The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

When the town, with its works, was finished, my uncle Toby and the corporal began to run their first parallel -- -- -not at random, or anyhow -- -- -but from the same points and distances the allies had begun to run theirs; and regulating their approaches and attacks, by the accounts my uncle Toby received from the daily papers, -- they went on, during the whole siege, step by step with the allies.

When the duke of Marlborough made a lodgment, -- -- -my uncle Toby made a lodgment too, -- -- -And when the face of a bastion was battered down, or a defence ruined, -- the corporal took his mattock and did as much, -- and so on; -- -- -gaining ground, and making themselves masters of the works one after another, till the town fell into their hands.