"Doubtful" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... But his face looked doubtful. He saw, and Adam Colfax saw, signs of distress in the fleet. Under the persistent and terrible fire of the warriors the two lines of boats were beginning to sag apart. There were some collisions, and, although no boat had yet ...
— The Riflemen of the Ohio - A Story of the Early Days along "The Beautiful River" • Joseph A. Altsheler
... a little disconcerted, and it struck her that, though he would not say so, he was doubtful whether the Greville influence might not render Henry unmanageable; but he quickly gave it another turn. "Only you must not plague us about ...
— The Stokesley Secret • Charlotte M. Yonge
... so surely as it is just in itself, in our endeavours to convert others we convince ourselves; and, from lukewarm apologists, we become earnest advocates. This was just Mr. Whately's case: he had begun to canvass for the admission of Charlie with a doubtful sense of its propriety, and in attempting to overcome the groundless prejudices of others, he was convicted of ...
— The Garies and Their Friends • Frank J. Webb
... had been on the lookout for witches' brooms. In the swamp beyond the brook we found six, only two of which were perfect enough to use as decorations; at first we were a little doubtful of being able to fill this part of the order. There was one place, however, where we knew they could be found, and that was in the great fir swamp along Lurvey's Stream, on the way up to the hay meadows. ...
— A Busy Year at the Old Squire's • Charles Asbury Stephens
... close and exciting. Both parties were confident of victory, and were preparing vigorously to keep their adherents at fever pitch by rallies and torch-light processions. Although the result of the caucus was not doubtful, it was understood between Lyons and Selma that he would call at the house that evening to let her know that he had been successful. She was waiting to receive him in the library. Mr. Parsons had gone to bed. ...
— Unleavened Bread • Robert Grant
... am not quite certain," answered Don Quixote, "and the matter being doubtful, pending better information, I say thou mayest change them, if so be thou hast urgent ...
— Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 7 • Charles H. Sylvester
... Achoreus) that in these Eastern Kingdoms Women are not exempted from the Sceptre, But claim a priviledge, equal to the Male; But how much such divisions have ta'en from The Majesty of Egypt, and what factions Have sprung from those partitions, to the ruine Of the poor Subject, (doubtful which to follow,) We have too many, and too sad examples, Therefore the wise Photinus, to prevent The Murthers, and the Massacres, that attend On disunited Government, and to shew The King without a Partner, in ...
— The False One • Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher
... never tell a story twice over in the same way," persisted Clemence with doubtful flattery. "And Mr Leslie has never heard it. I'm sure he'd be interested. It really was an adventure. So romantic, too. Ralph Percival is ...
— A College Girl • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey
... the clergyman gave answer: 1. That as to the signification of dreams, & the objections against them, as being dark and doubtful, they are expressed generally by hierogliphical representations, similies, allusions, and figurative emblematic ways, by which means, for want of interpretation, the thing was not understood, and, consequently, the evil not shunned. 2. That we charge God foolishly, to say, that he has given ...
— The Life and Most Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of - York, Mariner (1801) • Daniel Defoe
... referred to is a proverb which, although somewhat personal, is too good to omit. It is doubtful how it took its origin, whether as a satire against the decanal order in general, or against some obnoxious dean in particular. These are the terms of it: The deil an' the dean begin wi' ae letter. When the deil has the dean the kirk will ...
— Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character • Edward Bannerman Ramsay
... of Hereford, like that of the majority of cathedral churches, is veiled in the obscurity of doubtful speculation and shadowy tradition. Although the see had existed from the sixth century, it is not till much later that we have any information concerning ...
— Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Hereford, A Description - Of Its Fabric And A Brief History Of The Episcopal See • A. Hugh Fisher
... the other political disturbances while at Tebris, Tiflis, and other places. No news had astonished me so much in my whole life as that from Vienna. My comfortable, peace-loving Austrians, and an overthrow of the government! I thought the statement so doubtful, that I could not give full credit to the verbal information of the Resident at Baghdad; he was obliged to show it to me in black and white in the newspaper to convince me. The affair of March so delighted and inspirited me that I felt proud of being an Austrian. The later ...
— A Woman's Journey Round the World • Ida Pfeiffer
... off, not for the worth of the old iron, but to balk the enemy of a trophy. My political life is ended, and I am the survivor of myself, or rather the troubled ghost of a politician, that am condemned to haunt the field of battle where I fell. Whether the government will long outlive me is doubtful. I know it is sick, and, many of the physicians say, of a mortal disease. A crisis now exists, the most serious I ever witnessed, and the more dangerous because it is not dreaded. Yet, I confess, if we should navigate the federal ship through ...
— Washington and the American Republic, Vol. 3. • Benson J. Lossing
... joyfully; for he had often wished that Dan belonged to him, as he would then be able to prevent any interference with him by the overseer or anyone else, and could, if he liked, give him his freedom—although this would, he knew, be of very doubtful advantage to the lad as long as ...
— With Lee in Virginia - A Story of the American Civil War • G. A. Henty
... the Loire, had lately become the kingdom of France, and its sovereign, Hugh Capet, had succeeded to feudal rights of lordship over the great dukes and counts whose territories surrounded him on every side; and now Hugh's son, Robert the Debonair, better hymn-writer than warrior, was waging a doubtful struggle with these unruly vassals. It was not yet in any wise apparent what the kingdoms of England and France were going to be. In Germany the youthful Otto III., the "wonder of the world," had just made his weird visit to ...
— The Discovery of America Vol. 1 (of 2) - with some account of Ancient America and the Spanish Conquest • John Fiske
... was listening, sir," said the offender. "It was only one of those deep notes I was doubtful about." ...
— The Queen's Scarlet - The Adventures and Misadventures of Sir Richard Frayne • George Manville Fenn
... not preserved inviolate its traditional doctrines as to state's rights and other issues, and has for the time adopted new doctrines of possibly doubtful economic truth and wisdom. Southern men, adhering to the party and the name, find themselves, through the influence of tradition and the fear of a restoration of conditions which are now impossible, supporting a platform and candidate whose political ...
— The South and the National Government • William Howard Taft
... of the small news of my neighborhood, your charity would induce you to write frequently. Your letters lodged in the post-office at Richmond (to be forwarded to New York) come with certainty. We are doubtful yet, whether there will be war or not. Present me with warm affection to Mrs. Gilmer, and be assured yourself of the unvarying sentiments of esteem and attachment, with which I am, Dear Doctor, ...
— Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson - Volume I • Thomas Jefferson
... hours continuously below the water, but the long continued monotony of such a length of time below would be almost certain to drive the officers and crew to a high pitch of nervous tension. Indeed, it is doubtful whether men of ordinary nervous powers could ...
— The Submarine Boys on Duty - Life of a Diving Torpedo Boat • Victor G. Durham
... Some men mix in doubtful company, and say that they have no Pharisaic exclusiveness, and even sometimes defend themselves by Christ's example, who received sinners and ate with them. The comparison borders on blasphemy. It depends on the purpose, ...
