On the fifth day of _November_, 1718, which to the ra fixed on, was as near nine calendar months as any husband could in reason have expected, --was I _Tristram Shandy_, Gentleman, brought forth into this scurvy and disasterous world of ours. 
On the fifth day of November, 1718, which was as near nine months as any husband could reasonably expect, I, Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, was brought forth into this scurvy and disastrous world of ours.
