"Ensign" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... leadership of En-Noor, who has now decked himself in a fine yellow burnouse, a sort of ensign of authority, the caravan marches ...
— Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa Performed in the Years 1850-51, Volume 2 • James Richardson
... was in little better plight than the army. England flew the royal ensign over six hundred ships of war and was the undisputed sovereign of the seas. Opposed to this mighty armada were five frigates, three ships, and seven brigs, which Monroe recommended should be "kept in a body in a safe port." Not worth mention were the two ...
— The Fight for a Free Sea: A Chronicle of the War of 1812 - The Chronicles of America Series, Volume 17 • Ralph D. Paine
... moderate gale. The wreck of the yard having been cleared away, sail was once more made on the frigate, and she steered towards the line-of-battle ship. As she approached every indication was observed that she had suffered fearfully in the hurricane. Her ensign was hoisted reversed. The bowsprit and fore-topmast were gone, as was the mizen topmast, while it seemed as if in an instant the main-topmast would follow the other masts. All the quarter boats seemed to have been carried away, and as ...
— The Heir of Kilfinnan - A Tale of the Shore and Ocean • W.H.G. Kingston
... approaching the shore, bearing a flag at its prow. In due course this was recognized as the ensign of Captain Kidd; and everything wag hastily arranged to receive the leader with ...
— Money Island • Andrew Jackson Howell, Jr.
... believe in my heart the man is in the right in calling Jane wrong. He has honesty and common sense on his side, just as he has when he calls the present state of Convocation, in the face of that prayer for God's Spirit on its deliberations, a blasphemous lie and sham. Of course it is. Any ensign in a marching regiment could tell us that from his mere sense of soldier's honour. But then-if she is wrong, is he right? How do I know? I want reasons: he gives ...
— Phaethon • Charles Kingsley
... years ago, Col. * * * *, then an ensign, being in Italy, fell in love with the Marchesa * * * *, and she with him. The lady must be, at least, twenty years his senior. The war broke out; he returned to England, to serve—not his country, ...
— Life of Lord Byron, Vol. III - With His Letters and Journals • Thomas Moore
... Colenso. Could he mean to surrender without one blow? He had exchanged his glass for a speaking trumpet, and waited, fumbling with it, his face twitching painfully. A cold, dishonouring suspicion gripped me. The man was here to betray his flag. I glanced aloft: the British ensign flew at the peak. And as I turned my head, I felt rather than saw the flash, heard the shattering din as the puzzled American luffed up and let fly across our bows with a raking broadside. Doubtless she, too, took note of our defiant ensign, ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 20 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson
... appeared to me to be half the night; and dreaming, among other things, that he had launched Mr. Peggotty's house on a piratical expedition, with a black flag at the masthead, bearing the inscription 'Tidd's Practice', under which diabolical ensign he was carrying me and little Em'ly to the Spanish Main, ...
— David Copperfield • Charles Dickens
... the sign of the red cross, which was the very emblem of the popery which their souls abhorred. It had seemed to them almost a sin to tolerate it; and yet it was treason to take any liberties with the national ensign. But Endicott was now in a mood to encounter any risk; since, if Laud's will were enforced, there would be little left in New England ...
— The History of the United States from 1492 to 1910, Volume 1 • Julian Hawthorne
... effect by writing with a piece of phosphorus on her bedroom wall, 'Molly, beware!' with the result that Molly is frightened out of her wits, the young experimenter burns her hand, and the house is nearly set on fire. The eccentric Dermody turns up again, now a smart young ensign, having temporarily forsaken letters, and obtained a commission through the interest of Lord Moira. He addresses a flattering poem to Sydney, and passes on to rejoin his regiment at Cork, whence he is to sail ...
— Little Memoirs of the Nineteenth Century • George Paston
... superimposed on the diagonal red cross of Saint Patrick (patron saint of Ireland), which is superimposed on the diagonal white cross of Saint Andrew (patron saint of Scotland); properly known as the Union Flag, but commonly called the Union Jack; the design and colors (especially the Blue Ensign) have been the basis for a number of other flags including other Commonwealth countries and their constituent states or provinces, as well as ...
— The 2005 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency
... occasion required. These all being hoisted on a fine bright day, and my voyage really begun, the 'Chichester' lads 'boyed' the rigging, and gave three ringing cheers as they shouted, "Take these to France, sir!" and the frigate dipped her ensign in salute, my flag lieutenant smartly responding to the compliment as we ...
