CHAPTER X

My uncle _Toby’s_ head at that time was full of other matters, so that it was not till the demolition of _Dunkirk_, when all the other civilities of _Europe_ were settled, that he found leisure to return this.

This made an armistice (that is, speaking with regard to my uncle _Toby_--but with respect to Mrs. _Wadman_, a vacancy)--of almost eleven years. But in all cases of this nature, as it is the second blow, happen at what distance of time it will, which makes the fray ----I chuse for that reason to call these the amours of my uncle _Toby_ with Mrs. _Wadman_, rather than the amours of Mrs. _Wadman_ with my uncle _Toby_.

This is not a distinction without a difference.

It is not like the affair of _an old hat cock’d_----and _a cock’d old hat_, about which your reverences have so often been at odds with one another----but there is a difference here in the nature of things----

And let me tell you, gentry, a wide one too.

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