The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-06-20

rhetoric, logic and metaphysics-wert
turned by him afterward to banter anc
ridicule. On the other hand, the ancient
poets and historians he always mentioned
and quoted with delight. Homer and
vergil he tired Of. Theocritus and
Pindar charmed him. or the historians
he liked best Thucydides, Herodotus and
Livy, but his praise Of Tacitus was rather
measured. The latter's decisive, peremp-
tory style, he thought. overshot the mark
~Eloquence, wherever found, appealed to
Sterne strongly. We should note that
the light Of a new age In science and
speculation was beginning to break upon
Cambridge while Sterne was there. For
some time Newton, Hobbies and Locke had
formed part Of the usual course Of read
ing. Prof. Cross says that Sterne ad-
mired Newton at a distance, and knew
enough Of Hobbies to allude to the
quaint title page Of "Leviathan.' Never,
however, could Sterne cease praising the
author Of the Essay on the Human On
derstanding.' As the b~iographer puts
it: After all his wanderings in logic and
metaphysics. he discovered in the great
Locke, the sagacious Locke, a writer who
really knew what passes in a mans mind.
and whose search was ever after truth.
not after adroit and dishonest means for
defending propositions that svery one
knows must be false" Prof. Cross adds
that the essay became Sterne's oom-
panion to the end Of his life and colored
much Of his W thinking.
ii.
Sterne received his degrees in due
course. becoming M. A. in July. l74o.
He left Cambridge with the character OF
al odd man that had 40 harm in him,
and who had parts If he would use Them
He was destined for the Church not be-
cause of any special vocation therefor
but because the Church offered an obvious
career to a man who bore his name. He
was ordained a deacon in March, 1887,
and on the same day was licensed by the
Bishop Of Lincoln to the curacy OF st,
Ives. a market town near Huntington.
A year later Sterne was ordained a priest,
and, thanks to the influence OF his uncle,
DR.. jacques Sterne, ~prebendary OF York
and a rich pluralist, he had conferred
upon him the vicarage Of Sutton-on-the-
Forest. a small village some eight miles
to the north of York. The only attrac-
ton which this parish in the wilderness
could have had for Sterne was the f40
a year which it put into his purse. Dur
ing the next three years he stayed mostly
at York. the source OF ecclesiastical
patronage-driving out sometimes to
G,,tt@, for G,,nlavy oarv,ioa and nortah
business. In January. 174l-again doubt
less through the influence Of his uncle
Jaques-Stene obtained a prebend in
York Cathedral. Henceforth he became
a member Of the York Chapter. and took
his turn at preaching in the minister.
At that time York was in truth as in
name the metropolis Of the north. We
are told that during the season there were
Assemblies. merry meetings or some
entertainment every night in the week.
Among the young women whom Sterne
met at the Assembly Rooms was Miss
Elizabeth Lumley, whom eventually he
took to wife. She wal @but a homely
woman yet possessed Of grace, ~vivacity
and a love for music and the diversions
OF society. She had been we'll bred and
possessed" says the antiquary John
Croft. "a first rate understanding which
enabled her to help her husband with his
She had many admirers We
are further informed. as she was re-
ported to have a fortune When 'Sterne
began to pay court to her she was
about ga year younger than him
self; altogether a fitting match, the
biographer thinks. "if a man 10 volatile
Sterne was ever to marry 1t took
Sterne two years to win her, Miss Lumley,
though she owned hat she liked him from
the first, holding him of with the excuse
that she was not rich enough or that
Sterne was too poor to think OF marriage
just then. During a long visit which she
made to a sister letters Of course passed
to and fro. Four Of these Miss Lumley
kept by her through life. Prof. Cross
maintains that nobody ever wrote love
letters at all like them, except in imita-
ton of them. They are studies in emo
ton. possessing the harmony and cadence
of phrase and sentence that were to dis
tnguish, a quarter OF a century later. the
Sentimental Journey from all other
English books" The extracts given in
the book before us show that the biog-
rapher's praise il not extravagant. The
story closes with the record in the
registry Of York Minister that the Rev.
Laurence Sterne and Miss Elizabeth
Lumley we're married on Easter Monday,
I74l. By midsummer Of the year named
Sterne was settled with his bride in his
yicarage at Observation-Disclosures His
own annual income at this time was hardly
eco, out Of which he had 10 pay a cIrate.
but his wife placed in his hands her for
tune. which was referred to many years
later az f4o a year. His wife's property
was somewhat impaired by the expense
of coming into the vicarage. but the loss
was more thar made good by two pre-
ferments. In january. 1912, Sterne re-
signed his prebend for a much richer
stall and some three years later he was
appointed vicar OF Stllington, which
adioined Sutton. Those were the days
Of pluralists.
Our biographer has n doubt that
Sterne drew himself as vicar Of Sutton
in the character Of Parson Yorick. Not
only il this the tradition. but John Hall
Stevenson, who better than any other
man knew Sterne, looked upon the por-
trait as essentially true quoting from 1t the
year after his friends death. Prot. Gross
points out that Sterne and Yorick were
certainly one in temperament. Both were
compounded Of whims and humors; both