The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (Penguin Classics)

by Laurence Sterne

  Joan. Saresberiensis,

  Epifcopus Lugdun.

  VOL. IV.

  London:

  Printed for R. and J. Dodsley in Pall-Mall.

  M. DCC. LXI.

  (Height of original type-page 121 mm.)

  SLAWKENBERGII

  FABELLA.*1

  VESPER A quâdam frigidulâ, posteriori in parte mensis Augusti, peregrinus, mulo fusco colore insidens, manticâ a tergo, paucis indusijs, binis calceis, braccisque sericis coccinejs repletâ Argentoratum ingressus est.

  Militi eum percontanti, quum portus intraret, dixit, se apud Nasorum promontorium fuisse, Francofurtum proficisci, et Argentoratum, transitu ad fines Sarmatiæ mensis intervallo, reversurum.

  Miles peregrini in faciem suspexit—Di boni, nova forma nasi!

  At multum mihi profuit, inquit peregrinus, carpum amento extrahens, e quo pependit acinaces: Loculo manum inseruit; & magnâ cum urbanitate, pilei parte anteriore tactâ manu sinistrâ, ut extendit dextram, militi florinum dedit et processit.

  Dolet mihi, ait miles, tympanistam nanum et valgum allo-quens, virum adeo urbanum vaginam perdidisse; itinerari haud poterit nudâ acinaci, neque vaginam toto Argentorato, habilem inveniet.—Nullam unquam habui, respondit peregrinus respici-ens,—seque comiter inclinans—hoc more gesto, nudam acina-cem elevans, mulo lentò progrediente, ut nasum tueri possim.

  SLAWKENBERGIUS’s

  TALE.

  IT was one cool refreshing evening, at the close of a very sultry day, in the latter end of the month of August, when a stranger, mounted upon a dark mule, with a small cloak-bag behind him, containing a few shirts, a pair of shoes, and a crimson-sattin pair of breeches, entered the town of Strasburg.2

  He told the centinel, who questioned him as he entered the gates, that he had been at the promontory of Noses—was going on to Frankfort —and should be back again at Strasburg that day month, in his way to the borders of Crim-Tartary.

  The centinel looked up into the stranger’s face—never saw such a nose in his life!

  —I have made a very good venture of it, quoth the stranger— so slipping his wrist out of the loop of a black ribban, to which a short scymetar was hung: He put his hand into his pocket, and with great courtesy touching the forepart of his cap with his left-hand, as he extended his right—he put a florin into the centinel’s hand, and passed on.

  It grieves me, said the centinel, speaking to a little dwarfish bandy-leg’d drummer, that so courteous a soul should have lost his scabbard3 —he cannot travel without one to his scymetar, and will not be able to get a scabbard to fit it in all Strasburg. ——I never had one, replied the stranger, looking back to the centinel, and putting his hand up to his cap as he spoke——I carry it, continued he, thus—holding up his naked scymetar, his mule moving on slowly all the time, on purpose to defend my nose.

  Non immerito, benigne peregrine, respondit miles.

  Nihili æstimo, ait ille tympanista, e pergamenâ factitius est.

  Prout christianus sum, inquit miles, nasus ille, ni sexties major sit, meo esset conformis.

  Crepitare4 audivi ait tympanista.

  Mehercule! sanguinem emisit, respondit miles.

  Miseret me, inquit tympanista, qui non ambo tetigimus!

  Eodem temporis puncto, quo hæc res argumentata fuit inter militem et tympanistam, disceptabatur ibidem tubicine & uxore suâ, qui tunc accesserunt, et peregrino prætereunte, restiterunt.

  Quantus nasus! æque longus est, ait tubicina, ac tuba.

  Et ex eodem metallo, ait tubicen, velut sternutamento audias.

  Tantum abest, respondit illa, quod fistulam dulcedine vincit.

  Æneus est, ait tubicen.

  Nequaquam, respondit uxor.

  Rursum affirmo, ait tubicen, quod æneus est.

  Rem penitus explorabo;5 prius, enim digito tangam, ait uxor, quam dormivero.

  Mulus peregrini, gradu lento progressus est, ut unumquodque verbum controversiæ, non tantum inter militem ettympanistam, verum etiam inter tubicinem et uxorem ejus, audiret.

