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55 pages 1 hour read

Laurence Sterne

A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1768

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Chapters 24-32Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 24-26 Summary

Yorick recounts the poor people whom crowd around him whenever he leaves an inn. He tells his readers to be kind to them, though admits that he rarely gives them any money, as he has no money to give. As Yorick leaves, he encounters such a crowd and considers giving away a small amount of money. When he has given away all of his money, he notices a “pauvre honteux” (25), whom he missed. Yorick gives the man some money, but he is “ashamed to say how much” (25) and then enters his carriage.

They depart; Yorick rides in the carriage, while La Fleur travels on a small horse. Before they get far, the horse is spooked by the body of a dead donkey on the roadside and it bucks La Fleur, who is then forced to ride in the carriage with Yorick.

After a short ride, they arrive at the post house in Nampont. There, they meet the owner of the dead donkey, who is still in mourning. A crowd has gathered around, intrigued by the “simplicity of his grief” (27) and they discover that the old man has traveled all the way from Germany. After losing two of his three sons to smallpox, the man had made a treatise with the heavens to save the third, offering a pilgrimage to Spain in exchange. The donkey died during the journey. The man’s story moves Yorick. 

Chapters 27-29 Summary

Before Yorick can hear the end of the story, he is interrupted by the postilion and the sound of horses along the street. After the noise passes, Yorick tries to return to the story but finds that he “could no more get into it again” (28) and falls asleep while travelling to Amiens.

The woman Yorick met in Calais was heading to Amiens and he remembers while en route. Almost as soon as they arrive in the town, he spots the carriage she used with her brother. She spies Yorick and gestures to him, which he takes as an indication of her interest. Later, while eating supper, one of her servants arrives with a letter, asking for him to deliver it to a friend of hers in Paris, Madame R---. Additionally, if Yorick ever passes through Brussels, he should call upon the woman. He debates whether he should visit upon his return from Italy. Lamenting his perpetual lovesickness and the fact that he has sworn “eternal fidelity” (29) to Eliza, he decides against it.

The servant who delivered the letter is taken for a drink of wine by La Fleur, who charms everyone he meets at the woman’s hotel and is soon playing a tune on his fife for a small audience in the kitchen. The woman hears the commotion and requests an audience with La Fleur. When they meet, La Fleur showers the woman in compliments on behalf of Yorick. He claims that he has forgotten the letter Yorick wrote for the woman and runs back to collect it. Yorick is eating his supper when La Fleur returns; the servant says that if Yorick does wish to write the woman a letter, then he has created the perfect opportunity to deliver it. Yorick, not sure of his “etiquette” (30), had not written a letter, and decides to do so. However, he finds himself in “no mood to write” (30). Seeing Yorick struggle, La Fleur offers to show him a letter he is carrying, written by “a drummer in his regiment to a corporal’s wife” (30). They read the letter together, searching for inspiration. 

Chapters 30-32 Summary

The letter is written by a man to his lover, whom he promises to meet while her husband is away. Yorick finds himself inspired and–after changing a few details–writes his own letter to the woman. La Fleur delivers it; the next morning, they set off for Paris.

They arrive in Paris and Yorick describes the wealth and status of the city. Catching his own reflection, he realizes how underdressed and underprepared he is for the city. Deciding that he needs to see a barber, Yorick sends La Fleur to make an appointment and thinks about his meeting with the woman’s friend, Madame de R---.

When the barber arrives, he “refus’d to have anything to do with [Yorick’s] wig” (32) and fits a ready-made replacement. The appointment takes so long that Yorick has to delay his meeting with Madame de R---. 

Chapters 24-32 Analysis

At many points in A Sentimental Journey, Yorick finds himself struggling to deal with the etiquette of a certain situation. Whether it is the monk begging for money, the poor people surrounding him at the door, or the letter he attempts to write for the woman, Yorick struggles to know exactly how to behave. Part of this is down to his character, but it can also be attributed to the nature of the book. Travel writing, by design, places the author into unfamiliar situations. When Yorick is trying to determine “whether [he] ought to have wrote or no” (30), he is attempting to navigate the social conventions of mainland Europe as a British person. That this is conveyed in the narrative helps to delineate the genre of travel writing.

In this situation, it can help to compare and contrast the reactions of La Fleur and Yorick. The former is a Frenchman, the latter an Englishman. As they are in France, La Fleur seems to have a far greater grasp of how best Yorick should react. He knows instinctively that a letter should have been written, so manufactures a circumstance (at his own social expense) in which he can provide Yorick with an opportunity to address this social faux pas. He tells the woman that Yorick did indeed write to her, but that it is he–La Fleur–who has made the error and forgotten the letter.

However, when it comes to the actual writing, Yorick once again flounders. Though he is a professional writer and far better with his words than La Fleur, both characters recognize that his first attempts to communicate with the woman are disastrous. Yorick can “no way please” (30) himself, while La Fleur recognizes the struggle and offers Yorick a solution. He provides the letter he is meant to deliver and suggests that it be used as a template. The social circumstances of the letter are completely different to Yorick’s own; it is written by “a drummer […] to a corporal’s wife” (30), suggesting that an illicit affair is taking place, while Yorick is addressing an aristocratic woman with whom he has shared a stilting conversation and a brief imprisonment in a carriage. Nevertheless, Yorick accepts La Fleur’s suggestion, bowing to his servant’s better knowledge of French social conventions. The etiquette is strange and foreign, but in following La Fleur’s advice, Yorick becomes part of the travel narrative. He learns to write like a Frenchman and follow French social expectations, copying many of his words wholesale from an authentic letter. Yorick is detailing the minutiae of French life for a British audience, providing them insight into a foreign culture through the lens of his own personal struggles. 

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