Now it happened then, as indeed it had often done before, that my uncle _Toby's_ fancy, during the time of my father's explanation of _Prignitz_ to him------having nothing to stay it there, had taken a short flight to the bowling-green! ------his body might as well have taken a turn there too--so that with all the semblance of a deep school-man intent upon the _medius terminus_------my uncle _Toby_ was in fact as ignorant of the whole lecture, and all its pros and cons, as if my father had been translating _Hafen Slawkenbergius_ from the _Latin_ tongue into the _Cherokee_. But the word _siege_, like a talismanic power, in my father's metaphor, wafting back my uncle _Toby's_ fancy, quick as a note could follow the touch--he open'd his ears----and my father observing that he took his pipe out of his mouth, and shuffled his chair nearer the table, as with a desire to profit--my father with great pleasure began his sentence again----changing only the plan, and dropping the metaphor of the siege of it, to keep clear of some dangers my father apprehended from it.

Now it happened then, as indeed it had often done before, that my uncle Toby's thoughts, during my father's explanation of Prignitz, had taken a short flight to the bowling-green! His body might as well have taken a turn there too - for with all the appearance of being intent on the argument, my uncle Toby was in fact as ignorant of the whole lecture as if my father had been translating Slawkenbergius from Latin into Cherokee.
But the word siege, like a talismanic power, wafted through my uncle Toby's fancy - he opened his ears - and my father, observing that he took his pipe out of his mouth, and shuffled his chair nearer the table, - my father with great pleasure began his sentence again, only dropping the metaphor of the siege, to keep clear of some dangers he foresaw from it.
