The success of Sterne's novel got him an appointment by Lord Fauconberg as curate of St Michael's Church in Coxwold, Yorkshire, which included the living at Sterne's model for Shandy Hall.
In 1766, at the height of the debate about slavery, Ignatius Sancho wrote to Laurence Sterne[REF] encouraging the writer to use his pen to lobby for the abolition of the slave trade [REF].