itution, for in the Spring of 1762 he broke a blood vessel, and
again in the same Autumn he "bled the bed full," owing, as he says, to
the temperature of Paris, which was "as hot as Nebuchadnezzar's oven."
He complains of the fatigue of writing and preaching, and these
dangerous attacks were constantly recurring, until the time of his
death.

Sterne's sermons went through seven editions. They are not doctrinal,
but enjoin benevolence and charity. There is not so much humour in them
as in some of the present day, but he sometimes gives point to his
reflections.

On the subject of religious fanaticism he says:--

"When a poor disconsolate drooping creature is terrified from all
enjoyments--prays without ceasing till his imagination is
heated--fasts and mortifies and mopes till his body is in as bad a
plight as his mind, is it a wonder that the mechanical disturbances
and conflicts of an empty belly, interpreted by an empty head,
should be mistaken for the workings of a different kind to what
they are? or that in such a situation every commotion should help
to fix him in this malady, and make him a fitter subject for the
treatment of a physician than of a divine.

"The insolence of base minds in success is boundless--not unlike
some little particles of matter struck off from the surface of the
dial by the sunshine, they dance and sport there while it lasts,
but the moment it is withdrawn they fall down--for dust they are,
and unto dust they will return.

"When Absalom is cast down, Shimei is the first man who hastens to
meet David; and had the wheel turned round a hundred times. Shimei,
I dare say, at every period of its rotation, would have been
uppermost. Oh, Shimei! would to heaven when thou wast slain, that
all thy family had been slain with thee, and not one of thy
resemblance left! but ye have multiplied exceedingly and
replenished the earth; and if I prophecy rightly, ye will in the
end subdue it."

Dr. Johnson speaks of "the man Sterne," and was jealous of his receiving
so many more invitations than himself. But the good Doctor with all his
learning and intellectual endowments was not so pleasant a companion as
Sterne, and, although sometimes sarcastic, had none of his talent for
humour.

Johnson wrote some pretty Anacreontics, but his turn of mind was rather
grave than gay. He was generally pompou