The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman #269833

For my own part, I do not hesitate to say that I do not think letters of this kind ought to be published at all; and though it may seem paradoxical or foolish, I am by no means sure that, if they are published, they ought to be admitted as evidence. That which is not written for the public, is no business of the public's and I never read letters of this kind, published for the first time, without feeling like an eavesdropper.ale Un luckily, the evidence furnished by the letters fits in only too well with that furnished by the published works, by his favourite cronies and companions, and by his general reputation, so that what the prisoner says must, no doubt, be used against him.