Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. He hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rises at it.
– William Shakespeare
Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 1. In the graveyard Hamlet fondly remembers the court jester Yorick. He tells Horatio how he knew him as a child, a funny fellow who used to carry him on his back. Now, holding up his skull, he is horrified at the way he has decayed and is reduced to this.