"Prowess" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... of study were at an end. Quincy was loaded with scholastic honours while Tom's prowess has been most effectually shown on the ball team and in the 'Varsity Eight, which came near winning a trophy for ...
— The Further Adventures of Quincy Adams Sawyer and Mason's Corner Folks • Charles Felton Pidgin
... passed, the rogue would stick his tongue in his cheek, yet so slightly as to be perceptible to no one but myself. After this heat, Massa Aaron and myself were perambulating the ballroom, quite satisfied with our own prowess and I was churming to myself, "Voulez vous dansez, mademoiselle"—"De tout mon coeur," said a buxom brown dame, about eighteen stone by the coffee—mill in St James's Street. That devil Aaron gave me a look that I swore I would pay him for, the villain; as the extensive mademoiselle, suiting ...
— Tom Cringle's Log • Michael Scott
... exclaimed, 'you have always been my evil genius. From our childhood you have stood in my way with your superior strength, beauty, prowess and address. When I was young I simply shrank from you in shame and distaste, but as I grew older I learned to detest you; and now that I see you again, after five years of absence, handsome as ever, taller than ever, and radiant, notwithstanding your nearness to death, with memories ...
— The Forsaken Inn - A Novel • Anna Katharine Green
... sometimes blew up and burned down grocery stores, and there were steamers and churns and household contrivances which the Captain had introduced into the homes of Harvey in past years, not of his invention, to be sure, but contrivances that had inspired his eloquence, and were mute witnesses to his prowess—trophies of the chase. Above the forge were rows of his patent sprockets, all neatly wrapped in brown paper, and under this row of merchandise was a clipping from the Times describing the Captain's invention, and predicting—at five cents a line—that it would revolutionize the theory ...
— In the Heart of a Fool • William Allen White
... disbelieve Joshua, he spoke with such apparent frankness and sincerity. The man from Pike County was evidently puzzled, and told no more stories of his own prowess. Conversation, died away, and presently all three ...
— Joe's Luck - Always Wide Awake • Horatio Alger, Jr.
... steep side of the ravine in the teeth of the Turkish artillery—a redoubt in the centre of the lines was stormed through the gorge by Maligny, brother-in-law of the king—the Pashas of Aleppo and Silistria, whose prowess sustained the fainting courage of their troops, were slain in the front of the battle—and, after a conflict of less than an hour, the whole vast array of the Osmanlis, pierced through the centre by the onset of the Polish lances, gave way in hopeless, irremediable confusion, ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 54, No. 334, August 1843 • Various
... and certainly never in the future, was there or will there be a time more deeply fraught with significance. And as I gaze upon your keen faces it seems almost as though the world had amassed all the problems that now confront us merely in order to give you tasks worthy of your prowess. ...
— Pipefuls • Christopher Morley
... a girl had started for Gods Lake post, and he instantly recognized McNabb and Jean from the man's description. Thereupon he made up a pack and headed for the post for the sole purpose of baiting the two, and of flaunting his prowess as a financier in ...
— The Challenge of the North • James Hendryx
... England parsons had in their pulpits on Sundays, in their own homes on Saturday nights, on Lecture Days and Fast Days and Training Days, and indeed upon all times and occasions, can we wonder at Parson Boardman's prowess in New Milford in 1735? He visited a "praying" Indian's home wherein lay a sick papoose over whom a "pow-wow" was being held by a medicine-man at the request of the squaw-mother, who was still a heathen. ...
— Sabbath in Puritan New England • Alice Morse Earle
... crafts of war, Sowing earth's fertile furrows with dead men And staining crimson God's cerulean sea, To prove his prowess to a ...
— Poems of Progress • Ella Wheeler Wilcox
... consequence of this bodily weakness and sickly constitution, Octavian did not attempt to distinguish himself by active exertions or feats of personal prowess. The splendid examples of his uncle the dictator, and of Antonius[14] his rival, might have early discouraged him from attempting to shine as a warrior and hero; he had not the vivacity and animal spirits necessary to carry him through such exploits as theirs; and, altho ...
— The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to Prose, Vol. VI (of X)—Great Britain and Ireland IV • Various
... the sleepers. Some sat quietly on their hams with eyes fixed on the tempting morsel, but not making any effort to get at it, as they knew it was beyond their reach. These were, no doubt, the older and wiser ones. Others kept trying their prowess in lofty leaping; but, although the most active of them could get their noses within a few inches of the meat, it only tantalised them the more. One, however, who seemed the best jumper of the ...
— The Boy Hunters • Captain Mayne Reid
... the year B.C. 57, and is narrated with surpassing vividness in the second book of his Gallic War. Plutarch, in his Julius Caesar, gives graphic details of this famous victory and the effect upon the Roman people of the news of Caesar's personal prowess, when "flying in amongst the barbarous people," he "made a lane through them that fought before him." Of course the matter about the 'mantle' is purely fictitious: Caesar had on the civic gown, not the military cloak, when killed; and it was, in fact, the mangled toga ...
— The New Hudson Shakespeare: Julius Caesar • William Shakespeare
... waste rock for such pieces of "pay ore" as had been overlooked; and these he sacked up and sold at the Syndicate Mill. He became a member of our firm—"Gunny, Giggles, and Dumps," thenceforth—through my favor; for I could not then, nor can I now, be indifferent to his courage and prowess in defending against Giggles the immemorial right of his sex to insult a strange and unprotected female—myself. After old Jim struck it in the Calamity, and I began to wear shoes and go to school, and in emulation Giggles took to ...
