The Lady and Yorick ("In the Street. Calais.") — vignette for Laurence Sterne's A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, first published in 1768. Wood-engraving, 6.8 cm high by 8.2 cm wide, top of p. 21. In the 1841 edition, the illustrators employ this illustration to mark the transition from Yorick's writing his hiring the désobligeant and setting off for Paris — with the beautiful native of Flanders accompanying him on the first leg. Here, Monsieur Dessein fumbles with the keys to the lock on the remise as York and the lady wait to be admitted to the carriage-house of the hotel. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Passage Illustrated
Monsieur Dessein had diabled the key above fifty times before he had found out he had come with a wrong one in his hand: we were as impatient as himself to have it opened; and so attentive to the obstacle that I continued holding her hand almost without knowing it: so that Monsieur Dessein left us together with her hand in mine, and with our faces turned towards the door of the Remise, and said he would be back in five minutes. ["In the Street. Calais," p. 21]
Relevant illustrations of Laurence Sterne from the 1792, 1841 and 1857 editions
Left: Thomas Stothard's study of the Calais street scene, with the désobligeant in the background, Yorick, the Lady, and the Monk (1792). Right: In second full-page wood-engraving of the 1857 edition, Tony Johannot shows Dessein opening the door in the background as Yorick and the Monk arrange the snuff-box exchange in the foreground, Sterne and the Monk — the Snuff-box [sic] (1857).
Above: Tony Johannot's study of the door to the carriage-house, The Remise Door (1857).
Bibliography
Sterne, Laurence. A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy by Mr. Yorick. Illustrated by Thomas Stothard. London: J. Good, No. 159, New Bond Street; and E. and S. Harding, No. 102, Pall Mall, 1792.
Sterne, Laurence. A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. Illustrated with one hundred engravings on wood, by Bastin and G. Nichols, from original designs by Jacque and Fussell. London: Joseph Thomas, 1841.
Sterne, Laurence. A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. With 100 illustrations by Tony Johannot. London: Willoughby, 1857.
Last modified 30 September 2018