Whitehaven: J. Ware, 1779

An increasing interest in sensibility from the late 1760s onwards saw a growing number of sentimentalised imitations of Sterne, not just of his Sentimental Journey but of popular episodes belonging to Tristram Shandy’s later volumes, too. ‘The story of Le Fever’, like the equally appealing history of Maria (who appears in both novels), also made its way into numerous anthologies of sentimentalised extracts ‘selected for the heart of sensibility’ that appeared in the wake of the immensely successful Beauties of Sterne (1782). These volumes often provided many readers with their only contact with Sterne’s books, as suggested by the extent to which illustrators and imitators alike based their scenes on those typically found in these anthologies. The stories of Le Fever and Maria popularised by volumes such as The Beauties of Sterne inspired several songs and poems, often published in collections, which render Sterne’s prose into verse. Ewan Clark produces a poetic version of Maria’s story, but also ranges more widely than the Beauties-type anthology when seeking Sternean material for his Miscellaneous poems (1779). Clark bases two lengthy poems on the correspondence exchanged between Sterne and the former slave Ignatius Sancho that addresses the inhumanity of the slave trade.

Oates.473, p. 214