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Who was Eliza Draper and how did she influence Laurence Sterne's later life?
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Laurence Sterne
Novelist Laurence Sterne, detail of an oil painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1760; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Eliza Draper was a woman half the age of the British novelist Laurence Sterne, who was unhappily married to an official of the East India Company.
In 1767, shortly before his death, Sterne entered into an open, sentimental flirtation with her. This relationship served as a significant emotional influence during the final period of his life. Following her departure to return to her husband in Bombay, Sterne completed his final novel, A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy, which was published to critical acclaim in early 1768, shortly before he collapsed and died.1