At that time he was also writing A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, where the 'little picture of Eliza' that Yorick wears around his neck is mentioned at the outset.
[4] The journal is in the form of a diary-cum-letter and was inspired by his deep affection for Mrs. Elizabeth Draper whom he had met when she visited England in 1765–1767.
[7] The author adopts the pseudonym Parson Yorick, who previously appeared in his two best known novels, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman and A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy.
In Tristram Shandy we are told that the parson is related to the famous, fictional jester Yorick whose skull is disinterred in William Shakespeare's Hamlet: "It has often come into my head, that this post could be no other than that of the king's chief Jester;—and that Hamlet's Yorick, in our Shakespear, many of whose plays, you know, are founded upon authenticated facts,—was certainly the very man.
[9] There is characteristically Sternian ambiguity in the Journal concerning whether it was written as a private extended love letter to Elizabeth Draper, or was intended for publication as literature.