Lawrence Sterne to Miss L
勞倫斯-斯特恩致L小姐

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.
　　不錯，我即將悄然離開這世界，任何饒舌鬼也說不出我在何處。即使那回聲也說不出我的藏身之處。您愛怎么想就怎么想吧：或許你會把它說成是山間的小屋，那兒充滿了浪漫的歡樂和金色的陽光。

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.
　　您以為我會把愛情和友誼拋棄嗎?決不!它們是我孤獨中的伴侶，因為無論我起坐行止我都會感受到我所愛的溫馨。在撒旦介入那美妙的樂園生活之前，我們會像我們的祖先一樣快樂和天真、無邪。

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.
　　我們最美好的愛情還會有不斷加深和發展的余地，如此的愛，瘋狂、嫉妒和非凡之想都會扼殺在萌芽之中。讓人間的暴風驟雨在遠方肆虐吧，讓孤獨把那寂靜隔離在遠遠的地平線上。
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!
　　我的L……看見過夜來香在十二月開放……正好有堵墻擋住了凜冽的寒風。這兒無塵世的干擾，只有甜蜜的花香欣賞。愿上帝保佑我們!

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.
　　意想中的前景是多么喜人!我們將自由自在地在這兒安家、耕種……樸實再不會受到奸詐的欺凌。我們將向大自然學會生活……她是我們的煉金術士，她把生活中一切美好的東西融為和諧的力量。

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.
　　我們居住的地方不再有憂慮和不信任的陰影籠罩，只有仁慈的守護神保衛我們。我們將同聲歌唱，感謝神靈，歡欣鼓舞直到走完人生旅程。

Adieu, my L ...
　　再見了，我的L……

Return to one who languishes for your society.
　　回到盼您的伴侶的身邊來吧，他為了與您相處而熬得憔悴。