— Friendship • Hugh Black
... respective lords. Sometimes an old beggar might be observed hunting on the well-stocked preserves of his own body the lively vermin of the South. Sometimes a restless child crawled from a doorstep to paddle in the stagnant waters of a kennel; but, with the exception of these doubtful evidences of human industry, the prevailing characteristic of the few groups of the lowest orders of the people which appeared in the streets was the most listless and utter indolence. All that gave splendour to the city at other hours of the day was at this period hidden from the eye. ...
— Antonina • Wilkie Collins
... be on guard against the other two. In the first place the boy creature did not come into the garden on his legs. He was pushed in on a thing with wheels and the skins of wild animals were thrown over him. That in itself was doubtful. Then when he began to stand up and move about he did it in a queer unaccustomed way and the others seemed to have to help him. The robin used to secrete himself in a bush and watch this anxiously, his head tilted first on one side and then on the other. He thought that the slow ...
— The Secret Garden • Frances Hodgson Burnett
... place for game," said Willet. "While the stag has scented us and gone, there must be more deer in the woods. Maybe they're full of 'em, since this is doubtful ground and warriors and white men too ...
— The Hunters of the Hills • Joseph Altsheler
... that the investigation of the mysteries of nature had in it something sinister and diabolical which had been latent throughout the Middle Ages, was brought into especial prominence by the new religious movements. The popular feeling that the line between natural magic and the black art was somewhat doubtful, that the one had a tendency to shade off into the other, now received fresh stimulus. The notion of compacts with the devil was a familiar one, and that they should be resorted to for the purpose of acquiring an acquaintance with hidden ...
— German Culture Past and Present • Ernest Belfort Bax
... shadow projected upon the smoky vapour. It was the figure of a slight tall man, with his arm extended, as if pointing to a remote object, which no mortal eye certainly could discern through the mist. Sir Bale gazed at this figure, doubtful whether he were in a waking dream, unable to conjecture whence it had come; and as he looked, it moved, and was almost ...
— J. S. Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales, Volume 3 • Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
... Mr Halifax," repeated the old baronet, louder, and more emphatically. "A gentleman,"—he paused, as if doubtful whether in that title he were awarding a right or bestowing a courtesy, looked at John, and decided—"a gentleman for whom, ever since I have known him, I ...
— John Halifax, Gentleman • Dinah Maria Mulock Craik
... ambitions for her were not those of a business career, she was in terror lest her friend should scent a romance, and for this reason she had never spoken of the symptoms Ditmar had betrayed. She attempted to convey to Eda the doubtful taste of staring point-blank at the house of one's employer, especially when he might be concealed ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill
... working at a hedge or digging the ground, and looking as innocent and stupid as possible. They never saw anybody, and never heard any firing—or they thought it was the Colonel shooting a hare. We hardly know what to do in doubtful cases, as we know the tenants have the support of the Government, and it is as much as our places are worth to make any mistake under present circumstances. The tenants know that too, so between them and Morley we ...
— Ireland as It Is - And as It Would be Under Home Rule • Robert John Buckley (AKA R.J.B.)
... scales in air, Weighs the men's wits against the lady's hair; The doubtful beam long nods from side to side; At length the wits ...
— The Poetical Works Of Alexander Pope, Vol. 1 • Alexander Pope et al
... It was doubtful, even, whether they would come home in September. Madame Heger made a proposal to her two English pupils for them to stay on, without paying, but without salary, for half a year. She would dismiss her English teacher, whose place Charlotte ...
— Emily Bront • A. Mary F. (Agnes Mary Frances) Robinson
... would be much taken up; and in this way, also, the poor might, through temptation, be kept from offering their pence, a privilege of which they ought not to be deprived; and some also might in this way give more than if it were not known who was the giver, so that it would still be doubtful whether the gift were given grudgingly or cheerfully. For these reasons especially, there was a box put up in the chapel, over which was written that whoever had a desire to do something towards my support might put his offering ...
— The Life of Trust: Being a Narrative of the Lord's Dealings With George Mueller • George Mueller
... of Sirach prefigures the Messiah as a Prophet and a Doctor. As to the figure next to him, it may equally well be Judith or Esther: her identity is doubtful; there is nothing that can help ...
— The Cathedral • Joris-Karl Huysmans
... hand, it must be admitted, that the revolution, has had the effect of completely removing from the French character that silly veneration for high rank, unaccompanied by any commanding qualities of mind, which used to form a predominant feature in it. Yet it seems doubtful whether the equivalent they have obtained is more likely to promote their happiness. They have now an equally infatuated admiration for ability and success, without integrity or virtue. Their minds have been delivered from the ...
— Travels in France during the years 1814-1815 • Archibald Alison
... an immortal life of Humanity in which we live and move and have our being. His voice rose and fell, and the recording appliances hummed their hurried applause, dim attendants watched him out of the shadow. Through all those doubtful places his sense of that silent spectator beside him sustained his sincerity. For a few glorious moments he was carried away; he felt no doubt of his heroic quality, no doubt of his heroic words, he had it all straight and plain. His eloquence limped no longer. ...
— When the Sleeper Wakes • Herbert George Wells
... the statute of limitations should be applied to such cases. If the world, and the colleges of theology, have dealt lightly with Samson and David and Abraham and Jacob and the rest of them for some thousands of years, why should George Holland rake up things against them, and that, too, on very doubtful evidence? But I should be the last person in the world to complain of the course which he has seen fit to adopt, since it has left you with me a little longer, my dearest child. I did not, of course, ...
— Phyllis of Philistia • Frank Frankfort Moore
... eager and anxious for the fray, I did not see how I was to participate in it. I was not a novelist, not yet a dramatic author, and the possibility of a naturalistic poet seemed to me not a little doubtful. I had clearly understood that the lyrical quality was to be for ever banished; there were to be no harps and lutes in our heaven, only drums; and the preservation of all the essentials of poetry, by the simple enumeration ...
— Confessions of a Young Man • George Moore
... my system I shall not amuse the Reader with doubtful and solitary extracts; but collect all that can be obtained upon the subject, and shew the universal scope of writers. I shall endeavour particularly to compare sacred history with profane, and prove the general assent ...
— A New System; or, an Analysis of Antient Mythology. Volume I. • Jacob Bryant
... of the Blame of it to its self, & to shift it off each cast the whole upon the others. The Truth is there were so many of the Merchants under the Court Influence in all of them as that they were able to defeat the plan, & for that Reason I was doubtful from the beginning of the Success of it. The Agents of the Ministry have since been trying to perswade the people to believe that they are sick of their measures & would be glad to recede, but cannot consistent with their own honor while the Colonies are clamoring against them - they would therefore ...
— The Writings of Samuel Adams, volume II (1770 - 1773) - collected and edited by Harry Alonso Cushing • Samuel Adams
... of his mother's life, and would distress her gravely, besides possibly occasioning further police intervention. Tolstoy promptly consented, and the play remained, as it now appears, in an unfinished condition. He had already felt doubtful whether "it was a thing God would approve," Art for Art's sake having in his eyes no right to existence. For this reason a didactic tendency is increasingly evident in these later stories. "After the Ball" gives a painful picture of Russian military cruelty; "The Forged Coupon" traces the cancerous ...
