ABSTRACT
This morning the Critical Review on our Letters between the Hon. Erskine and James Boswell came out, and in great form did we read it. They did not use us with can dour, but they were less abusive than we imagined they might be. Games Boswell, 1763)
(Craddock 1828: 43) Laurence Sterne, whose relationship with both Reviews was more involved and tempestuous than that of any of his contemporaries, never named his reviewers. Nor did Oliver Goldsmith, who directly engaged critics of his plays during the 1760s and early
March 1751: the Gentleman's Magazine, which had, since its inception in 1731, simply listed in each issue books published during the previous month, began to include descriptive commentary in that list, a move that was most likely a compromise on Cave's original plan. Since the Gentleman's had the largest circulation of any English magazine (roughly 3,000 copies a month were sold in 1746), this change reached a great many readers (Basker 1988: 170).
