On the back of half a dozen I find written, _So, so_, and no more----and upon a couple _Moderato_; by which, as far as one may gather from _Altieri's_ _Italian_ dictionary, --but mostly from the authority of a piece of green whipcord, which seemed to have been the unravelling of _Yorick's_ whip-lash, with which he has left us the two sermons marked _Moderato_, and the half dozen of _So, so_, tied fast together in one bundle by themselves, --one may safely suppose he meant pretty near the same thing.
There is but one difficulty in the way of this conjecture, which is this, that the _moderato's_ are five times better than the _so, so's_; --show ten times more knowledge of the human heart; --have seventy times more wit and spirit in them; --(and, to rise properly in my climax)--discovered a thousand times more genius; --and to crown all, are infinitely more entertaining than those tied up with them: --for which reason, whene'er _Yorick's_ _dramatic_ sermons are offered to the world, though I shall admit but one out of the whole number of the _so, so's_, I shall, nevertheless, adventure to print the two _moderato's_ without any sort of scruple.
What _Yorick_ could mean by the words _lentamente_, --_tenut_, --_grave_, --and sometimes _adagio_, --as applied to _theological_ compositions, and with which he has characterised some of these sermons, I dare not venture to guess. ----I am more puzzled still upon finding _a l'octava alta!_ upon one; ----_Con strepito_ upon the back of another; ----_Siciliana_ upon a third; ----_Alla capella_ upon a fourth; ----_Con l'arco_ upon this; ----_Senza l'arco_ upon that. ----All I know is, that they are musical terms, and have a meaning; ----and as he was a musical man, I will make no doubt, but that by some quaint application of such metaphors to the compositions in hand, they impressed very distinct ideas of their several characters upon his fancy, --whatever they may do upon that of others.
Amongst these, there is that particular sermon which has unaccountably led me into this digression ----The funeral sermon upon poor _Le Fever_, wrote out very fairly, as if from a hasty copy. --I take notice of it the more, because it seems to have been his favourite composition ----It is upon mortality; and is tied lengthways and cross-ways with a yarn thrum, and then rolled up and twisted round with a half-sheet of dirty blue paper, which seems to have been once the cast cover of a general review, which to this day smells horribly of horse drugs. ----Whether these marks of humiliation were designed, --I something doubt; ----because at the end of the sermon (and not at the beginning of it)--very different from his way of treating the rest, he had wrote----
Bravo!
----Though not very offensively, ----for it is at two inches, at least, and a half's distance from, and below the concluding line of the sermon, at the very extremity of the page, and in that right hand corner of it, which, you know, is generally covered with your thumb; and, to do it justice, it is wrote besides with a crow's quill so faintly in a small _Italian_ hand, as scarce to solicit the eye towards the place, whether your thumb is there or not, --so that from the _manner of it_, it stands half excused; and being wrote moreover with very pale ink, diluted almost to nothing, --'tis more like a _ritratto_ of the shadow of vanity, than of VANITY herself--of the two; resembling rather a faint thought of transient applause, secretly stirring up in the heart of the composer; than a gross mark of it, coarsely obtruded upon the world.

On the back of half a dozen I find written, 'So-so,' - and upon a couple, 'Moderato;' by which, since he left the two sermons marked 'Moderato' and the half dozen of 'So-so' tied together in one bundle - one may safely suppose he meant pretty near the same thing.
There is but one difficulty with this, which is that the 'moderato's' are five times better than the 'so-so's'; show ten times more knowledge of the human heart; have seventy times more wit and spirit in them; (and, to rise properly in my climax) reveal a thousand times more genius; - and to crown all, are infinitely more entertaining than the 'so-so's'. Therefore, when Yorick's sermons are offered to the world, though I shall include only one of the 'so-so's', I shall, nevertheless, print the two 'moderato's' without any scruple.
What Yorick could mean by the words lentamente, tenut, grave, and sometimes adagio, with which he has labelled some of these sermons, I dare not guess. I am more puzzled still upon finding a l'octava alta! upon one; Con strepito upon another; Siciliana upon a third; Alla capella upon a fourth.
All I know is that they are musical terms, and have a meaning; and as he was a musical man, I have no doubt that his compositions impressed very distinct ideas of their characters upon his fancy.
Amongst these is that particular sermon which has unaccountably led me into this digression - the funeral sermon upon poor Le Fever. It seems to have been his favourite composition: it is upon mortality; and is tied lengthways and crossways with yarn, and then rolled up and twisted round with a half-sheet of dirty blue paper, which smells horribly of horse drugs. Whether these marks of humiliation were designed, I doubt; because at the end of the sermon, he had wrote-
'Bravo!'
- though it is two inches, at least, below the last line of the sermon, at that extreme right hand corner of the page, which, you know, is generally covered with your thumb; and it is wrote so faintly as scarcely to draw the eye towards it, whether your thumb is there or not. Being wrote moreover with very pale ink, diluted almost to nothing, 'tis more like the shadow of vanity, than Vanity herself - resembling rather a faint thought of applause, secretly stirring up in the heart of the composer, than a gross, obtrusive mark of it.