— The Forged Coupon and Other Stories • Leo Tolstoy
... vision of Miss BETTY FAIRE as Fanny Elssler made me want to see much more of her; but Mr. Louis PARKER had been Napoleonically ruthless with the text. His translation sounded well, though the delivery of it sometimes left me doubtful as to what was prose and what was verse. As for his production of the play, it showed the old skill ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 156, June 18, 1919 • Various
... That where there's love and truth there's heaven. Debtor to few, forgotten hours Am I, that truths for me are powers. Ah, happy hours, 'tis something yet Not to forget that I forget! And now a cloud, bright, huge and calm, Rose, doubtful if for bale or balm; O'ertoppling towers and bulwarks bright Appear'd, at beck of viewless might. Along a rifted mountain range. Untraceable and swift in change, Those glittering peaks, disrupted, spread To solemn bulks, ...
— The Victories of Love - and Other Poems • Coventry Patmore
... forces, and Montesquieu was soon the object of repeated and envenomed attacks. It was said, that to establish certain favourite theories, he availed himself of the testimony of travellers obscure and of doubtful credit; that he leapt too rapidly from particulars to general conclusions; that he ascribed to the influence of climate and physical laws what was in fact the result of moral or political causes; that he had split the same subject into small chapters, so ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, Number 360, October 1845 • Various
... inhabitants made history in a different way. Brayley's History of Surrey was printed throughout in Dorking, and Ede, the printer, is said to have spent over L10,000 in the printing. What he made out of it is doubtful; he had made the L10,000 by his three businesses as ...
— Highways and Byways in Surrey • Eric Parker
... of; on the lookout for, interrogative, zetetic[obs3]; all searching. undetermined, untried, undecided; in question, in dispute, in issue, in course of inquiry; under discussion, under consideration, under investigation &c. n.; sub judice[Lat], moot, proposed; doubtful &c. (uncertain) 475. Adv. what? why? wherefore? whence? whither? where? quaere? how comes it[Lat], how happens it, how is it? what is the reason? what's the matter, what's in the wind? what on ...
— Roget's Thesaurus
... leave him a little, though he never left us, nor solicited us to go with him; we had something else before us at first, for we had all this while our ship and our merchandise to dispose of, and we began to be very doubtful what we should do, for we were now in a place of very little business. Once I was about to venture to sail for the river of Kilam, and the city of Nankin; but Providence seemed now more visibly, as I thought, than ever to concern itself in our affairs; and I was encouraged, from this very time, ...
— The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe • Daniel Defoe
... and speculation almost ceased in the republic. A man honoured as the possessor of great voting power could not afford to risk the loss of it upon a doubtful chance. ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain
... A doubtful advantage this, but one with far-reaching consequences, for when Margaret was twelve years of age, Charles conquered Rome and the child's connection with Italy and the Villa Madama ...
— Romance of Roman Villas - (The Renaissance) • Elizabeth W. (Elizbeth Williams) Champney
... tasks of might To weakness, neither hide the ray From those, not blind, who wait for day, Tho' sitting girt with doubtful light. ...
— Successful Recitations • Various
... this be hypocrisy, I prefer the company of hypocrites. In their houses it was the same; disgusting pictures, masquerading in the guise of art, adorned the walls, evidences of corrupt taste and doubtful practices in every drawer and cupboard. Even the Commandant of Bukoba, von Stuemer, and his name did not belie his nature, though, before the war, quite popular with the British officials and planters of Uganda, had a queer taste in photography. ...
— Sketches of the East Africa Campaign • Robert Valentine Dolbey
... much unstrung. He was much calmer, however, than when he had hysterically accused Luck of betraying him into putting the money out to be stolen. He admitted now that he was not at all sure of the voice which talked with him over the phone; indeed, now when he heard luck speak, he felt extremely doubtful of the similarity of that other voice. He protested against being blamed for being too confiding. He had never dreamed, he said, that anyone could be so bold as to plan a thing like that. It all sounded straight, ...
— The Heritage of the Sioux • B.M. Bower
... Jastrzembiec had returned from Rome, where he had been sent to Pope Bonifacius IX. with the king's invitation to the christening at Krakow. Bonifacius accepted the invitation; and although it was doubtful whether he would be able to come personally, he authorized the envoy to stand godfather for the coming child in his name; and he asked that the name Bonifacius or Bonifacia be given to the child as a proof of his particular love for the king and ...
— The Knights of the Cross • Henryk Sienkiewicz
... trickster's life by a survey of the border-land between truth and fiction, not by any means a piece of sophistry or cynicism, but a perfectly fair statement of an ethical difficulty which does exist. There are some people who think that it must be immoral to admit that there are any doubtful cases of morality, as if a man should refrain from discussing the precise boundary at the upper end of the Isthmus of Panama, for fear the inquiry should shake his belief in the existence of North America. People of this kind quite consistently think Sludge to be merely a scoundrel talking ...
— Robert Browning • G. K. Chesterton
... on his pulpit, looking down at the stranger. It was the man who had come to his house the Friday before, the same dusty, worn, shabby-looking young man. He held his faded hat in his two hands. It seemed to be a favorite gesture. He had not been shaved and his hair was rough and tangled. It is doubtful if any one like this had ever confronted the First Church within the sanctuary. It was tolerably familiar with this sort of humanity out on the street, around the railroad shops, wandering up and down the avenue, but ...
— In His Steps • Charles M. Sheldon
... stare up at the mosquito-infested river of his nightmare. He grew restless and shy, as though he were engaged with secret business of his own of which Stonehouse knew nothing, and of which he could say nothing. Yet Stonehouse had caught his eyes fixed on him with the doubtful, rather wistful earnestness of a child trying to make up its mind to confide. (There was still something pathetically young about Rufus Cosgrave. Now that his body was growing stronger, youth peered out of his wan face like a famished ...
— The Dark House • I. A. R. Wylie
... earth a long road to travel before it tumbles into dissolution, and seers and prophets of various kinds foretell an equally long cycle of development for human nature, as we now know it. The fate of all our present political combinations is doubtful, and no nation has received absolute guarantees for its future. An All-Europe State with its capital at London, a Federation of the World with its capital at Dublin, a Chinese Empire with its capital at Paris—these are all possibilities. Australia ...
— The Open Secret of Ireland • T. M. Kettle
... dost love me. Though the word repeated Should seem a "cuckoo-song," as thou dost treat it, Remember, never to the hill or plain, Valley and wood, without her cuckoo-strain Comes the fresh Spring in all her green completed. Beloved, I, amid the darkness greeted By a doubtful spirit-voice, in that doubt's pain Cry, "Speak once more—thou lovest!" Who can fear Too many stars, though each in heaven shall roll, Too many flowers, though each shall crown the year? Say thou dost love me, love me, love me—toll The silver iterance!—only minding, Dear, ...
— Sonnets from the Portuguese • Browning, Elizabeth Barrett
... doubtful indeed if American industry presents any figure quite as astonishing and variegated as that of John W. Gates, the man who educated farmers all over the world to the use of wire fencing. Half charlatan, half enthusiast, speculator, gambler, a man who created great enterprises and ...
— The Age of Big Business - Volume 39 in The Chronicles of America Series • Burton J. Hendrick
... you're always saying I must not get excited. Now, how is it possible to keep calm? I do not see my own sister for two months, and am careful about any doubtful visitor—and here are people from Koursk, straight from Koursk, where there is an epidemic of diphtheria, right ...
