Page:The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy (Volume 2).pdf/68

 What could Dr. Slop do?—he crossed himself —Pugh!—but the doctor, Sir, was a Papist.—No matter; he had better have kept hold of the pummel. He had so;—nay, as it happened, he had better have done nothing at all;—for in crossing himself he let go his whip,—and in attempting to save his whip betwixt his knee and his saddle's skirt, as it slipp'd, he lost his stirrup,—in losing which, he lost his seat;—and in the multitude of all these losses (which, by the bye, shews what little advantage there is in crossing) the unfortunate doctor lost his presence of mind. So that, without waiting for Obadiah's onset, he left his pony to its destiny, tumbling off it diagonally, something in the stile and manner of a pack of wool, and without any other consequence from the fall, save that of being left (as it would have been)