The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman/Volume 3/Chapter 30
CHAP. XXX.
———" All is not gain that is got into the purse."—So that notwithstanding my father had the happiness of reading the oddest books in the universe, and had moreover, in himself, the oddest way of thinking, that ever man in it was bless'd with, yet it had this drawback upon him after all,—that it laid him open to some of the oddest and most whimsical distresses; of which this particular one which he sunk under at present is as strong an example as can be given.
No doubt, the breaking down of the bridge of a child's nose, by the edge of a pair of forceps,—however scientifically applied,—would vex any man in the world, who was at so much pains in begetting a child, as my father was,—yet it will not account for the extravagance of his affliction, or will it justify the unchristian manner he abandoned and surrender'd himself up to.
To explain this, I must leave him upon the bed for half an hour,—and my good uncle Toby in his old fringed chair sitting beside him.