Ill-fated sermon! Thou wast lost, after this recovery of thee, a second time, dropped thro’ an unsuspected fissure in thy master’s pocket, down into a treacherous and a tattered lining, --trod deep into the dirt by the left hind-foot of his Rosinante inhumanly stepping upon thee as thou falledst; --buried ten days in the mire, ----raised up out of it by a beggar, --sold for a halfpenny to a parish-clerk, ----transferred to his parson, ----lost for ever to thy own, the remainder of his days, ----nor restored to his restless MANES till this very moment, that I tell the world the story. Can the reader believe, that this sermon of _Yorick’s_ was preached at an assize, in the cathedral of _York_, before a thousand witnesses, ready to give oath of it, by a certain prebendary of that church, and actually printed by him when he had done, ----and within so short a space as two years and three months after _Yorick’s_ death? --_Yorick_ indeed, was never better served in his life; ------but it was a little hard to maltreat him after, and plunder him after he was laid in his grave. However, as the gentleman who did it was in perfect charity with _Yorick_, --and, in conscious justice, printed but a few copies to give away; --and that I am told he could moreover have made as good a one himself, had he thought fit, --I declare I would not have published this anecdote to the world; ----nor do I publish it with an intent to hurt his character and advancement in the church; ----I leave that to others; --but I find myself impelled by two reasons, which I cannot withstand. The first is, That in doing justice, I may give rest to _Yorick’s_ ghost; ----which--as the country-people, and some others, believe, ----_still walks_. The second reason is, That, by laying open this story to the world, I gain an opportunity of informing it, --That in case the character of parson _Yorick_, and this sample of his sermons, is liked, ----there are now in the possession of the _Shandy_ family, as many as will make a handsome volume, at the world’s service, ----and much good may they do it. CHAPTER XVIII Obadiah gained the two crowns without dispute; for he came in jingling, with all the instruments in the green bays bag we spoke of, slung across his body, just as Corporal _Trim_ went out of the room. It is now proper, I think, quoth Dr. _Slop_ (clearing up his looks), as we are in a condition to be of some service to Mrs. _Shandy_, to send upstairs to know how she goes on.