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Article THE GHOST OF STERNE IN LONDON. ← Page 4 of 4
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The Ghost Of Sterne In London.
ie . xta , yetl have always some sudden unaccountable start that betrays me : so that if you can conceive , what sort of figure a jack pudding ' would make in the character of Cato or Richard the Third , that is exactl y the idea which my name ought to convey to you .
'A very pretty girl indeed , ' said 1 to myself!—Goingintoa circulating library too . '—She is a boarding-school Miss , I suppose , who reads novels till she has not one idea that bears the stamp of common-sense . — I'll follow her , however , let her be what she will . . ' What obsequious puppies!—Lord Monboddo says that—men were originally monkies : —it is said too that all things return to their first principles : —therefore men willin timeagain become monkies . Now ,
, , as shopmen and men-milliners are totally different from any other beings we are acquainted with , I look upon them to have degenerated towards the monkey kind much more than any other men , and they in ' ay be said to form' the link which connects the man andourang-outang . As for belly-piece makers and petticoat warehousemen , as I never make use of their commoditiesI have never had an
opportu-, nity of observing them sufficiently to form a decided opinion of them ; but I am informed by some female naturalists'of my acquaintance , that they are a species of the same genus . ' You shall have a catalogue immediately , sir , ' said the shopman . Whoever thou art ; fair damsel , - when thou takest up Laury Sterne , consider that he labours in every line to raise indelicate ideas : so , if thou
hast any regard for chastity of thought , read not his works ; —they will certainly corrupt thee . —And yet , thou son of humour and of feeling , who can help admiring thee?—When the fastidious critic is in the very act of opening his mouth to condemn thee , let him but recollect that thou hast wept like a brother over the sorrows of Le Fevre , — that thou pluckedst the nettle from off the monk ' s' grave , —that thou
hast told the story of Maria , and delineated the amiable character of an uncle Toby—and , if he does not change his intended censure into praise , all I say is—Nature has been unkind to him ! ' Johnson's works too , with the doctor ' s portrait at the beginning , like a porter placed at the door of an auction-room to invite passengers to come in ! What a physiognomy !—The head leaning to one side
. , and the mouth open , ate certainly symptoms of deep reflection , — -yet it wants the coup de grace : —draw a tongue lolling out of his mouth and the figure Will be complete . Woulel you take him for such an excellent writer as he really was?—lam sure you would not . — ' No ,
indeed one would not , sir , ' said the lady . — 'But I was at the moment you spoke busily readings page on politeness from the works of Lord C ' His lordship is a very excellent writer , madam / said I . Now I made this answer merely from nil instinctive wish to agree with the lady : for I assure you , I did not know what book she meant . But I'll peep at it by and by— , Q , ho ! this is the book in question : — ' Instructions for gaining the Art of gracefully blending the Morals of a Whore and the Manners of a Dancing-master , in ' a Series of Letters from a Nobleman to his Son . ' - —Vive la bagatelle , mais au citable la Ubtrtinr . ge l '—¦ Pro ua CONTINUED . ]
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Ghost Of Sterne In London.
ie . xta , yetl have always some sudden unaccountable start that betrays me : so that if you can conceive , what sort of figure a jack pudding ' would make in the character of Cato or Richard the Third , that is exactl y the idea which my name ought to convey to you .
'A very pretty girl indeed , ' said 1 to myself!—Goingintoa circulating library too . '—She is a boarding-school Miss , I suppose , who reads novels till she has not one idea that bears the stamp of common-sense . — I'll follow her , however , let her be what she will . . ' What obsequious puppies!—Lord Monboddo says that—men were originally monkies : —it is said too that all things return to their first principles : —therefore men willin timeagain become monkies . Now ,
, , as shopmen and men-milliners are totally different from any other beings we are acquainted with , I look upon them to have degenerated towards the monkey kind much more than any other men , and they in ' ay be said to form' the link which connects the man andourang-outang . As for belly-piece makers and petticoat warehousemen , as I never make use of their commoditiesI have never had an
opportu-, nity of observing them sufficiently to form a decided opinion of them ; but I am informed by some female naturalists'of my acquaintance , that they are a species of the same genus . ' You shall have a catalogue immediately , sir , ' said the shopman . Whoever thou art ; fair damsel , - when thou takest up Laury Sterne , consider that he labours in every line to raise indelicate ideas : so , if thou
hast any regard for chastity of thought , read not his works ; —they will certainly corrupt thee . —And yet , thou son of humour and of feeling , who can help admiring thee?—When the fastidious critic is in the very act of opening his mouth to condemn thee , let him but recollect that thou hast wept like a brother over the sorrows of Le Fevre , — that thou pluckedst the nettle from off the monk ' s' grave , —that thou
hast told the story of Maria , and delineated the amiable character of an uncle Toby—and , if he does not change his intended censure into praise , all I say is—Nature has been unkind to him ! ' Johnson's works too , with the doctor ' s portrait at the beginning , like a porter placed at the door of an auction-room to invite passengers to come in ! What a physiognomy !—The head leaning to one side
. , and the mouth open , ate certainly symptoms of deep reflection , — -yet it wants the coup de grace : —draw a tongue lolling out of his mouth and the figure Will be complete . Woulel you take him for such an excellent writer as he really was?—lam sure you would not . — ' No ,
indeed one would not , sir , ' said the lady . — 'But I was at the moment you spoke busily readings page on politeness from the works of Lord C ' His lordship is a very excellent writer , madam / said I . Now I made this answer merely from nil instinctive wish to agree with the lady : for I assure you , I did not know what book she meant . But I'll peep at it by and by— , Q , ho ! this is the book in question : — ' Instructions for gaining the Art of gracefully blending the Morals of a Whore and the Manners of a Dancing-master , in ' a Series of Letters from a Nobleman to his Son . ' - —Vive la bagatelle , mais au citable la Ubtrtinr . ge l '—¦ Pro ua CONTINUED . ]