VOLUME THE SECOND
Multitudinis imperitae non formido judicia, meis tamen,
rogo, parcant opusculis—in quibus fuit propositi semper, a
jocis ad seria, in seriis vicissim ad jocos transire.
Joan. Saresberiensis,
Episcopus Lugdun.
Chapter 2.I.
Great wits jump: for the moment Dr. Slop cast his eyes upon his bag (which he had not done till the dispute with my uncle Toby about mid-wifery put him in mind of it)—the very same thought occurred.—'Tis God's mercy, quoth he (to himself) that Mrs. Shandy has had so bad a time of it,—else she might have been brought to bed seven times told, before one half of these knots could have got untied.—But here you must distinguish—the thought floated only in Dr. Slop's mind, without sail or ballast to it, as a simple proposition; millions of which, as you