— Stories by Modern American Authors • Julian Hawthorne
... for her people's cause. Whenever a young negro went to her to have his fortune told,—and from this art she began to realize a steady income,—she managed to hint at his future greatness as a military leader, his gains in the loot of Spanish camps, his prowess in bush-fighting when hostilities ...
— Myths & Legends of our New Possessions & Protectorate • Charles M. Skinner
... to the Norman invasion, that is before 1066, England possessed Saxon bards who sang of the prowess of forbears or contemporaries, and monks who wrote in Latin the lives of saints ...
— Initiation into Literature • Emile Faguet
... big man and in his youth had been noted for his strength. Time had sapped his prowess, however, and he knew that he was no match for his adversary. Nevertheless, he ...
— The Boy Allies in Great Peril • Clair W. Hayes
... to the highest, wherever sociality had produced unity a leader was evolved, a superiority that differed in power according to the grade of development. In the earlier histories, the leaders were chosen for their prowess in arms. Great warriors became rulers, and soldiers were the aristocracy of the land. As civilization progressed and learning became more widely disseminated, the military retired before the more intellectual aristocracy ...
— Mizora: A Prophecy - A MSS. Found Among the Private Papers of the Princess Vera Zarovitch • Mary E. Bradley
... astonished at her daughter's prowess—"you have turned into a waitress, and on Sunday afternoon too. Whatever ...
— Fairy Tales from the German Forests • Margaret Arndt
... thing, for example, does personal prowess appear, compared with the fortitude of patience and heroic martyrdom; in other words, with struggles for the sake of principle, in preference to victory gloried in ...
— The Prose Works of William Wordsworth • William Wordsworth
... somewhat summarily treated by American historians, largely because of lack of specific evidence as to motives at the time of issue. Two words "military necessity" are made to cover nearly the entire argument for emancipation in September, 1862, but in just what manner the military prowess of the North was to be increased was not at first indicated. In 1864, Lincoln declared that after the failure of successive efforts to persuade the border states to accept compensated emancipation he had believed there had arrived the "indispensable necessity ...
— Great Britain and the American Civil War • Ephraim Douglass Adams
... man who at St. Neff did see His conduct, prowess, martial gallantry: He wore a white plumach that day; not one Of Belgians wore a white, but him alone And though that day was fatal, yet he fought, And for his part fair triumphs with ...
— Claverhouse • Mowbray Morris
... service which, they all knew better than he did, taxed the energies, courage, and endurance of the stoutest and youngest man among them to the uttermost. He expressed a firm belief in the courage and prowess of the coxswain who had succeeded him (renewed cheers), and felt assured that the success of the boat in time to come would at the least fully equal its successes in time past. He then referred to some of the more prominent achievements ...
— The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands • R.M. Ballantyne
... Faversham. Faversham did not protest nor did he now make any effort to move. But his face grew pale, he shivered once or twice, his eyes seemed to be taking the measure of Plessy's strength, his brain to be calculating upon his prowess; the sweat began ...
— Ensign Knightley and Other Stories • A. E. W. Mason
... commending them to the esteem and good offices of those to whom he had desired to deliver them as traitors. It is true, he transmitted to France magnificent accounts of the surrender of the blacks, of their abject supplications for their lives, and of the skill and prowess by which he had subdued the rebels, and restored the colony to France. But these boastings were not known in Saint Domingo; though the true state of the case was whispered in Paris, as regarded the mortality among the white troops, and the formidable influence still retained ...
— The Hour and the Man - An Historical Romance • Harriet Martineau
... epithet in itself was not displeasing to him; for he was passionately attached to his mother, and had learned from her to love her native country; but applied in derision it was regarded by him as an insult, and many a tough battle did he fight, until his prowess was so generally acknowledged that the name, though still used, was no ...
— Saint Bartholomew's Eve - A Tale of the Huguenot WarS • G. A. Henty
... and seeing the second giraffe, his companions had heard no more boasting about his own prowess, nor reproaches for their negligence. But now came the question of the ivory and other articles still lying in the camp. With such a large quantity of valuable property to transport to the settlements, the pack-horses and cattle were worth ...
— The Giraffe Hunters • Mayne Reid
... his various qualities. He liked hunting as much as shooting, and having regard for the season of the year, he laid special stress upon his love for, and his prowess in, the game of tennis. A week later he received an invitation to tennis. Henceforth he rode over frequently to Holly Park. He was sometimes asked to stay the night, and an impression was gaining ground there that life was pleasanter with him than ...
— Mike Fletcher - A Novel • George (George Augustus) Moore
... texts, however, preserving as they do the more primitive conceptions by the side of the most advanced ones, some traces of other attributes besides prowess in war are found. By virtue of his character as a solar deity, Marduk, like the orb personified through him, is essentially a life-giving god. Whereas Shamash is viewed as the 'judge of mankind,' Marduk becomes the god who restores the dead to life, though he ...
— The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria • Morris Jastrow
... drink the dark wine recklessly, and lo, our great wealth is wasted, for there is no man now alive such as Odysseus was, to keep ruin from the house. As for me I am nowise strong like him to ward mine own; verily to the end of my days {*} shall I be a weakling and all unskilled in prowess. Truly I would defend me if but strength were mine; for deeds past sufferance have now been wrought, and now my house is wasted utterly beyond pretence of right. Resent it in your own hearts, and have regard to your neighbours who dwell ...
