But Sterne himself says--in writing
a year or so afterwards to a lady of his acquaintance--"I hope I have
been of some service to his lordship, and he has sufficiently requited
me;" and in the face of this plain assertion, confirmed as it is by
the fact that Lord Falconberg was on terms of friendly intimacy with
the Vicar of Coxwold at a much later date than this, we may dismiss
idle tales about Sterne's having "black-mailed" the patron out of a
presentation to a benefice worth no more, after all, than some 70L a
year net.
There is somewhat more substance, however, in the scandal which got
abroad with reference to a certain alleged transaction between Sterne
and Warburton. Before Sterne had been many days in London, and while
yet his person and doings were the natural subjects of the newest
gossip, a story found its way into currency to the effect that the
new-made Bishop of Gloucester had found it advisable to protect
himself against the satiric humour of the author of the _Tristram
Shandy_ by a substantial present of money. Coming to Garrick's ears,
it was repeated by him--whether seriously or in jest--to Sterne,
from whom it evoked a curious letter, which in Madame de Medalle's
collection has been studiously hidden away amongst the correspondence
of seven years later.
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