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.

[Footnote A: Sterne was buried in the ground belonging to the parish of
St. George's, Hanover Square, situated in the Bayswater Road. His funeral
was "attended only by two gentlemen in a mourning coach, no bell tolling;"
and his grave has been described as "distinguished by a plain headstone,
set up with an unsuitable inscription, by a tippling fraternity of
Freemasons." In 1761, long before his death, was published a satire on the
tendencies of his writings, mixed with a good deal of personal censure, in
a pamphlet entitled "A Funeral Discourse, occasioned by the much lamented
death of Mr. Yorick, preached before a very mixed society of Jemmies,
Jessamies, Methodists, and Christians, at a nocturnal meeting in Petticoat
Lane; by Christopher Flagellan, A.M." As one of the minor "Curiosities of
Literature" this tract is worth noting; its author, in a preface, says
that "it has been _maliciously_, or rather _stupidly_, reported that the
late Mr. Sterne, alias Yorick, is not dead; but that, on the contrary, he
is writing a fifth and sixth, and has carried his plan as far as a
fiftieth and sixtieth volume of the book called 'The Life and Opinions of
Tristram Shandy;' but they are rather to be attributed to his ghastly
ghost, which is said to walk the purlieus of Covent Garden and Drury
Lane."--ED.]

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 d