To a Young Ass in the 18th-century, with many philosophers and writers, including Godwin, William Shield, and others, releasing their horses and mules to walk alongside them. A direct literary connection is to William Crowe's "To an Ass" (1793) and the poem incorporates a quote from William Shakespeare's "Hamlet". The idea of connecting with a lowly form of animal also appears in many literary works, including Robert Burns poems (example – "To a Mouse"), Southey's poems (example – "To a Spider"), the works of Laurence Sterne (both "Tristram Shandy" and "A Sentimental Journey") and Cervantes's "Don Quixote". Richard Holmes, Coleridge's 20th-century biographer, points out
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman fact that "the number of days in all time is no greater than the number of years". A historic site in Geneva, Ohio, called Shandy Hall, is part of the Western Reserve Historical Society. The home was named after the house described in "Tristram Shandy". The "Perry Mason" episode "The Case of the Bogus Books" involves a bookseller selling stolen copies of rare books, in particular a first edition of "Tristram Shandy". In Anthony Trollope's novel "Barchester Towers", the narrator speculates that the scheming clergyman, Mr Slope, is descended from Dr Slop in "Tristram Shandy" (the extra letter having been