⸺⁠And pray, good woman, after all, will you take upon you to say, it may not be the child’s hip, as well as the child’s head?⁠⸻’Tis most certainly the head, replied the midwife. Because, continued Dr. Slop (turning to my father) as positive as these old ladies generally are⁠—’tis a point very difficult to know⁠—and yet of the greatest consequence to be known;⁠⸺⁠because, Sir, if the hip is mistaken for the head⁠—there is a possibility (if it is a boy) that the forceps * * * * * *

⸺⁠What the possibility was, Dr. Slop whispered very low to my father, and then to my uncle Toby.⁠⸺⁠There is no such danger, continued he, with the head.⁠—No, in truth, quoth my father⁠—but when your possibility has taken place at the hip⁠—you may as well take off the head too.

⸺⁠It is morally impossible the reader should understand this⁠⸺’tis enough Dr. Slop understood it;⁠⸺⁠so taking the green bays bag in his hand, with the help of Obadiah’s pumps, he tripp’d pretty nimbly, for a man of his size, across the room to the door⁠⸻and from the door was shown the way, by the good old midwife, to my mother’s apartments.