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
John Hall-Stevenson and Devonshire" (1763), "A Pastoral Puke; a second Sermon preached before the people called Whigs; by an Independent" (1764), "Makarony Fables, with the new Fable of the Bees" (1767), "Lyric Consolations, with the Speech of Alderman Wilkes delivered in a Dream" (1768) and "An Essay upon the King's Friends" (1776). Hall-Stevenson gave some financial support to his friend Sterne, who often visited him at Skelton, and they liked to race chariots over the sands at Saltburn, and Hall-Stevenson appears under the name of "Eugenius" in Sterne's novels "Tristram Shandy" and "A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy". This was unfinished