I.--the admirable but very flatteringly idealized
sketch of the author himself in Yorick, and the Gilrayesque caricature
of Dr. Slop--are drawn with a distinctly polemical purpose, defensive
in the former case and offensive in the latter. On the other hand,
with the disappearance of Dr. Slop caricature of living persons
disappears also; while, after the famous description of Yorick's
death-bed, we meet with no more attempts at self-vindication. It
seems probable, therefore, that long before the first two volumes
were completed Sterne had discovered the artistic possibilities of
"My Uncle Toby" and "Corporal Trim," and had realized the full
potentialities of humour contained in the contrast between the
two brothers Shandy. The very work of sharpening and deepening the
outlines of this humorous antithesis, while it made the crack-brained
philosopher more and more of a burlesque unreality, continually added
new touches of life and nature to the lineaments of the simple-minded
soldier; and it was by this curious and half-accidental process that
there came to be added to the gallery of English fiction one of the
most perfect and delightful portraits that it possesses.
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