Sterne, Laurence (1713-1768)

A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy.

London

Printed for T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt

1768

"The mind sits terrified at the objects she has magnified herself and blackened; reduce them to their proper size and hue she overlooks them."

I had some occasion (I forget what) to step into the court-yard, as I settled this account; and remember I walk'd down stairs in no small triumph with the conceit of my reasoning--Beshrew the sombre pencil! said I, vauntingly; for I envy not its powers, which paints the evils of life with so hard and deadly a colouring: the mind sits terrified at the objects she has magnified herself and blackened; reduce them to their proper size and hue she overlooks them--'Tis true, said I, correcting the proposition, the Bastile is not an evil to be despised--but strip it of its towers--fill up the fossè--unbarricade the doors-- call it simply a confinement, and suppose 'tis some tyrant of a distemper-- and not of a man which holds you in it--the evil vanishes, and you bear the other half without complaint.
(II, pp. 22-4)

Optics::Magnification Visual Arts

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First edition published February 27, 1768, in two issues (standard paper and large "imperial" paper issue).

See A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy. By Mr. Yorick., 2 vols. 2nd ed. (London: Printed for T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt, 1768). <Link to ESTC>

Reading Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey, ed. Paul Goring (New York and London: Penguin, 2001)

10/26/2013