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 God 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 passage 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 God bless him.