New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-07
L4TRENCE STERNE.
HIS SENSIBIIITIES AND IMPRESSIONS.
THE LIFE OF LAURENCE STERNE. By Percy
FITZGERALD Two vols. Octave. Kill. 2l6 go.
Charles ScrihnCrS Sons.
cuinstanced.

THE LIFE OF LAURENCE STERNE; By Percy
Fitzgerald. Two vols Octave. Kill, A6 22o.
Charles Scribncr's Sons.
However much the critics may differ in the
moral judgment they visit upon Sterne they are
practically at one In the reading Of his character.
His most sympathetic biographer. NJ. Stapfer,
sums it up as unstable and volatile, and, with
true French consideration suggests that no
one cast the first stone. The English economist,
Bagehot, traces all Sternes vices TO his
sensitiveness of organization. and then, with the
sort OF INSTRUCTED zeal that besets the
polemical moralst. proceeds To belabor the
sensitively organized Thackeray instead Of the
culprit Thackeray himself, quite unconscious
that his own broad shoulders coming In for
a beating. and certainly with no thought Of
making backs suffer than necessary.
excorates Sterne and him alone. They all
agreed however. in this. that he had no moral
character TO speak of. One may say. therefore.
that the character of Sterne has long since been
found out" Still the phrase is not a happy
one; il is at too harsh and too flattering:
there was. indeed, little 10 find in Sternes char
acter. Dissect him and YOU would discover moth
ing but odd whlms and exaggerated sensibllities.
He had an acrobatic daptability TO every chang
ing event and condition. and If life were n
mere succession Of disconnected events he would
have been admirably adapted to It.
AS dinner companion he divertng for
he was ready at repartee. persifagc and the
sort Of moral sentiments that proper be-
tween courses. In church, his sermons were
charming respites from the tedum Of the ser
vice. foc among the ideas thai the occasion sug-
gested his mind played with brisk quantness
and self-pleasing. AS a travelling companion
he must have been an intellectual! luxury, for
his eye was alert TO detect every passing detail
Of beauty, and his sensibilites were quick to
respond to it. His lovemaking was, roughly
speaking only the indulgence Of excessive sensi-
bility Soon late, of course the posturings
with which he flung himself at the feet. first Of
idol and then of another were sure TO re-
suit in a distortion OF character. To the reader
who knows his whole story even his arts of
pleasing are likely to grow repulsive and his
freedom from scruple seems at times almos; az
inhuman sheer malice; but his contempora-
ries did not know his whole life and II is not
likely that he was ever conscious Of it &c an
entirety himself. Maliciousness is, for the most
part, mood OF complex motives. and in his
motives Sterne. with all his arihciality of mind
was never complex Deliberate vice requires
foresight. and Sterne had little foresight He
was neither vicious nor vrtuous Except for his
Unborn tendency to nastiness Of mind. he might
with perfect truth be called immoral
In writing the story OF this life Mr.. FITZGERALD
vacillates between a damaging analysis and an
unconvincng defence. In biography. arguments
are always a dubious resort for ii is usually
more eficaciOus 10 dispel a SANDER by an ex-
PLANTATION than TO repe it by controversy
Outside Of an appendix. IT is perhaps not worth
while even 10 explain away such ISLANDERS ms have
cropped up about Sterne's name. However much
they may misrepresent Individual episodes they
seldom, If ever. misrepresent the man. 1t IS a
thankless undertaking TO abor when the charac-
ter OF the soil is against one and n nature like
Sterne's is fallOw TO Islander. But this Is an
aside. The fault in Mr. Fitzgerald's work lies
not in any one thing he has tried to do but in
the fact that he has tried to do so many incou-
patible things. His British candOr is exceeding
ly attractive: his generous desire 10 better the
Of the dead IL even more attractive.
the difficulty Is that Mr.. FITZGERALD does not
reconcile his virtues. If he could only manage
his heart, 1t is quite possible that he could
make up his mind" but his mind is not made I'D
His books seem the record Of an impression I'm
the Irregular process of It's development He is
inconsistent not only in his tone, his temper and
his literary methods but in his statements OF