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Article COMMENTS ON STERNE. ← Page 2 of 7 →
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Comments On Sterne.
iancholy has always been a source of surreptitious learning ; Anthony a-Wood speaks of it as a compilation highly useful to Gentlemen " who were negligent at College ; and Archbishop Herring alledged that the wits who flourished under Queen Anne and George the First , were under great obligations to it f , In literature , the springs are commonly more copious than their derived streams , and
are therefore more highly honoured . But though this applies to Burton , and most of his imitators , it fails in respect-of Tristram Shandy , where , though much is directly drawn from our Author , there are many delightful windings , widely distant from his influence . I would therefore beware of imitating the rashness of a Travellerwho should fancy he had discovered the secret head of
, a mighty river , while , deceived by perfect intelligence , he had only explored the source of an auxiliary stream . The first four chapters of Tristram Shandy are founded on somepasssages in Burton , which I shall transcribe . Sterne ' s improvements I shall leave to your recollection .
" Filii ex senibus nati raro sunt firmi temperamenti , & c . Nam f spiritus cerebri si turn male afficiantur , tales procreant , & quale ? " fuerint affectus , tales filiorum , ex tristibus tristes , ex jucundis " jucundi nascuntur . " [ Cardan . 3 " If she" ( the mother ) " be " over dull , heavy , angry , peevish , discontented and melancholy , f not only at the time of conception , but even all the while she " carries the child in her womb ( saith Fernelius ) her son will be
f ' so likewise , and worse , as Lemnius adds , & c . So many " ways are we plagued and punished for our father ' s defaults- ) - ; . f insomuch that as Fernelius truly saith , it is the greatest part of * ' our felicity to be well-born , and it were happy for human kindt , f if only such parents as are sound of body and mind , should be ? 'suffered to marry . Quanto id djligentiqs in procreandis liberis ^ observandum || . " I . cannot help thinking , that the first chapter S > r twp of the Memoirs of Scriblerus whetted Sterne ' s invention . *
"When I go walking all alone , Recounting what I have ill done , My thoughts on me then tyrannize . Fear and sorrow me surprize ; Whether I tarry still or go Methinks the time moves very slotr . All my griefs to this are jolly , Nought so sad as melancholy , Sec . There is a dirept imitation of these verses in Voltaire ?* ' " ? Jean qui pleure , et Jean qui rit . '
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Comments On Sterne.
iancholy has always been a source of surreptitious learning ; Anthony a-Wood speaks of it as a compilation highly useful to Gentlemen " who were negligent at College ; and Archbishop Herring alledged that the wits who flourished under Queen Anne and George the First , were under great obligations to it f , In literature , the springs are commonly more copious than their derived streams , and
are therefore more highly honoured . But though this applies to Burton , and most of his imitators , it fails in respect-of Tristram Shandy , where , though much is directly drawn from our Author , there are many delightful windings , widely distant from his influence . I would therefore beware of imitating the rashness of a Travellerwho should fancy he had discovered the secret head of
, a mighty river , while , deceived by perfect intelligence , he had only explored the source of an auxiliary stream . The first four chapters of Tristram Shandy are founded on somepasssages in Burton , which I shall transcribe . Sterne ' s improvements I shall leave to your recollection .
" Filii ex senibus nati raro sunt firmi temperamenti , & c . Nam f spiritus cerebri si turn male afficiantur , tales procreant , & quale ? " fuerint affectus , tales filiorum , ex tristibus tristes , ex jucundis " jucundi nascuntur . " [ Cardan . 3 " If she" ( the mother ) " be " over dull , heavy , angry , peevish , discontented and melancholy , f not only at the time of conception , but even all the while she " carries the child in her womb ( saith Fernelius ) her son will be
f ' so likewise , and worse , as Lemnius adds , & c . So many " ways are we plagued and punished for our father ' s defaults- ) - ; . f insomuch that as Fernelius truly saith , it is the greatest part of * ' our felicity to be well-born , and it were happy for human kindt , f if only such parents as are sound of body and mind , should be ? 'suffered to marry . Quanto id djligentiqs in procreandis liberis ^ observandum || . " I . cannot help thinking , that the first chapter S > r twp of the Memoirs of Scriblerus whetted Sterne ' s invention . *
"When I go walking all alone , Recounting what I have ill done , My thoughts on me then tyrannize . Fear and sorrow me surprize ; Whether I tarry still or go Methinks the time moves very slotr . All my griefs to this are jolly , Nought so sad as melancholy , Sec . There is a dirept imitation of these verses in Voltaire ?* ' " ? Jean qui pleure , et Jean qui rit . '