Epigraph: It must have been observed, by many a peripatetic philosopher, that Nature has set up, by her own unquestionable authority, certain boundaries and fences to circumscribe the discontent of man; she has effected her purpose in the quietest and easiest manner by laying him under almost insuperable obligations to work out his ease, and to sustain his sufferings at home...It will always follow hence that the balance of sentimental commerce is always against the expatriated adventurer; he must buy what he has little occasion for, at their own price - his conversation will seldom be taken in exchange for theirs without a large discount - and this, by the by, eternally driving him into the hands of more equitable brokers, for such conversation as he can find it requires no great spirit of divination to guess at his party.
Laurence Sterne
A Sentimental Journey
