Nunc aliquam felis quis nibh eleifend iaculis. Sed mollis, nulla et pharetra tincidunt, sem tortor rhoncus ipsum, eu porttitor sem massa vitae felis. Etiam gravida tempor turpis, non dignissim nunc malesuada sit amet.

This was Leslie’s most famous composition which he painted several times. For the Victorians the image became an instantly recognizable symbol of flirtatiousness. The situation represented is that of Widow Wadman inviting Uncle Toby to help her remove an object from her eye. Uncle Toby has to look very closely as there is ‘neither mote, or sand, or dust, or chaff …There is nothing; the Widow has invented the problem to lure Tristram’s uncle closer until he is mesmerized by her beauty that causes the old soldier to fall head-over-heels in love with her.

The image was used as a design for Pratt Pot lids in advertising. There are larger versions of this painting in both the V&A and the Tate but evidence on the stretcher suggests that this painting was made from the original drawing.

The painting was chosen to take part in ‘Yorkshire’s Favourite Paintings’ because, like Shandy Hall, the house where it is on display, it is part of a story that is unusual, entertaining, absurd and delightful.

Richard Chapman, a lawyer living in Oulston, North Yorkshire, less than two miles from Coxwold, regularly attended services in St Michael’s Church in the period when Laurence Sterne was the incumbent. Chapman was the land agent for Earl Fauconberg, the local landowner, and he had a great deal to do with Coxwold, which was essentially the estate village. The Earl lived for most of the year at his London residence in George Street, Hanover Square, and during the social season Chapman wrote every week to let him know what was happening on the estate and in the village. Most of the details of the letters are mundane: the weather, repairs to estate buildings, rents and wages, harvesting of crops and gelding of stallions. Chapman earns his place in literary history by virtue of the fact that he also commented on Sterne’s activities as a clergyman and his performance as a preacher.

Chapman’s letters appear to be one of only two eye-witness accounts of Sterne’s preaching – and they are very revealing. Sterne was presented to the perpetual curacy of Coxwold in March 1760 and as early as 20 July of the same year Chapman was reporting that his ‘Doctrine, (tho Chiefly Extempory) takes So well amongs the Congregation that the Church can Scarce Contain the number of People that appear every Sunday.’ Fourteen months later there were two successive letters which further attested to Sterne’s pastoral concerns and to his popular appeal. On 20 September 1761 Sterne and his churchwardens bought from Chapman a Scotch ox ‘which is to be roasted whole’ in celebration of the coronation of George III, which took place in Westminster Abbey on 22 September. Furthermore we are told ‘Mr Sterne hath prevailed with me to give e’m [Sterne and the church wardens] a Bushel of wheat for Bread so that all the Poor in the Parish may be Satisfied—there will also be a Collection for a Drink for e’m–.’ At this time a bushel of wheat contained 9 gallons – 72 Troy pounds – and would have made nearly 90 standard one-pound loaves. As his responses to the Archbishop’s Visitation of 1743 also show, Sterne was genuinely concerned for the material as well as spiritual welfare of his flock.

The following week Chapman sent a report of the celebrations to the Earl: ‘in the first place a very fine ox with his Hornes gild was laid down whole before the fire in the middle of the Town Street about nine oClock in the Morning, at half past roasting The Bells put in for Church, where an Excelent Sermon was Preached Extempory on the Occation by Mr Sterne, and gave great Content to every Hearer, the Church was quite full, both quire and Isle to the very Door, and the Text &c you will see both in the London and York Papers about 3 oClock the Ox was cut up and distributed amongst those who could not get nearest to e’m, Ringing of Bells Squibs and Crackers Tarr-Barrills and Bonefires &c and a Ball in the Evening concluded the Joyfull Day.’ This clearly was one of the great days in the history of Coxwold.

In both accounts the Earl is told, Sterne preaches ‘Extempory.’ This creates a slight puzzle. The text of the sermon preached for the coronation was indeed recorded in the newspapers: the York Courant reported: ‘At the village of Coxwould that Day was celebrated in the following manner: A large Ox was roasted whole, with his Head on and Horns gilt, and all the Parishioners invited to Dinner after Divine Service, which was perform’d by the Rev. Mr. Sterne; who on that Occasion, preach’d a sermon from 2 Chron. XV, 14,15. And they sware unto the Lord with a loud Voice, and with Shouting, and with Trumpets, and with Cornets. And all Judah rejoiced at the Oath.’ This sermon was published after Sterne’s death as ‘Asa: a Thanksgiving Sermon’ (number XIII in Sermons by the late Rev. Mr. Sterne, 1769). The problem is reconciling Chapman’s description of the occasion as being extempore and the subsequent publication of the text. There are two possible explanations: that Sterne did indeed preach extempore and then wrote down a version of what he had delivered, which was subsequently published; alternatively, he wrote out the sermon first, committed it more or less to memory, and then delivered it as if it were extempore. This would have enabled him to make eye-contact with his congregation and enhance the effectiveness of his delivery.

