Laurence Sterne's correspondence with Elizabeth Draper

Laurence Sterne's correspondence with Elizabeth Draper took place in 1767, and was partially published in 1773 and 1904. In the final year of his life, the author Laurence Sterne had an intense emotional relationship with Elizabeth Draper. They met in January 1767, and immediately began a friendship; their public affection attracted gossip, since both were married, and Sterne was a clergyman. After three months, Draper left London to return to her husband in Bombay. They never saw each other again, and Sterne died in March 1768.

Sterne and Draper exchanged letters throughout their relationship, and after Draper's departure they kept journals intended for the other's eyes. The majority of the correspondence—including all of Draper's replies—has been lost. Ten of Sterne's letters were published as Letters from Yorick to Eliza (1773) and part of his diary as Journal to Eliza (1904). The diary has particularly intrigued scholars due to its ambiguity as a potentially-fictionalized account. Their correspondence influenced Sterne's composition of his last novel, A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy (1768).