Sterne wrote the pamphlet in an attempt to improve his career as a clergyman in the Church of England. Sterne's patron John Fountayne had an ongoing rivalry with another ecclesiastical figure, Francis Topham; in 1758, Topham began a pamphlet war airing some of his longstanding grievances. Sterne's A Political Romance was the fourth and final pamphlet in the debate. It harshly mocks Topham, supporting Fountayne's version of events. After the allegorical narrative, the work includes an equally-satirical key, and two letters by Sterne. The pamphlet was suppressed soon after publication: the Archbishop of York considered it embarrassing, and requested Sterne to burn all available copies. He did so, keeping only his original manuscript; until 1905, it was believed that all original printed copies were lost, and only six accidental survivors are now known.
Despite the poor reception of the pamphlet, it provided a crucial turning point in Sterne's career. The short satire was his first work of fiction; having discovered his talent for humour writing at the age of 46, he dedicated the rest of his life to it. His highly successful serial novel, Tristram Shandy (1759–67), began to appear within the year.
Background
John Fountayne, the Dean of York. Sterne wrote A Political Romance with the goal of currying favour from Fountayne.
At the time of writing, Sterne was an Anglican clergyman in Sutton-on-the-Forest, North Yorkshire, hoping to gain a better position from John Fountayne, the Dean of York.[1]Fountayne was a college acquaintance of Sterne's; when Fountayne was appointed as Dean in 1747, Sterne looked to him for patronage.[2] Among other favours for Fountayne, Sterne maintained copies of all of Fountayne's correspondence with an ambitious ecclesiastical lawyer, Francis Topham, documenting their bitter rivalry.[3][a] Topham felt that Fountayne unfairly overlooked him when granting the land patent for Pocklington and Pickering, which Fountayne gave to a Dr. Braithwaite and then (in 1751) to Sterne.[5][b] Topham spread a rumour that Fountayne had promised him the post and betrayed his word; Fountayne denounced Topham's version of events at a public dinner.[8][9] Other grievances included a disagreement about a temporary preacher to be appointed at York Minster,[10][11] and another minor post that Fountayne granted to a William Stables rather than to Topham.[12] In 1758, Topham wanted John Gilbert (the new Archbishop of York) to grant him a prestigious post permanently, removing the ability for future archbishops to redistribute the post.[13] Fountayne opposed Topham and the post was not granted, spurring Topham to lash out publicly in what became a small pamphlet war.[14][15] Although the pamphlets primarily address the decade-old conflict about Pocklington and Pickering, Sterne's A Political Romance firmly argues that Topham's motivation was the more recent snub from the archbishop.[16]
The first pamphlet published about the conflict was Topham's, published 11 December 1758.[17][18] Its full title was A Letter Address'd to the Reverend the Dean of York; In which is given, A full Detail of some very extraordinary Behavior of his, in relation to his Denial of a Promise made by him to Dr. Topham (1758).[19] This 24-page open letter criticizes Fountayne both for granting the Pocklington and Pickering patent to someone else, and for claiming in public that he had never promised it to Topham.[19] It also mentioned a range of unrelated conflicts between the two.[18] It was followed two weeks later by Fountayne's reply, An Answer to a Letter Address'd to the Dean of York, in the Name of Dr. Topham (1758).[20][18] Fountayne's 35-page pamphlet reproduces several letters from Topham, in which Topham agreed to allow someone else to receive the patent, and explains that he did not consider himself under any further obligation to Topham.[21] Fountayne also quotes letters of support from many of his acquaintances,[20] and includes a signed statement from Sterne describing the dinner where Sterne and Fountayne publicly denounced Topham as a liar.[9] At this point, both pamphlets were widely read in York, and a number of broadsides were printed mocking the participants.[14] Topham responded no earlier than 13 January 1759,[17] with A Reply to the Answer to a Letter, Lately addressed to the Dean of York (1759), a 54-page rebuttal which also quotes letters and messages from supporters.[22] Sterne's A Political Romance was the fourth and final pamphlet.[15] It was intended to advance Sterne's career in the church by supporting Fountayne's side.[2][17]
Synopsis
A Political Romance begins with a 24-page epistolary account of some local village gossip. Ten years ago, a local sexton and dog-whipper, Trim, asked the parish clerk, John, to give him a pair of John's black plushbreeches whenever John was done with them. John agreed. John later quarreled with the parson of the parish about a writing desk; in the quarrel, Trim sided with the parson, and the parson rewarded him with a fine outfit. To express his allegiance to the parson over John, Trim renounced his claim to the breeches. John therefore gave them to another friend, Mark Slender, whose request John had previously denied in favour of Trim. John also gave a pulpit-cloth and velvet cushion to William Doe. Mark Slender soon died, and the breeches were given to Lorry Slim.