— DONE INTO ENGLISH PROSE • S. H. BUTCHER, M.A.
... world—the late-comer was forthwith christened by the Mistress of the Kennels, under the name of Finn, in honour of the memory of the fourth-century warrior Finn, son of Cumall, lord of three hundred Irish Wolfhounds, whose prowess in battle and in the chase were sung by Oisin in two thousand, two hundred and seventy-two separate verses. Finn was chief of King Cormac's household and master of his hounds; for the most honoured counsellor that the ancient Kings ...
— Finn The Wolfhound • A. J. Dawson
... you have tried—So you have known The burning effort for success, The quick belief in your own prowess and your skill, The bitterness of failure, and ...
— Once Aboard The Lugger • Arthur Stuart-Menteth Hutchinson
... too frequent disturbance by prowling huntsmen. Still higher are the rugged bare prominences, reserved for the wild goat or mountain sheep, and the snow fields traversed by the more venturesome seeking to gain the summits. Everywhere the true sportsman finds ample opportunity for proving his prowess, while trailing the beast to its lair, and the sight-seeking mountaineer is fully rewarded for all the struggle required ...
— The Beauties of the State of Washington - A Book for Tourists • Harry F. Giles
... younger man resembled that sturdy veteran in his passion for war, his ambition, and that frank, bluff bearing which always wins the hearts of the soldiery. The grandson of a peasant, whose bravery had won him promotion in the great year, 1812; the son of a general whose prowess was renowned—Skobeleff was at once a commander and a soldier. "Ah! he knew the soul of a soldier as if he were himself a private." These were the words often uttered by the Russians about Skobeleff; similar things had been ...
— The Development of the European Nations, 1870-1914 (5th ed.) • John Holland Rose
... Lieutenant Lorenzi will care a straw about that," suggested the Abbate. "All he wants is a chance to prove his military prowess." ...
— Casanova's Homecoming • Arthur Schnitzler
... miners left the horses to attack the men. This gave a clear road, and Lars was ready to drive on, but the girls were not in the carriage. They had sprung out in the excitement of the first sound of blows; and now stood watching with glowing eyes and white faces the prowess of their champions. For minutes they watched the conflict with fear and pride combined. When seven or eight minutes had passed and the champions had not slain all their enemies, some degree of terror arose in the minds ...
— The Fat of the Land - The Story of an American Farm • John Williams Streeter
... and upon waking next morning, as if from a hideous nightmare, had to convince myself that I had really taken part in the events of the previous night by a trophy I possessed in the shape of a tattered red curtain, which I had brought home as a token of my prowess. The thought that people generally, and my own family in particular, were wont to put a lenient construction upon youthful escapades was a great comfort to me; outbursts of this kind on the part of the young ...
— My Life, Volume I • Richard Wagner
... sometime king of this noble realm, then called Britain; I, William Caxton, simple person, present this book following, which I have enprised to imprint: and treateth of the noble acts, feats of arms of chivalry, prowess, hardiness, humanity, love, courtesy, and very gentleness, with many wonderful histories and adventures. And for to understand briefly the content of this volume, I have divided it into XXI Books, and every book chaptered, ...
— Le Morte D'Arthur, Volume I (of II) - King Arthur and of his Noble Knights of the Round Table • Thomas Malory
... But his prowess was not to be brought into action, for at this moment the custom officer began to search the cart of straw, and then gave permission for it to pass on ...
— Nobody's Girl - (En Famille) • Hector Malot
... cried the major. "With all his faults, I honor the fellow's courage and admire his prowess. He's already ridden to-night as I believe never man rode before. I would not have ventured to slide down that wall, for it's nothing else, with the enemy at my heels. What say you, gentlemen, have you had enough? Shall we let ...
— Rookwood • William Harrison Ainsworth
... and every one seemed much keener than formerly. Winona was naturally an enthusiast, and tried to keep others up to the mark. She had once seen an "Assault-at-Arms" at Percy's college, and the memory of it made her long for the Seaton High School to have a similar opportunity of showing its prowess. She and a select circle of friends practiced whenever possible. Altogether among the various athletic activities of the school, Captain Winona promised herself a very enjoyable ...
— The Luckiest Girl in the School • Angela Brazil
... There, then, don't cry. It'll be all right. I'll see you're all right. All men are not beasts, you know.' So I cover her protectively in my arms, and soon I shall be kissing her, for comfort, in the heat and prowess of my compassion, kissing her soft, plump cheek and neck closely, bringing my comfort ...
— Twilight in Italy • D.H. Lawrence
... the best known men there. To enter the dining room was to nod to men at practically every table. There was a joy in feeling that he was among friends; in having his praises sung to younger grads by those who had chummed with him in college; to have his football prowess perpetuated ...
— Interference and Other Football Stories • Harold M. Sherman
... be a sensible, rational being; be a faithful husband; a tender father; an equitable master; a zealous citizen; labour to serve thy country by thy prowess; by thy talents; by thine industry; above all, by thy virtues. Participate with thine associates those gifts which nature has bestowed upon thee; diffuse happiness, among thy fellow mortals; inspire thy fellow citizens with content; spread joy over all those who approach thee, that ...
— The System of Nature, Vol. 2 • Baron D'Holbach
... of the house of Savoy in 1033, and Count Peter, whom they nicknamed Little Charlemagne for his prowess and his conquests, built the present castle, after which the barons of the Pays de Vaud and the Duke of Cophingen (whoever he may have been) besieged Peter in it. Perhaps they might have taken him. But the wine was so good, and the pretty girls of the country were so fond ...
