other; and the continued rubbing in that way round and round for a good while: it then came into my head that I fhould fall in love-I blushed when I faw how white a hand fhe had- -I fhall never, an't pleafe your honour, behold another hand fo white whilft I live.

The young Beguine, continued the Corporal, perceiving it was of great fervice to me-from rubbing, for fome time, with two fingers-proceeded to rub at length with three-till, by little and little, fhe brought down the fourth, and then rubbed with her whole hand: I will never fay another word, an't please your honour, upon hands again-but it was fofter than fatin.

Prithee, Trim, commend it as much as thou wilt, faid my uncle Toby; I fhall hear thy story with the more delight-The Corporal thanked his mafter most unfeignedly; but having nothing to say upon the Beguine's hand but the fame thing over again-he proceeded to the effects of it.

The fair Beguine, faid the Corporal, continued rubbing with her whole hand under my knee-till I feared her zeal would weary her.- "I would do a thousand times more," faid fhe, "for the love of Chrift." As fhe continued rubbing-I felt it spread from under her hand, an't please your honour, to every part of my frame.

The more the rubbed, and the longer ftrokes fhe took the more the fire kindled in my veins-till at length, by two or three ftrokes longer than the reft

my paffion rose to the highest pitch-I seized her hand -And then thou clapped'ft it to thy lips, Trim, faid my uncle Toby-and madeft a speech.

Whether the Corporal's amour terminated precifely in the way my uncle Toby described it, is not material; it is enough that it contained in it the effence of all the love romances which ever have been wrote fince the beginning of the world.

T. SHANDY, VOL. IV. CHAP. 43.

THE HOBBY-HORSE.

TAY, if you come to that, Sir, have not the wifeft

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of men in all ages, not excepting Solomon himfelf, have they not had their HOBBY-HORSES; their running-horfes, their coins and their cockle-fhells, their drums and their trumpets, their fiddles, their pallets, their maggots and their butterflies? and fo long as a man rides his HOBBY-HORSE peaceably and quietly along the king's high-way, and neither compels you or me to get up behind him,-pray, Sir, what have either you or I to do with it!

De guftibus non eft difputandum;that is, there is no difputing against HOBBY-HORSES; and for my part, I feldom do; nor could I with any fort of grace, had I been an enemy to them at the bottom;

for happening at certain intervals and changes of the moon, to be both fiddler and painter, according as the fly ftings:be it known to you, that I keep a couple of pads myfelf, upon which, in their turns, (nor do I care who knows it) I frequently ride out and take the air;-though fometimes, to my fhame be it fpoken, I take fomewhat longer journies than what a wife man would think altogether right.-But the truth is, I am not a wife man;-and befides, am a mortal of fo little confequence in the world, it is not much matter what I do: fo I feldom fret or fume at all about it: nor does it much disturb my reft, when I fee fuch great Lords and tall perfonages as hereafter follow ;-fuch, for inftance, as my Lord A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, and so on, all of a row, mounted upon their several horfes;-fome with large stirrups, getting on in a more grave and fober pace; others, on the contrary, tucked up to their very chins, with whips across their mouths, fcouring and scampering it away like fo many little party-coloured devils aftride a mortgage, and as if fome of them were refolved to break their necks.

So much the better-fay I to myself; for in cafe the worst should happen, the world may make a shift to do excellently well without them; and for the reft, why-God fpeed them-e'en let them ride on without oppofition from me; for were their Lordships unhorfed this very night-'tis ten to one but that many of them would be worfe mounted by one half before to-morrow morning,

Not one of thefe inftances therefore can be said to break in upon my reft. But there is an inftance, which I own puts me off my guard, and that is, when I fee one born for great actions, and, what is ftill more for his honour, whose nature ever inclines him to good ones; when I behold fuch a one, my Lord, like yourself, whofe principles and conduct are as generous and noble as his blood, and whom, for that reafon, a corrupt world cannot spare one moment ;when I fee fuch a one, my Lord, mounted, though it is but for a minute beyond the time which my love to my country has prefcribed to him, and my zeal for his glory wishes, then, my Lord, I cease to be a

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philofopher, and in the first transport of an honest impatience, I with the HOBBY-HORSE, with all his fraternity, at the Devil.

T. SHANDY, VOL. I. CHAP. 7. & §.

MARIA.

THEY were the sweetest notes I ever heard;

THE

and I instantly let down the fore-glass to hear them more diftinctly-'Tis Maria, faid the poftil-. lion, obferving I was liftening-Poor Maria, continued he, (leaning his body on one fide to let me fee. her, for he was in a line betwixt us,) is fitting upon a bank, playing her vefpers upon her pipe, with her little goat befide her.

The young fellow uttered this with an accent and a look fo perfectly in tune to a feeling heart, that I instantly made a vow, I would give him a four-andtwenty fous piece, when I got to Moulines.

And who is poor Maria? faid I.

The love and pity of all the villages around us, faid the postillion-it is but three years ago, that the fun did not shine upon fo fair, fo quick-witted and amiable a maid; and better fate did Maria deserve, than to have her banns forbid by the intrigues of the curate of the parish, who publifhed them

He was going on, when Maria, who had made a fhort paufe, put the pipe to her mouth, and began the air again-they were the fame notes;-yet were ten times sweeter; it is the evening fervice to the Virgin, faid the young man-but who has taught her to play itor how fhe came by her pipe, no one knows: we think that Heaven has affifted her in both; for