—And pray, said my uncle Toby , leaning upon Yorick , as he and my father were helping him leisurely down the stairs⸺don’t be terrified, madam, this staircase conversation is not so long as the last⸺And pray, Yorick , said my uncle Toby , which way is this said affair of Tristram at length settled by these learned men? Very satisfactorily, replied Yorick ; no mortal, Sir, has any concern with it⸺for Mrs. Shandy the mother is nothing at all akin to him⸺and as the mother’s is the surest side⸺ Mr. Shandy , in course, is still less than nothing⸻In short, he is not as much akin to him, Sir, as I am.⸺
⸺That may well be, said my father, shaking his head.
⸺Let the learned say what they will, there must certainly, quoth my uncle Toby , have been some sort of consanguinity betwixt the duchess of Suffolk and her son.
The vulgar are of the same opinion, quoth Yorick , to this hour.