[1] The _Romish_ Rituals direct the baptizing of the child, in cases of danger, _before_ it is born;—but upon this proviso, That some part or other of the child’s body be seen by the baptizer:——But the Doctors of the _Sorbonne_, by a deliberation held amongst them, _April_ 10, 1733,—have enlarged the powers of the midwives, by determining, That though no part of the child’s body should appear,—that baptism shall, nevertheless, be administered to it by injection,—_par le moyen d’une petite canulle_,—Anglicè _a squirt._—’Tis very strange that St. _Thomas Aquinas_, who had so good a mechanical head, both for tying and untying the knots of school-divinity,—should, after so much pains bestowed upon this,—give up the point at last, as a second _La chose impossible_,—“Infantes in maternis uteris existentes (quoth St. _Thomas!_) baptizari possunt _nullo modo._”—O _Thomas! Thomas!_ If the reader has the curiosity to see the question upon baptism _by injection_, as presented to the Doctors of the _Sorbonne_, with their consultation thereupon, it is as follows. [2] Vide Deventer. Paris Edit. 4to, 1734, p. 366. C H A P. XXI ——I WONDER what’s all that noise, and running backwards and forwards for, above stairs, quoth my father, addressing himself, after an hour and a half’s silence, to my uncle _Toby_,——who, you must know, was sitting on the opposite side of the fire, smoaking his social pipe all the time, in mute contemplation of a new pair of black plush-breeches which he had got on:—What can they be doing, brother?—quoth my father,—we can scarce hear ourselves talk. I think, replied my uncle _Toby_, taking his pipe from his mouth, and striking the head of it two or three times upon the nail of his left thumb, as he began his sentence,——I think, says he:——But to enter rightly into my uncle _Toby_’s sentiments upon this matter, you must be made to enter first a little into his character, the out-lines of which I shall just give you, and then the dialogue between him and my father will go on as well again.