— A Little Swiss Sojourn • W. D. Howells
... by Mir Ali and other chief men of the city, who came to surrender it to him, only stipulating, that their lives, liberties, and goods should be secured. The reason of this surrender was because Gorji had terrified them by his account of the astonishing and irresistible prowess of the Portuguese, and because a Joghi, or native religious saint, had predicted a short time before, that Goa was soon to be subjected by strangers. Albuquerque readily accepted the surrender on the terms proposed, and having anchored before the town on ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume VI - Early English Voyages Of Discovery To America • Robert Kerr
... constitutionally chosen Senators for the great State of New York, is a prime shot, an enthusiastic sportsman, and one of the most genial of our friends. He had located on a distant island, and expended powder and shot with his usual prowess—returning laden with game. This was decidedly the best day we had had, and the score was as follows: Charles, nineteen canvas-back, eleven teal, three geese and twelve red-head, mallard and black duck; Theodoric brought in sixty-five birds—canvas-back, red-head, sprig-tail and black-head; O'Kelly, ...
— Nick Baba's Last Drink and Other Sketches • George P. Goff
... unhappy chance It was for thee that thou didst not consult Some of the heroes who my prowess knew, Before thou camest forth to meet me here, In the hard battle combat by the Ford. Unhappy was it that it was not Laegh, The son of Riangabra, thou didst ask About our fellow-pupilship—a bond That ...
— Poems • Denis Florence MacCarthy
... cloisters, that the First Order was coming—for so they termed the first form or class of those boys. Still these sea-boys answered some good purposes, in the school. They were the military class among the boys, foremost in athletic exercises, who extended the fame of the prowess of the school far and near; and the apprentices in the vicinage, and sometimes the butchers' boys in the neighboring market, had sad occasion to ...
— The Works of Charles Lamb in Four Volumes, Volume 4 • Charles Lamb
... society be as it now imagines itself. I don't suppose that in all that gang of beautiful, splendid, wasteful, expensively surfeited people there are more than two or three young men of intellectual prowess or spiritual distinction, though there must be some clever and brilliant toadies of the artist variety. In fact, Mr. Pulitzer says as much outright; and it is the hard lot of some of the arts to have to tout for custom among the vulgar ranks of ...
— Imaginary Interviews • W. D. Howells
... have already a much larger income than I know what to do with, and for that and other reasons money does not come into the question at all. Like other fellows who go hunting, I shall naturally desire to have a few trophies to exhibit as tokens of my prowess; but, beyond those, I shall have no use at all for ivory, skins, horns, and such other matters as we may acquire; therefore you may as well have them as anyone else, especially as you are avowedly out fortune-hunting. Besides, two guineas a day is an altogether inadequate ...
— The Adventures of Dick Maitland - A Tale of Unknown Africa • Harry Collingwood
... of the fidelity, prowess, and ill-fate of Gelert, the favourite greyhound of Llewellyn Prince of Wales, and son-in-law to King John, ...
— The Dog - A nineteenth-century dog-lovers' manual, - a combination of the essential and the esoteric. • William Youatt
... moment, when I am about to begin the most important undertaking of my life, I recall the sense of abhorrence with which I have at different times read the confessions of men famed for their prowess in the realm of love. These boastings have always shocked me, for I reverence love as the noblest of the passions, and it is impossible for me to conceive how one who has truly fallen victim to its benign influence can ever thereafter ...
— The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac • Eugene Field
... before and probably will not see again. And when, just before the outbreak of the World War, he returned to Germany for the annual visit to his Baden-Baden estate, from which he was destined never again to sally forth to deeds of financial prowess, his subsequent involuntary retirement found him a huge commercial success, where B.G. Arnold was a colossal failure. It was the World War and a lingering illness that, at the end, stopped Hermann Sielcken. But, though he had to admit himself bested by the fortunes ...
— All About Coffee • William H. Ukers
... circle had been cleared for them, and in it they and one or two other hardy souls were exhibiting their prowess, while the throng outside whispered and applauded and made comments on the different skaters and their respective skill ...
— The Governess • Julie M. Lippmann
... knocking down two somewhat unpopular agents of her absentee landlord, and was seen, later in the day, dancing a jig on the stomach of the prostrate form of the Presbyterian minister. One of her friends admired her prowess in this direction and invited her in, and gave her a good stiff glass of whiskey. Her friend said, "Shall I pour some water in your whiskey?" and the woman replied, "For God's sake, haven't I had trouble enough already ...
— Modern Eloquence: Vol III, After-Dinner Speeches P-Z • Various
... his trembling lips together and followed as best he could. He was paying high, he felt, for the privilege of entertaining the Bartlesville Commercial Club with stories of his prowess. He doubted if he would get over the nervous strain in months, for, after all, Sprudell was fifty, and such experiences told. Never—never, he said to himself when a rolling rock started by his feet bounded from point to point to remind him how easily he could do ...
— The Man from the Bitter Roots • Caroline Lockhart
... menace like a conqueror. Active war, which he lacked the means of attempting, was continually threatened. On the 22nd he sought the aid of his brother consuls to maintain the neutral territory against Mataafa; and at the same time, as though meditating instant deeds of prowess, refused to be bound by it himself. This singular proposition was of course refused: Blacklock remarking that he had no fear of the natives, if these were let alone; de Coetlogon refusing in the circumstances to recognise any neutral ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 17 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson
... resources of the country should be developed;" that the people should be made to "see and feel their strength by being brought out together; that the revolution should be set in actual motion in the colony; that the martial prowess of the country should be awakened, and the soldiery animated by that proud and resolute confidence which a successful enterprise in the commencement of a contest ...
