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T H E L I F E A N D O P I N I O N S O F TRISTRAM SHANDY, G E N T L E M A N.
V O L. V. L O N D O N : Printed for T. BECKET and P. A. DEHONT, in the Strand. M DCC LXII. |
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J O H N, Lord Viscount S P E N C E R. MY LORD, I Humbly beg leave to offer you these two Volumes ; they are the best my talents, with such bad health as I have, could produce : -- had providence granted me a larger stock of either, they had been a much more proper present to your Lordship. I |
D E D I C A T I O N
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I beg your Lordship will forgive me, if, at the same time I dedi- cate this work to you, I join Lady SPENCER, in the liberty I take of inscribing the story of Le Fever in the sixth volume to her name ; for which I have no other motive, which my heart has informed me of, but that the story is a humane one. I am, My Lord, Your Lordship's Most devoted, And most humble Servant, LAUR. STERNE. |
  T H EL I F E and O P I N I O N S O F T R I S T R A M S H A N D Y, Gent. ________________________________ IF it had not been for those two mettlesome tits, and that madcap of a postilion, who drove them from Stil- ton to Stamford, the thought had never entered my head. He flew like light- ning ---- there was a slope of three miles and a half ---- we scarce touched the ground ---- the motion was most rapid -- most impetuous -- 'twas communicat- VOL. V. B ed |
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ed to my brain -- my heart partook of it ---- By the great God of day, said I, looking towards the sun, and thrusting my arm out of the fore-window of the chaise, as I made my vow, `` I will lock up my study door the moment I get home, and throw the key of it nine- ty feet below the surface of the earth, into the draw-well at the back of my house.'' The London waggon confirmed me in my resolution : it hung tottering upon the hill, scarce progressive, drag'd -- drag'd up by eight heavy beasts ---- `` by main strength ! -- quoth I, nodding -- but your betters draw the same way -- and something of every bodies ! ---- O rare !'' 2 Tell |
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Tell me, ye learned, shall we for ever be adding so much to the bulk -- so little to the stock ? Shall we for ever make new books, as apothecaries make new mixtures, by pouring only out of one vessel into another ? Are we for ever to be twisting, and untwisting the same rope ? for ever in the same track -- for ever at the same pace ? Shall we be destined to the days of eternity, on holy-days, as well as work- ing-days, to be shewing the relicks of learning, as monks do the relicks of their saints -- without working one -- one single miracle with them ? B 2 Who |
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Who made MAN, with powers which dart him from earth to heaven in a mo- ment -- that great, that most excellent, and most noble creature of the world -- the miracle of nature, as Zoroaster in his book peri phuseos called him -- the SHE- KINAH of the divine presence, as Chry- sostom -- the image of God, as Moses -- the ray of divinity, as Plato -- the marvel of marvels, as Aristotle ---- to go sneak- ing on at this pitiful -- pimping -- petti- fogging rate ? I scorn to be as abusive as Horace upon the occasion ---- but if there is no catachresis in the wish, and no sin in it, I wish from my soul, that every imitator in Great Britain, France, and Ireland had the farcy for his pains ; and that there was a good farcical house, large enough to hold -- aye -- and sublimate them, |
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them, shag-rag and bob-tail, male and female, all together : and this leads me to the affair of Whiskers ---- but, by what chain of ideas -- I leave as a legacy in mort main to Prudes and Tartufs, to enjoy and make the most of. I'm sorry I made it ---- 'twas as incon- siderate a promise as ever entered a man's head ---- A chapter upon whiskers ! alas ! the world will not bear it ---- 'tis a deli- cate world -- but I knew not of what mettle it was made -- nor had I ever seen the underwritten fragment ; other- wise, as surely as noses are noses, and whiskers are whiskers still ; (let the world say what it will to the contrary) so surely would I have steered clear of this dan- gerous chapter. B 3 The |
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * ---- You are half asleep, my good lady, said the old gentleman, taking hold of the old lady's hand and giving it a gentle squeeze, as he pronounced the word Whiskers ---- shall we change the subject ? By no means, replied the old lady -- I like your account of these matters : so throwing a thin gauze handkerchief over her head, and leaning it back upon the chair with her face turned towards him, and advancing her two feet as she reclined herself -- I desire, continued she, you will go on. The old gentleman went on as follows. ------ Whiskers ! cried the queen of Navarre, dropping her knotting-ball, as La Fosseuse uttered the word ---- Whis- kers ; |
