The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy [113]
avail myself of thy immortality, and secure my own behind it.
Chapter 2.XLIII.
Though man is of all others the most curious vehicle, said my father, yet at the same time 'tis of so slight a frame, and so totteringly put together, that the sudden jerks and hard jostlings it unavoidably meets with in this rugged journey, would overset and tear it to pieces a dozen times a day--was it not, brother Toby, that there is a secret spring within us.--Which spring, said my uncle Toby, I take to be Religion.--Will that set my child's nose on? cried my father, letting go his finger, and striking one hand against the other.--It makes every thing straight for us, answered my uncle Toby.--Figuratively speaking, dear Toby, it may, for aught I know, said my father; but the spring I am speaking of, is that great and elastic power within us of counterbalancing evil, which, like a secret spring in a well-ordered machine, though it can't prevent the shock- -at least it imposes upon our sense of it.
Now, my dear brother, said my father, replacing his fore-finger, as he was coming closer to the point--had my child arrived safe into the world, unmartyr'd in that precious part of him--fanciful and extravagant as I may appear to the world in my opinion of christian names, and of that magic bias which good or bad names irresistibly impress upon our characters and conducts--Heaven is witness! that in the warmest transports of my wishes for the prosperity of my child, I never once wished to crown his head with more glory and honour than what George or Edward would have spread around it.
But alas! continued my father, as the greatest evil has befallen him--I must counteract and undo it with the greatest good.
He shall be christened Trismegistus, brother.
I wish it may answer--replied my uncle Toby, rising up.
Chapter 2.XLIV.
What a chapter of chances, said my father, turning himself about upon the first landing, as he and my uncle Toby were going down stairs, what a long chapter of chances do the events of this world lay open to us! Take pen and ink in hand, brother Toby, and calculate it fairly--I know no more of calculation than this balluster, said my uncle Toby (striking short of it with his crutch, and hitting my father a desperate blow souse upon his shin-bone)--'Twas a hundred to one-cried my uncle Toby--I thought, quoth my father, (rubbing his shin) you had known nothing of calculations, brother Toby. a mere chance, said my uncle Toby.--Then it adds one to the chapter- -replied my father.
The double success of my father's repartees tickled off the pain of his shin at once--it was well it so fell out--(chance! again)--or the world to this day had never known the subject of my father's calculation--to guess it--there was no chance--What a lucky chapter of chances has this turned out! for it has saved me the trouble of writing one express, and in truth I have enough already upon my hands without it.--Have not I promised the world a chapter of knots? two chapters upon the right and the wrong end of a woman? a chapter upon whiskers? a chapter upon wishes?--a chapter of noses?--No, I have done that--a chapter upon my uncle Toby's modesty? to say nothing of a chapter upon chapters, which I will finish before I sleep- -by my great grandfather's whiskers, I shall never get half of 'em through this year.
Take pen and ink in hand, and calculate it fairly, brother Toby, said my father, and it will turn out a million to one, that of all the parts of the body, the edge of the forceps should have the ill luck just to fall upon and break down that one part, which should break down the fortunes of our house with it.
It might have been worse, replied my uncle Toby.--I don't comprehend, said my father.--Suppose the hip had presented, replied my uncle Toby, as Dr. Slop foreboded.
My father reflected half a minute--looked down--touched the middle of his forehead slightly with his finger--
--True, said he.
Chapter 2.XLV.
Is it not a shame to make two chapters of what passed in going down one pair of stairs? for
Chapter 2.XLIII.
Though man is of all others the most curious vehicle, said my father, yet at the same time 'tis of so slight a frame, and so totteringly put together, that the sudden jerks and hard jostlings it unavoidably meets with in this rugged journey, would overset and tear it to pieces a dozen times a day--was it not, brother Toby, that there is a secret spring within us.--Which spring, said my uncle Toby, I take to be Religion.--Will that set my child's nose on? cried my father, letting go his finger, and striking one hand against the other.--It makes every thing straight for us, answered my uncle Toby.--Figuratively speaking, dear Toby, it may, for aught I know, said my father; but the spring I am speaking of, is that great and elastic power within us of counterbalancing evil, which, like a secret spring in a well-ordered machine, though it can't prevent the shock- -at least it imposes upon our sense of it.
Now, my dear brother, said my father, replacing his fore-finger, as he was coming closer to the point--had my child arrived safe into the world, unmartyr'd in that precious part of him--fanciful and extravagant as I may appear to the world in my opinion of christian names, and of that magic bias which good or bad names irresistibly impress upon our characters and conducts--Heaven is witness! that in the warmest transports of my wishes for the prosperity of my child, I never once wished to crown his head with more glory and honour than what George or Edward would have spread around it.
But alas! continued my father, as the greatest evil has befallen him--I must counteract and undo it with the greatest good.
He shall be christened Trismegistus, brother.
I wish it may answer--replied my uncle Toby, rising up.
Chapter 2.XLIV.
What a chapter of chances, said my father, turning himself about upon the first landing, as he and my uncle Toby were going down stairs, what a long chapter of chances do the events of this world lay open to us! Take pen and ink in hand, brother Toby, and calculate it fairly--I know no more of calculation than this balluster, said my uncle Toby (striking short of it with his crutch, and hitting my father a desperate blow souse upon his shin-bone)--'Twas a hundred to one-cried my uncle Toby--I thought, quoth my father, (rubbing his shin) you had known nothing of calculations, brother Toby. a mere chance, said my uncle Toby.--Then it adds one to the chapter- -replied my father.
The double success of my father's repartees tickled off the pain of his shin at once--it was well it so fell out--(chance! again)--or the world to this day had never known the subject of my father's calculation--to guess it--there was no chance--What a lucky chapter of chances has this turned out! for it has saved me the trouble of writing one express, and in truth I have enough already upon my hands without it.--Have not I promised the world a chapter of knots? two chapters upon the right and the wrong end of a woman? a chapter upon whiskers? a chapter upon wishes?--a chapter of noses?--No, I have done that--a chapter upon my uncle Toby's modesty? to say nothing of a chapter upon chapters, which I will finish before I sleep- -by my great grandfather's whiskers, I shall never get half of 'em through this year.
Take pen and ink in hand, and calculate it fairly, brother Toby, said my father, and it will turn out a million to one, that of all the parts of the body, the edge of the forceps should have the ill luck just to fall upon and break down that one part, which should break down the fortunes of our house with it.
It might have been worse, replied my uncle Toby.--I don't comprehend, said my father.--Suppose the hip had presented, replied my uncle Toby, as Dr. Slop foreboded.
My father reflected half a minute--looked down--touched the middle of his forehead slightly with his finger--
--True, said he.
Chapter 2.XLV.
Is it not a shame to make two chapters of what passed in going down one pair of stairs? for