Part 40 (1/2)
These short characters of his sermons were always written, excepting in this one instance, upon the first leaf of his sermon, which served as a cover to it; and usually upon the inside of it, which was turned towards the text;-but at the end of his discourse, where, perhaps, he had five or six pages, and sometimes, perhaps, a whole score to turn himself in,-he took a large circuit, and, indeed, a much more mettlesome one;-as if he had s.n.a.t.c.hed the occasion of unlacing himself with a few more frolicksome strokes at vice, than the straitness of the pulpit allowed.-These, though hussar-like, they skirmish lightly and out of all order, are still auxiliaries on the side of virtue;-tell me then, Mynheer Vander Blonederdondergewdenstronke, why they should not be printed together?
Chapter 3.LV.
When my uncle Toby had turned every thing into money, and settled all accounts betwixt the agent of the regiment and Le Fever, and betwixt Le Fever and all mankind,-there remained nothing more in my uncle Toby's hands, than an old regimental coat and a sword; so that my uncle Toby found little or no opposition from the world in taking administration. The coat my uncle Toby gave the corporal;-Wear it, Trim, said my uncle Toby, as long as it will hold together, for the sake of the poor lieutenant-And this,-said my uncle Toby, taking up the sword in his hand, and drawing it out of the scabbard as he spoke-and this, Le Fever, I'll save for thee,-'tis all the fortune, continued my uncle Toby, hanging it up upon a crook, and pointing to it,-'tis all the fortune, my dear Le Fever, which G.o.d has left thee; but if he has given thee a heart to fight thy way with it in the world,-and thou doest it like a man of honour,-'tis enough for us.
As soon as my uncle Toby had laid a foundation, and taught him to inscribe a regular polygon in a circle, he sent him to a public school, where, excepting Whitsontide and Christmas, at which times the corporal was punctually dispatched for him,-he remained to the spring of the year, seventeen; when the stories of the emperor's sending his army into Hungary against the Turks, kindling a spark of fire in his bosom, he left his Greek and Latin without leave, and throwing himself upon his knees before my uncle Toby, begged his father's sword, and my uncle Toby's leave along with it, to go and try his fortune under Eugene.-Twice did my uncle Toby forget his wound and cry out, Le Fever! I will go with thee, and thou shalt fight beside me-And twice he laid his hand upon his groin, and hung down his head in sorrow and disconsolation.-
My uncle Toby took down the sword from the crook, where it had hung untouched ever since the lieutenant's death, and delivered it to the corporal to brighten up;-and having detained Le Fever a single fortnight to equip him, and contract for his pa.s.sage to Leghorn,-he put the sword into his hand.-If thou art brave, Le Fever, said my uncle Toby, this will not fail thee,-but Fortune, said he (musing a little),-Fortune may-And if she does,-added my uncle Toby, embracing him, come back again to me, Le Fever, and we will shape thee another course.
The greatest injury could not have oppressed the heart of Le Fever more than my uncle Toby's paternal kindness;-he parted from my uncle Toby, as the best of sons from the best of fathers-both dropped tears-and as my uncle Toby gave him his last kiss, he slipped sixty guineas, tied up in an old purse of his father's, in which was his mother's ring, into his hand,-and bid G.o.d bless him.
Chapter 3.LVI.
Le Fever got up to the Imperial army just time enough to try what metal his sword was made of, at the defeat of the Turks before Belgrade; but a series of unmerited mischances had pursued him from that moment, and trod close upon his heels for four years together after; he had withstood these buffetings to the last, till sickness overtook him at Ma.r.s.eilles, from whence he wrote my uncle Toby word, he had lost his time, his services, his health, and, in short, every thing but his sword;-and was waiting for the first s.h.i.+p to return back to him.
As this letter came to hand about six weeks before Susannah's accident, Le Fever was hourly expected; and was uppermost in my uncle Toby's mind all the time my father was giving him and Yorick a description of what kind of a person he would chuse for a preceptor to me: but as my uncle Toby thought my father at first somewhat fanciful in the accomplishments he required, he forbore mentioning Le Fever's name,-till the character, by Yorick's inter-position, ending unexpectedly, in one, who should be gentle-tempered, and generous, and good, it impressed the image of Le Fever, and his interest, upon my uncle Toby so forcibly, he rose instantly off his chair; and laying down his pipe, in order to take hold of both my father's hands-I beg, brother Shandy, said my uncle Toby, I may recommend poor Le Fever's son to you-I beseech you do, added Yorick-He has a good heart, said my uncle Toby-And a brave one too, an' please your honour, said the corporal.
-The best hearts, Trim, are ever the bravest, replied my uncle Toby.-And the greatest cowards, an' please your honour, in our regiment, were the greatest rascals in it.-There was serjeant k.u.mber, and ensign-
-We'll talk of them, said my father, another time.
Chapter 3.LVII.
What a jovial and a merry world would this be, may it please your wors.h.i.+ps, but for that inextricable labyrinth of debts, cares, woes, want, grief, discontent, melancholy, large jointures, impositions, and lies!
Doctor Slop, like a son of a w..., as my father called him for it,-to exalt himself,-debased me to death,-and made ten thousand times more of Susannah's accident, than there was any grounds for; so that in a week's time, or less, it was in every body's mouth, That poor Master Shandy...entirely.-And Fame, who loves to double every thing,-in three days more, had sworn, positively she saw it,-and all the world, as usual, gave credit to her evidence-'That the nursery window had not only...;-but that.. .'s also.'
Could the world have been sued like a Body-Corporate,-my father had brought an action upon the case, and trounced it sufficiently; but to fall foul of individuals about it-as every soul who had mentioned the affair, did it with the greatest pity imaginable;-'twas like flying in the very face of his best friends:-And yet to acquiesce under the report, in silence-was to acknowledge it openly,-at least in the opinion of one half of the world; and to make a bustle again, in contradicting it,-was to confirm it as strongly in the opinion of the other half.-
-Was ever poor devil of a country gentleman so hampered? said my father.
I would shew him publickly, said my uncle Toby, at the market cross.
-'Twill have no effect, said my father.
Chapter 3.LVIII.