man, who believe in it, almost, as much as the real presence , “ That talking of love, is making it. ”
⸻I would as soon set about making a black-pudding by the same receipt.
Let us go on: Mrs. Wadman sat in expectation my uncle Toby would do so, to almost the first pulsation of that minute, wherein silence on one side or the other, generally becomes indecent: so edging herself a little more towards him, and raising up her eyes, sub-blushing, as she did it⸺she took up the gauntlet⸺or the discourse (if you like it better) and communed with my uncle Toby , thus:
The cares and disquietudes of the marriage state, quoth Mrs. Wadman , are very great. I suppose so—said my uncle Toby : and therefore when a person, continued Mrs. Wadman , is so much at his ease as you are—so happy, captain Shandy , in yourself, your friends and your amusements—I wonder, what reasons can incline you to the state⸻
⸺They are written, quoth my uncle Toby , in the Common-Prayer Book.
Thus far my uncle Toby went on warily, and kept within his depth, leaving Mrs. Wadman to sail upon the gulf as she pleased.
⸺As for children—said Mrs. Wadman —though a principal end perhaps of the institution, and the natural wish, I suppose, of every parent—yet do not we all find, they are certain sorrows, and very uncertain comforts? and what is there, dear sir, to pay one for the heartaches—what compensation for the many tender and disquieting apprehensions of a suffering and defenceless mother who brings them into life? I declare, said my uncle Toby , smit with pity, I know of none; unless it be the pleasure which it has pleased God⸺