"But prithee, Trim, said my father, make an end,--for I see thou hast but a leaf or two left."
This is an instance of Sterne using others' speech to make an observation about the novel itself. The lengthy sermon delivered in the chapter must conclude before the chapter ends, and Sterne makes reference to how much space other characters take up in the process of exposure to a dull sermon which was found in a book. This style of visual observation is something Tristram uses to conjure the position of his ideas, and the interchange depicted takes place in brackets; both the works of the sermon and the novel only contain such direct interactions instead of featuring them prominently, as might be the case in other novels.
"'Tis well, quoth my father, interrupting the detail of possibilities--that the experiment was not first made upon my child's head-piece."
The phrasing of this sentence progresses from the naive-sounding phrase "detail of possibilities" to the sterile "experiment," which represents a component of the birthing process. Sterne processes mood for Shandy's aspirations at autobiography using phrases which mix small- and large-scale items. "Detail of possibilities" presents the graininess of the possibilities, which exist at such an intricate level, even at their inception, as to have minute characteristics. Shandy's father interrupts to create this moment, which serves to show the depth of Tristram's feelings about his deformity.
"The stranger had not got half a league on his way towards Frankfort before all the city of Strasburg was in an uproar about his nose."
The feeling of this sentence is fantastical because of its decided tone and fairy-tale phrasing. The details of the road and the locations of cities bring the sincere trauma of Tristram to the mind of the reader in as large-scale of a way as it seems to him. The cities' sizes would be well-known to the contemporary reader, who would also know where the cities were positioned, relative to one another.
"He did indeed, replied my uncle Toby."
The word "my" takes up a seventh of this sing-song sentence, and Tristram maintains this mode of involving Uncle Toby throughout the novel. His narrative thus includes Uncle Toby as someone to be shown - Tristram mentions "my" Uncle Toby and avoids the supposition that we remember who he is - and seen as an object of attention.
"- The other, that of Gordonius, who (in his cap. 15. de Amore) directs they should be thrashed, "ad putorem usque,"--till they stink again."
Tristram Shandy comes across as well-read throughout the novel, at some points presenting pages of Latin, Greek, or French to prove a point. However, he claims never to have read another book other than the one he writes, seeming to find it endearing that he would so commit to the work he presents to be read. Here, we see the precision of the parenthetical notation for such references and a brief recognition of the central phrase, which is presented as though anyone could have read it.
