Yorkshire Almanac Far from his beloved metropolis, the Rev Laurence Sterne finds la dolce vita on the North York Moors

7 June 1767: Far from his beloved metropolis, the Rev Laurence Sterne finds la dolce vita on the North York Moors

Laurence Sterne. 1823. The Works of Laurence Sterne, in Six Volumes, Vol. 4. London: Samuel Richards and Company. Get it:

Unedited excerpt

If an excerpt is used in the book, it will be shorter, edited and, where applicable, translated.

LETTER XCVII.

L. STERNE.

TO A. L____E, ESQ.

DEAR L____E,

Coxwould, June 7, 1767.

I had not been many days at this peaceful cottage before your letter greeted me with the seal of friendship: and most cordially do I thank you for so kind a proof of your good-will. I was truly anxious to hear of the recovery of my sentimental friend, – but I would not write to enquire after her, unless I could have sent her the testimony without the tax; even how d’yes to invalids, or those that have lately been so, either call to mind what is past or what may return; at least I find it so. I am as happy as a prince, at Coxwould; and I wish you could see in how princely a manner I live: ’tis a land of plenty, I sit down alone to venison, fish, and wild fowl, or a couple of fowls or ducks, with curds, and strawberries, and cream, and all the simple plenty which a rich valley (under Hamilton Hills) can produce; with a clean cloth on my table, and a bottle of wine on my right hand to drink your health. I have a hundred hens and chickens about my yard, and not a parishioner catches a hare or a rabbit or a trout, but he brings it as an offering to me. If solitude would cure a lovesick heart, I would give you an invitation; but absence and time lessen no attachment which virtue inspires. I am in high spirits; care never enters this cottage. – I take the air every day in my post-chaise, with two long-tailed horses, – they turn out good ones; and as to myself, I think I am better upon the whole for the medicines and regimen I submitted to in town.-May you, dear L____E want neither the one nor the other!

Yours truly,

L. STERNE.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

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I haven’t read much about the Yorkshire Baptists, but Israel Roberts writes:

In my mother’s early days [born 1802], the Baptists used to baptise their new converts in [Bagley] Beck, which then, of course, ran with pure clean water.[ref]Strong: Farsley’s first Baptist Chapel was built adjacent to Bagley Beck in 1777.[/ref] I can remember very well when it was the custom to baptise in the River Aire at Newlay Bridge (Roberts 2000).

I think that Wroe’s choices of Idle and 40 days and 40 nights were designed to echo the Temptation of Christ and his baptism by John the Baptist. Here’s Matthew 4 (KJV):

[1] Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
[2] And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
[3] And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
[4] But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
[5] Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
[6] And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
[7] Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
[8] Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
[9] And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
[10] Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
[11] Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Let’s speculate wildly:

Stones into bread. 19th century quarrying at Idle/Wrose/Eccleshill, though valuable for quarry owners and workers, and for the builders of Bradford, had a devastating effect on (public access to) the hillsides. “Suffice to say that, near Bradford, good stone was cheap, and good eyes were rare; and that, except in the time of the rich corn harvests, what was Eccleshill Moor is now a hideous sight.” (Anon 1852) Wroe’s anti-industrial line was that man shall not live by bread alone: what about bilberries?!
Pinnacle of the temple. More thought required.
Mountain. The trig point on Eccleshill is at 212.244m. The views would have been 360º stupendous before mass housebuilding, and, while dodging the dog poo, you still get marvellous glimpses of Ilkley Moor, Airedale etc. But, like Jesus, Wroe affected a rejection of worldly dominion.
Ministered to by angels. Wroe believed, and managed for a while to convince his followers, that young girls were his just reward for withstanding the Devil’s temptations:

“Seven books – seven writers will I have – seven virgins temporal and spiritual; and until seven be found I will not cease my work.” Written from John Wroe’s mouth by William Tillotson. See how this has been fulfilled in part by the shepherds of the house of Israel agreeing to accuse John Wroe of unlawful actions, in the 10th month, 1830; which caused many of the flock who were then gathered to be scattered again; and on the 11th of the 4th month, 1831, at Bradford, when he was trodden under foot, and had three of his ribs dislocated (Wroe 1851).

One Jane Rogers has novelised these later events:

John Wroe, prophet of the apocalyptic Christian Israelite Church, made his headquarters in Lancashire in the 1820s. When God told him to comfort himself with seven virgins, his congregation gave him their daughters. Each woman in Wroe’s household, from brutalised Martha to saintly Joanna, has her own secret hopes of a new life – either in heaven or on earth – at a point in history when anything seems possible. And each has her own view of the prophet. Mr Wroe’s Virgins tells the story of the nine months of their life together, until accusations of indecency, and the trial that follows, bring Wroe’s household to a dramatic end (Rogers 2011).

Wroe surely improves dramatically, if not theologically, on Jesus by being baptised after his temptations rather than before. How does Joanna Southcott score in the Prophet Rankings?

The Quakers also number, rather than name, their months.

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