— Patrick Henry • Moses Coit Tyler
... auxiliaries. It is true, also, that the result of their operations was unfortunate, and that the German generals proved wholly unable to contend with the fiery and more skilful impetuosity of Jourdan and Pichegru. But the question is not whether Pitt's confidence in the prowess of his allies was misplaced, but whether he had not abundant reason to justify him in entertaining it. And, to judge fairly on this point, we must recollect the reputation which for the last forty years the Austrian and Prussian armies had enjoyed. The result of the seven years' ...
— The Constitutional History of England From 1760 to 1860 • Charles Duke Yonge
... to the landward walls, the Chora acquired great importance during the fatal siege of 1453. For the inhabitants of the beleagured capital placed their hope for deliverance more upon the saints they worshipped than upon their own prowess; the spiritual host enshrined in their churches was deemed mightier than the warriors who manned the towers of the fortifications. The sanctuaries beside the walls constituted the strongest bulwarks from ...
— Byzantine Churches in Constantinople - Their History and Architecture • Alexander Van Millingen
... captured and brought to justice. A party was selected to search for him. They knew that he must be hiding in some of the hollows where the thick clusters of bents and bracken would give him cover. Some of the party had strayed from the central group, and were talking of Jimmy's prowess and astuteness, and wondering where he was concealed, when they suddenly came across a man with his head and part of his body up a rabbit-hole. He was asking in subdued tones, "Are the —— gyen yet?" and one ...
— Looking Seaward Again • Walter Runciman
... noble-faced, white-haired scholar, with a firm tender mouth, a brow of wisdom, and eyes of understanding. He was not the kind who win by great athletic prowess, he was an old-fashioned gentleman, well along in years, but young in heart. He looked at the child of the slums and saw ...
— Lo, Michael! • Grace Livingston Hill
... very day their high Prowess was shown, In guarding the King thro' the Fire-works o' th' Town; Tho' Sparks were unhors'd and their lac'd Coats were spoil'd, They dreaded no Squibs of Men, Women, ...
— Quaint Gleanings from Ancient Poetry • Edmund Goldsmid
... of England, the Prince of Wales his son, the Duke of Lancaster, Sir Reginald Lord Cobham, Sir Walter Manny of Hainault, Sir John Chandos, Sir Fulk Harley, and many others recorded in his book for worth and prowess. "In France also was found good chivalry, strong of limb and stout of heart, and in great abundance, for the kingdom of France was never brought so low as to want men ever ready for combat. Such was King Philipe de Valois, ...
— A Visit to the Monastery of La Trappe in 1817 • W.D. Fellowes
... anti-abolitionist crowd at Faneuil Hall, his music is liable to be less American than he wishes. If a middle-aged man, upon picking up the Scottish Chiefs, finds that his boyhood enthusiasm for the prowess and noble deeds and character of Sir Wm. Wallace and of Bruce is still present, let him put, or try to put that glory into an overture, let him fill it chuck-full of Scotch tunes, if he will. But after all is said and sung he will find that ...
— Essays Before a Sonata • Charles Ives
... almost all the wars, whether waged betwixt England and Scotland, or amongst the various domestic factions which then tore the former country asunder, and in all had been distinguished, as well from his military conduct as his personal prowess. He was, in other respects, a rude soldier, blunt and careless in his bearing, and taciturn—nay, almost sullen—in his habits of society, and seeming, at least, to disclaim all knowledge of policy and of courtly art. There were men, however, who ...
— The Talisman • Sir Walter Scott
... At three years old his aunt assured the mother that William is "a hopeful blade," but at that time it was his physical vigour to which she apparently referred; for the proofs of his capacity, which she adduces, related to his prowess in making boys older than himself fly before him. In the second letter, a month later, we hear that William is brought in to read the Bible for the purpose of putting to shame other boys double his age who could not read nearly so well. Uncle James ...
— Great Astronomers • R. S. Ball
... Republican party. No faith in a fundamental human, broad principle ever actuated the hard shell Democrats. McClellan and the immense majority of generals, have been, or are full-blooded Democrats, and their warlike prowess dragged the people into deep, deep mire. Democrats have to thank God for not being in power; in this way their incapacity to cope with such gigantic events is not exposed. The other fortunate occurrence for the Democrats is that the power-holders for the Republican ...
— Diary from November 12, 1862, to October 18, 1863 • Adam Gurowski
... successes, and even the Spaniards began to recognise the merits of the new chieftain. An intercepted letter from Verdugo, who had been foiled in his efforts to arrest the career of Maurice, indicated great respect for his prowess. "I have been informed," said the veteran, "that Count Maurice of Nassau wishes to fight me. Had I the opportunity I assure you that I should not fail him, for even if ill luck were my portion, I should at least not escape ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley
... fallen, and who realised the crisis; foremost amongst these was the patriot king himself. He knew the foe, and was perhaps the only man in the country who did; he knew that civilisation had only sharpened the genius of the descendants of Rollo, without abating one jot of their prowess; that they were more terrible now than when they ravaged ...