— Redemption and Two Other Plays • Leo Tolstoy et al
... perceive that a re-issue of Mr. Knight's Shakspeare has commenced, and from the terms of the announcement, independently of other considerations, I conclude that the editor will take advantage of this opportunity of referring to doubtful or disputed points that may have made any advance towards a solution since his previous editions. I have read also an advertisement of an edition of Shakspeare, to be superintended by Mr. Halliwell[1], which is to contain the ...
— Notes & Queries, No. 53. Saturday, November 2, 1850 • Various
... found that most of the inhabitants in the neighbourhood had moved off; carrying with them a corpse which lay on a toopapaoo, opposite the ship; and that Maheine himself had retired to the most distant part of the island. It seemed now no longer doubtful, that a plan had been laid to steal what I had refused to give; and that, though they had restored one, they were resolved to keep the other, which was a she-goat, and big with kid. I was equally ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16 • Robert Kerr
... doubtful whether a more entertaining lot of boys ever before appeared in a story than the "Big Five," who figure in the pages of this volume—Rod Bradley; "Hanky Panky" Jucklin; Josh Whitcomb; Elmer Overton; and ...
— The Boy Chums in the Forest - or Hunting for Plume Birds in the Florida Everglades • Wilmer M. Ely
... It was doubtful if the observers were particularly concerned with justice; what they desired was action, swift and drastic. A general resentment at being balked of their amusement was manifest in murmurs of "Go ahead, do it." "What's the matter with you?" "Don't be dumb—do it for nothing—youll ...
— Greener Than You Think • Ward Moore
... of the audacious enterprise no longer appeared doubtful. Still one reflection occupied Barbicane; but not wishing to make his two companions uneasy, he kept silence ...
— The Moon-Voyage • Jules Verne
... favourite remedy is a Place-bill. The same principle guides in both: I mean the opinion which is entertained by many of the infallibility of laws and regulations, in the cure of public distempers. Without being as unreasonably doubtful as many are unwisely confident, I will only say, that this also is a matter very well worthy of serious and mature reflection. It is not easy to foresee what the effect would be of disconnecting with Parliament, the greatest part of those who hold civil employments, and of such mighty and ...
— Thoughts on the Present Discontents - and Speeches • Edmund Burke
... were probably snarled up like barbed wire for the want of it. He'd shaved and pressed a shirt instead so he'd look decent enough to rate a shot of gin she'd offer him as a reward. It wasn't such a doubtful gamble at that, because Doc has a way with him when he bothers to use it; maybe that's why he bums around with me after the commercial fishing and migratory crop work, because he's used that charm too often in the ...
— To Remember Charlie By • Roger Dee
... private individuals not acting under color of public authority. Rulings on both these issues were made very early; and the Court thus far has manifested no disposition to depart from them, although their compatibility with more recent holdings may be doubtful. Thus, when the Enforcement Act of 1870,[15] which penalized State officers for refusing to receive the vote of any qualified citizen, was employed to support a prosecution of such officers for having prevented a qualified Negro from voting, ...
— The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation • Edward Corwin
... him that I thought this would be about the last battle of the war—I sincerely hoped so; and I said further I took it that most of the men in the ranks were small farmers. The whole country had been so raided by the two armies that it was doubtful whether they would be able to put in a crop to carry themselves and their families through the next winter without the aid of the horses they were then riding. The United States did not want them and I would, therefore, instruct the officers I left behind to receive the ...
— Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete • Ulysses S. Grant
... distinguished men bravely facing the utmost straits and matching in their end the famous deaths of older times. Besides these manifold disasters to mankind there were portents in the sky and on the earth, thunderbolts and other premonitions of good and of evil, some doubtful, some obvious. Indeed never has it been proved by such terrible disasters to Rome or by such clear evidence that Providence is concerned not with our peace of mind but rather with vengeance ...
— Tacitus: The Histories, Volumes I and II • Caius Cornelius Tacitus
... proposal, and to some schemes by which these difficulties might be overcome. When it was suggested that the lectures should be brought before the public at large by being issued in book form I hesitated, because I was doubtful whether the academic method natural to a University lecture would be suitable to a wider public. After consideration, however, I came to the conclusion that their publication might be useful, because ...
— The League of Nations and its Problems - Three Lectures • Lassa Oppenheim
... excuse for calling him into her room just as she was ready to go to a ball, so that he should see her in her ball dress. It was with disgust that he remembered her fine shoulders and arms. "And that father of hers, with his doubtful past and his cruelties, and the bel-esprit her mother, with her doubtful reputation." All this disgusted him, and also made him feel ashamed. "Shameful ...
— Resurrection • Count Leo Tolstoy
... after a time made their re-appearance in travelling dresses. Then there were tears and "doubtful joys," and blessings, and farewells, and the departure of the two carriages-and-four (under a brisk fire of old shoes) to the nearest railway station, from whence the happy couples set out, the one for Paris, the other for the Cumberland Lakes; and it was amid those romantic ...
— The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green • Cuthbert Bede
... supremacy very lately admitted by all the eastern mountain chiefs to the Rajas of Yumila, is a strong presumption in favour of this opinion. Many chiefs, and especially the Palpa Tanahung and Makwanpur families, pretend to be descended of the Chitaur princes; but it is very doubtful whether they have any claim to a descent so illustrious, for the Mahanta said, that, after some generations, all the hill chiefs rebelled, and paid only a nominal obedience to the Raja of Yumila, nor does Samar Bahadur, uncle of the Palpa Raja, claim kindred ...
— An Account of The Kingdom of Nepal • Fancis Buchanan Hamilton
... or embryonic forms. It is impossible, for instance, to mistake an oak for an elephant; but at the bottom of the vegetable series, and at the bottom of the animal series, there are organisms of so doubtful a character that it is equally impossible to distinguish them. So formidable, indeed, has been this difficulty that Haeckel has had to propose an intermediate regnum protisticum to contain those forms the rudimentary ...
— Natural Law in the Spiritual World • Henry Drummond
... be done; and now, if any gentleman has any other proposition to make, of course we shall be pleased to hear him." Dr Tempest, as he said this, looked round upon his companions, as though his pleasure, under the circumstances suggested by himself, would be very doubtful. ...
— The Last Chronicle of Barset • Anthony Trollope
... innocent question funny, he thought it horrible. He found Saint Basil's writings unsatisfactory, as lacking "evangelical truth"; and, could he have heard this great doctor of the Church fling back a witticism in the court of an angry magistrate, he would probably have felt more doubtful than ever concerning the status of the early Fathers. It is a relief to turn from the letters of Martyn, with their aloofness from the cheerful currents of earth, to the letters of Bishop Heber, ...
— Americans and Others • Agnes Repplier
... water-bucket corner to ask her for the dance. That was not the worst. On the fourth round of Lance and Jennie, and just as the gawky one was bowing stiffly before her, Lance looked at her over Jennie Miller's shoulder, and smiled that tantalizing, Lorrigan smile that always left her uneasily doubtful of its meaning. ...
— Rim o' the World • B. M. Bower
... it seemed doubtful. Did the good God kill the pretty little children as the butcher in a city killed his lambs? But he never contradicted or vexed his mother; he loved her with a great and tender affection. He was less ignorant than she was, and saw many things she could not see; he was, as it were, ...
