When the town, with its works, was finished, my uncle _Toby_ and the corporal began to run their first parallel----not at random, or any how----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.
To one who took pleasure in the happy state of others, --there could not have been a greater sight in the world, than, on a post-morning, in which a practicable breach had been made by the duke of _Marlborough_, in the main body of the place, --to have stood behind the horn-beam hedge, and observed the spirit with which my uncle _Toby_, with _Trim_ behind him, sallied forth; ----the one with the _Gazette_ in his hand, --the other with a spade on his shoulder to execute the contents. ----What an honest triumph in my uncle _Toby's_ looks as he marched up to the ramparts! What intense pleasure swimming in his eye as he stood over the corporal, reading the paragraph ten times over to him, as he was at work, lest, peradventure, he should make the breach an inch too wide, --or leave it an inch too narrow. ----But when the _chamade_ was beat, and the corporal helped my uncle up it, and followed with the colours in his hand, to fix them upon the ramparts --Heaven! Earth! Sea! ----but what avails apostrophes? ----with all your elements, wet or dry, ye never compounded so intoxicating a draught.

When the town, with its works, was finished, my uncle Toby and the corporal began to run their first parallel from the same points as the allies ran theirs; and following the accounts in 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 one too. And when a bastion was battered down, or a defence ruined, the corporal took his mattock and did the same - and so on; gaining ground over the works, till the town fell into their hands.
To one who took pleasure in the happiness of others, there could not have been a greater sight in the world, than to have stood behind the hornbeam hedge, and observed the spirit with which my uncle Toby and Trim sallied forth; the one with the Gazette in his hand, the other with a spade on his shoulder to execute its contents.
What an honest triumph in my uncle Toby's looks as he marched up to the ramparts! What intense pleasure swimming in his eye as he stood over the corporal, reading the paragraph to him while he worked. - But when he mounted the chamade, with the colours in his hand, to fix them upon the ramparts - Heaven! Earth! Sea! wet or dry, ye never made so intoxicating a draught.
