Maria, a tragic character in Laurence Sterne’s novels Tristram Shandy and A Sentimental Journey though France and Italy (published in 1767 and 1768), inspired many prints, embroideries, and popular music. In this unfinished work, the beautiful Maria sits grieving beneath a tree by a brook, driven to despair by her unfaithful lover’s betrayal and further saddened by her father’s death. Her pet goat, included in this version, also later abandons her and is replaced by a little dog, Silvio, leading her to vow, “Thou shalt not leave me Silvio,” as in the song lyrics written on the attached paper. Other embroidered versions of this story, fashioned after a painting by Angelica Kauffman, show Maria at close range, but here her tiny figure is placed within a large, enveloping landscape, conveying a sense of her emotional isolation. Thou shalt not leave me Silvio T’was near a Thicket[‘]s Calm retreat/Under a poplar Tree Maria chose her wretched seat/To Mourn her sorrows free Her lovely form was sweet to View/As dawn at openin[g] day But Ah! She mourn[e]d her love not true/And wept her Cares away The brook flowed gently at her feet/In Murmurs soft along Her pipe which once she tuned so sweet/had now forgot its song.