III + 

To my uncle Mr.¬†Toby Shandy do I stand indebted for the preceding anecdote, to whom my father, who was an excellent natural philosopher, and much given to close reasoning upon the smallest matters, had oft, and heavily complained of the injury; but once more particularly, as my uncle Toby well rememberвАЩd, upon his observing a most unaccountable obliquity (as he callвАЩd it) in my manner of setting up my top, and justifying the principles upon which I had done it,вБ†вАФthe old gentleman shook his head, and in a tone more expressive by half of sorrow than reproach,вБ†вАФhe said his heart all along foreboded, and he saw it verified in this, and from a thousand other observations he had made upon me, That I should neither think nor act like any other manвАЩs child:вБ†вАФBut alas! continued he, shaking his head a second time, and wiping away a tear which was trickling down his cheeks, My TristramвАЩs misfortunes began nine months before ever he came into the world. + 

вАФMy mother, who was sitting by, lookвАЩd up,вБ†вАФbut she knew no more than her backside what my father meant,вБ†вАФbut my uncle, Mr.¬†Toby Shandy, who had been often informed of the affair,вБ†вАФunderstood him very well. + 