The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman/Volume 7/Chapter 7
CHAP. VII.
——— Boulogne!—hah!—so we are all got together—debtors and sinners before heaven; a jolly set of us—but I can't stay and quaff it off with you—I'm pursued myself like a hundred devils, and shall be overtaken before I can well change horses:—for heaven's sake, make haste—'Tis for high treason, quoth a very little man, whispering as low as he could to a very tall man that stood next him—Or else for murder; quoth the tall man—Well thrown size-ace! quoth I. No; quoth a third, the gentleman has been committing ——— ———.
Ah! ma chere fille! said I, as she tripp'd by, from her matins—you look as rosy as the morning (for the sun was rising, and it made the compliment the more gracious)—No; it can't be that, quoth a fourth—(she made a curt'sy to me—I kiss'd my hand) 'tis debt; continued he: 'Tis certainly for debt; quoth a fifth; I would not pay that gentleman's debts, quoth Ace, for a thousand pounds; Nor would I, quoth Size, for six times the sum—Well thrown, Size-Ace, again! quoth I;—but I have no debt but the debt of Nature, and I want but patience of her, and I will pay her every farthing I owe her—How can you be so hard-hearted, Madam, to arrest a poor traveller going along without molestation to any one, upon his lawful occasions? do stop that death-looking, long-striding scoundrel of a scare-sinner, who is posting after me—he never would have followed me but for you—if it be but for a stage, or two, just to give me start of him, I beseech you, madam ——— ——— do, dear lady ———.
———Now, in troth, 'tis a great pity, quoth mine Irish host, that all this good courtship should be lost; for the young gentlewoman has been after going out of hearing of it all along———.
———Simpleton! quoth I.
———So you have nothing else in Boulogne worth seeing? —By Jasus! there is the finest Seminary for the Humanities—.
—There cannot be a finer; quoth I.