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kers ; madam, said La Fosseuse, pinning the ball to the queen's apron, and mak- ing a courtesy as she repeated it. La Fosseuse's voice was naturally soft and low, yet 'twas an articulate voice : and every letter of the word whiskers fell distinctly upon the queen of Navarre's ear -- Whiskers ! cried the queen, laying a greater stress upon the word, and as if she had still distrusted her ears -- Whis- kers ; replied La Fosseuse, repeating the word a third time -- There is not a cava- lier, madam, of his age in Navarre, con- tinued the maid of honour, pressing the page's interest upon the queen, that has so gallant a pair -- Of what ? cried Mar- garet, smiling ---- Of whiskers, said La Fosseuse, with infinite modesty. B 4 The |
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The word whiskers still stood its ground, and continued to be made use of in most of the best companies through- out the little kingdom of Navarre, not- withstanding the indiscreet use which La Fosseuse had made of it : the truth was, La Fosseuse had pronounced the word, not only before the queen, but upon sun- dry other occasions at court, with an ac- cent which always implied something of a mystery ---- And as the court of Mar- garet, as all the world knows, was at that time a mixture of gallantry and de- votion ---- and whiskers being as appli- cable to the one, as the other, the word naturally stood its ground -- it gain'd full as much as it lost ; that is, the clergy were for it -- the laity were against it -- and for the women, ---- they were di- vided. ---- The |
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The excellency of the figure and mien of the young Sieur de Croix, was at that time beginning to draw the attention of the maids of honour towards the terras before the palace gate, where the guard was mounted. The Lady de Baussiere fell deeply in love with him, -- La Batta- relle did the same -- it was the finest wea- ther for it, that ever was remembered in Navarre -- La Guyol, La Maronette, La Sabatiere, fell in love with the Sieur de Croix also -- La Rebours and La Fosseuse knew better -- De Croix had failed in an attempt to recommend himself to La Rebours ; and La Rebours and La Fosseuse were inseparable. The queen of Navarre was sitting with her ladies in the painted bow-window, facing the gate of the second court, as De Croix passed through it -- He is hand- some, |
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some, said the Lady Baussiere. -- He has a good mien, said La Battarelle. -- He is finely shaped, said La Guyol. -- I never saw an officer of the horse-guards in my life, said La Maronette, with two such legs -- Or who stood so well upon them, said La Sabatiere ---- But he has no whis- kers, cried La Fosseuse -- Not a pile, said La Rebours. The queen went directly to her ora- tory, musing all the way, as she walked through the gallery, upon the subject ; turning it this way and that way in her fancy ---- Ave Maria  -- what can La Fosseuse mean ? said she, kneeling down upon the cushion. La Guyol, La Battarelle, La Maronette, La Sabatiere, retired instantly to their chambers -- Whiskers ! said all four of them |
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them to themselves, as they bolted their doors on the inside. The Lady Carnavallette was counting her beads with both hands, unsuspected under her farthingal -- from St. Antony down to St. Ursula inclusive, not a saint passed through her fingers without whis- kers ; St. Francis, St. Dominick, St. Ben- net, St. Basil, St. Bridget, had all whis- kers. The Lady Baussiere had got into a wilderness of conceits, with moralizing too intricately upon La Fosseuse's text -- She mounted her palfry, her page fol- lowed her -- the host passed by -- the lady Baussiere rode on. One denier, cried the order of mercy -- one single denier, in behalf of a thou- sand |
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sand patient captives, whose eyes look towards heaven and you for their re- demption. -- The Lady Baussiere rode on. Pity the unhappy, said a devout, ve- nerable, hoary-headed man, meekly hold- ing up a box, begirt with iron, in his withered hands ---- I beg for the unfor- tunate -- good, my lady, 'tis for a prison -- for an hospital -- 'tis for an old man -- a poor man undone by shipwreck, by suretyship, by fire ---- I call God and all his angels to witness -- 'tis to cloath the naked -- to feed the hungry -- 'tis to com- fort the sick and the broken hearted. -- The Lady Baussiere rode on. A decayed kinsman bowed himself to the ground. -- The |
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-- The Lady Baussiere rode on. He ran begging bare-headed on one side of her palfry, conjuring her by the former bonds of friendship, alliance, co sanguinity, &c. -- Cousin, aunt, sister, mo- ther -- for virtue's sake, for your own, for mine, for Christ's sake remember me -- pity me. -- The Lady Baussiere rode on. Take hold of my whiskers, said the Lady Baussiere ---- The page took hold of her palfry. She dismounted at the end of the terrace. There are some trains of certain ideas which leave prints of themselves about our eyes and eye-brows ; and there is a consciousness of it, somewhere about the heart, |
