne, and Romney in a few years was to illustrate the scene in Tristram Shandy where Dr. Slop arrives at Shandy Hall. *** must ever have some Dulcinea in my head," wrote Sterne; and added for a reason"it harmonizes the soul." He harmonized his soul for writing Tristram Shandy at the house of a Mrs. Joliff in the Stonegate, where was living with her mother a young and most attractive French woman Miss Catherine de Fourmantelle, the "dear, dear, Kitty" of a curious correspondence. He painted her portrait in black and begged of her to accept a printed copy of his sermon on Elijah, declaring that he had

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been drawn to her and to the Hebrew prophet by "the same kind of gentle distinction." To prepare the way for an agreeable evening in the Stonegate, his man was sent in advance with "a pot of sweet-meats" or "a few bottles of Calcavillo." The Sabbath became to Sterne a day of sorrow unless he could meet Miss Fourmantelle after the morning service at his friend Jack Taylor's. The open intrigue — for Sterne drank her health among his friends and went shopping with her at the mercer's — seems to have caused some scandal even in easy-going York. But it was, said Sterne, referring to the episode in Tristram Shandy, only "that tender and delicious sentiment which ever mixes in friendship, when there is a difference of sex."

Of course, Sterne did not spend all his time at York. At times bad roads and bad weather cut him off from his York friends, and then he was content to send in his "Amen" - the parson's name for his clerk to convey his kind respects to Mr. B. or Miss C. and bring back the last York Courants. His farming, too, required attention. To Mr. John Blake, Canon of York, he writes: "I have four Thrashers every Day at work, and they mor

tify me with declarations, That there is so much Barley they cannot get thro' that speces before Christmas Day, and God knows I have (I hope) near eighty quarters of Oats besides. How shall I manage matters to get to you, as we wish for three months!" So he invites his clerical friend to visit him. "I wish to God," he writes, "you could some day ride out next week, and breakfast and dine with us, which, if you do it, it would be wise, in my opinion, to make no secret of it, but tell the ladies you are going to take a ride to Sutton." There were indeed little unrevealed secrets between these two clergymen. "I tore off" so runs another letter from Sterne-" the bottom of yours before I let my wife see it, to save a lye. However, she has since discovered the curtailment, and seem'd very desirous of knowing what it contain'd-which I conceal, and only say 'twas something that no way concerned her or me; so say the same if she interrogates." Tell a lie to save a lie - the Vicar of Sutton surely saw the humor of that mandate to a Canon of York. If Sterne was not, as he said, upon "a very friendly footing" with the Squire of Sutton, it was only a mile and a half over to Stillington Hall, where he was sure of a hearty

welcome from Stephen Croft and the rest of the family. There he read the first scenes in Tristram Shandy as they were in the making - but more of this hereafter the Squire of Stillington that Sterne went up to London in 1760 to find that his fame had

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and it was with

preceded him. Some twenty miles to the north of Sutton, Sterne had another friend, whose invitations to visit him, he looked upon as commands. To-morrow," he writes to Blake who wishes much to see him, "we are indispensably obliged to be at Newborough." He had received an invitation to pass a day at Newburgh Priory Priory - the seat of the Earl of Fauconberg, afterwards Lord of His Majesty's Bedchamber, who was to present Sterne with the living at Coxwold.

At times Sterne sought a larger freedom than he liked to take in his parish or its neighborhood. "I am going" -to quote from a letter belonging to a little later period but true undoubtedly for this also—“I am going to leave a few poor sheep here in the wilderness for fourteen days- and from pride and naughtiness of heart to go see what is doing at Scarborough stedfastly meaning afterwards to lead a new life and strengthen my faith." On