A new parson arrives in town after the death of the previous one. Trim tells the new parson that John is untrustworthy, and asks to be given an old watch-coat. Despite excessive obsequious favours from Trim, the parson hesitates to make the gift until he can determine whether the coat belongs to anybody. Just as the parson discovers that it is a precious heirloom, Trim seizes the coat and deconstructs it to make it into an under-petticoat for his wife. Angry, the parson calls on the clerk, John, to record Trim's misdoings, poor character, and expulsion from the parson's house. Trim therefore revives the previous matter of the breeches, criticizing John in the town square for (he claims) breaking his promise and for mis-appropriating the goods given to William Doe, which Trim had also desired. However, the crowd turns on Trim, and he is mocked for his greed.
This narrative is followed by a 6-page postscript. To the writer's surprise, Trim has not quietly retreated from the public eye, but has instead renewed the old quarrel between John and the late parson about the writing desk, and attempted to complain about excessive ill-treatment by John. Trim is again shamed by the public. The postscript concludes, "the general Opinion, upon the whole, is this, That, in three several pitch'd Battles, Trim has been so trimm'd, as never disastrous Hero was trimm'd before him".[23]
The next section is titled "The Key"; in an allegorical work, the key would usually be a guide identifying which concepts or real-life persons each character represents. This key instead continues the satire by claiming that the pamphlet was found on the ground in York and inspired great debate in a local political club; "The Key" relates the club's improbable identifications, paired with character sketches of local figures.
This is followed by two letters signed by Laurence Sterne. The first, addressed to the printer, explicitly claims his authorship of the piece, and justifies its high price of one shilling (twice the six pence Topham charged for his most recent Reply). The second, addressed to Topham, contests some of Topham's evidence against Sterne in the ongoing personal conflict which the narrative satirizes.
Allegory
The pamphlet's satirical narrative is an allegory for the ongoing jockeying for preferments within the Church of England, translated into a squabble for used clothing within a rural parish.[15] The primary target of the narrative's satire is Francis Topham, whose attempts to acquire a range of minor posts is mocked as petty and demeaning.[24] Sterne presents the Archbishop John Gilbert (an ally of Topham's and a rival of Sterne's patron John Fountayne) in a relatively positive light as the new parson in the village.[24] The satirical key ridicules York's society more broadly, highlighting that all the local clergy were the subject of public mockery, and poking fun at the ill-founded but widespread gossip among York's notable residents.[25] A full explanation of each part of the allegory is provided in the introduction to the 1914 edition.[26]
"one of the Sides-men, a grave, knowing old man" summoned by the parson to hear Trim defend his actions: Dr. William Herring (1691–1762), a cousin of Thomas Herring[30]
Dispute about the writing desk: a quarrel between Hutton and Fountayne about appointing a temporary preacher at York Minster[10][c]
Trim's new outfit from the late parson: the patent of the Prerogative Courts, granted to Topham by Hutton against Fountayne's protests[11]
Black plush breeches: the commissaryship of Pickering and Pocklington[11]
Pulpit-cloth and velvet cushion: the commissaryship of the Dean and Chapter of York[12]
Watch-coat: the commissaryship of the Exchequer and Prerogative Courts of the Archbishop of York; ripping up the watch-coat signifies Topham's attempt to create a new patent for this post so that it would go to his heirs rather than allowing the archbishop to make future appointments[31]
The "Political Club" in the key: Sterne's own social club, which met at Sutton's Coffee-House. The members of the club are understood to represent specific individuals in Sutton-on-the-Forest, though they have not been identified.[32]
Publication and reception
First printing and suppression
Image of two roosters, from page 30 of A Political Romance. Book historians have determined that this image was originally on the title page, but was moved at Sterne's request