  Nequaquam, ait ille, in muli collum fræna demittens, & man-ibus ambabus in pectus positis, (mulo lentè progrediente) nequa-quam ait ille, respiciens, non necesse est ut res isthæc dilucidata foret. Minime gentium! meus nasus nunquam tangetur, dum spiritus hos reget artus—ad quid agendum? ait uxor burgoma-gistri.

  Peregrinus illi non respondit. Votum faciebat tunc temporis sancto Nicolao, quo facto, sinum dextram inserens, e quâ negli-genter pependit acinaces, lento gradu processit per plateam Ar-gentorati latam quæ ad diversorium templo ex adversum ducit.

  It is well worth it, gentle stranger, replied the centinel.

  —’Tis not worth a single stiver, said the bandy-leg’d drummer—’tis a nose of parchment.

  As I am a true catholic—except that it is six times as big—’tis a nose, said the centinel, like my own.

  —I heard it crackle, said the drummer.

  By dunder, said the centinel, I saw it bleed.

  What a pity, cried the bandy-legg’d drummer, we did not both touch it!

  At the very time that this dispute was maintaining by the centinel and the drummer—was the same point debating betwixt a trumpeter and a trumpeter’s wife, who were just then coming up, and had stopped to see the stranger pass by.

  Benedicity! 6——What a nose! ’tis as long, said the trumpeter’s wife, as a trumpet.

  And of the same mettle, said the trumpeter, as you hear by its sneezing.

  —’Tis as soft as a flute, said she.

  —’Tis brass, said the trumpeter.

  —’Tis a pudding’s end—said his wife.

  I tell thee again, said the trumpeter, ’tis a brazen nose.

  I’ll know the bottom of it, said the trumpeter’s wife, for I will touch it with my finger before I sleep.

  The stranger’s mule moved on at so slow a rate, that he heard every word of the dispute, not only betwixt the centinel and the drummer; but betwixt the trumpeter and the trumpeter’s wife.

  No! said he, dropping his reins upon his mule’s neck, and laying both his hands upon his breast, the one over the other in a saint-like position (his mule going on easily all the time) No! said he, looking up,—I am not such a debtor to the world— slandered and disappointed as I have been——as to give it that conviction—no! said he, my nose shall never be touched whilst heaven gives me strength—To do what? said a burgomaster’s wife.

  The stranger took no notice of the burgomaster’s wife— he was making a vow to saint Nicolas;7 which done, having uncrossed his arms with the same solemnity with which he crossed them, he took up the reins of his bridle with his left-hand,

  Peregnnus mulo descendens stabulo includi, & manticam infemjussit: quâ apertâ et coccineis senas femoralibus extractis cum argénteo laciniato Περιζομαε`8 his sese induit, statimque, acinaci in manu, ad forum deambulavit.

  Quod ubiperegrinusesset ingressus, uxorem tubicinis obviam euntem aspicit; illico cursum flectit, metuens ne nasus suus exploraretur, atque ad diversorium regressus est—exuit se vestibus; braccas coccineas sericas manticæ imposuit mulumque educi jussit.

  Francofurtum proficiscor, ait ille, et Argentoratum quatuor abhinc hebdomadis revertar.

  Bene curasti hoc jumentum (ait) muli faciem manu demulcens ——me, manticamque meam, plus sexcentis mille passibus portavit.

  Longa via est! respondit hospes, nisi plurimum esset negoti. ——Enimvero ait peregrinus a nasorum promontorio redij, et nasum speciosissimum, egregiosissimumque quem unquam quisquam sortitus est, acquisivi!

  Dum peregrinus hanc miram rationem, de seipso reddit, hospes et uxor ejus, oculis intentis, peregrini nasum contemplan-tur—Per sanctos, sanctasque omnes, ait hospitis uxor, nasis duodecim maximis, in toto Argentorato major est!—estne ait illa mariti in aurem insusurrans, nonne est nasus prægrandis?

  Dolus inest, anime mi, ait hospes—nasus est falsus.— and putting his right-hand into his bosom, with his scymetar hanging loosely to the wrist of it, he rode on as slowly as o
ne foot of the mule could follow another thro’ the principal streets of Strasburg, till chance brought him to the great inn in the market-place over-against the church.

  The moment the stranger alighted, he ordered his mule to be led into the stable, and his cloak-bag to be brought in; then opening, and taking out of it, his crimson-sattin breeches, with a silver-fringed—(appendage to them, which I dare not trans-late)—he put his breeches, with his fringed cod-piece on, and forthwith with his short scymetar in his hand, walked out to the grand parade.

