A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy by Laurence Sterne
page 19 of 148 (12%)
page 19 of 148 (12%)
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THE REMISE DOOR. CALAIS.
This certainly, fair lady, said I, raising her hand up little lightly as I began, must be one of Fortune's whimsical doings; to take two utter strangers by their hands,--of different sexes, and perhaps from different corners of the globe, and in one moment place them together in such a cordial situation as Friendship herself could scarce have achieved for them, had she projected it for a month. - And your reflection upon it shows how much, Monsieur, she has embarrassed you by the adventure - When the situation is what we would wish, nothing is so ill-timed as to hint at the circumstances which make it so: you thank Fortune, continued she--you had reason--the heart knew it, and was satisfied; and who but an English philosopher would have sent notice of it to the brain to reverse the judgment? In saying this, she disengaged her hand with a look which I thought a sufficient commentary upon the text. It is a miserable picture which I am going to give of the weakness of my heart, by owning, that it suffered a pain, which worthier occasions could not have inflicted.--I was mortified with the loss of her hand, and the manner in which I had lost it carried neither oil nor wine to the wound: I never felt the pain of a sheepish inferiority so miserably in my life. |
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