The Life Of Laurence Sterne: Volume I. INTRODUCTION. Sterne was among the first of our men of letters to be exploited by the press. The public, naturally enough we should think novadays, was very curious to know what manner of man was that who had written a book quite unlike any other they had ever read, how he lived, how he looked, and what he said and information was forthcoming from the hacks of literature who very likely had never seen him. There was, for example, to mention again what has been described and printed in another place that first strange notice from the pen of Dr. John Hill, a notorious London quack doctor, who must have interviewed Sternes friends in town for anecdotes half-fact and ldifiction. And after his death Sterne became the theme of more imaginary biography in a larger style. A wit of some ability, who signed himself...