— The Waters of Edera • Louise de la Rame, a.k.a. Ouida
... stimulants of any kind is a fruitful cause of the vice. Tea and coffee have led thousands to perdition in this way. The influence of tobacco is so strongly shown in this direction that it is doubtful if there can be found a boy who has attained the age of puberty and has acquired the habit of using tobacco, who is not also addicted to this vile practice. Candies, spices, cinnamon, cloves, peppermint, and all strong essences, powerfully excite the genital organs ...
— Plain Facts for Old and Young • John Harvey Kellogg
... Thee I can disguise and thy man Humphrey I can disguise, but what disguise availeth for thy dog? To take Fleetfoot is to endanger thy life unnecessarily. Shouldst thou take him, even if thou didst win safely through, which is a very doubtful thing, thou wouldst find him but an unwelcome encumbrance to Lord De Aldithely. Leave the dog, therefore, with me, and ...
— A Boy's Ride • Gulielma Zollinger
... ruffianism there are several points of contact between the two men. Berlioz made the roaring goldsmith the hero of an opera, and it is not doubtful that he was in complete sympathy with his subject. In the Frenchman there is a full measure of the waywardness of temper, the impatience of authority, the resolute and daring humour, the passion of worship for what is great in art ...
— Views and Reviews - Essays in appreciation • William Ernest Henley
... once had found itself unable to sustain their efforts, and after leading up to half-time went clean to pieces in the last ten minutes. It is pretty hard to hold a "grovel" several stones heavier for over an hour, and this year even Armour was a little doubtful about the lightness of his side. To Gordon and Jeffries, of course, defeat seemed impossible. Last year Jeffries had played in a winning side and Gordon had yet to see the House lose a match. But Mansell smiled sadly; he had played ...
— The Loom of Youth • Alec Waugh
... for I know you approved the principle upon which I killed Julius Caesar. Nor had you anything to fear if our arms had succeeded, for you know that my intentions were upright and pure; nor was it doubtful that Cassius was as much determined as I to restore the Republic. How could you, then, with any sense of virtue in your heart, maintain an indifference and neutrality between the deliverers and the tyrants of ...
— Dialogues of the Dead • Lord Lyttelton
... cercopitheques, Brehm is affirmative in saying that they "nearly always live in bands, and very seldom in families" (French edition, p. 59). As to other species, the very numbers of their bands, always containing many males, render the "polygamous family" more than doubtful ...
— Mutual Aid • P. Kropotkin
... to the Meeting-house was bound In hopes [110] some tidings there to gather: No glimpse it is, no doubtful gleam; She saw—and uttered with a scream, "My father! ...
— The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Vol. II. • William Wordsworth
... was surprised, on the present occasion, to find her judgment so slow. People who pride themselves on being critical are often annoyed when they find themselves uncertain of their own opinion. As for his accomplishments, they were doubtful, to say the least. Miss Thorn was not used to considering American men as manly. She had read a great many books which made game of them, and showed how unused they were to all those good things which ...
— An American Politician • F. Marion Crawford
... involves many doubtful presuppositions, but if we were to grant to Lipps those, the following consideration would invalidate his account. Whether the feeling of innervation which he speaks of as being the underestimated factor is supposed to be a true innervation-feeling in the ...
— Harvard Psychological Studies, Volume 1 • Various
... the manner in which it is worn. A majestic form and graceful motions will express themselves through the most barbarous and tasteless costume. Few poets of the highest class have chosen to exhibit the beauty of their conceptions in its naked truth and splendour; and it is doubtful whether the alloy of costume, habit, &c., be not necessary to temper this planetary ...
— English literary criticism • Various
... is interesting enough," was the doctor's reply. "When a Samurai, one of the warrior caste Japanese, was invited to the house of a doubtful friend, he carried this fan as a weapon of defence. Compelled to leave his two swords behind a screen, he could close this fighting machine and parry the attack of his hospitable enemy until he reached ...
— Visionaries • James Huneker
... all I understand about it." The round, dull face of the boy expressed clear determination, and he looked his young master full in the eyes as he spoke. "Perhaps you've made up your mind to go wrong!" he added, with a doubtful look at his companion. ...
— Little Tora, The Swedish Schoolmistress and Other Stories • Mrs. Woods Baker
... goal Through want of guidance. Thrown, as it should seem, Forth from his seat, he hath his chariot maim'd, 585 And his ungovern'd steeds have roam'd away. Arise and look ye forth yourselves, for I With doubtful ken behold him; yet the man Seems, in my view, AEtolian by descent, A Chief of prime renown in Argos' host, 590 The hero Tydeus' son, brave Diomede, But Ajax Oiliades the swift Him sharp reproved. Why art thou always given To prate, Idomeneus? thou seest the mares, Remote indeed, but posting ...
— The Iliad of Homer - Translated into English Blank Verse • Homer
... first to ford the brook, then make a trip of two miles or more through the forest. We took a lunch of bread and cheese, and a dipper along with us, as it was doubtful whether we should return till late in the day. The forest on the intervale between the stream and the mountain was mainly of spruce, basswood, yellow birch and a few firs. The balsam blisters on the ...
— When Life Was Young - At the Old Farm in Maine • C. A. Stephens
... covering of night mist, and the morning rose prophetically. Lasse stood still in the doorway, yawning, and making up his mind about the weather for the day; but Pelle let the soft tones of the wind and the song of the lark—all that was stirring—beat upon his little heart. With open mouth and doubtful eyes he gazed into the incomprehensible as represented by each new day with all its unimagined possibilities. "To-day you must take your coat with you, for we shall have rain about midday," Lasse would then say; and Pelle ...
— Pelle the Conqueror, Complete • Martin Andersen Nexo
... suspicious, in the invitation; for it was the custom of the garde, on the arrival of any regiment at Versailles, as a commencement of mutual civility. The regiment of Flanders was a distinguished corps—but the whole army had been tampered with; and the experiment was for the first time a doubtful one. As if to make it still more doubtful, the invitation was extended to the national guard ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine—Vol. 54, No. 333, July 1843 • Various
... not long in manufacturing a Dutch pennant, which was run up to the main-royal mast-head. It was doubtful, however, whether it would be seen, or, if seen, have the effect we hoped for. The pirates, observing how light the wind was, would know that they could ...
— The Mate of the Lily - Notes from Harry Musgrave's Log Book • W. H. G. Kingston
... fatal. A slight inflammation in one of his toes, became, from neglect, a gangrene. Mr. Hobbes, an eminent surgeon, to prevent mortification, proposed to amputate the limb; but Dryden, who had no reason to be in love with life, refused the chance of prolonging it by a doubtful and painful operation.[50] After a short interval, the catastrophe expected by Mr. Hobbes took place, and, Dryden not long surviving the consequences, left life on Wednesday morning, 1st May 1700, at three o'clock. ...
— The Dramatic Works of John Dryden Vol. I. - With a Life of the Author • Sir Walter Scott
... in the making they are always justified morally, whatever the motives may have been that caused them. Without this moral sanction it is doubtful whether wars could be conducted at all, although this moral sanction may be based upon very superficial grounds. The higher patriotic feeling runs, says Veblen (97), the thinner may be the moral sanction that satisfies the public conscience. On the other hand moral sentiment may often be strong and ...
