Mr. Fitzgerald, through an oversight in
translation, and understanding Sterne to say that he himself, and
not his correspondent, Hall Stevenson, was "quadraginta et plus annos
natus," has referred it to an earlier date. The point, however, is of
no great importance, as the untranslatable passage in the letter would
be little less unseemly in 1754 or 1755 than in 1768, at the beginning
of which year, since the letter is addressed from London to Hall
Stevenson, then in Yorkshire, it must, in fact, have been written.]
His wife and daughter were about to rejoin him in the autumn, and he
looked forward to settling them at a hired house in York before going
up to town to publish his new volumes. On the 1st of October the two
ladies arrived at York, and the next day the reunited family went on
to Coxwold. The meeting with the daughter gave Sterne one of the
few quite innocent pleasures which he was capable of feeling; and
he writes next day to Mr. and Mrs. James in terms of high pride
and satisfaction of his recovered child. "My girl has returned,"
he writes, in the language of playful affection, "an elegant,
accomplished little slut.
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