down his name to a far more famous descendant.




CHAPTER IV.


"TRISTRAM SHANDY," VOLS. I. AND II.

(1759-1760.)

Hitherto we have had to construct our conception of Sterne out of
materials of more or less plausible conjecture. We are now at last
approaching the region of positive evidence, and henceforward, down
almost to the last scene of all, Sterne's doings will be chronicled,
and his character revealed, by one who happens, in this case, to be
the best of all possible biographers--the man himself. Not that such
records are by any means always the most trustworthy of evidence.
There are some men whose real character is never more effectually
concealed than in their correspondence. But it is not so with Sterne.
The careless, slipshod letters which Madame de Medalle "pitchforked"
into the book-market, rather than edited, are highly valuable as
pieces of autobiography. They are easy, naïve, and natural, rich in
simple self-disclosure in almost every page; and if they have more
to tell us about the man than the writer, they are yet not wanting
in instructive hints as to Sterne's methods of composition and his
theories of art.

It was in the year 1759 that the Vicar of Sutton and Prebendary of