— The Voyage Alone in the Yawl "Rob Roy" • John MacGregor
... on his flag was an "Apollo" on a field azure. King Falseron, whose son Orlando had slain in battle, headed the first army, the device of which was a black figure of the devil Belphegor on a dapple-grey field. The third army was under King Balugante, and had for ensign a Mahomet with golden wings in a field of red. Marsilius made a speech to them at night, in which he confessed his ill faith, but defended it on the ground of Charles's hatred of their religion, and of the example of "Judith and Holofernes." He said, that he had not come ...
— Stories from the Italian Poets: With Lives of the Writers, Volume 1 • Leigh Hunt
... do them. But Miss Jessamine did. Steadying her voice, as best she might, she read on, and the old soldier stood bareheaded to hear that first Roll of the Dead at Waterloo, which began with the Duke of Brunswick, and ended with Ensign Brown.[3] Five-and-thirty British Captains fell asleep that day on the bed of Honor, and the Black ...
— Jackanapes, Daddy Darwin's Dovecot and Other Stories • Juliana Horatio Ewing
... the territory of ancient Dunstable. It was from Dunstable, then a frontier town, that the famous Captain Lovewell, with his company, marched in quest of the Indians on the 18th of April, 1725. He was the son of "an ensign in the army of Oliver Cromwell, who came to this country, and settled at Dunstable, where he died at the great age of one hundred and twenty years." In the words of the old nursery tale, sung about a hundred ...
— A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers • Henry David Thoreau
... resolved not to provoke the rebels unnecessarily, knowing that they could make no effectual resistance to such a large force, and accordingly took down their flags; but Dame Barbara though nearly eighty years of age could not brook that the flag of the Union should be humbled before the rebel ensign, and from her upper window waved her flag, the only one visible that day in Frederick. Whittier has told the whole story so admirably that we cannot do better than to transfer his exquisite poem to our pages. Dame ...
— Woman's Work in the Civil War - A Record of Heroism, Patriotism, and Patience • Linus Pierpont Brockett
... was forthwith made an ensign of the Guards, in order to entitle him to play at court. He set to work at once in accordance with his instructions, but after his own plan in the execution. He began with losing freely; and was, of course, soon noticed by the marquis, and marked as a pigeon worth plucking. ...
— The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims - Volume II (of II) • Andrew Steinmetz
... commanded a division, and George walked by his side, holding the stirrup-leather of his horse, while John Thomas Borrow, gazetted ensign in May and lieutenant in December, was in his place in the regiment. At Clonmel the Borrows lodged with a handsome athletic man and his wife, who enthusiastically welcomed them. "I have made bold to bring up a bottle of claret," said the Orangeman, ". . . and when ...
— Souvenir of the George Borrow Celebration - Norwich, July 5th, 1913 • James Hooper
... Polly Howland's mother, her married sister Constance, and her brother-in-law, Harry Hunter, now an ensign. They had been married at Polly's home in Montgentian, N.J., almost a year ago. Harry Hunter had graduated from the Academy the year Happy and his class were plebes, and had been the two-striper of the company of which Wheedles was now ...
— Peggy Stewart: Navy Girl at Home • Gabrielle E. Jackson
... put into His hands became "a rod of iron," with which He was to "break in pieces his enemies," a scepter with which He was to rule the universe in righteousness. The cross which they thought was to stigmatize Him with infamy, became the ensign of His renown. Instead of being the reproach of His followers, it was to be their boast and their glory. The cross was to shine on palaces and churches throughout the earth. It was to be assumed as the distinction of the most powerful monarchs, and to wave in ...
— The world's great sermons, Volume 3 - Massillon to Mason • Grenville Kleiser
... informed that, in recognition of the signal bravery he had displayed at the storming of the Causeway battery, his name had been submitted to the Queen for an ensign's commission ...
— The Thin Red Line; and Blue Blood • Arthur Griffiths
... loftily, showing an armlet bearing the ensign of the Red Cross. I was about to remind her of 1 & 2 Geo. V. cap. 20, which threatens the penalties of a misdemeanour against all who wear the Red Cross without the authority of Army Council, but I thought better of it. Instead of anything so foolish, ...
— Leaves from a Field Note-Book • J. H. Morgan
... turn their wrath against one of its conspicuous emblems, consecrated though it was by usage of immemorial antiquity and by many a heroic achievement—the snow-white banner bearing the golden lilies. But that glorious ensign could not be laid aside till another was substituted for it; and the colors of the city, red and blue, and white, the color of the army, were now blended together to form the tricolor flag which has since won for ...
