the mule, what you have done.-—It was not I, said Obadiah-How do I know that? replied my father."*

Un petit garçon de Paris apella un autre, fils de putain, qui s'en prit à pleurer, et le vint dire à sa mere, qui lui dit: que me lui as-tu dit qu'il avoit menti? Et que savois-je, dit il.

The Moyen de Parvenir has all the abruptness, and quickness of transition, which Sterne was so fond of assuming. There is also some galimatias, though not so much as in Rabelais. I own it is possible, that Sterne may have found this turn in some other book, for Beroalde has furnished subjects of pillage to a great number of authors. He mentions a curious badge of party, which I think Sterne would have noticed, if he had been acquainted with the book. Je me souviens qu' aux seconds troubles

* Tristram Shandy, vol. v. chap. iii.
Moyen de Parvenir, tom. i. p. 69.

nous etions en garnison à la Charité. Etant en garde s'il passoit un homme avec une braguette, nous l'apellions Papiste, et la lui coupions; c'etoit mal fait, d'autant que sous tel signe

y

à de grandes mysteres quelquefois cachés.-Je m' en repentis, et m' en allai à Cosne, ou nous nous fimes soldats derechef, et nous mismes es bandes catholiques. Il nous avint une autre cause de remords de conscience; c'est que voyant ces èbraguetés, les disions Huguenots."*

The detection of imitations is certainly, in many cases, decided by taste, more than by reasoning; the investigation is slow, but the conviction is rapid.

The skilful miner thus each cranny tries,
Where wrapt in dusky rocks the crystal lies,
Slow on the varying surface tracks his spoil,
Oft' leaves, and oft renews his patient toil;
Till to his watchful eye the secret line
Betrays the rich recesses of the mine;
Then the rude portals to his stroke give way;
Th' imprison'd glories glitter on the day.

*Moyen de Parvenir, tom. i. p. 59.

It is sufficiently evident, from the works of Sterne's Eugenius,* that he, at least, was deeply read in Beroalde, who wanted nothing but decency to render him an universal favourite. +

Theodore Agrippa D'Aubigné is well known by his historical works, in which, valuable and interesting as they are, he has not always been able to conceal his satirical disposition. In his Baron de Faneste, with all the extravagance of the Gascon, we are so constantly recalled to right and severe reason by the other characters, that it almost produces the full effect of genuine history on our minds. We discover, in every page, the caustic moralist, the uncorrupted and indignant courtier, unable to conceal the

* John Hall Stevenson, Esq. of Skelton Castle.

This doubt is now completely removed, by a copy of the Moyen de Parvenir, which I received from Mr. Heber. The blank leaf contains Sterne's Autograph, L. Sterne, a Paris, 8 livres; and the book, as Mr. Heber observed, bears evident marks of its having been frequently turned over.

foibles of a monarch, whom he loved and served but too faithfully, and im patient of those who acquired the favour of Henry, by shewing more indulgence to his weaknesses. This book may be considered, in some measure, as a supplement to his general history, for it contains much secret anecdote, as well as the most curious particulars respecting

manners.

Perhaps the story of Pautrot, and the lady de Noaillé, in this book, suggested to Sterne the scene with the Piedmontese lady, in his Sentimental Journey.

There is stronger reason to believe that Sterne took the hint of beginning some of his sermons, in a startling and unusual manner, from this source. D'Aubigné, who seems to have been a man of deep religious impressions, has exposed, with equal keenness, the extravagancies of the monks, and of the ministers. He men tions one of the latter, who began a ser mon thus: Par la vertu de Dieu, par la

mort de Dieu, par la chair de Dieu, par le sang de Dieu; and added after a long pause, nous sommes sauvez et delivrez de l' enfer. Several instances in the same taste, but not so well authenticated, may be found in the Passé Temps agréable.

I must here vindicate Sterne from a charge of plagiarism, which has been made from inattention to dates. It bas been said, that he borrowed much from the history of Friar Gerund; and many parallel passages have been cited (as they well might) to prove the assertion. The truth is, that the history of Friar Gerund, composed by Father Isla, to ridicule the absurdities of the itinerant Spanish preachers, was published in Spain, the very same year in which the two first volumes of Tristram Shandy appeared. It was translated into English, several years afterwards, by a clergyman, who thought proper to imitate, in his translation, the style of Tristram Shandy, then extremely popular. If any plagiarisms.exist, there