If anything in this world, which my father said, could have provoked my uncle _Toby_, during the time he was in love, it was the perverse use my father was always making of an expression of _Hilarion_ the hermit; who, in speaking of his abstinence, his watchings, flagellations, and other instrumental parts of his religion--would say--tho' with more facetiousness than became an hermit-- "That they were the means he used, to make his _ass_ (meaning his body) leave off kicking."

If anything which my father said could have provoked my uncle Toby while he was in love, it was the perverse use my father was always making of an expression of Hilarion the hermit; who, in speaking of his abstinence, his flagellations, and other parts of his religion, would say - though with more facetiousness than became a hermit - 'That they were the means he used, to make his ass (meaning his body) leave off kicking.'
