I have ordered, answered my father, the old midwife to come down to us upon the least difficulty; --for you must know, Dr. _Slop_, continued my father, with a perplexed kind of a smile upon his countenance, that by express treaty, solemnly ratified between me and my wife, you are no more than an auxiliary in this affair, --and not so much as that, --unless the lean old mother of a midwife above stairs cannot do without you. --Women have their particular fancies, and in points of this nature, continued my father, where they bear the whole burden, and suffer so much acute pain for the advantage of our families, and the good of the species, --they claim a right of deciding, _en Souveraines_, in whose hands, and in what fashion, they choose to undergo it.

'I have ordered,' answered my father, 'the old midwife to come down to us if there is the least difficulty; for you must know, Dr. Slop,' he continued, with a perplexed kind of smile, 'that by a treaty between me and my wife, you are no more than an auxiliary in this affair, - and not even that, unless the midwife upstairs cannot do without you. Women have their fancies, and in these situations they claim a right of deciding in whose hands they shall undergo it.'
