governess to the Countess of Bristol. The paper states that Catherine de Fourmantel formed an attachment to Sterne, and that it was the expectation of their friends that they would be united; but that on a visit Sterne became acquainted with a lady, whom he married in the space of one month, after having paid his addresses to Miss de Fourmantel for five years. The consequence was, the total derangement of intellect of this young lady. She was confined in a private madhouse. Sterne twice saw her there; and from observation on her state drew the "Maria" whom he has so pathetically described. The elder sister, at the instigation of the father of the communicator of these letters, came to England, and took charge of the unhappy Maria, who died at Paris. "For many years," says the writer of this statement, "my mother had the handkerchief Sterne alludes to." The anxious wish of Sterne was to have his letters returned to him. In this he failed; and such as they are, without date, either of time or place, they are now before me. The billets-doux are unquestionably authentic, but the statement is inaccurate. I doubt whether the narrative be correct in stating that Sterne married after an acquaintance of one month; for he tells us in his Memoirs that he courted his wife for two years; he, however, married in 1741. The "Sermon of Elijah," which he presents to Miss de Fourmantel in one of these letters, was not published till 1747. Her disordered mind could not therefore have been occasioned by the sudden marriage of Sterne. A sentimental intercourse evidently existed between them. He perhaps sought in her sympathy, consolation for his domestic infelicity; he communicates to her the minutest events of his early fame; and these letters, which certainly seem very like love-letters, present a picLure of his life in town in the full flower of his fame eager with hope and flushed with success. LETTER I. "MY DEAR KITTY,-I beg you will accept of the inclosed sermon, which I do not make you a present of merely because it was wrote by myself, but because there is a beautiful character in it of a tender and compassionate mind in the picture given of Elijah. Read it, my dear Kitty, and believe me when I assure you that I see something of the same kind and gentle disposition in your heart which I have painted in the prophet's, which has attached me so much to you and your interest, that I shall live and die "Your affectionate and faithful servant, "P. S.-If possible, I will see you this afternoon before I go to Mr. Fothergil's. Adieu, dear friend, I had the pleasure to drink your health last night." LETTER II. "MY DEAR KITTY,-If this billet catches you in bed, you are a lazy, sleepy little slut, and I am a giddy, foolish, unthinking fellow, for keeping you so late up-but this Sabbath is a day of rest, at the same time that it is a day of sorrow; for I shall not see my dear creature today, unless you meet me at Taylor's half an hour after twelve; but in this do as you like. I have ordered Matthew to turn thief, and steal you a quart of honey; what is honey to the sweetness of thee, who art sweeter than all the flowers it comes from! I love you to distraction, Kitty, and will love you on so to eternity-so adieu, and believe, what time will only prove me, that I am, "Yours." LETTER III. "MY DEAR KITTY,-I have sent you a pot of sweetmeats and a pot of honey-neither of them half so sweet as yourself-but don't be vain upon this, or presume to grow sour upon this character of sweetness I give you; for if you do I shall send you a pot of pickles (by the way of contraries) to sweeten you up, and bring you to yourself again-whatever changes happen to you, believe me that I am unalterably yours, and according to your ctto, such a one, my dear Kitty, "Qui ne changera pas qu'en mourant. "L. S." He came up to town in 1760, to publish the two first volumes of "Shandy," of which the first edition had appeared at York the preceding year. LETTER IV. "LONDON, May 8. "MY DEAR KITTY,—I have arrived here safe and sound -except for the hole in my heart which you have made, like a dear enchanting slut as you are.-I shall take lodgings this morning in Piccadilly or the Haymarket, and before I send this letter will let you know where to direct a letter to me, which letter I shall wait for by the return of the post with great impatience. "I have the greatest honours paid me, and most civilit shown me that were ever known from the great; and am engaged already to ten noblemen and men of fashion to dine. Mr. Garrick pays me all and more honour than I could look for: I dined with him to-day, and he has prompted numbers of great people to carry me to dine with them he has given me an order for the liberty of his boxes, and of every part of his house, for the whole scason; and indeed leaves nothing undone that can do me either service or credit. He has undertaken the whole management of the booksellers, and will procure me a great price-but more of this in my next. "And now, my dear girl, let me assure you of the truest friendship for you that ever man bore towards a woman-wherever I am, my heart is warm towards you, and ever shall be, till it is cold forever. I thank you for the kind proof you gave me of your desire to make my heart easy in ordering yourself to be denied to you know who-while I am so miserable to be separated fror. my dear, dear Kitty, it would have stabbed my soul to have thought such a fellow could have the liberty of coming near you. I therefore take this proof of your love and good principles most kindly-and have as much faith and dependence upon you in it, as if I was at your elbow -would to God I was at this moment-for I am sitting solitary and alone in my bedchamber (ten o'clock at night after the play), and would give a guinea for a squeeze of your hand. I send my soul perpetually out to see what you are a-doing-wish I could convey my body with it—adieu, dear and kind girl. Ever your kind friend and affectionate admirer. "I go to the oratorio this night. My service to your mamma." LETTER V. “MY DEAR KITTY,-Though I have but a moment's time to spare, I would not omit writing you an account of my good fortune; my Lord Fauconberg has this day given me a hundred and sixty pounds a year, which I hold with all my preferment; so that all or the most part of my sorrows and tears are going to be wiped away. I have but one obstacle to my happiness now left-and what that is you know as well as I.* "I long most impatiently to see my dear Kitty. I had a purse of guineas given me yesterday by a bishopall will do well in time. "From morning to night my longings, which by the * Can this allude to the death of his wife ?--that very year he tells his daughter he had taken a house at York, "for your mother and yourself." bye are the genteelest in town,* are full of the greatest company. I dined these two days with two ladies of the bedchamber-then with Lord Rockingham, Lord Edgcumb, Lord Winchelsea, Lord Littleton, a bishop, &c., &c. "I assure you, my dear Kitty, that Tristram is the fashion. Pray to God I may see my dearest girl soon and well.-Adieu. "Your affectionate friend, HUME, ROBERTSON, AND BIRCH. THE rarest of literary characters is such an historian as Gibbon; but we know the price which he paid for his acquisitions-unbroken and undeviating studies. Wilkes, a mere wit, could only discover the drudgery of compilation in the profound philosopher and painter of men and of nations. A speculative turn of mind, delighting in generalising principles and aggregate views, is usually deficient in that closer knowledge, without which every step we take is on the fairy-ground of conjecture and theory, very apt to shift its unsubstantial scenes. researchers are like the inhabitants of a city who live among its ancient edifices, and are in the market-places and the streets: but the theorists, occupied by perspective views, with a more artist-like pencil may impose on us a general resemblance of things; but often shall we find in those shadowy outlines how the real objects are nearly, if not wholly lost-for much is given which is fanciful, and much omitted which is true. The Of our two popular historians, Hume and Robertson, alike in character but different in genius, it is much to be lamente that neither came to their tasks with the *They were the second house from St. Alban's Street, Pall Mall. |