and later,
. . . “Und will von Herzen gern der Thor der Thoren seyn;
Jüngst that ich ernst: gleich hielt die
Narrheit mich beym Rocke.
Wo, rief sie, willst du hin,—Du! weisst du unsern Bund.
Ist das der Dank? Du lachtest dich gesund.”
To Sterne’s further enunciation of this joyous theory of life, Young naturally replies in characteristic terms, emphasizing life’s evanescence and joy’s certain blight. But Sterne, though acknowledging the transitoriness of life’s pleasures, denies Young’s deductions. Yorick’s conception of death is quite in contrast to Young’s picture and one must admit that it has no justification in Sterne’s writings. On the contrary, Yorick’s life was one long flight from the grim enemy. The idea of death cherished by Asmus in his “Freund Hein,” the welcome guest, seems rather the conception which Wezel thrusts on Sterne. Death comes to Yorick in full dress, a youth, a Mercury:
“Er thuts, er kommt zu mir, ‘Komm, guter Lorenz, flieh!’
So ruft er auf mich zu. ‘Dein Haus fängt an zu wanken,
Die Mauern spalten sich; Gewölb und Balken schwanken,