For a long time
Although I
after it
was ushered
into this world of sorrow
and trouble,
by the parish surgeon,
it remained a matter of
considerable
doubt
whether the child
could survive
to bear any name
at all;
in which case it
is somewhat more than probable
that these memoirs
would never have appeared;
or,
if they had,
that being comprised
within a couple of pages,
they would have possessed
the inestimable merit of
being the most concise
and faithful specimen of biography,
extant in the literature of
any age or country.
am not disposed to maintain
that the
being born in a workhouse,
is in
itself the
most fortunate
and enviable circumstance
that can possibly
befall a human being,
I do mean to say
that in this particular instance,
it was the best thing
for Oliver Twist
that could by possibility
have occurred.
The fact is,
that there was considerable difficulty
in inducing Oliver
to take
upon himself the office
of respiration,
-- a troublesome practice,
but one
which custom
has rendered necessary
to our easy existence;
and for some time
he lay
gasping on
a little flock mattress,
rather unequally
poised between this world
and the next:
the balance
being decidedly
in favour of the latter.