Excerpt from The Works of Laurence Sterne, Vol. 3: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Notwithstanding all this and much else from the learned wits, Sterne really borrowed, in the passages whereby Sterne is Sterne, nothing beyond the usual practice Of men Of letters in all times. Art is all materiam superabat opus, says an Old writer presently to be quoted again. 'tis the placing, he goes on to say, of the gay feathers you take from others, and ordering 'em in such deli cate Lights and Shades, that only makes 'em so inimitably Beautiful and Lovely. That art Of placing, ordering, and transfusing with his own genius, Sterne had to a most remark able degree. The shom sheep, the fly Of King James, and the sinner's penitent tear were as nothing before they received from Sterne the last touch Of art and Of form. Bishop War burton once presented this master in letters with a parcel of books for the improvement Of his style.

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