— The Rival Heirs being the Third and Last Chronicle of Aescendune • A. D. Crake
... you do, great warrior?" said Rostopchin as soon as the short man had left the room. "We have heard of your prowess. But that's not the point. Between ourselves, mon cher, do you belong to the Masons?" he went on severely, as though there were something wrong about it which he nevertheless intended to pardon. Pierre remained silent. "I am well informed, my friend, but I am aware that there are Masons and I hope ...
— War and Peace • Leo Tolstoy
... permission to see the object of their admiration, and to share in her society. The Marquis was proud of his conquest, the very idea of a three years' tete a tete with the most volatile heart in France being sufficient to justify him in boasting of his prowess, but whenever he ventured to do so a champion on the part of Ninon always stood ready to make him either eat his words or fight ...
— Life, Letters, and Epicurean Philosophy of Ninon de L'Enclos, - the Celebrated Beauty of the Seventeenth Century • Robinson [and] Overton, ed. and translation.
... George and stout Sir James, Both knights of good account. Good Sir Ralph Raby there was slain, Whose prowess did surmount. ...
— The World's Best Poetry, Volume 8 • Various
... qualification for suffrage is by no means to be confounded with age as a qualification for service in war. Society has well established the distinction, and also that one has no relation whatever to the other—the one having reference to physical prowess, while the other relates only to the mental state. This is shown by the ages fixed by law, that of eighteen years as the commencement of the term of presumed fitness for military service and forty-five as the period of its termination; while ...
— The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV • Various
... mood. Yesterday I planted bulbs with a lady who was not bulbous. The day before I shot pigeons for a lark. And I am boastful! fair boastful, my Lady! My secretary and my confidential clerk and my many dark-hued messengers are solemnly impressed with my prowess with gun and spade. The truth shall not be heard in the land. I am my own talebearer and my own censor. I know more about agriculture than the Secretary of Agriculture, and I know more of Labor than the Secretary of the same. And for this, ...
— The Letters of Franklin K. Lane • Franklin K. Lane
... and his sword descended so fiercely on that anointed head that Ferdinand bent to his saddle-bow. But the king quickly recovered his seat, and gallantly met the encounter; it was one that might have tasked to the utmost the prowess of his bravest knight. Passions which, in their number, their nature, and their excess, animated no other champion on either side, gave to the arm of Almamen the Israelite a preternatural strength; his blows fell like rain upon the harness of the king; and the fiery eyes, the gleaming ...
— Leila, Complete - The Siege of Granada • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... meet the shades of those whose prowess made Romance, You'd find them only puzzled by your tales of stunts in France; You'd have to cut the business out, and be content to chat Of rations, grub, and officers—such odds and ends ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 153, Sept. 12, 1917 • Various
... through the whole war, and the love which was felt for him by all the peasants concerned in it, proved their just appreciation of real merit; for he had not those qualities which most tend to ingratiate an officer with his men. He could not unbend among them, and talk to them familiarly of their prowess, and of the good cause, as Henri did. He had the manners of an austere, sombre man; and though always most anxious for the security and good treatment of the prisoners, had more than once severely punished men among his own followers for ...
— La Vendee • Anthony Trollope
... so badly that he could not go about his duties, or even hobble outside the cabin door. The responsibility of providing for the little household, therefore, fell upon Bobby. And Bobby, though keenly sympathetic, was nevertheless glad of an opportunity to show his prowess. ...
— Bobby of the Labrador • Dillon Wallace
... message of peace. But nothing at that time, save a complete and abject surrender upon the part of the British, could have satisfied the Boers, who had the most exaggerated ideas of their own military prowess and no very high opinion of our own. The continental conception of the British wolf and the Transvaal lamb would have raised a laugh in Pretoria, where the outcome of the war was looked upon as a foregone conclusion. The burghers were in no humour for concessions. ...
— The War in South Africa - Its Cause and Conduct • Arthur Conan Doyle
... curious to see the natural vigor, fertility, and adroitness of Mr. Tazewell contrasted with the consummate art and accomplished prowess of Mr. Pinkney; and participated in the public disappointment, (as I must ever deplore the cause which produced it,) when the death of Mr. Pinkney rendered it impossible, just at the moment that the contest was to take place. But a few days before ...
— Discourse of the Life and Character of the Hon. Littleton Waller Tazewell • Hugh Blair Grigsby
... recorded history man has regarded his prowess in war as the most valuable of his exploits, and success in war has generally been measured by the number of slain on the battle-field. I don't know how the facts were arrived at in ancient times, and whether or not ...
— The History of Minnesota and Tales of the Frontier • Charles E. Flandrau
... enmity I had earned that time I laid him low with my bare hands in the courtyard of the Temple of Issus, and bound him with his own harness before the noble men and women who had but a moment before been extolling his prowess. ...
— Warlord of Mars • Edgar Rice Burroughs
... doth! My Lord Gui of Ells, Lord Seneschal of Raddemore, is myfriend, a very mirror of knightly prowess, the sure might of whose lance none may abide. He is, in very truth, the doughtiest champion in all this fair country, matchless at any and every weapon, a- horse or a-foot, in sooth a very Ajax, Achilles, Hector, Roland ...
— The Geste of Duke Jocelyn • Jeffery Farnol
... is, of course, a great sin to commit murder; but to fight for the fatherland, that must be a noble employment for a man. It seems to me, father, that a true man would stand in the fight and know no fear; who would throw himself into danger bravely, face it unflinchingly, and turn it aside by his prowess; under whose protection the weak seek for shelter; who has, with all his bravery, a gentle, tender heart, and a well-balanced mind—a man father, who, like the oak, sways not when weaker ...
