without them;—others went through their classics at seven;—wrote tragedies at eight;—_Ferdinand de Cordouè_ was so wise at nine,—’twas thought the Devil was in him;—and at _Venice_ gave such proofs of his knowledge and goodness, that the monks imagined he was _Antichrist_, or nothing.——Others were masters of fourteen languages at ten,—finished the course of their rhetoric, poetry, logic, and ethics, at eleven,—put forth their commentaries upon _Servius_ and _Martianus Capella_ at twelve,—and at thirteen received their degrees in philosophy, laws, and divinity:——but you forget the great _Lipsius_, quoth _Yorick_, who composed a work[30] the day he was born:——They should have wiped it up, said my uncle _Toby_, and said no more about it. [30] Nous aurions quelque interêt, says _Baillet_, de montrer qu’il n’a rien de ridicule s’il étoit veritable, au moins dans le sens énigmatique que _Nicius Erythræus_ a tâ hé de lui donner. Cet auteur dit que pour comprendre comme _Lipse_, il a pû composer un ouvrage le premier jour de sa vie, il faut s’imaginer, que ce premier jour n’est pas celui de sa naissance charnelle, mais celui au quel il a commencé d’user de la raison; il veut que ç’ait été à l’âge de _neuf_ ans; et il nous veut persuader que ce fut en cet âge, que _Lipse_ fit un poëme.——Le tour est ingénieux, &c. &c. C H A P. XLVI WHEN the cataplasm was ready, a scruple of _decorum_ had unseasonably rose up in _Susannah_’s conscience, about holding the candle, whilst _Slop_ tied it on; _Slop_ had not treated _Susannah_’s distemper with anodynes,—and so a quarrel had ensued betwixt them. ——Oh! oh!——said _Slop_, casting a glance of undue freedom in _Susannah_’s face, as she declined the office;——then, I think I know you, madam——You know me, Sir! cried _Susannah_ fastidiously, and with a toss of her head, levelled evidently, not at his profession, but at the doctor himself,——you know me! cried _Susannah_ again.——Doctor _Slop_ clapped his finger and his thumb instantly upon his nostrils;——_Susannah_’s spleen was ready to burst at it;——’Tis false, said _Susannah._—Come, come, Mrs. Modesty, said _Slop_, not a little elated with the success of his last thrust,——If you won’t hold the candle, and look—you may hold it and shut your eyes:—That’s one of your popish shifts, cried _Susannah:_—’Tis better, said _Slop_, with a nod, than no shift at all, young woman;——I defy you, Sir, cried _Susannah_, pulling her shift sleeve below her elbow. It was almost impossible for two persons to assist each other in a surgical case with a more splenetic cordiality.