Sterne wrote the first 24-page section some time between Fountayne's Answer (shortly after 25 December 1758) and Topham's Reply (no earlier than 13 January 1759), and sent its manuscript to the printer for typesetting.[33] These 24 pages were printed by Caesar Ward in York and prepared for publication as a standalone work.[33] After Topham's Reply appeared, Sterne wrote his postscript, satirical key, and two letters.[2] These were then printed and combined with the earlier pages to form the new, complete work with a new title page.[33] The letters that conclude the pamphlet are dated January 20, 1759.[34] Sterne's letter to Ward, published within the pamphlet, objects to a "quaint Conceit" which was originally included on the title page; this has been identified as an image of a cockfight, which Ward moved to the end of the work.[35] Sterne's letter complains that, on the title page, it "would only set People on smiling a Page or two before I give them Leave".[36]
Sterne originally planned to publish anonymously, as both Topham and Fountayne had.[16] However, Topham accused Fountayne of involving many co-authors for his Answer (likely true, and Sterne was likely one of the writers to assist); Sterne responded by claiming full authorship of A Political Romance.[37] Sterne's 60-page pamphlet was released before the end of January, with no publisher listed.[15][38] Roughly 500 copies were printed,[2] but were not widely distributed.[39]
Sterne's pamphlet prompted an end to Topham and Fountayne's arguments.[9] The archbishop John Gilbert summoned Topham and Fountayne to London to settle their dispute.[25] Topham volunteered to renounce his claims if the pamphlet was suppressed.[40] Although the pamphlet presented the archbishop in a relatively positive light, he considered it embarrassing for an internal church matter to be exposed to public ridicule; he also desired its suppression.[41] Following pressure on all sides, Sterne agreed to destroy the pamphlet.[40] Church officials claimed all the copies at the printer's, bought any remaining for sale, and burned them.[40] In 1760, the London Chronicle reported that Sterne "had thrown it into the fire, because 'twas too ill-natured."[42] Sterne kept only his manuscript of the work,[25] and the six copies known to survive from this original print run were accidental.[25]
In itself, the pamphlet was not a successful writing venture. Relatively few read it before it was destroyed, and it did not succeed in improving Sterne's standing with his patron Fountayne.[43] Nonetheless, his experience with A Political Romance was a crucial turning point in Sterne's career, as it prompted him to consider humour writing as a serious path.[44][39] Sterne had previously published political journalism, but the pamphlet was his first attempt at fiction.[45] Reportedly, he later said that before finishing it, "he hardly knew he could write at all, much less with humour, so as to make his reader laugh."[45][46] He began and abandoned a satirical work now known has his "Rabelaisian Fragment", and just eight months later, his comic novel Tristram Shandy was ready to be printed; this work made him a literary celebrity the rest of his life.[44] While preparing the printing of Tristram Shandy, he wrote to a friend, "Now you desire of knowing the reason of my turning author? why truly I am tired of employing my brains for other people's advantage.—'Tis a foolish sacrifice I made for some years to a foolish person."[44] The literary historian Ian Jack calls the pamphlet "essential reading" for Sterne's "strange development" as a writer.[47]
Later publications
A Political Romance was never reprinted during Sterne's lifetime.[48] While ill in late 1761, Sterne gave his wife permission to reprint it with some other unpublished works to earn money for his family if he died, but he expressed hope that it would not be necessary.[49][42] He now considered the work too sycophantic to Fountayne, who did not live up to his hopes for patronage.[2] He questioned whether Topham had merited all of his criticisms, and hoped the pamphlet could be forgotten, writing that it should "go to sleep".[50] The literary historian Edward Simmen argues that Sterne also considered the satire "too topical to be of any lasting literary consequence."[42]
Material from the pamphlet was first reprinted posthumously in 1769, by the London bookseller J. Murdoch.[2][48] It is typically assumed that Sterne's friend John Hall-Stevenson provided Murdoch with a manuscript copy.[51] In this edition, in addition to extensive alterations to Sterne's language, the editors cut off the last three parts of the text, i.e., half the work.[52] This shorter, censored version was reprinted by other booksellers and incorporated into a 1780 edition of Sterne's collected works, now given the title The History of a Good Warm Watch-Coat.[51] It continued to appear under that title in numerous subsequent collections.[35] For nearly a hundred and fifty years, this was the only printed version of the text available, and some scholars doubted whether the pamphlet had ever been printed in Sterne's lifetime.[52]
