The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

-- -- But to return to my mother.

My uncle Toby's opinion, Madam, "that there could be no harm in Cornelius Gallus, the Roman pretor's lying with his wife; " -- -- -or rather the last word of that opinion, -- (for it was all my mother heard of it) caught hold of her by the weak part of the whole sex: -- -- -You shall not mistake me, -- I mean her curiosity, -- she instantly concluded herself the subject of the conversation, and with that prepossession upon her fancy, you will readily conceive every word my father said, was accommodated either to herself, or her family concerns.