Page:The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy (Volume 2).pdf/30



Would not give a groat for that man's knowledge in pen-craft, who does not understand this,—That the best plain narrative in the world, tack'd very close to the last spirited apostrophe to my uncle Toby,—would have felt both cold and vapid upon the reader's palate;—therefore I forthwith put an end to the chapter,—though I was in the middle of my story.

Writers of my stamp have one principle in common with painters.—Where an exact copying makes our pictures less striking, we choose the less evil; deeming it even more pardonable to trespass against truth, than beauty.—This is to be understood cum grano salis;