— The Psychology of Nations - A Contribution to the Philosophy of History • G.E. Partridge
... only made the graduates of the University participants in an institution concerned with the fundamentals of University life, linking students, teachers, and alumni in a common cause, but gave the graduates a home in Ann Arbor to which they could return as of right, asking no favors. It is doubtful if any large undertaking in any university has ever been more widely supported ...
— The University of Michigan • Wilfred Shaw
... her into contact with some of the highest classes. A few years afterwards she astonished her former companions by appearing with her carriage and livery servants in the character of chere amie to Mr. Fauntleroy, then a flourishing banker in London. The riches of the banker were of a doubtful character, however; some time afterward she was convicted of forgery, and paid the penalty with his life. Affected by the ruin, but not participating in the crime of Fauntleroy, she struggled bravely ...
— The International Magazine, Volume 2, No. 2, January, 1851 • Various
... employment of cruelty and lust as grounds of dramatic action, its daring use of the horrible and the unnatural whenever they enable it to display the more terrible and revolting sides of human passion, were derived from the Italian stage. It is doubtful how much the English playwrights may have owed to the Spanish drama, which under Lope and Cervantes sprang suddenly into a grandeur that almost rivalled their own. In the intermixture of tragedy and ...
— History of the English People, Volume V (of 8) - Puritan England, 1603-1660 • John Richard Green
... my instructions, unless I get orders to the contrary," said Thorne. "It is the policy of the Service throughout to clear up and settle these doubtful land cases. We must get such things decided. We can't stop because of a little ...
— The Rules of the Game • Stewart Edward White
... indeed a revenant, that is, a ghost. But Waterloo was all the more final in that it was a spectral resurrection and a second death. And in this second case there were other elements that were yet more strangely symbolic. That doubtful and double battle before Waterloo was like the dual personality in a dream. It corresponded curiously to the double mind of the Englishman. We connect Quatre Bras with things romantically English to the verge of sentimentalism, with ...
— The Crimes of England • G.K. Chesterton
... for Cap'n Bill, who was doubtful about the Magic Circle because he felt the same after it as he had before. But he said nothing of his unbelief, and soon they left the palace and started ...
— The Sea Fairies • L. Frank Baum
... well do it betimes with a good grace, for it is very doubtful if those who venture to oppose the settlement of our soldiers in the South, will not stir up such a storm of trouble as this country never saw. An army of half a million after a year or two years of battle-life, will not calmly return to its wonted avocations, notwithstanding all that has been ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2, No. 2, August, 1862 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy • Various
... we must waylay him on his return and murder him. Such is their final act of wrong, which is now accepted by all, and the proposer gets ready to carry out his plan. Hitherto it may be said the Suitors had a certain right, the right of suit, which, however, becomes doubtful through the uncertainty about the death of the husband, and through the unwillingness of the wife. But now their guilt is brought out in strong colors, there can be no question about it. They man a boat and lie in wait for their prey on a little island which the youth ...
— Homer's Odyssey - A Commentary • Denton J. Snider
... did not cause me to return. If I found the night cold, she must find it bitter. If desolation oppressed my naturally hopeful spirit, must it not be more overwhelming yet to one whose memories were sad and whose future was doubtful? And the child! What infant could live in an air like this! Edging away from the house, I called out her name, but no answer came back. The persons whom we had heard flitting in restless longing about the house a few moments before had left in rage and she, possibly, with them. Yet I could not imagine ...
— The House in the Mist • Anna Katharine Green
... Government at home arrange by treaty that this nefarious trade should be entirely put down? Surely all our victories by sea and land might warrant our stipulating for so much, in place of huggermuggering with doubtful ill—defined treaties, specifying that you Johnny Crapeau, and you Jack Spaniard, shall steal men, and deal in human flesh, in such and such a degree of latitude only, while, if you pick up one single slave a league to the northward ...
— Tom Cringle's Log • Michael Scott
... arrived, nearly a month ago. He had a nurse. Oh, yes! One had come from Bayeux. But this influenza! It was a veritable scourge. One was here to-day and gone to-morrow. However, Michael Quarrington was recovering, the saints be praised! Monsieur and madame wished to see him? The good woman looked doubtful. She would inquire. What name? Grey? But there was a ...
— The Lamp of Fate • Margaret Pedler
... men who do miracles by an unknown and doubtful virtue, which makes a decision difficult for us. It is God Himself. It is the instrument of the Passion of His only Son, who, being in many places, chooses this, and makes men come from all quarters there to receive these ...
— Pascal's Pensees • Blaise Pascal
... education in the much-lauded promissory act by which the General Court, in 1636, "agree to give four hundred pounds towards a school or college, whereof two hundred pounds shall be paid next year." The promise was not fulfilled, and the record of those years leaves it doubtful whether legislative action alone would during that or the next generation have accomplished the work, had not a graduate of Emanuel College in English Cambridge, who seems providentially enough to have dropped on these shores, ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 18, No. 107, September, 1866 • Various
... be afraid," Scott said. "I am quite sure that Eustace wouldn't wish to drive you away. He might be doubtful as to whether you would care to meet him again so soon, but if you had no objection to his coming, he wouldn't deliberately stay away on his own account. You know—I don't think you've ever realized ...
— Greatheart • Ethel M. Dell
... killed a Soldier, he might have been hangd for it, & as a traitor too, for to attack a Soldier upon his post, was declared Treason; But the Soldier shot Attucks & killed him, & he was convicted of Man Slaughter! As to Mr Car, the other deceasd person, it is doubtful with what Intent he came out. He was at Mr Fields house when the Bells rang; Mr Field & another Witness who was at the House, testify that Car went upstairs and ...
— The Writings of Samuel Adams, volume II (1770 - 1773) - collected and edited by Harry Alonso Cushing • Samuel Adams
... the workman of art. Art is long and life is short, and success is very far off. And thus, doubtful of strength to travel so far, we talk a little about the aim—the aim of art, which, like life itself, is inspiring, difficult—obscured by mists; it is not in the clear logic of a triumphant conclusion; it is not in the ...
— The Nigger Of The "Narcissus" - A Tale Of The Forecastle • Joseph Conrad
... tiresomeness), the wholesomeness, manliness, humility, and deep spiritual, possibly religious feeling of these men seem missing and not made up for by his (Wagner's) manner and eloquence, even if greater than theirs (which is very doubtful). ...
— Essays Before a Sonata • Charles Ives
... is that we are constantly learning more in regard to the influence of stock upon scions. For example, hickories on pecans seem satisfactory while the reverse is at least doubtful. Mr. Jones finds that sieboldiana is not a good stock for regia. We all find nigra apparently satisfactory as a stock for any species of Juglans. These conspicuous differences of influence of various species upon scions suggest the possibility ...
— Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Fifteenth Annual Meeting • Various
... subsided into quieter discussion. In the end Irish, discovering that Andy had for the time being forsworn the shelter of the Flying U tents, stuck by him loyally and forswore it also, and went with Andy to share the doubtful comfort of the obscure lodging house. For Irish was all or nothing, and to find the Happy Family publicly opposed—or at most neutral—to a Flying U man in a rough-riding contest like ...
