" This, however,
can hardly count for much. If Warburton had really wished Sterne to
abstain from caricaturing him, he would be as anxious--and for much
the same reasons--to conceal the fact as to suppress the caricature.
He would naturally have the disclosure of it reported to Sterne
for formal contradiction, as in fulfilment of a virtual term in the
bargain between them. The epithet of "irrevocable scoundrel," which
he afterwards applied to Sterne, is of less importance, as proceeding
from Warburton, than it would have been had it come from any one not
habitually employing Warburton's peculiar vocabulary; but it at least
argues no very cordial feeling on the Bishop's side. And, on the
whole, one regrets to feel, as I must honestly confess that I do feel,
far less confident of the groundlessness of this rather unpleasant
story than could be wished. It is impossible to forget, however, that
while the ethics of this matter were undoubtedly less strict in those
days than they are--or, at any rate, are recognized as being--in our
own, there is nothing in Sterne's character to make us suppose him to
have been at all in advance of the morality of his time.
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