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Lawrence Sterne to Miss L.
Yes! I will steal from the world, and not a babbling tongue shall tell where I am. Echo shall not so much as whisper my hiding place. Suffer the imagination to permit it as a little sun-light cottage, on the side of a romantic hill. Dost thou think I will leave love and friendship behind me? No! They shall be my companions in solitude, for they will sit down and rise up with me in the amiable form of my L ... We will be as merry and as innocent as our first parents in Paradise, before the arch-fiend entered that indescribable scene.
The kindest affections will have room to shoot and expand in our retirement, and produce such fruit as madness and envy and ambition have always killed in the bud. Let the human tempest and hurricane rage at a distance, the desolation is beyond the horizon of peace. My L... has seen a polyanthus blow in December ... me friendly wall has sheltered it from the biting wind. No planetary influence shall reach us but that which presides and cherishes the sweetest flowers. God preserve us! How delightful this prospect in idea! We will build and we will plant, in our own way ...simplicity shall not be tortured by art. We will learn of nature how to live ... she shall be our alchemist, to mingle all the good of life in one salubrious draught. The gloomy family of care and distrust shall be banished from our dwelling, guarded by the kind and tutelary deity. We will sing our choral songs of gratitude and rejoice to the end of our pilgrimage.
Adieu, my L ...
Return to one who languishes for your society.
[中文译文]
劳伦斯·斯特恩致L小姐
不错，我即将悄然离开这世界，任何饶舌鬼也说不出我在何处。即使那回声也说不出我的藏身之处。您爱怎么想就怎么想吧：或许你会把它说成是山间的小屋，那儿充满了浪漫的欢乐和金色的阳光。您以为我会把爱情和友谊抛弃吗?决不!它们是我孤独中的伴侣，因为无论我起坐行止我都会感受到我所爱的温馨。在撒旦介入那美妙的乐园生活之前，我们会像我们的祖先一样快乐和天真、无邪。
我们最美好的爱情还会有不断加深和发展的余地，如此的爱，疯狂、嫉妒和非凡之想都会扼杀在萌芽之中。让人间的暴风骤雨在远方肆虐吧，让孤独把那寂静隔离在远远的地平线上。我的L……看见过夜来香在十二月开放……正好有堵墙挡住了凛冽的寒风。这儿无尘世的干扰，只有甜蜜的花香欣赏。愿上帝保佑我们!意想中的前景是多么喜人!我们将自由自在地在这儿安家、耕种……朴实再不会受到奸诈的欺凌。我们将向大自然学会生活……她是我们的炼金术士，她把生活中一切美好的东西融为和谐的力量。我们居住的地方不再有忧虑和不信任的阴影笼罩，只有仁慈的守护神保卫我们。我们将同声歌唱，感谢神灵，欢欣鼓舞直到走完人生旅程。
再见了，我的L……
回到盼您的伴侣的身边来吧，他为了与您相处而熬得憔悴。