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heart, which serves but to make these etchings the stronger -- we see, spell, and put them together without a dictionary. Ha, ha ! hee, hee ! cried La Guyol and La Sabatiere, looking close at each others prints ---- Ho, ho ! cried La Battarelle and Maronette, doing the same : -- Whist ! cried one -- st, st, -- said a second, -- hush, quoth a third ---- poo, poo, replied a fourth -- gramercy ! cried the Lady Car- navallette ; -- 'twas she who bewhisker'd St. Bridget. La Fosseuse drew her bodkin from the knot of her hair, and having traced the outline of a small whisker, with the blunt end of it, upon one side of her upper lip, put it into La Rebours's hand -- La Re- bours shook her head. The |
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The Lady Baussiere cough'd thrice into the inside of her muff -- La Guyol smiled -- Fy, said the Lady Baussiere. The queen of Navarre touched her eye with the tip of her fore finger -- as much as to say, I understand you all. 'Twas plain to the whole court the word was ruined : La Fosseuse had given it a wound, and it was not the better for passing through all these defiles ---- It made a faint stand, however, for a few months ; by the expiration of which, the Sieur de Croix, finding it high time to leave Navarre for want of whiskers -- the word in course became indecent, and (after a few efforts) absolutely unfit for use. The best word, in the best language of the best world, must have suffered un- der |
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der such combinations. -- The curate of d'Estella wrote a book against them, set- ting forth the dangers of accessory ideas, and warning the Navarois against them. Does not all the world know, said the curate d'Estella at the conclusion of his work, that Noses ran the same fate some centuries ago in most parts of Europe, which Whiskers have now done in the kingdom of Navarre -- The evil indeed spread no further then -- , but have not beds and bolsters, and night-caps and chamber-pots stood upon the brink of de- struction ever since ? Are not trouse, and placket-holes, and pump-handles -- and spigots and faucets, in danger still, from the same association ? -- Chastity, by nature the gentlest of all affections -- give it but its head -- 'tis like a ramping and a roar- ing lion. 3 The |
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The drift of the curate d'Estella's argu- ment was not understood. -- They ran the scent the wrong way. -- The world bridled his ass at the tail. -- And when the extreams of DELICACY, and the be- ginnings of CONCUPISCENCE, hold their next provincial chapter together, they may decree that bawdy also. WHEN my father received the letter which brought him the melancholy account of my brother Bobby's death, he was busy calculating the ex- pence of his riding post from Calais to Paris, and so on to Lyons. 'Twas a most inauspicious journey ; my father having had every foot of it to travel over again, and his calculation to begin afresh, when he had almost got VOL. V. C to |
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to the end of it, by Obadiah's opening the door to acquaint him the family was out of yeast -- and to ask whether he might not take the great coach-horse early in the morning, and ride in search of some. -- With all my heart, Obadiah, said my father, (pursuing his journey) -- take the coach-horse, and welcome. -- But he wants a shoe, poor creature ! said Obadiah. -- Poor creature ! said my uncle Toby, vibrating the note back again, like a string in unison. Then ride the Scotch horse, quoth my father hastily. -- He can- not bear a saddle upon his back, quoth Obadiah, for the whole world. ---- The devil's in that horse ; then take PATRIOT, cried my father, and shut the door. ---- PATRIOT is sold, said Obadiah. -- Here's for you ! cried my fa- ther, making a pause, and looking in my uncle Toby's face, as if the thing had not been a matter of fact. -- Your wor- 1 ship |
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ship ordered me to sell him last April, said Obadiah. -- Then go on foot for your pains, cried my father. -- I had much ra- ther walk than ride, said Obadiah, shut- ting the door. What plagues ! cried my father, go- ing on with his calculation. -- But the waters are out, said Obadiah, -- opening the door again. Till that moment, my father, who had a map of Sanson's, and a book of the post roads before him, had kept his hand upon the head of his compasses, with one foot of them fixed upon Nevers, the last stage he had paid for -- purposing to go on from that point with his journey and calculation, as soon as Obadiah quitted the room ; but this second attack of Oba- diah's, in opening the door and laying the whole country under water, was too much. -- He let go his compasses -- or ra- C 2 ther |
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