When Trim came in and told my father, that Dr. Slop was in the kitchen, and busy in making a bridge⁠—my uncle Toby⁠⸺⁠the affair of the jackboots having just then raised a train of military ideas in his brain⁠⸺⁠took it instantly for granted that Dr. Slop was making a model of the marquis d’Hôpital’s bridge.⁠⸺’Tis very obliging in him, quoth my uncle Toby;⁠—pray give my humble service to Dr. Slop, Trim, and tell him I thank him heartily.

Had my uncle Toby’s head been a Savoyard’s box, and my father peeping in all the time at one end of it⁠⸺⁠it could not have given him a more distinct conception of the operations of my uncle Toby’s imagination, than what he had; so, notwithstanding the catapulta and battering-ram, and his bitter imprecation about them, he was just beginning to triumph⁠⸺⁠

When Trim’s answer, in an instant, tore the laurel from his brows, and twisted it to pieces.