The latter version is the more likely and accords with the initial advertisements for the first two volumes of his sermons, which appeared in the York press in 1760, and described them as ‘the dramatick sermons of Mr. Yorick.’

Chapman’s letters also provide us with more mundane aspects of Sterne’s life in Coxwold: he needs stabling for his horses, and he is involved with the assessment of rents. A more lasting contribution to the village is to be found in the letters which describe the alterations to St Michael’s Church which, we are told, are to a plan devised by Sterne himself. It is most unfortunate that the plan of the alterations to the church, which Chapman tells the Earl is in Sterne’s own hand, has been separated from the relevant letter and appears to be lost. As it is generally believed that the idiosyncratic garden front on Shandy Hall is to Sterne’s design, it would have been very useful to have had his plan of the new church interior as evidence of his architectural skills both in planning and drawing. A lighter side to village life, and one which suggests the social aspirations of Mrs Sterne, is to be found in the letter discussing her postilion.

The letter which mistakenly reports Sterne’s death will be discussed more fully in the section ‘Sterne’s lives and deaths’ which is in preparation and will appear during the summer.

The Laurence Sterne Trust is indebted to the North Yorkshire County Record Office for permission to reproduce these documents, and particularly to Keith Sweetmore for arranging the photography and permission.

The Trust is also most grateful to Hambleton District Council for a grant towards those parts of this website which deal with matters of local interest.

W. G. DAY

The Right Honble the Earl Fauconberg

London

Date-stamped: 19 March

Remains of red wax seal

My Lord                                                                      Newborough 16th March 1760

Old John Raper was with me to Day, to desire I would acquaint your Lordship that he hath a Son that’s a Parson, if yr Ldship would be pleased to give him Coxwold Living, if so, he has an Organ of his own Making, which he wou’d make a present of to the Church; he hath a bad Character and has behaved very Ill for which Mr Hugill Discharged him from Smeaton; he’s now Curate for Mr Sterne at Sutton; We have had fine Seasonable Weather for this Fortnight past and the Roads are now very good I am

My Lord

Your Lordships Most
Obdt: Hble Servant

Richd:: Chapman

John Raper: John Raper was one of Lord Fauconberg’s tenants in Coxwold.

a Son that’s a Parson: William Raper, originally a farm boy from Coxwold was Sterne’s curate in Sutton, where his first entry in the parish register is dated 23 November 1759. He was not a university-trained cleric.

Living: the term used to describe a position in the Church of England.

Hugill: The Hugills were a family from Great Smeaton, several of whom held the local living. This particular member is not recorded in the Church of England database.

The Right Honble the Earl Fauconberg

London

My Lord                                                                                                          Newborough 23d March 1760

I am extreamly Glad your Lordship hath thought proper to Nominate Mr Sterne to Coxwold living, of which I have acquainted Mrs: Wilkinson this Day, and got Mr Wilkinsons Nomination which I have Sent Inclosed; I Should be glad to know if I am to pay to Mrs Wilkinson this half Years Sallary due Lady Day 1760 —-

Nominate: Historically individuals and institutions not formally part of the Church of England had the right to nominate clergy to a particular living. Though many of these anomalies have been abolished some still remain, most notably among the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge and certain public schools, such as Winchester and Eton. There are even a few individuals still retaining this right. Lord Fauconberg’s nomination of Sterne, dated 28 March 1760, is in Sterne’s own hand-writing and an illustration of it may be found in L.P. Curtis’ edition of Sterne’s Letters, facing p. 102.

Mr Wilkinson: Richard Wilkinson, like William Raper (see above), a cleric without a university degree, had been made Sterne’s assistant curate at Sutton-on-the-Forest on 14 June 1740, where he stayed for approximately two years. On the same day he was made assistant curate at Sheriff Hutton, Farlington Chapel. He had been nominated to Coxwold by Lord Fauconberg on 23 October 1753 and had died there on 12 March 1760.

Lady Day: 25 March – one of the four quarter days on which rents and salaries were conventionally due. It appears the cleric of Coxwold was paid half-yearly rather than every three months, which would have required a degree of economic planning.

