Dr. _Slop_ did not understand the nature of this defence;—he was
puzzled with it, and it put an entire stop to the dispute for four
minutes and a half;—five had been fatal to it:—my father saw the
danger—the dispute was one of the most interesting disputes in the
world, “Whether the child of his prayers and endeavours should be born
without a head or with one:”—he waited to the last moment, to allow Dr.
_Slop_, in whose behalf the wish was made, his right of returning it;
but perceiving, I say, that he was confounded, and continued looking
with that perplexed vacuity of eye which puzzled souls generally stare
with—first in my uncle _Toby_’s face—then in his—then up—then down—then
east—east and by east, and so on,——coasting it along by the plinth of
the wainscot till he had got to the opposite point of the compass,——and
that he had actually begun to count the brass nails upon the arm of his
chair,—my father thought there was no time to be lost with my uncle
_Toby_, so took up the discourse as follows.
[5] Vide page 260.