 your
own hand-writing.« The doctor immediately complied with her request, and
expressed himself upon a slip of paper to this purpose.
 
        These are to certify whom it may concern, that I firmly believe, and it
        is my unalterable opinion, that whosoever letteth an infant perish, by
        sousing it in cold water, even though the said water should not be so
        cold as ice, is in effect, guilty of the murder of the said infant, as
        witness my hand
                                                                Comfit Colocynth
 
Having obtained this certificate, for which the physician was handsomely
acknowledged, she returned in triumph, hoping, with such authority, to overthrow
all opposition; and accordingly next morning, when her nephew was about to
undergo his diurnal baptism, produced the commission, whereby she conceived
herself impowered to overrule such inhuman proceedings. But she was disappointed
in her expectation, confident as it was; not that Mrs. Pickle pretended to
differ in opinion from Dr. Colocynth, »for whose character and sentiments (said
she) I have such veneration, that I shall carefully observe the caution implied
in this very certificate, by which, far from condemning my method of practice,
he only asserts that killing is murder; an asseveration, the truth of which, it
is to be hoped, I shall never dispute.«
    Mrs. Grizzle, who, sooth to say, had rather too superficially considered the
clause by which she thought herself authorized, perused the paper with more
accuracy, and was confounded at her own want of penetration. Yet, though she was
confuted, she was by no means convinced that her objections to the cold bath
were unreasonable; on the contrary, after having bestowed sundry opprobrious
epithets on the physician, for his want of knowledge and candour, she protested
in the most earnest and solemn manner against the pernicious practice of dipping
the child; a piece of cruelty, which with God's assistance, she should never
suffer to be inflicted on her own issue; and washing her hands of the melancholy
consequence that would certainly ensue, shut herself up in her closet, to
indulge her sorrow and vexation. She was deceived, however, in her prognostic;
the boy, instead of declining in point of health, seemed to acquire fresh vigour
from every plunge, as if he had been resolved to discredit the wisdom and
foresight of his aunt, who, in all probability, could never forgive him for this
want of reverence and respect. This conjecture is founded upon her behaviour to
him in the sequel of his infancy, during which she was known to torture him more
than once, when she had opportunities