Newborough 1st June 1760

I am Extremely Sorry to hear by yours of the Death of my good Lady. This Meloncholy newse hath Struck me so, that I am Disabled from Writing. I Condole with your Honr, in the Loss of so good a Sister, and so Tender a parent none more Amiable and Affectionate than her Ladyship was to all about her, which will render her loss to the Immoderate grief of her Ladyships Family, as also all those her acquaintance

I Shall take Care to get Dark Gray Coates for the Hospital Men and Women, and do every thing that you think is Necessary on the Occasion. Mr Sterne Dines with my Bror, to Morrow and shall then let him know the Contents of yours; I Should be glad to know if your Honr. Or his Lordship think it proper that my Self or any other Should meet the Corpse at York or any part in the Road, I am

Honrd, Sir

Yours Honrs Most Obdt:

Hble Servant

Richd: Chapman

Honrd. Sir: the letter is addressed to the Earl’s brother, the Hon Mr Belasyse, whose fore-name is not recorded.

my good Lady: The Countess of Fauconberg, née Catherine, daughter and heiress of John Betham, alias Fowler, of Rowington, Warwickshire. She married Thomas Belasyse, fourth Viscount Fauconberg, on 5 August 1726. He was elevated on 16 June 1756 to become the first Earl Fauconberg of Newburgh (of the second creation – the first Fauconberg earldom had lapsed with the death of Thomas Belasyse in 1700). She died at the Earl’s London house in George Street, Hanover Square on 29 May 1760. This was Sterne’s first contact with the family in his new position.

Hospital Men and Women: the inhabitants of the two alms-houses, set up for the elderly and indigent. One was endowed for ten men who each received four pounds a year; the other for ten women, who were each given two pounds. In the Visitation Return to the Archbishop of York in the summer of 1764, Sterne wrote: ‘There are two Hospitals endowed by Thomas Earl Fauconberg an Ancestor to the present Earl.—every Thing is well ordered in these Hospitals.’ The reference to ‘Thomas Earl Fauconberg’ is an reference to the Earl Fauconberg of the first creation.

The Right Honble the Earl of Fauconberg

London

Date-stamped: 9 [July] and place stamped: EASING / WOULD

Remains of black wax seal

My Lord                                                                                                               Newborough 6th July 1760

Last Tuesday Mr Sterne went along with me to Sutton in order to give his Assistance
in Settleing the Rentals and Assessmts, which was not agreed to till that Day, and I have Inclosed
Sent your Lordship every Freeholders Seperate Rental (with the Assessmt: at 3d p pound) as it was
then Agreed to, and the Small Tenants of 20s and under are left out as they are all of ’em poor
people, in order to save them the Expense of the Window Duty —

Sutton: Sterne was one of the Commissioners for the Land Tax for the township of Sutton and in that capacity signed the annual statements of the amounts each individual was required to pay.

20s and under: under an Act of Parliament of 1432 (10 Hen. 6, c. 2), it was necessary to hold a freehold worth forty shillings in order to have a vote. The poor tenants referred to here are not entitled to vote.

Window Duty: there was no income tax at this point in British history. A window tax had been introduced in 1696 under William III and was intended to be relative to the taxpayer’s wealth based upon the standard of his accommodation. When the tax was introduced, it was levied in two parts: a flat-rate house tax of 2 shillings per house and an additional variable tax for houses with more than ten windows. Dwellings with between ten and twenty windows paid a total of four shillings, while those above twenty windows paid eight shillings. The number of qualifying windows changed in 1766.

The Right Honble the Earl Fauconberg

London

Date-stamped: 23 July

Remains of black wax seal

Newborough 20^th July 1760

I gave Your Lordships Sirvice to M^r Sterne, whose Doctrine, (tho Chiefly Extempory) takes So well amongs the Congregation that the Church can Scarce Contain the Number of People that appear every Sunday.

I am

My Lord

Your Lordhsips Most

Obd^t: Hble Servant

Rich^d: Chapman

Chiefly Extempory: this may explain why, though a clergyman for the best part of three decades, there are relatively few surviving sermons written by Sterne.

Number: it is estimated that 200 people could have fit into Coxwold Church.

The Right Honble the Earl Fauconberg

London

Date-stamped: 10 August

Remains of red wax seal

Newborough 6th August 1761

Mr Sterne is very much put about for want of a Stable, he has been at me Sevl: times to mention it to              your Lordship, if you will please to let one be Built for four or five Stands he will pay your Lordship Twelve pence p pound for what it Costs Building, which may be added to the Rent —–

Stable: the stable block was built and may be seen at Shandy Hall. Some of the original stalls are still in situ.

The Right Honble the Earl Fauconberg

London

Indistinct date stamp; place stamp EASING / WOULD

Remains of red wax seal

Newborough 6^th Sep^r: 1761

They have pul’d up my Seat in the Church, in the Corner of which they have put up part of the Pulpit, as Some other Seats are puld up and those Standing are full, I Shall beg lieve to go into your Lordships Pew for a few Sundays till we are set right again

Seat: this letter refers to an extensive re-organisation of the interior of the St Michael’s, Coxwold, apparently at Sterne’s behest (see letters below). The more important parishioners would have had their own named place in a pew or even, as in the case of the Earl, pews reserved for the family and servants. They would probably have been box pews, of which a fine set survives at Holy Trinity, Goodramgate, York.