Page:The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy (Volume 2).pdf/29

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[23]

parameter,—stop! my dear uncle Toby,—stop!—go not one foot further into this thorny and bewilder'd track,—intricate are the steps! intricate are the mases of this labyrinth! intricate are the troubles which the pursuit of this bewitching phantom, Knowledge, will bring upon thee.—O my uncle!—fly—fly—fly from it as from a serpent.—Is it fit, good-natur'd man! thou should'st sit up, with the wound upon thy groin, whole nights baking thy blood with hectic watchings?—Alas! 'twill exasperate thy symptoms,—check thy perspirations,—evaporate thy spirits,—waste thy animal strength,—dry up thy radical moisture,—bring thee into a costive habit of body, impair thy health,—and hasten all the infirmities of thy old age.—O my uncle! my uncle Toby!.

CHAP.