The Connoisseur (by Mr. Town [pseud.], Critic, and Censor-General. 2 vols. 140 nos. (31 January 1754 – 30 September 1756), was a London weekly eighteenth century newspaper founded and chiefly run by George Colman the Elder and the parodist Bonnell Thornton as a 'plebeian' counterpart to Edward Moore's The World, a periodical of about the same time, which dealt more with the interests of aristocrats. James Boswell says in his Life of Johnson:
| “ | "I mentioned the periodical paper called 'THE CONNOISSEUR'. He said it wanted matter. — No doubt it had not the deep thinking of Johnson's writings. But surely it has just views of the surface of life, and a very sprightly manner. His opinion of 'THE WORLD' was not much higher than of 'THE CONNOISSEUR'. | ” |