The Visitor, the Inspectress, Selima, Obadiah et Tristram, ou comment s'anime le Public Ledger en 1760-1761

Abstract

In the spring of 1 760, the newly established Public Ledger underscored the commercial focus of its preliminary address through an interplay between fictional correspondents, of which Goldsmith's Chinese philosopher was only one. The contemporaneous vogue for Tristram Shandy was reflected in the paper: Sterne's hero appeared eight times and was incorporated into the "Visitor" series as a symbol of the trivial world with which the ideal reader of the Ledger, a serious merchant, should have only commercial contacts. When the fashion for Sterne abated, the same themes were taken up in other series, such as the "Inspectress" in 1761.