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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: replies and his rejoinders, shall be read, perused, paraphrased, commented,
and descanted upon--or to say it all in a word, shall be thumb'd over by
Posterity in a chapter apart--I say, by Posterity--and care not, if I
repeat the word again--for what has this book done more than the Legation
of Moses, or the Tale of a Tub, that it may not swim down the gutter of
Time along with them?
I will not argue the matter: Time wastes too fast: every letter I trace
tells me with what rapidity Life follows my pen: the days and hours of it,
more precious, my dear Jenny! than the rubies about thy neck, are flying
over our heads like light clouds of a windy day, never to return more--
every thing presses on--whilst thou art twisting that lock,--see! it grows
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