— Sister Carmen • M. Corvus
... love of a father, had taught him many useful arts and handicrafts, had given him fine clothes to wear, and had so improved his bodily condition and moulded his mind that no king's son could ever hope to excel him either in physical beauty or in skill of arms, in manly prowess or moral goodness. Never once had Olaf done anything that was mean or unworthy; never once had he told an untruth or gone back from his promise. At any time when Sigurd had told him to do what was not to his liking the ...
— Olaf the Glorious - A Story of the Viking Age • Robert Leighton
... no time in marching his long legs across the border, and the short ones of the Baron followed him of course. At Falkirk, Tickletoby was in great request; and in the year following, we find a contemporary poet hinting at his master's prowess under ...
— Half-Hours with Great Story-Tellers • Various
... none could stand before him. Now he was riding a stallion whose like is not among the horses of the Arabs of the Arabs [490] and his bride the Lady Bedrulbudour was looking upon him from the window of her pavilion, and when she saw his grace and goodliness and knightly prowess, she was overcome with his love and was like to fly for joy in him. Then, after they had played [some] bouts [491] in the plain and each had shown what was in him of horsemanship, (but Alaeddin overpassed them all,) the Sultan went to his palace and ...
— Alaeddin and the Enchanted Lamp • John Payne
... to his pre-eminent glory? Unless he had wished— what never entered into his mind—an endless life on earth what was there within human desire that did not accrue to the man who in his very earliest youth by his incredible ability and prowess surpassed the highest expectations that all had formed of his boyhood, who never sought the consulship, yet was made consul twice, the first time before the legal age,[Footnote: He left the army in Africa B.C. ...
— De Amicitia, Scipio's Dream • Marcus Tullius Ciceronis
... republican body has also lost strength. The non-attendance of five or six of that description has left the majority very equivocal indeed. A few individuals of no fixed system at all, governed by the panic or the prowess of the moment, flap as the breeze blows against the republican or the aristocratic bodies, and give to the one or the other a preponderance entirely accidental. Hence the dissimilar aspect of the address, and of the proceedings subsequent to that. ...
— Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson - Volume I • Thomas Jefferson
... great lady, past her prime, Behold her dreaming in her easy chair; Gray robed, and veiled; in laces old and rare, Her smiling eyes see but the vanished time, Of splendid prowess, and of deeds sublime. Self satisfied she sits, all unaware That peace has flown before encroaching care, And through her halls stalks hunger, linked ...
— Poems of Experience • Ella Wheeler Wilcox
... all got into better humour, and confidence returned between them. They laughed joyously as they glided in Indian file through the forest jungle beyond the clearing of Mrera, and boasted of their prowess. ...
— Great African Travellers - From Mungo Park to Livingstone and Stanley • W.H.G. Kingston
... slaves of by the Malays, or killed by the other Dyaks for the sake of their heads. It is a curious fancy the Dyaks of Borneo entertain, of collecting as many dried heads as they can obtain, either to wear as trophies of their prowess, or to ...
— Mark Seaworth • William H.G. Kingston
... same line as we observe in animal courtship. It begins with admiring attention to one of the opposite sex, followed by efforts to attract that one's attention by "display" (strutting, decoration of the person, demonstrating one's prowess, especially in opposition to rivals). Then the male takes an aggressive attitude, the {148} female a coy attitude; the male woos, the female hangs back, and something analogous to pursuit and capture takes place, except that the capture may be heartily ...
— Psychology - A Study Of Mental Life • Robert S. Woodworth
... almost unknown to history, for aside from two or three short accounts,[55] based mostly on hearsay, we find no mention of them. The coast natives who knew them by name only had many stories concerning their life and prowess, and one still hears that "the Bila-an are of small stature but agile like monkeys. One may wander for days through their territory without encountering a person and then when in a bad place suddenly see the ...
— The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao - The R. F. Cummings Philippine Expedition • Fay-Cooper Cole
... also be a Christian? Take heed! Our lions are still hungry! Thy love is dead, 'tis true, but WE have not killed her! She trusted in her God, and He has robbed thee of thy lawful possession. Blame Him, not us! Go hence, with thy laurels bravely won! Nero commends thy prowess!" ...
— The Life Everlasting: A Reality of Romance • Marie Corelli
... knowledge of its topography and with a surrounding population of sympathizers and helpers. In their first attempt at invasion they did not get beyond cannon-sound of the Potomac, and in the second they were turned back by the result of the first battle. These facts do not impeach the prowess of the Confederate soldiery, but they illustrate the task imposed on the Army of the Union and they suggest the vast difference in the responsibilities which the invading and the defensive forces were ...
— Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. 1 (of 2) • James Gillespie Blaine
... Kaiser commissioned various painters to produce battle-pictures of German prowess. The royal house of Bavaria has apparently followed suit. More recently the Kaiser expressed a wish that the British might meet the Bavarians "just once" and his wish was gratified. In depicting a Bavarian cavalry fight with French dragoons, the Bavarian artist naturally represents the enemy ...
— The Illustrated War News, Number 15, Nov. 18, 1914 • Various
... European history. The splendid but mysterious fabric of Asiatic power and science is seen for age after age, like the fairy castle of St John, exalted far above the rugged plain of Frank semi-barbarism—till the spell is at last broken by the iron prowess of Christian chivalry; and the glittering edifice vanishes from the land as though it had never been, leaving, like the fabled structure of the poet, only a wreath of laurel to bind the brows of the victor. Yet though replete with ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXLII. Vol. LV. April, 1844 • Various
... might win her if they had only been in his line. There being few opportunities for that kind of endeavor as the head of a large and lucrative legal practice, the suggestion only left him cynical. In the bottom of his heart he had long wished to dazzle, by some act of prowess, the eyes that saw him only as a respectable man of middle age, but the desire had merely mocked him with the kind of derision which impotence gets from youth. It seemed now a stroke of luck which almost merited being termed an act ...
