——“_ALL is not gain that is got into the purse._”—So that
notwithstanding my father had the happiness of reading the oddest books
in the universe, and had moreover, in himself, the oddest way of
thinking that ever man in it was bless’d with, yet it had this drawback
upon him after all——that it laid him open to some of the oddest and
most whimsical distresses; of which this particular one, which he sunk
under at present, is as strong an example as can be given.
No doubt, the breaking down of the bridge of a child’s nose, by the
edge of a pair of forceps—however scientifically applied—would vex any
man in the world, who was at so much pains in begetting a child, as my
father was—yet it will not account for the extravagance of his
affliction, nor will it justify the un-christian manner he abandoned
and surrendered himself up to.
To explain this, I must leave him upon the bed for half an hour—and my
uncle _Toby_ in his old fringed chair sitting beside him.