Musings and Prosings |
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Common terms and phrases
Almack's Ashton beautiful Boulogne BUNN carriage carrion crows CHARLES cook Countess of Harrington cousin daughter dear delight dinner dish dress Dumps Earl Exit eyes fashion father Flinn fourneau Frederick Frederick Ashton gentleman girl Granby hand happy harpsichord hath hear heard heart honour hour husband KATE Kate O'Brien King of Hearts knew Lady landaulet leave look Lord lover LUNATIC LAYS Madam maid majesty married Mary mean Miss Hum mistress morning mother moustachios never night once pale PATTY perfect Pilkington PIQUET poor port wine pray pudding Queen Queen of Hearts replied Reverend seen servant Shropshire Sighmon Sinecure sing Sir Hampton SIR LAURENCE smile Squire Long STEWARD stranger sure SUSAN sweet tears tell thee THEODORE there's thing THOMAS HAYNES BAYLY thou thought town twas uncle wife woman word young
Popular passages
Page 219 - I never •was a favourite, My mother never smiled On me, with half the tenderness That blessed her fairer child : I've seen her kiss my sister's cheek, While fondled on her knee ; I've turned away, to hide my tears, There was no kiss for me!
Page 104 - Site had no idea of undress and full dress, as modern ladies have ; changing from a seven-shilling muslin of a morning, to a cheap beggarly silk or crape at night. The mistress could then never be mistaken for the maid, nor the maid for the mistress. She was always responsibly attired ; her small feet, in their high-heeled shoes, regally reposed under her glossy petticoat, and her snowy elbows modestly peeped from the sheltering canopy of her pure lace ruffles. ' When she wished to appear in full...
Page 281 - I've bought summer bonnets for Rosa and Bess, And now I must buy each an archery dress ! Without a green suit they would blush to be seen, And poor little Rosa looks horrid in green.
Page 220 - Her venomed mantle threw: The features once so beautiful Now wore the hue of death ; And former friends shrank fearfully From her infectious breath.
Page 240 - Fairy well, and was held in great veneration by the inhabitants of the valley. There was a tradition concerning it which had time out of mind been handed down from parent to child. It was covered with a huge stone, which, though apparently very heavy, could be removed with ease by the hand of the most delicate female; and it was said to be the will of the Fairy who presided over it, that all the young girls of the village should go thither every evening after sunset, remove the stone, and take from...
Page 240 - ... this forgotten valley. Norah was the prettiest girl in the little village. She was the pride of her old father and mother, and the admiration of every youth who beheld her. The cottage of her parents was the neatest in the neighbourhood: Norah knew how to make the homeliest chamber look cheerful, and the honeysuckle round the casement was taught by her hand to twine more gracefully than elsewhere. There was but one spring of water in this valley; it was a little well of the brightest and clearest...
Page 229 - I've been taught, By smiling foes, to injure thee by one unworthy thought. No — blest with some beloved one, from care and sorrow free. May thy lot in life be happy, undisturbed by thoughts of me. A year spent in Scotland, and a subsequent gayer residence in Dublin, re-established the poet's spirits, and he now began to publish his songs. Returning, in 1824, to his father's house of Mount Beacon, near Bath — being now twenty-seven years of age — he formed a new attachment, equally peculiar...
Page 107 - What would my great-grandmother say, thought I, could she know that thou art to be chopped up into fuel to warm the frigid fingers of her great-great-granddaughters. Her husband bought the instrument for her in the first year of their marriage : it was meant as a surprise, and was placed in her sitting-room very early on the morning of her birth-day, that she might unexpectedly find it there when she came down to breakfast. This happened long before I was born ; but the old lady in her widowhood...
Page 219 - I've seen her kiss my sister's cheek, While fondled on her knee ; I've turned away, to hide my tears, — There was no kiss for me ! And yet I strove to please with all My little store of sense ; I strove to please, and infancy Can rarely give offence ; But when my artless efforts met A cold ungentle check, I did not dare to throw myself In tears upon her neck ! How blessed are the beautiful ! Love watches o'er their birth ; Oh, beauty ! in my nursery I learned to know thy worth : For even there...
Page 6 - ... poison from a wound. My fond affection thou hast seen, Then judge of my regret, To think more happy thou hadst been If we had never met ! And has that thought been shared by thee ? Ah, no ! that smiling cheek Proves more unchanging love for me Than labour'd words could speak. But there are true hearts which the sight Of sorrow summons forth ; Though known in days of past delight, We knew not half their worth.