In 1762 the Equitable Life Assurance Society was founded, the first to calculate its premiums on actuarial principles. Its origin coincides with a growing market for insurance products as well as increased appreciation of domestic risk: the third quarter of the century, for example, sees a sharp spike in fire insurance policies issued by the major providers. The Equitable was prepared to write life assurance policies for children as young as eight: its ‘Deed of Settlement’ illustrates a policy that might be taken out on ‘the life of any healthy boy at the age of Eight years, whose occupation shall not be hazardous’. Introduced to the world in 1759, Tristram Shandy’s early years are ones especially beset by hazard and contingency. This essay argues that Sterne’s novel is constituted by an insurance ‘mentality’, in its appreciation of the inherent risks of life and how these might be calculated and mitigated.

中文翻译：

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保险时代的Tristram Shandy

1762年成立了公平人寿保险协会，这是第一个根据精算原则计算保险费的协会。它的起源与保险产品市场的增长以及对国内风险的升值相吻合：例如，在本世纪第三季度，主要提供商发行的火灾保险政策急剧飙升。公平组织准备为八岁以下的儿童编写生活保障政策：《解决契约》说明了一项可能针对“任何健康男孩在八岁时的生活而实行的政策，其职业不得危险”。Tristram Shandy于1759年问世，其初期特别受到危险和意外事件的困扰。本文认为，斯特恩的小说是由一种保险“心理”构成的，