CHAPTER XLIII

My father took a single turn across the room, then sat down, and finished the chapter.

The verbs auxiliary we are concerned in here, continued my father, are, _am_; _was_; _have_; _had_; _do_; _did_; _make_; _made_; _suffer_; _shall_; _should_; _will_; _would_; _can_; _could_; _owe_; _ought_; _used_; or _is wont_. --And these varied with tenses, _present_, _past_, _future_, and conjugated with the verb _see_, --or with these questions added to them; --_Is it?_ _Was it?_ _Will it be?_ _Would it be?_ _May it be?_ _Might it be?_ And these again put negatively, _Is it not?_ _Was it not?_ _Ought it not?_ --Or affirmatively, --_It is_; _It was_; _It ought to be_. Or chronologically, --_Has it been always?_ _Lately?_ _How long ago?_ --Or hypothetically, --_If it was?_ _If it was not?_ What would follow? ----If the _French_ should beat the _English?_ If the _Sun_ go out of the _Zodiac?_

Now, by the right use and application of these, continued my father, in which a child’s memory should be exercised, there is no one idea can enter his brain, how barren soever, but a magazine of conceptions and conclusions may be drawn forth from it. ----Didst thou ever see a white bear? cried my father, turning his head round to _Trim_, who stood at the back of his chair: --No, an’ please your honour, replied the corporal. ----But thou couldst discourse about one, _Trim_, said my father, in case of need? --How is it possible, brother, quoth my uncle _Toby_, if the corporal never saw one? ----’Tis the fact I want, replied my father, --and the possibility of it is as follows.

A WHITE BEAR! Very well. Have I ever seen one? Might I ever have seen one? Am I ever to see one? Ought I ever to have seen one? Or can I ever see one?

Would I had seen a white bear! (for how can I imagine it?)

If I should see a white bear, what would I say? If I should never see a white bear, what then?

If I never have, can, must, or shall see a white bear alive; have I ever seen the skin of one? Did I ever see one painted? --described? Have I never dreamed of one?

Did my father, mother, uncle, aunt, brothers or sisters, ever see a white bear? What would they give? How would they behave? How would the white bear have behaved? Is he wild? Tame? Terrible? Rough? Smooth?

--Is the white bear worth seeing?--

--Is there no sin in it?--

Is it better than a BLACK ONE?

## BOOK VI

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