The Works of Laurence Sterne. With an Account of the Life and Writings of the Author. Complete in Eight Volumes. Volume 4. A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy

A small-town vicar suffering from tuberculosis, Laurence Sterne burst onto the literary scene with the phenomenally successful multi-volume fiction work Tristram Shandy. Sterne's work, which practically bursts at the seams with sexual innuendo, was extremely popular in the London of his day - although Tristram Shandy was denounced on moral grounds by such leading figures as Samuel Johnson and Samuel Richardson.