Page:The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy (Volume 8).pdf/144

 Now I would not, quoth my uncle Toby, get a child, nolens, volens, that is, whether I would or no, to please the greatest prince upon earth

- And 'twould be cruel in me, brother Toby, to compell thee; said my father - but 'tis a case put to shew thee, that it is not thy begetting a child - in case thou should'st be able - but the system of Love and marriage thou goest upon, which I would set thee right in

There is at least, said Yorick, a great deal of reason and plain sense in captain Shandy's opinion of love; and 'tis amongst the ill spent hours of my life which I have to answer for, that I have read so many flourishing poets and rhetoricians in my time, from whom I never could extract so much