bow;-my uncle Toby fmok'd on, and faid ng more.- -Corporal! faid my uncle Toby.The Corporal made his bow- -My uncle Toby proceeded no farther, but finished his pipe. Trim! faid my uncle Toby, I have a project in my head, as it is a bad night, of wrapping myfelf up warm in my roquelaure, and paying a vifit to this poor gentleman.- Your Honour's roquelaure, replied the Corporal, has not once been had on fince the night before your Honour received your wound, when we mounted guard in the trenches before the gate of St. Nicholas; and, befides, it is fo cold and rainy a night, that what with the roquelaure, and what with the weather, 'twill be enough to give your Honour your death, and bring on your Honour's torment in your groin.I fear fo, replied my uncle Toby; but I am not at reft in my mind, Trim, fince the account the landlord has given me. I with I had not known fo much of this affair, added my uncle Toby, or that I had known more of it. How fhall we manage it?—————Leave it, an' please your Honour, to me, quoth the Corporal. I'll take my hat and ftick, and go to the house and reconnoitre, and act accordingly; and I will bring your Honour a full account in an hour. Thou shalt go, Trim, faid my uncle Toby, and here's a fhilling for thee to drink with his fervant.- -I I fhall get it all out of him, faid the Corporal, fhutting the door. My uncle Toby filled his fecond pipe; and had it not been that he now and then wandered from the point, with confidering whether it was not full as well to have the curtain of the té naille naille a straight line as a crooked one,―he might be faid to have thought of nothing elfe but poor Le Fever and his boy the whole time he fmoked it. CHAP. VII. THE STORY OF LE FEVER CONTINUED. IT was not till my uncle Toby had knocked the afhes out of his third pipe, that Corporal Trim returned from the inn, and gave him the following account:- -And -I'll -I defpaired at firft, faid the Corporal, of being able to bring back your Honour any kind of intelligence concerning the poor fick Lieutenant.- Is he in the army, then? faid my uncle Toby.He is, faid the Corporal. in what regiment? faid my uncle Toby.tell your Honour, replied the Corporal, every thing ftraight forwards, as I learnt it. -Then, Trim, I'll fill another pipe, faid my uncle Toby, and not interrupt thee till thou haft done; fo fit down at thy eafe, Trim, in the window-feat, and begin thy ftory again.- -The Corporal made his old bow, which generally fpoke as plain as a bow could fpeak it, Your Honour is good:-and having done that, he fat down, as he was ordered, and began the ftory to my uncle Toby over again in pretty near the fame words. I despaired at firft, faid the Corporal, of being able to bring back any intelligence to your Honour about the Lieutenant and his fon;-for, when I afked where his fervant was, from whom I made myfelf fure of knowing every thing which was proper to be asked,- (That's a right diftinction, Trim, faid my uncle Toby) I was anfwered, an' pleafe your Honour, that he had no fervant with him; that he had come to the inn with hired horfes, which, upon finding himself unable to proceed (to join, I fuppofe, the regiment) he had difmiffed the morning after he came.If I get better, my dear, faid he, as he gave his purfe to his fon to pay the man, we can hire horfes from hence. But, alas! the poor gentleman will never go from hence, faid the landlady to me, for I heard the death-watch all night long; and, when he dies, the youth, his fon, will certainly die with him; for he is broken-hearted already. I was hearing this account, continued the Corporal, when the youth came into the kitchen, to order the thin toast the landlord fpoke of: -but I will do it for my father myfelf, faid the youth.Pray let me fave you the trouble, young gentleman, faid I, taking up a fork for the purpose, and offering him my chair to fit down upon by the fire, whilft I did it.- -I believe, Sir, faid he, very modeftly, I can pleafe him beft myself.- I am fure, faid 1, his Honour will not like the toaft the worse for being toafted by an old foldier.- The youth took hold of my hand, and instantly burst into tears. Poor youth! faid my uncle Toby; he has been bred up from an infant in the army; and the name of a foldier, Trim, founded in his ears like the name of a friend!-I wish I had him here. -I never, in the longeft march, faid the Corporal, had fo great a mind for my dinner, as I had to cry with him for company. What could be the matter with me, an' please your Honour? Nothing in the world, Trim, faid my uncle Toby, blowing his nose, but that thou art a good-natured fellow. When I gave him the toaft, continued the Corporal, I thought it was proper to tell him I was Captain Shandy's fervant, and that your Honour (though a ftranger) was extremely concerned for his father; and that if there was any thing in your houfe or cellar-(And thou might'st have added my purse too, faid my uncle Toby)he was heartily welcome to it.— He made a very low bow (which was meant to your Honour) but no anfwér;-for his heart was full-fo he went up ftairs with the toast.-I warrant you, my dear, faid I, as I opened the kitchen-door, your father will be well again. Mr. Yorick's curate was fmoking a pipe by the kitchen-fire; but faid not a word, good or bad, to comfort the youth.- -I thought it wrong, added the Corporal. -I think fo too, faid my uncle Toby. When the Lieutenant had taken his glafs of fack and toaft, he felt himself a little revived, and fent down into the kitchen, to let me know that, in about ten minutes, he should be glad if I would ftep up ftairs.--I believe, faid the Fandlord, he is going to fay his prayers; for there was a book laid upon the chair by his bedfide, and, as I fhut the door, I faw his fon take up a cushion -I thought, faid the Curate, that you gentlemen of the army, Mr. Trim, never faid your prayers at all.I heard the poor gentleman fay his prayers last night, faid the landlady, very devoutly, and with my own ears, or I could not have believed it.- -Are you fure of it? replied the Curate.—A foldier, an' please your Reve rence, faid I, prays as often (of his own accord) as a parfon; and, when he is fighting for his king, and for his own life, and for his honour too, he has the moft reafon to pray to God of any one in the whole world. "Twas well faid of thee, Trim, faid my uncle Toby.- -But when a foldier, faid I, an' pleafe your Reverence, has been standing for twelve hours together in the trenches, up to his knees in cold water,—or engaged, faid 1, for months together in long and dangerous marches;-haraffed, perhaps, in his rear to-day;-haraffing others to-morrow;-detached here;-countermanded there;-refting this night out upon his arms;-beat up in his thirt the next;-benumbed in his joints;-perhaps without ftraw in his tent to kneel on;-muft fay his prayers how and when he can.- -I believe, faid I, for I was piqued, quoth the Corporal, for the reputation of the army,-I believe, an' please your Reverence, faid I, that when a foldier gets time to pray, he prays as heartily as a parfon,-though not with all his fufs and hypocrify. -Thou fhouldft not have faid that, Trim, faid my uncle Toby,-for God only knows who is a hypocrite, and who is not.—At the great and general review of us all, Corporal, at the day of judgment (and not till then)-it will be |