— The Life of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France • Charles Duke Yonge
... upon the army. Several of the cowardly and faithless began to desert, rain set in, and provisions grew scarce. In spite of every entreaty, to protect at least the Zurichan frontier, the army of Bern retreated to Bremgarten." "Why do you hesitate to follow?" said the ensign Hugi of Solothurn. "You shut your eyes on your own necessities, as your fathers before you in the old Zurich war. As they, so you are at variance; as they, so you have lost the hearts of your Confederate brethren; you have no power to make further resistance, and yet ...
— The Life and Times of Ulric Zwingli • Johann Hottinger
... was the daughter of a stay-maker in Covent-garden, and served her apprenticeship to a mantuamaker. Having attracted the attention of Lord Sandwich, he treated her from that period until her assassination, with the greatest tenderness and affection. He introduced to her a young ensign of the 68th Regiment, then in command of a recruiting party at Huntingdon, in the neighborhood of the mansion of the Montagues. Mr. Hackman from the first moment was desperately in love with her, and his passion increased with the daily opportunities afforded by invitations ...
— The International Monthly Magazine - Volume V - No II • Various
... we have sinn'd in paring down a name, All civil, well-bred authors do the same. Survey the columns of our daily writers— You'll find that some Initials are great fighters. How fierce the shock, how fatal is the jar, When Ensign W. meets Lieutenant R. With two stout seconds, just of their own gizzard, Cross Captain X. and rough old General Izzard! Letter to Letter spreads the dire alarms, Till half the Alphabet is up in arms. Nor with less lustre have Initials shone, To grace the gentler annals of Crim. Con. Where ...
— The Works of Charles Lamb in Four Volumes, Volume 4 • Charles Lamb
... ineffectual struggle, he gave up the attempt, and left her to follow the bent of her own inclinations: what those were, I think the reader must have seen enough of her character to form a just idea. Among the number who paid their devotions at her shrine, she singled one, a young Ensign of mean birth, indifferent education, and weak intellects. How such a man came into the army, we hardly know to account for, and how he afterwards rose to posts of honour is likewise strange and wonderful. But fortune is blind, and so are those too frequently ...
— Charlotte Temple • Susanna Rowson
... wrought in needle-work; under this robe he had a tunic of bright silk of a blue or hyacinthine color; this was open about the breast, where there appeared the forepart of a kind of zone or ribbon, with the ensign of his society; the badge was an eagle sitting on her young at the top of a tree; this was wrought in polished gold set with diamonds. The counsellors were dressed nearly after the same manner, but ...
— The Delights of Wisdom Pertaining to Conjugial Love • Emanuel Swedenborg
... dare to brave it. With zeal inspired by your intemperate pranks, My subjects muster in contending ranks. Those fling their banners to the startled breeze To champion some royal ointment; these The standard of some royal purge display And 'neath that ensign wage a wasteful fray! Brave tongues are thundering from sea to sea, Torrents of sweat roll reeking o'er the lea! My people perish in their martial fear, And rival bagpipes cleave ...
— Shapes of Clay • Ambrose Bierce
... Jost Stoll, an ensign, on delivering this letter, had the honor to kiss his majesty's hand; but Nicholson, the lieutenant-governor, and one Ennis, an Episcopal clergyman, arrived in England before him, and by falsely representing the late ...
— The Witch of Salem - or Credulity Run Mad • John R. Musick
... that first landing-place from the deck of the vessel, after climbing the shrouds. The rigging does not appear at all damaged. There is a tattered bit of a pennant, about a foot and a half long, fluttering from the tip-top of one of the masts; but the flag, the ensign of the ship (which never was struck, thank God), is under water, so as to be quite invisible, being attached to the gaff, I think they call it, of the mizzen-mast; and though this bald description makes nothing ...
— Yesterdays with Authors • James T. Fields
... facts was itself a good foundation of fear:—The king, angry, and breathing revenge against his rebellious subjects of the Border, was at hand—even within a few miles of her husband's residence; and the ensign of his authority and punishment was borne by the common executioner; then he would detect her husband in the very commission of that rebellious act against which the royal vengeance was to be directed; and, above all, she feared—nay, she ...
— Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume III • Various
... talk like that; and in due course discover how very little esteem has to do with matrimony. If you mean that you would like to marry some penniless wretch of a curate, or some insolvent ensign, for love, I can only say that the day of your marriage will witness our final parting. I should not make any outrageous fuss or useless opposition, rely upon it. I should only ...
— The Lovels of Arden • M. E. Braddon
... forward to reconnoitre the enemy. The horse, frightened by the cannonading, ran away with the King, and nearly carried him into the midst of the French lines. Fortunately, however, one of the attendants succeeded in stopping him. An ensign seized the horse's bridle, and ...