— The Wild Olive • Basil King
... son of a Revolutionary patriot, and accustomed in his boyhood to listen with enraptured delight to the narration of thrilling battle-scenes, daring adventures, narrow escapes and feats of personal prowess during the Revolution, all tending to make indelible impressions upon the tablet of memory, the author feels a willingness to "contribute his mite" to the store of accumulated materials relating to North Carolina, now waiting ...
— Sketches of Western North Carolina, Historical and Biographical • C. L. Hunter
... gentleman went again into the country, and, taking his dog with him, was willing that he should exercise his prowess once more against his ancient enemies the wolves. Accordingly, the country people having quickly found one in a neighbouring wood, the gentleman went thither with Keeper, expecting to see him behave as he had done the year before. But how great was his surprise when, at the first onset, he saw ...
— The History of Sandford and Merton • Thomas Day
... of the demon's birth; and no sooner was he informed of the event, than the new-born infant was borne off to the regenerating water, when he was christened by the name of Merlin; the fond hopes of the demons being for this time, at least, irretrievably disappointed. How Merlin, by superhuman prowess and knowledge, defeated the Saracens (Saxons) in many bloody battles; his magical achievements and favour at the court of King Vortigern and his successors, are fully exhibited by the author of the history.[86] ...
— The Superstitions of Witchcraft • Howard Williams
... and horrible. Combats at sea are more destructive and obstinate than upon the land, for it is not possible to retreat or flee—everyone must abide his fortune and exert his prowess and valor. Sir Hugh Quiriel and his companions were bold and determined men, had done much mischief to the English at sea and destroyed many of their ships; this combat, therefore, lasted from early in the morning ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 07 • Various
... the first gained by the allies in the open field, was the cause of great rejoicings. Not only were the Spaniards no longer invincible, but they had been routed by a force but one- sixth of their own number, and the battle showed how greatly the individual prowess of the two peoples had changed during the ...
— By England's Aid or The Freeing of the Netherlands (1585-1604) • G.A. Henty
... honest man, although like many of his class in English towns he was somewhat addicted to drink. When in liquor he would make foolish wagers. On one of these too frequent occasions he was boasting of his prowess as a pedestrian and athlete, and the outcome was a match against nature. For a stake of one sovereign he undertook to run all the way to Coventry and back, a distance of something more than forty miles. This was on the 3d day ...
— Present at a Hanging and Other Ghost Stories • Ambrose Bierce
... at times even painful; but it taught the lads to hold on with their legs, and made them better able to display their prowess in other mounts which were tested from time ...
— Dick o' the Fens - A Tale of the Great East Swamp • George Manville Fenn
... away landward, like a fine misty rain; but it was a grand place in a calm. It has been said that there was always deep water, even at low tide, at the foot of the Carn, and here for generations had been the training place of the swimmers of Carn Du, who were famous for their prowess all round ...
— A Terrible Coward • George Manville Fenn
... camp of Abel Flique. In the days when Madame Caille was unmarried, and when her ninety kilos were fifty still, Abel had been youngest commis in the very shop over which she now held sway, and the most devoted suitor in all her train. Even after his prowess in the black days of '71 had won him the attention of the civil authorities, and a grateful municipality had transformed the grocer-soldier into a guardian of law and order, he still hung upon the favour of his heart's first love, and only gave up the struggle when Jean-Baptiste bore ...
— Lords of the Housetops - Thirteen Cat Tales • Various
... both saw that Brown and Wattles entertained a high respect for the military prowess of the Indian chief. They pronounced him to be not only a bold, but an adroit warrior; one, full of resources and ingenuity, when his means were taken into the account. The number of men with him, however, Brown assured Mark, was less than nine hundred, instead of exceeding a thousand, as ...
— The Crater • James Fenimore Cooper
... Parthians most of the territory which anciently formed the heart of the Assyrian monarchy. To Trajan belongs the distinction of extending the boundaries of the empire to the most distant points to which Roman ambition and prowess were ever able ...
— A General History for Colleges and High Schools • P. V. N. Myers
... whirls his sword, with unresisted rage, When closely prest, the Christian bands engage The high, the low, his equal prowess feel, The bravest ...
— The Duke's Prize - A Story of Art and Heart in Florence • Maturin Murray
... terror and the pride of the stolid, silent peasantry that lived under his rule. A fierce and fearless sportsman, his dependents delighted in boasting of the prowess of a master whose capricious cruelties they never dreamed of resenting. With Sagan, throughout life, to desire was to have, and in his pursuit of the wished-for object, he was hampered by no new-fangled sentiments of honour, truth, or loyalty. Like other savages he quickly tired of his ...
— A Modern Mercenary • Kate Prichard and Hesketh Vernon Hesketh-Prichard
... that deep down in the hearts of the majority of the human race there exists a profound attachment to the ideals of gallantry and chivalry which were nourished by the stories we loved in childhood, and by the tales of Scottish prowess, in prose and poetry, selected for the school-books in use by the ...
— Defenders of Democracy • Militia of Mercy |
