If i can weave the tale i have wrote into the work i am aboutâ€"’tis at the service of the afflictedâ€"and a much greater matter: for, in serious truth, it casts a sad shade upon the world, that so great a part of it are, and have been so long, bound in chains of darkness, and in chains of misery; and i cannot but both respect and felicitate you, that, by so much laudable diligence, you have broke the one;â€"and that, by falling into the hands of so good and merciful a family, providence has rescued you from the other. â€"letter from laurence sterne to ignatius sancho read sterne’s response to sancho. what is sterne’s purpose for writing? to convince sancho to focus on other important matters to explain why he will not write about slavery to show that he is sympathetic to sancho’s cause to encourage sancho to publish his letters