— Chatterbox, 1905. • Various
... feeling would not last long. Something would turn up to scare it away. Once, I remember, we came upon a man-of-war anchored off the coast. There wasn't even a shed there, and she was shelling the bush. It appears the French had one of their wars going on thereabouts. Her ensign dropped limp like a rag; the muzzles of the long six-inch guns stuck out all over the low hull; the greasy, slimy swell swung her up lazily and let her down, swaying her thin masts. In the empty immensity ...
— Heart of Darkness • Joseph Conrad
... countries the flag of St. George, St. Andrew, and St. Patrick, is felt to the full by your colonists, who uphold the flag as speaking to them of the great days of old of which they, with us, are the heirs. This common loyalty to the Queen and pride in her ensign is a sure guarantee for the continued greatness of our country. You, gentlemen, have at heart the interests of commerce, and, as merchants, the peace and prosperity of the world. There is no better hope for this than in the unity ...
— Memories of Canada and Scotland - Speeches and Verses • John Douglas Sutherland Campbell
... and wrote to several of our friends that we were coming. Scott of Jedburgh has engaged to raise a company. Balfour of Lauderdale, who is a cousin of mine, has promised to bring another; they were both at St. Andrew's with us, as you may remember, Graheme. Young Hamilton, who had been an ensign in my regiment, left us on the way. He will raise a company in Douglasdale. Now, Graheme, don't you think you can bring us a band of the men ...
— The Lion of the North • G.A. Henty
... appear to me sufficient, that the veteran officers be restored to the commissions which they formerly enjoyed; they ought, upon an augmentation of our troops, to be recompensed by some advancement for their services and their sufferings; the ensign ought to become a lieutenant, and the lieutenant be exalted to a captain; stations which they will surely fill with more dignity and greater abilities, than boys newly discharged from school, and intrusted ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson, Vol. 10. - Parlimentary Debates I. • Samuel Johnson
... G.C.B., born at Suirville, Tipperary, Ireland, Oct. 31, 1838, was educated at the Jesuit College, Tullabeg, King's County, and joined the British Army as an ensign in the 69th Regiment in 1858. In 1877 he married Miss Thompson, the celebrated painter of "The Roll Call." Sir William Butler is a versatile writer, his works embracing records of travel, histories of military campaigns, biographies, and fiction. ...
— The World's Greatest Books, Volume 19 - Travel and Adventure • Various
... enemy, meanwhile, kept up an incessant fire of artillery and musketry in the direction of the shouts, but without effect, as no aim could be taken in the dark. Whilst the patriots were thus noisily advancing, a gallant young officer, Ensign Vidal—who had previously distinguished himself at Santa—got under the inland flank of the fort, and with a few men, contrived unperceived to tear up some pallisades, by which a bridge was made across the ditch, whereby ...
— Narrative of Services in the Liberation of Chili, Peru and Brazil, - from Spanish and Portuguese Domination, Volume 1 • Thomas Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald
... strange knickknacks, Spanish gold and silver vessels on the sideboard; strange birds and skins, and charts and rough drawings of coast which hung about the room; while over the fireplace, above the portrait of old Captain Will Hawkins, pet of Henry the Eighth, hung the Spanish ensign which Captain John had taken in fair fight at Rio de la Hacha fifteen years before, when, with two hundred men, he seized the town in despite of ten hundred Spanish soldiers, and watered his ship triumphantly at ...
— Westward Ho! • Charles Kingsley
... quite dead, were constantly crying, "Water! water! — Oh! for God's sake, a little water!" — Others lay quite dead, but still their lifeless visages retained the dark frowns of war. There, on the side of the enemy's breast-work, lay the brave ensign Boushe, covering with his dead body, the very spot where he had fixed the American standard. His face was pale and cold as the earth he pressed, but still it spoke the fierce determined air of one whose last sentiment towards ...
— The Life of General Francis Marion • Mason Locke Weems
... Messala: Be thou my witness that, against my will, As Pompey was, am I compell'd to set 75 Upon one battle all our liberties. You know that I held Epicurus strong, And his opinion: now I change my mind, And partly credit things that do presage. Coming from Sardis, on our former ensign 80 Two mighty eagles fell, and there they perch'd, Gorging and feeding from our soldiers' hands; Who to Philippi here consorted us: This morning are they fled away and gone; And in their steads do ravens, crows, and kites, 85 Fly o'er our heads ...