  The stranger had just taken three turns upon the parade, when he perceived the trumpeter’s wife at the opposite side of it—so turning short, in pain lest his nose should be attempted, he instantly went back to his inn——undressed himself, packed up his crimson-sattin breeches, &c. in his cloak-bag, and called for his mule.

  I am going forwards, said the stranger, for Frankfort ——and shall be back at Strasburg this day month.

  I hope, continued the stranger, stroking down the face of his mule with his left-hand as he was going to mount it, that you have been kind to this faithful slave of mine——it has carried me and my cloak-bag, continued he, tapping the mule’s back, above six hundred leagues.

  —’Tis a long journey, Sir, replied the master of the inn—— unless a man has great business.—Tut! tut! said the stranger, I have been at the promontory of Noses; and have got me one of the goodliest and jolliest, thank heaven, that ever fell to a single man’s lot.

  Whilst the stranger was giving this odd account of himself, the master of the inn and his wife kept both their eyes fixed full upon the stranger’s nose—By saint Radagunda,9 said the inn-keeper’s wife to herself, there is more of it than in any dozen of the largest noses put together in all Strasburg! is it not, said she, whispering her husband in his ear, is it not a noble nose?

  ’Tis an imposture, my dear, said the master of the inn—’tis a false nose.—

  Verus est, respondit uxor.—

  Ex abiete factus est, ait ille, terebinthinum olet——

  Carbunculus inest, ait uxor.

  Mortuus est nasus, respondit hospes.

  Vivus est, ait illa,——& si ipsa vivam tangam.

  Votum feci sancto Nicolao, ait peregrinus, nasum meum intactum fore usque ad—Quodnam tempus? illico respondit illa.

  Minime tangetur,10 inquit ille (manibus in pectus compositis) usque ad illam horam—Quam horam? ait illa.—Nullam, respondit peregrinus, donec pervenio, ad—Quem locum,— obsecro? ait illa—Peregrinus nil respondens mulo conscenso discessit.

  ’Tis a true nose, said his wife.—

  ’Tis made of fir-tree, said he,—I smell the turpentine.11—

  There’s a pimple on it, said she.

  ’Tis a dead nose, replied the inn-keeper.

  ’Tis a live nose, and if I am alive myself, said the inn-keeper’s wife, I will touch it.

  I have made a vow to saint Nicolas this day, said the stranger, that my nose shall not be touched till—Here the stranger, suspending his voice, looked up—Till when? said she hastily.

  It never shall be touched, said he, clasping his hands and bringing them close to his breast, till that hour——What hour? cried the inn-keeper’s wife.——Never!—never! said the stranger, never till I am got—For heaven sake into what place? said she.—The stranger rode away without saying a word.

  The stranger had not got half a league on his way towards Frankfort, before all the city of Strasburg was in an uproar about his nose. The Compline -bells were just ringing to call the Strasburgers to their devotions, and shut up the duties of the day in prayer:——no soul in all Strasburg heard ’em—the city was like a swarm of bees——men, women, and children (the Compline-bells tinkling all the time) flying here and there—in at one door, out at another—this way and that way—long ways and cross ways—up one street, down another street—in at this ally, out at that——did you see it? did you see it? did you see it? O! did you see it?—who saw it? who did see it? for mercy’s sake, who saw it?

  Alack o’day! I was at vespers!——I was washing, I was starching, I was scouring, I was quilting—God help me! I never saw it—I never touch’d it!——would I had been a centinel, a bandy-leg’d drummer, a trumpeter, a trumpeter’s wife, was the general cry and lamentation in every street and corner of Strasburg.

  Whilst all this confusion and disorder triumphed throughout the great city of Strasburg, was the courteous stranger going on as gently upon his mule in his way to Frankfort, as if he had had no concern at all in the affair—talking all the way he rode in broken sentences, sometimes to his mule—sometimes to himself ——sometimes to his Julia.

  O Julia, my lovely Julia!—nay I cannot stop to let thee bite that thistle—that ever the suspected tongue of a rival should have robbed me of enjoyment when I was upon the point of tasting it.—

  —Pugh!—’tis nothing but a thistle—never mind it—thou shalt have a better supper at night.—

  ——Banish’d from my country—my friends—from thee.—

  Poor devil, thou’rt sadly tired with thy journey!—come—get on a little faster—there’s nothing in my cloak-bag but two shirts—a crimson-sattin pair of breeches, and a fringed—Dear Julia!

