"
The volumes, however, which earned "the fellow" this Episcopal
benediction were not given to the world till the next year. At the
end of May or beginning of June, 1760, Sterne went to his new home
at Coxwold, and his letters soon begin to show him to us at work upon
further records of Mr. Shandy's philosophical theory-spinning and the
simpler pursuits of his excellent brother. It is probable that this
year, 1760, was, on the whole, the happiest year of Sterne's life.
His health, though always feeble, had not yet finally given way;
and though the "vile cough" which was to bring him more than once to
death's door, and at last to force it open, was already troubling him,
he had that within him which made it easy to bear up against all
such physical ills. His spirits, in fact, were at their highest. His
worldly affairs were going at least as smoothly as they ever went.
He was basking in that sunshine of fame which was so delightful to a
temperament differing from that of the average Englishman, as does the
physique of the Southern races from that of the hardier children of
the North; and lastly, he was exulting in a new-born sense of creative
power which no doubt made the composition of the earlier volumes of
_Tristram_ a veritable labour of love.
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