— The Happy Family • Bertha Muzzy Bower
... Conkling's irritation also that Cornell remained silent. The Governor's friends expressed some surprise that the Senator did not suggest an interview. It would have been much more surprising if he had, for it is doubtful if Conkling ever suggested an interview in his life. On the other hand, Cornell, unwilling to use the machinery of his great office to force Conkling's return, did not care to approach the Senator. It was not unknown, however, that he ...
— A Political History of the State of New York, Volumes 1-3 • DeAlva Stanwood Alexander
... Unconscious cerebration, dreams, hypnotism, hysteria, inspirations of genius, the willing-game, planchette, crystal-gazing, hallucinatory voices, apparitions of the dying, medium-trances, demoniacal possession, clairvoyance, thought-transference, even ghosts and other facts more doubtful; these things form a chaos at first sight most discouraging. No wonder that scientists can think of no other principle of unity among them than their common appeal to men's perverse propensity to superstition. Yet Myers has actually made a system of them, ...
— Memories and Studies • William James
... the family, full of the small curiosity of people of their class, were intent upon listening for voices outside. The demeanour of Mr. Spencer Fitzgerald, therefore, escaped their notice. It is doubtful, in any case, whether their perceptions would have been sufficiently keen to have enabled them to trace the workings of emotion in the countenance of a person so magnificently endowed by Providence with the art of subterfuge. Mr. Spencer Fitzgerald seemed simply to have stiffened ...
— Peter Ruff and the Double Four • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... brawny hand of rather doubtful purity. The millionaire touched the broad palm with the tips of his ...
— Henry Dunbar - A Novel • M. E. Braddon
... loss, thy country ill could bear! A loss these evil days can ne'er repair! Justice, the high vicegerent of her God, Her doubtful balance eyed, and sway'd her rod: Hearing the tidings of the fatal blow, She sank, abandon'd to the ...
— Poems And Songs Of Robert Burns • Robert Burns
... these islands; twenty-six were similar to the pebbles of porphyry found on the Patagonian plains, which rocks do not exist in situ in the Falklands; one pebble belonged to the peculiar yellow siliceous porphyry; thirty were of doubtful origin.) The distribution of the pebbles of this peculiar porphyry, which I venture to affirm is not found in situ either in Fuegia, the Falkland Islands, or on the coast of Patagonia, is very remarkable, for they are found over a space of 840 ...
— South American Geology - also: - Title: Geological Observations On South America • Charles Darwin
... aroma of the hot tea, and the laughter and talk of the household. On the settle in the cosy chimney corner sat Ebben Owens himself, the head of the family and the centre of interest to every member of it. He possessed that doubtful advantage, the power of attracting to himself the affection and friendship of everyone who came in contact with him; his children idolised him, and Morva was no whit behind them in her affection for him. In spite of ...
— Garthowen - A Story of a Welsh Homestead • Allen Raine
... to do with it," said Clay, quickly. "Time is made for ordinary people. When people who amount to anything meet they don't have to waste months in finding each other out. It is only the doubtful ones who have to be tested again and again. When I was a kid in the diamond mines in Kimberley, I have seen the experts pick out a perfect diamond from the heap at the first glance, and without a moment's hesitation. It was the cheap stones they ...
— Soldiers of Fortune • Richard Harding Davis
... a limitless supply of skilled and able workmen, workmen far above the average European in industrial efficiency. The news of the German World Surprise simply quickened their efforts. At the time of the bombardment of New York it is doubtful if the Germans had three hundred airships all together in the world; the score of Asiatic fleets flying east and west and south must have numbered several thousand. Moreover the Asiatics had a real fighting flying-machine, ...
— The War in the Air • Herbert George Wells
... smooth-faced young man, whose symmetrically arranged hair gave him the air of a large and neat schoolboy, met the Assistant Commissioner's request with a doubtful look, ...
— The Secret Agent - A Simple Tale • Joseph Conrad
... And in thy wondrous wisdom trace Fierce Ravan to his dwelling-place. And when by toil and search we know Where Sita lies and where the foe, With thee, dear friend, will I devise Fit means to end the enterprise. Not mine, not Lakshman's is the power To guide us in the doubtful hour. Thou, sovereign of the Vanars, thou Must be our hope ...
— The Ramayana • VALMIKI
... The Fool smiled a doubtful smile. He was not quite clear whether it was a compliment or not, to express it so plainly. "You mean a Jester? Yes, that's what I intended. And what do you think your disguise is to be?" And he proceeded to unfold the parcel, the lady watching ...
— Sylvie and Bruno • Lewis Carroll
... Argal's[432] towne or Paspaheigh; to Captaine Powell in respect of his paines in clearing the grounde and building the houses, for w^{ch} Captaine[433] Argal ought to have given him satisfaction. Nowe,[434] the general assembly being doubtful whether they have any power and authority to dischardge the said bondes, doe by these presents[435] (at the Instance of the said Inhabitants[436] of Paspaheighs, alias Martin's hundred people) become most humble sutours ...
— Colonial Records of Virginia • Various
... books known to all boys; books that are good and wholesome, with enough "ginger" in them to suit the tastes of the younger generation. The Alger books are not filled with "blood and thunder" stories of a doubtful character, but are healthy and elevating, and parents should see to it that their children become acquainted with the writings of this celebrated writer of boys' books. We publish ...
— How It All Came Round • L. T. Meade
... a bundle of others together, and to try and break them by one effort. In the uniting of individuals in a party there is strength, but there must also be complete unity. If the old man had bidden his sons bind their staves in several bundles instead of in one, the result would have been doubtful. That is what party spirit makes men do. Party spirit is a universal solvent; it is the great acid, the aqua fortis of political alchemy, which eats through bands of steel and corrodes pillars of iron in its acrid virulence, ...
— An American Politician • F. Marion Crawford
... thought of Vanslyperken, and that one was Smallbones, who watched the kicking and plunging of his natural enemy, Snarleyyow. Gradually, the dog relaxed his exertions, and Smallbones watched, somewhat doubtful, whether a dog who had defied every other kind of death would condescend to be hanged. At last Snarleyyow was quite still. He appeared nearly to have gone to—"Where the wicked cease from troubling, and the ...
— Snarley-yow - or The Dog Fiend • Frederick Marryat
... were for throwing themselves into the forts, where there was plenty of provision; and, when once there, they speedily began to turn out such of the garrison as were disagreeable to them, or had an inconvenient appetite, or were of a doubtful fidelity. These poor fellows turned into the road, had no choice but starvation; as to getting into Paris, that was impossible: a mouse could not have got into the place, so admirably were the forts guarded, without having his head taken off by a cannon-ball. Thus the three conflicting ...
— Burlesques • William Makepeace Thackeray
... evening's boat for Baltimore, so as to reach Leonardtown in time for the trial. Upon hearing this, the commodore swore furiously; but knowing of old that nothing could turn Henrietta from the path of duty, and dreading above all things to lose her comfortable attentions, and be left to the doubtful mercies of Mary L'Oiseau, he yielded, though with the worst possible grace, swearing all the time that he hoped the villain ...
