The death of Sterne's Yorick.

As early as 1760 the account of Yorick in Tristram Shandy, I.x-xii, culminating in the parson's death and the inscription on his tomb, 'Alas, poor Yorick', was reprinted in the Gentlemen's Magazine as an autobiographical sketch of Sterne himself.(1) It has usually been treated critically as an exercise in sentiment though opinions have differed over its value. Fluchere said of the conclusion that it 'perfectly completes the shape of the story and brings out the moral implications of a life that derives its meaning from ... death'.(2) R. F. Brissenden, on the other hand, described the death as 'sheer fantasy' and 'not only fantastic but also obscure' and 'conducted in a high allegorical vein that is completely out of harmony with the way in which' Sterne deals with his other characters'.(3)

But attention seems never to have focused on the question of Yorick's age at his death and I suggest that this is an important aspect of the effect that Sterne achieves in this prominent episode, though he characteristically teases the reader with his …