——There is no occasion for any, said my mother.———
I mean in his coat and waistcoat,—cried my father.
——I mean so too,—replied my mother.
——Though if he gets a gig or top——Poor souls! it is a crown and a sceptre to them,—they should have where to secure it.———
Order it as you please, Mr. Shandy, replied my mother.———
——But don’t you think it right? added my father, pressing the point home to her.
Perfectly, said my mother, if it pleases you, Mr. Shandy.———
——There’s for you! cried my father, losing temper——Pleases me!——You never will distinguish, Mrs. Shandy, nor shall I ever teach you to do it, betwixt a point of pleasure and a point of convenience.——This was on the Sunday night:——and further this chapter sayeth not.
[ CHAPTER XIX]
After my father had debated the affair of the breeches with my mother,—he consulted Albertus Rubenius upon it; and Albertus Rubenius used my father ten times worse in the consultation (if possible) than even my father had used my mother: For as Rubenius had wrote a quarto express, De re Vestiaria Veterum,—it was Rubenius’s business to have given my father some lights.—On the contrary, my father might as well have thought of extracting the seven cardinal virtues out of a long beard,—as of extracting a single word out of Rubenius upon the subject.