— The Missing Bride • Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth
... note were of such importance in the establishment of justice that Yates, still doubtful of the propriety of his act, was able to justify it to his conscience. Under the circumstances, it belonged to the man to whom it was addressed, and not to Mr. Belcher at all. His own act might be doubtful, but it was in the ...
— Sevenoaks • J. G. Holland
... hear that our little city is to be destroyed by fire"—a phrase which obviously has much more direct connection with the destruction of Sodom than with that of London. The only suggestions of those disastrous latter years of the reign of Charles the Second, are some doubtful allusions to the rise and fall of persecution, few of which can be clearly ...
— Among Famous Books • John Kelman
... ration in a sealed tin, and (for those with rifles) 200 rounds of ammunition. Officers carried revolvers, field glasses, prismatic compass, and various other extras. They were also allowed to place their valises on the train but, according to rumour, it was doubtful if they would ever reach them ...
— The 28th: A Record of War Service in the Australian Imperial Force, 1915-19, Vol. I • Herbert Brayley Collett
... word seems also somewhat doubtful. The word [Greek: Sendes] occurs in Constant. Porphyrog. de Ceremoniis (Bonn, ed. I. 468), and this looks like a transfer of the Arabic Sandas or Sundus, which is applied by Bakui to the silk fabrics of Yezd. (Not. et Ext. II. 469.) Reiske thinks this is the origin of the Frank ...
— The Travels of Marco Polo, Volume 2 • Marco Polo and Rustichello of Pisa
... as to intercept all succours from Europe; and had besides a powerful army on the continent, under the command of general Amherst. He affirmed, that the resolution they ought to take was neither difficult nor doubtful; as the utmost exertion of their valour would be useless, and serve only to deprive them of the advantages which they might reap from their neutrality. He reminded them that the cruelties exercised ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. - From William and Mary to George II. • Tobias Smollett
... course, suggests some very undesirable applications. It is only too possible to aim at attractiveness by bad methods. We may tone down the Gospel-message, leaving out unpopular and man-humbling truths, and try to "attract" people so. We may strive to "attract" them to hear us by doubtful external accessories (of very different kinds), which, after all, will rather attract attention—for a season—to themselves, than to the message, and the Lord. But none the less it is every Clergyman's plain duty to make his preaching, ...
— To My Younger Brethren - Chapters on Pastoral Life and Work • Handley C. G. Moule
... fallacy upon us; mends the intrigues of Fate; and dispenses with the severity of History, to reward that virtue, which has been rendered to us, there, unfortunate. Sometimes the Story has left the success so doubtful, that the writer is free, by the privilege of a Poet, to take that which, of two or more relations, will best suit his Design. As, for example, the death of CYRUS; whom JUSTIN and some others report to have perished in the ...
— An English Garner - Critical Essays & Literary Fragments • Edited by Professor Arber and Thomas Seccombe
... the Maiden Way, comes from the South closely up to the Vallum, quite near to Thirlwall castle. The name "Thirlwall" was supposed to commemorate the "thirling" (drilling or piercing) of the Wall at this point by the barbarians, but this is extremely doubtful; though the difficulty of defending the wall on this level tract lends an air of likelihood to this supposition. Near here the little river Tipalt flows across the line of the Wall on its way southward ...
— Northumberland Yesterday and To-day • Jean F. Terry
... doubtful evidence of strangulation for the more profitable examination of the little gash ...
— The Dream Doctor • Arthur B. Reeve
... started from Newcastle, and the blundering began from the first. It was but twenty-five miles to Laing's Nek. At the time we started there was not a Boer there, for they were doubtful which line we should advance by. That twenty-five miles could have been done in a day, and there we should have been with our difficulties at an end; the baggage and stores could have come up in two or three days, and then another advance could have been made. ...
— With Buller in Natal - A Born Leader • G. A. Henty
... eyes on Jack Tier. The little dumpling-looking fellow was standing in the waist, with his arms folded sailor-fashion, as composedly as if nothing had occurred to render his meeting with the captain any way of a doubtful character. Spike approached near the person of the steward, whom he surveyed from head to foot, with a sort of contemptuous superiority, ere ...
— Jack Tier or The Florida Reef • James Fenimore Cooper
... the poet need. Their friends succeeded, and repaid the zeal The Poet felt, and made opposers feel, By praise (from lords how soothing and how sweet!) An invitation to his noble seat. The father ponder'd, doubtful if the brain Of his proud boy such honour could sustain; Pleased with the favours offer'd to a son, But seeing dangers few so ardent shun. Thus when they parted, to the youthful breast The father's fears were ...
— Tales • George Crabbe
... reason he couldn't understand, his new-found faith was destroyed by what he heard. David Chapman, a devout Methodist, was praying for Hugh McVey and for the success of his invention. Joe knew his neighbor had also invested his savings in the stock of the new company. He had thought that he alone was doubtful of success, but it was apparent that doubt had come also into the mind of the wheelwright. The pleading voice of the praying man, as it broke the stillness of the night, cut across and for the moment utterly destroyed his confidence. "O God, help the man Hugh McVey to remove every obstacle ...
— Poor White • Sherwood Anderson
... him. Now and then a spurt of flame and a spatter of bullets indicated that his own plane was being more or less perforated. The lad became doubtful as to the wisdom of waiting longer for his comrade. Evidently Blaine would fight on as long as his ammunition lasted or until disabled himself. After all, two hostile planes dropped and the third one brought home with its occupant was not ...
— Our Pilots in the Air • Captain William B. Perry
... St. Etienne, France; took to journalism early, and established a reputation by his lively dramatic criticisms in the Journal des Debats; his gift of ready composition betrayed him into a too prolific output of work, and it is doubtful if any of his many novels and articles will long survive his day and generation; they, however, brought him wealth and celebrity in his own lifetime; he succeeded in 1870 to Sainte-Beuve's chair in ...
— The Nuttall Encyclopaedia - Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge • Edited by Rev. James Wood
... thereby he shall increase his honor with the grand Signior, be in credite with her maiestie, be void of trouble which hereafter by future suite against him may happen, and his gallies free of such doubtful issue as doeth chance, fighting with our ships. Which, as it is well knowen to all the world, haue so great hearts as neuer cowardly to yeeld to their enemies. And that therefore in that respect (after the prouerbe, like esteeme ...
— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of - The English Nation, Vol. 11 • Richard Hakluyt
... should not be employed for breeding. If, however, for special reasons it seems desirable to breed from one which has some slight defect of symmetry, or a faint tendency to disease, although for the latter it is doubtful if the possession of any good qualities can fully compensate, it should be mated with one which excels in every respect in which the other is deficient, and on no account with one which is near ...
— The Principles of Breeding • S. L. Goodale
... Awakening of Faith[110] and ascribed to Asvaghosha is not extant in Sanskrit but was translated into Chinese in 553 A.D. Its doctrine is practically that of the Yogacara school and this makes the ascription doubtful, but it is a most important treatise. It is regarded as authoritative in China and Japan at the present day and it illustrates the triple tendency of the Mahayana towards metaphysics, mythology, and devotional piety. It declares that faith has four aspects. Three ...
— Hinduism And Buddhism, Volume II. (of 3) - An Historical Sketch • Charles Eliot |
