Though, by the bye, because your learned men find some difficulty in fixing the precise ra in which so great a man lived; --whether, for instance, before or after the patriarchs, &c. ----to vote, therefore, that he never lived _at all_, is a little cruel, --'tis not doing as they would be done by, --happen that as it may) ----My father, I say, had a way, when things went extremely wrong with him, especially upon the first sally of his impatience, --of wondering why he was begot, --wishing himself dead; --sometimes worse: ----And when the provocation ran high, and grief touched his lips with more than ordinary powers --Sir, you scarce could have distinguished him from _Socrates_ himself. 
- though, by the bye, just because your learned men find some difficulty in fixing the precise era in which he lived; whether before or after the patriarchs, &c. - to vote, therefore, that he never lived at all, is a little cruel.)
My father, I say, had a way, when things went extremely wrong, of wondering why he was begot, wishing himself dead - and sometimes worse.
And when the provocation ran high - Sir, you scarce could have distinguished him from Socrates himself: