"Oh, Sterne! thou art scabby, and such is the leprosy of thy mind that it is not to be cured like the leprosy of the body, by dipping nine times in the river Jordan."
— Whitefield, George (1714-1770)
Place of Publication
London
Date
1760
Metaphor
"Oh, Sterne! thou art scabby, and such is the leprosy of thy mind that it is not to be cured like the leprosy of the body, by dipping nine times in the river Jordan."
Metaphor in Context
Oh, Sterne! thou art scabby, and such is the leprosy of thy mind that it is not to be cured like the leprosy of the body, by dipping nine times in the river Jordan. Thy prophane history of Tristram Shandy is as it were an anti-gospel, and seems to have been penned by the hand of Antichrist himself; it tends to excite laughter, but you should remember that the wisest man that ever was, that the great king Solomon himself said of laughter " it is mad," and of mirth "what doth it?" Sterne! (for brother I can no longer call [end page 2] thee, though I look upon the clergy of the Church of England as my brethren, when they discharge conscientiously the duties of their function) Sterne , apostate Sterne! if Solomon was now alive, he would not put the question "What doth mirth." Thy book would fully shew him, that mirth is nearly akin to wickedness, and that the tickling of laughter is occasioned but the obscene Devil.
(pp. 3-4)
(pp. 3-4)
Categories
Provenance
Reading in ECCO
Citation
2 entries in ESTC (1760, 1761).
Whitefield, George. A Letter from the Rev. George Whitfield, B.A. to the Rev. Laurence Sterne, M.A. the Supposed Author of a Book Entitled 'The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman' (London, 1760). <Link to ESTC>
Whitefield, George. A Letter from the Rev. George Whitfield, B.A. to the Rev. Laurence Sterne, M.A. the Supposed Author of a Book Entitled 'The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman' (London, 1760). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
10/06/2008
