British literature a genre which developed during the second half of the 18th century. Among the most famous sentimental novels in English are Samuel Richardson's "Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded" (1740), Oliver Goldsmith's "The Vicar of Wakefield" (1766), and Laurence Sterne's "Tristram Shandy" (1759 – 67). Another novel genre also developed in this period. In 1778, Frances Burney (1752–1840) wrote "Evelina", one of the first novels of manners. Fanny Burney's novels' indeed "were enjoyed and admired by Jane Austen". The graveyard poets were a number of pre-Romantic English poets, writing in the 1740s and later, whose works are characterised by their gloomy meditations
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman the extent that Tristram's own birth is not even reached until Volume III. Consequently, apart from Tristram as narrator, the most familiar and important characters in the book are his father Walter, his mother, his Uncle Toby, Toby's servant Trim, and a supporting cast of popular minor characters, including the chambermaid, Susannah, Doctor Slop, and the parson, Yorick, who later became Sterne's favourite "nom de plume" and a very successful publicity stunt. Yorick is also the protagonist of Sterne's second work of fiction "A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy". Most of the action is concerned with domestic upsets or