Page:The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy (Volume 3).pdf/143

 stantly for granted that Dr. Slop was making a model of the marquis d'Hôpital's bridge.—'Tis very obliging in him, quoth my uncle Toby;—pray give my humble service to Dr. Slop, Trim, and tell him I thank him heartily.

Had my uncle Tobys head been a Savoyards box, and my father peeping in all the time at one end of it,—it could not have given him a more distinct conception of the operations in my uncle Toby's imagination, than what he had; so notwithstanding the catapulta and battering-ram, and his bitter imprecation about them, he was just beginning to triumph.

When Trim's answer, in an instant, tore the laurel from his brows, and twisted it to pieces.