Laurence Sterne England and France were still adversaries in the Seven Years' War. Sterne was gratified by his reception in France, where reports of the genius of "Tristram Shandy" had made him a celebrity. Aspects of this trip to France were incorporated into Sterne's second novel, "A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy". Early in 1767 Sterne met Eliza Draper, the wife of an official of the East India Company, then staying on her own in London. He was quickly captivated by Eliza’s charm, vivacity and intelligence, and she did little to discourage the attentions of such a celebrated man. They met
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman even approached his publisher F.A. Brockhaus offering to translate it into German (an offer which Brockhaus rejected). Samuel Johnson in 1776 commented, "Nothing odd will do long. "Tristram Shandy" did not last." Schopenhauer privately rebutted Samuel Johnson, saying: "The man Sterne is worth 1,000 Pedants and commonplace-fellows like Dr.J." The young Karl Marx was a devotee of "Tristram Shandy", and wrote a still-unpublished short humorous novel, "Scorpion and Felix", that was obviously influenced by Sterne's work. Goethe praised Sterne in "Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years", which in turn influenced Nietzsche. "Tristram Shandy" has also been seen by formalists and other literary