--Now, quoth _Didius_, rising up, and laying his right hand with his fingers spread upon his breast----had such a blunder about a christian-name happened before the Reformation ------[It happened the day before yesterday, quoth my uncle _Toby_ to himself] and when baptism was administer'd in _Latin_ --['Twas all in _English_, said my uncle]------ many things might have coincided with it, and upon the authority of sundry decreed cases, to have pronounced the baptism null, with a power of giving the child a new name --Had a priest, for instance, which was no uncommon thing, through ignorance of the _Latin_ tongue, baptized a child of Tom-o'Stiles, _in nomine patri & filia & spiritum sanctos_--the baptism was held null. ----I beg your pardon, replied _Kysarcius_----in that case, as the mistake was only the _terminations_, the baptism was valid----and to have rendered it null, the blunder of the priest should have fallen upon the first syllable of each noun------and not, as in your case, upon the last.
My father delighted in subtleties of this kind, and listen'd with infinite attention.
_Gastripheres_, for example, continued _Kysarcius_, baptizes a child of _John Stradling's_ in _Gomine_ gatris, &c., &c., instead of _in Nomine_ patris, &c. ----Is this a baptism? No--say the ablest canonists; in as much as the radix of each word is hereby torn up, and the sense and meaning of them removed and changed quite to another object; for _Gomine_ does not signify a name, nor _gatris_ a father. --What do they signify? said my uncle _Toby_. --Nothing at all------quoth _Yorick_. ----Ergo, such a baptism is null, said _Kysarcius_.----
In course, answered _Yorick_, in a tone two parts jest and one part earnest.----

'Now,' quoth Didius, rising up, 'if such a blunder about a Christian name had happened before the Reformation, when baptism was administered in Latin, - many things might have occurred which would allow an authority to pronounce the baptism null, with a power of giving the child a new name. Had a priest, for instance, through ignorance of the Latin tongue, baptized a child in nomine patriae et filia et spiritum sanctos - the baptism was held null.'
'I beg your pardon,' replied Kysarcius, 'in that case, as the mistake was only the word-endings, the baptism was valid. To have rendered it null, the priest should have blundered on the first syllable of each noun, and not the last.'
My father delighted in subtleties of this kind, and listened with great attention.
'If Gastripheres, for example,' continued Kysarcius, 'baptizes a child of John Stradling's in gomine gatris, instead of in nomine patris - is this a baptism? No: for the root of each word is torn up, and it becomes meaningless; therefore, it is null.'
'Of course,' answered Yorick, in a tone part jest and part earnest.
