Cassell's History of England, Vol. 5 (of 8): From the Peninsular War to the Death of Sir Robert PeelAnonymous
History
Cassell's History of England, Vol. 5 (of 8): From the Peninsular War to the Death of Sir Robert Peel
Anonymous
Great Britain -- History
The next novelist who appeared was of a very different school.
Richardson was an elaborate anatomist of character; Fielding and
Smollett were master painters of life and manners, and threw in strong
dashes of wit and humour; but they had little sentiment. In Laurence
Sterne (_b._ 1713; _d._ 1768) came forth a sentimentalist, who, whilst
he melted his readers by touches of pathos, could scarcely conceal
from them that he was laughing at them in his sleeve. The mixture of
feeling, wit, _double entendre_, and humour of the most subtle and
refined kind, and that in a clergyman, produced the oddest, and yet
the most vivid, impressions on the reader. The effect was surprise,
pleasure, wonder, and no little misgiving; but the novelty and charm
of this original style were so great that they carried all before
them, but not without the most violent censures from the press on his
indecencies, especially considering his position as a clergyman. Sterne
was the grandson of that Richard Sterne, a native of Mansfield, in
Nottinghamshire, who was chaplain to Archbishop Laud, and attended him
on the scaffold. Laurence Sterne was the son of a lieutenant in the
army, and was born at Clonmel, in Ireland, his grandfather having then
become Archbishop of York. Sterne, therefore, on taking orders, was
on the way of preferment, and received the rectory of Stillington and
the perpetual curacy of Coxwold, both in Yorkshire. There he wrote not
only sermons, but satire, particularly his "History of a Watchcoat."
But it was his novel of "Tristram Shandy" which brought him into
sudden popularity. After this, his "Sentimental Journey" completed
his reputation; and his Maria and her lamb, his uncle Toby, Corporal
Trim, Yorick, Doctor Slop, the widow Wadman, and his lesser characters,
usurped for a long period the tears and laughter of the nation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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