In 1905, an unexpected 1759 copy was found in the library of the dean and chapter of York.[52] Since then, another five original copies have been found.[25] A 1914 edition published by the Club of Odd Volumes was the first to provide the full and uncensored text of A Political Romance.[53] This edition was limited to 125 copies.[35] The next complete transcript was published in 1968, edited by Ian Jack alongside A Sentimental Journey and Journal to Eliza and published by Oxford University Press.[35] As of 1970, the pamphlet was still largely neglected in literary scholarship, with a chapter in Wilbur Cross's 1920s biography of Sterne constituting the majority of analysis.[35] The Laurence Sterne and Sterneana database, created by the Sterne Digital Library project between 2019 and 2021, now hosts a digital facsimile of a first edition, with a introduction by Daniel Reed.[54][55][2]
Style and influences
A pan made to be part of a close stool portable toilet. The pan holds the user's excrement and would usually be held by some kind of furniture seat. In A Political Romance, Trim carries a close stool pan through town on his head.
The most direct influence on Sterne's satirical style is Jonathan Swift,[16][40] with further influence from Alexander Pope.[16] The conceit of the narrative — translating the affairs of the great into the petty squabbles of a minor country parish — mirrors Swift's A Tale of a Tub (1704)[16] and the depiction of Lilliput and Blefuscu in his Gulliver's Travels (1726),[40] as well as Pope's comic work, Memoirs of P.P., Clerk of this Parish.[16] It is also influenced by Le Lutrin (1674), a mock-heroic epic by Nicolas Boileau.[16][56] Like A Tale of a Tub, A Political Romance takes some of its humour from being divided into many sub-sections.[16] Some of Sterne's jokes are scatological, such as a scene where Trim obsequiously curries favour with the new parson by carrying the pan for a close stool (a portable toilet) on his head through the town.[24]
Sterne's comically useless "key" mirrors the similarly facetious "key" in Pope's satirical mock-epicThe Rape of the Lock (1712).[16] This section also shows similarities to Sterne's forthcoming novel, Tristram Shandy; according to the literary historian Ian Jack, it anticipates one of Tristram Shandy's core themes because "each disputant rides his own preposterous hobby-horse, and none shows any interest in the views advanced by his fellows."[56]
The name of the character Trim is taken from a proverb which Jonathan Swift had previously used in a satire: "Trim-tram; like master, like man."[57] Sterne was alluding to the fact that Topham's attempt to gain permanent access to a perquisite followed the same legal process used by both recent Archbishops of York.[57] The allusion to this proverb undermined Sterne's attempt to satirize only Topham and not the archbishop, and may have increased the archbishop's desire to suppress the pamphlet.[57]
References
Notes
↑ For various reasons, Fountayne was also allied with William Herring (cousin of the archbishop Thomas Herring), and Topham was also allied with the archbishop Matthew Hutton and with Sterne's uncle, Jacques Sterne, whose former patronage Sterne had lost in 1742.[4]
↑ The value of this post was the subject of dispute: Topham claimed that it provided an income of roughly ten pounds a year;[6] Fountayne said the profits were half that, at five guineas a year.[7]
↑ In January 1751, Topham helped fuel a disagreement between Fountayne and Archbishop Hutton; according to Tim Parnell, "the conflict reached a head in a farcical scene in which Fountayne's appointed preacher locked himself into the pulpit of York Minster while the archbishop's appointee, sermon in hand, angrily rattled the locked door."[10]
"Trim (-Tram), Like Master, Like Man: Servant and Sexton in Sterne's "Tristram Shandy" and "A Political Romance"" Ross, Ian Campbell; Nassar, Noha Saad. The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats; Philadelphia Vol. 22, Iss. 2, (Spring 1990): 160.
HELEN WILLIAMS. "The Good Humour Club or Doctors’ Club and Sterne’s Political Romance". The Shandean 31, 138-155(2020). DOI:10.3828/shandean.2020.31.12
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