  —But why to Frankfort? —is it that there is a hand unfelt, which secretly is conducting me through these meanders and unsuspected tracts?—

  —Stumbling! by saint Nicolas! every step——why at this rate we shall be all night in getting in———

  —To happiness—or am I to be the sport of fortune and slander—destined to be driven forth unconvicted—unheard— untouched——if so, why did I not stay at Strasburg, where justice——but I had sworn!—Come, thou shalt drink—to St. Nicolas —O Julia!——What dost thou prick up thy ears at?—’tis nothing but a man, &c. ———

  The stranger rode on communing in this manner with his mule and Julia—till he arrived at his inn, where, as soon as he arrived, he alighted—saw his mule, as he had promised it, taken good care of——took off his cloak-bag, with his crimson-sattin breeches, &c. in it——called for an omelet to his supper, went to his bed about twelve o’clock, and in five minutes fell fast asleep.

  It was about the same hour when the tumult in Strasburg being abated for that night,——the Strasburgers had all got quietly into their beds—but not like the stranger, for the rest either of their minds or bodies; queen Mab,12 like an elf as she was, had taken the stranger’s nose, and without reduction of its bulk, had that night been at the pains of slitting and dividing it into as many noses of different cuts and fashions, as there were heads in Strasburg to hold them. The abbess of Quedlingberg,13 who, with the four great dignitaries of her chapter, the prioress, the deaness, the sub-chantress, and senior canoness, had that week come to Strasburg to consult the university upon a case of conscience relating to their placket holes14—was ill all the night.

  The courteous stranger’s nose had got perched upon the top of the pineal gland of her brain, and made such rousing work in the fancies of the four great dignitaries of her chapter, they could not get a wink of sleep the whole night thro’ for it—— there was no keeping a limb still amongst them—in short, they got up like so many ghosts.

  The penitentiaries of the third order of saint Francis15—— the nuns of mount Calvary16—the Præmonstratenses17——the Clunienses*18—the Carthusians,19 and all the severer orders of nuns who lay that night in blankets or hair-cloth, were still in a worse condition than the abbess of Quedlingberg —by tumbling and tossing, and tossing and tumbling from one side of their beds to the other the whole night long—the several sisterhoods had scratch’d and mawl’d themselves all to death—they got out of their beds almost flead20 alive—every body thought saint Antony had visited them for probation with his fire21——they had never once, in short, shut their eyes the whole night long from vespers to matins.

  The nuns of saint Ursula22 acted the wisest—they never attempted to go to bed at all.

  The dean of Strasburg, the prebend
aries, the capitulars23 and domiciliars24 (capitularly assembled in the morning to consider the case of butter’d buns)25 all wished they had followed the nuns of saint Ursula’s example.——In the hurry and confusion every thing had been in the night before, the bakers had all forgot to lay their leaven—there were no butter’d buns to be had for breakfast in all Strasburg—the whole close of the cathedral was in one eternal commotion—such a cause of restlessness and disquietude, and such a zealous inquiry into the cause of that restlessness, had never happened in Strasburg, since Martin Luther, with his doctrines, had turned the city up-side down.

  If the stranger’s nose took this liberty of thrusting itself thus into the dishes* of religious orders, &c. what a carnival did his nose make of it, in those of the laity!—’tis more than my pen, worn to the stump as it is, has power to describe; tho’ I acknowledge, (cries Slawkenbergius, with more gaiety of thought than I could have expected from him) that there is many a good simile now subsisting in the world which might give my countrymen some idea of it; but at the close of such a folio as this, wrote for their sakes, and in which I have spent the greatest part of my life—tho’ I own to them the simile is in being, yet would it not be unreasonable in them to expect I should have either time or inclination to search for it? Let it suffice to say, that the riot and disorder it occasioned in the Strasburgers fantacies was so general—such an overpowering mastership had it got of all the faculties of the Strasburgers minds—so many strange things, with equal confidence on all sides, and with equal eloquence in all places, were spoken and sworn to concerning it, that turned the whole stream of all discourse and wonder towards it—every soul, good and bad—rich and poor—learned and unlearned—doctor and student—mistress and maid—gentle and simple—nun’s flesh and woman’s flesh in Strasburg spent their time in hearing tidings about it—every eye in Strasburg languished to see it——every finger—every thumb in Strasburg burned to touch it.