The comic preacher, either hilariously out of touch with the world and buried in his Classic or Biblical erudition or worldly-wise enough to turn his sermon into a form of popular entertainment, is a staple of the eighteenth-century novel. A frequent character type in the English novel (Abraham Adams in "Joseph Andrews", Charles Primrose in "The Vicar of Wakefield", Yorick in "Tristram Shandy"), he is also well-represented in Spanish (José Francisco de Isla, "Fray Gerundio de Campazas") and German (Friedrich Nicolai, "Sebaldus Nothanker") literature. This stock character has roots in historical developments of the period, namely, the corruption of pulpit eloquence and rhetoric in general, and rationalist criticism of the Church and its social role.