"But so full is your head of these confounded works, that tho' my wife is this moment in the pains of labour,--and you hear her cry out,--yet nothing will serve you but to carry off the man-midwife."
— Sterne, Laurence (1713-1768)
Author
Date
1760-7
Metaphor
"But so full is your head of these confounded works, that tho' my wife is this moment in the pains of labour,--and you hear her cry out,--yet nothing will serve you but to carry off the man-midwife."
Metaphor in Context
--As for the horn-works (high! ho! sigh'd my father) which, continued my uncle Toby, my brother was speaking of, they are a very considerable part of an outwork;--they are called by the French engineers, Ouvrage à corne, and we generally make them to cover such places as we suspect to be weaker than the rest;--'tis form'd by two epaulments or demibastions,--they are very pretty, and if you will take a walk, I'll engage to shew you one well worth your trouble.--I own, continued my uncle Toby, when we crown them,--they are much stronger, but then they are very expensive, and take up a great deal of ground; so that, in my opinion, they are most of use to cover or defend the head of a camp; otherwise the double tenaille--By the mother who bore us!--brother Toby, quoth my father, not able to hold out any longer,--you would provoke a saint;--here have you got us, I know not how, not only souse into the middle of the old subject again:--But so full is your head of these confounded works, that tho' my wife is this moment in the pains of labour,--and you hear her cry out,--yet nothing will serve you but to carry off the man-midwife.--Accoucheur,--if you please, quoth Dr. Slop.--With all my heart, replied my father, I don't care what they call you,--but I wish the whole science of fortification, with all its inventors, at the devil;--it has been the death of thousands,--and it will be mine, in the end.--I would not, I would not, brother Toby, have my brains so full of saps, mines, blinds, gabions, palisadoes, ravelins, half-moons, and such trumpery, to be proprietor of Namur, and of all the towns in Flanders with it.
(II.xii, pp. 76-8)
(II.xii, pp. 76-8)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
At least 82 entries in ESTC (1759, 1760, 1761, 1762, 1763, 1765, 1767, 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1779, 1780, 1781, 1782, 1783, 1786, 1788, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796, 1798, 1799, 1800). Complicated publication history: vols. 1 and 2 published in London January 1, 1760. Vols. 3, 4, 5, and 6 published in 1761. Vols. 7 and 8 published in 1765. Vol. 9 published in 1767.
See Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, 9 vols. (London: Printed for D. Lynch, 1760-1767). <Link to ECCO><Link to 1759 York edition in ECCO>
First two volumes available in ECCO-TCP: <Vol. 1><Vol. 2>. Most text drawn from second (London) edition <Link to LION>.
For vols. 3-4, see ESTC T14705 <R. and J. Dodsley, 1761>. For vols. 5-6, see ESTC T14706 <T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, 1762>. For vols. 7-8, see ESTC T14820 <T. Becket and P. A. Dehont, 1765>. For vol. 9, <T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, 1767>.
Reading in Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Sources, Criticism, Ed. Howard Anderson (New York: Norton, 1980).
See Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, 9 vols. (London: Printed for D. Lynch, 1760-1767). <Link to ECCO><Link to 1759 York edition in ECCO>
First two volumes available in ECCO-TCP: <Vol. 1><Vol. 2>. Most text drawn from second (London) edition <Link to LION>.
For vols. 3-4, see ESTC T14705 <R. and J. Dodsley, 1761>. For vols. 5-6, see ESTC T14706 <T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, 1762>. For vols. 7-8, see ESTC T14820 <T. Becket and P. A. Dehont, 1765>. For vol. 9, <T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, 1767>.
Reading in Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Sources, Criticism, Ed. Howard Anderson (New York: Norton, 1980).
Date of Entry
02/19/2016
