Page:The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy (Volume 6).pdf/71

 Could the world have been sued like a ,—my father had brought an action upon the case, and trounced it sufficiently; but to fall foul of individuals about it—as every soul who had mentioned the affair, did it with the greatest pity imaginable;—'twas like flying in the very face of his best friends:—And yet to acquiesce under the report, in silence—was to acknowledge it openly,—at least in the opinion of one half of the world; and to make a bustle again, in contradiction it,—was to confirm it as strongly in the opinion of the other half.

—Was ever poor devil of a country gentleman so hampered? said my father.