— The New Hudson Shakespeare: Julius Caesar • William Shakespeare
... now no time to be lost I set forward in the rain, most of the gentlemen continued with me, we arrived at half after six and joined Capt Clark, found the party in good health and sperits. suped this evening with Monsr. Charles Tayong a Spanish Ensign & late Commandant of St. Charles at an early hour I retired to rest on board the barge- St. Charles is situated on the North bank of the Missouri 21 Miles above it's junction with the Mississippi, and about ...
— The Journals of Lewis and Clark • Meriwether Lewis et al
... Belgic prowess caused "by that infamous surrender." On the first Sunday in September, 1655, with seven vessels carrying more than six hundred soldiers, he sailed from New Amsterdam for the Delaware. He landed his force on the beach between Fort Cassimer and Fort Christina near Wilmington, and an ensign with a drum was sent to the fort to demand the surrender. The warlike Schute complied next day, and in the presence of Stuyvesant and his suite he drank the health of the governor in a glass of Rhenish wine. So ...
— The Real America in Romance, Volume 6; A Century Too Soon (A Story - of Bacon's Rebellion) • John R. Musick
... to the charge from which he had, nearly three years before, been torn. And Mr. Williams had the courage to accept their offer, notwithstanding the fact that the war continued with unabated bitterness. In 1707 the town voted to build him a house "as big as Ensign Sheldon's, and a back room as big as may be thought convenient." This house is still standing (1902), though Ensign Sheldon's, the "Old Indian House in Deerfield," as it has been popularly called, was destroyed more than half ...
— The Romance of Old New England Rooftrees • Mary Caroline Crawford
... Load with round shot!" the lieutenant shouted but, a moment later, a loud cheer broke from the sailors as, by the lights in the boats, the Spanish ensign was seen to run up to the peak of the barque, and then at once to fall again to the ...
— Held Fast For England - A Tale of the Siege of Gibraltar (1779-83) • G. A. Henty
... occasion, a throne was erected for the Grand Master at the east end, surrounded with seats of distinction for the Preceptors and Knights of the Order. Over these floated the sacred standard, called "Le Beau-seant", which was the ensign, as its name was the battle-cry, ...
— Ivanhoe - A Romance • Walter Scott
... devotion among the Druids were either mid-day or midnight. The officiating Druid was cloathed in a white garment that swept the ground; on his head, he wore the tiara; he had the anguinum or serpent's egg, as the ensign of his order; his temples were encircled with a wreath of oak-leaves, and he waved in his hand the magic rod. As regards the Druid sacrifice there are vague and contradictory representations. It is certain, however, that they offered ...
— Thaumaturgia • An Oxonian
... expect to receive quarter if we were overcome. Exhorting us to behave well, and to fight stoutly, he promised us the victory. The men had such confidence in the captain that we returned him three cheers, when, dismissing us to our quarters, he ordered St. George's ensign to be hoisted at the main-masthead, and hove to for ...
— The Privateer's-Man - One hundred Years Ago • Frederick Marryat
... cold word of praise; and how he himself had turned silently away, able already, in his young self-dependence, to rejoice secretly over his victory, without demanding the least approbation from those who should have loved him best. He remembered, when his brother was an ensign in the guards, spoiled and reckless, making debts and getting into all kinds of trouble, how he himself had labored at the dry work assigned to him in the foreign office, without amusements, without pleasure, and without pocket money, toiling day and night to win by force ...
— Paul Patoff • F. Marion Crawford
... home, however, he determined to visit the barracks in which the thirty-third regiment lay, in order, if possible, to get a furtive glance at the young ensign. In this he was successful. On entering the barrack, square, he saw a group of officers chatting together on the north side, and after inquiring from a soldier if Ensign Roberts was among them, he was ...
— The Black Baronet; or, The Chronicles Of Ballytrain - The Works of William Carleton, Volume One • William Carleton
... Universology and the New Geodesy"; "The Immortal Manhood, the Laws and Processes of its Attainment in the Flesh"; "The Great Red Dragon, by Lord Chester"; "The Coming of the Shepherd from Joseph, The Standing of the Great Ensign, by Koresh." The "Religio-science" of this Chicago revelator is based, first upon some precise measurements of the earth which prove that its surface is concave; and second upon some philological discoveries very much resembling puns. Thus the "cross of Christ" is explained in a sense of the word ...
— The Profits of Religion, Fifth Edition • Upton Sinclair
... in their beaks scrolls, inscribed, "Honor Deo et gloria," are on its cornice. The shields on the north bear the bishop's arms and those of his see; on the south are quartered the arms of England and France, and the ensign of Edward the Confessor—the cross patonee ...
— Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Salisbury - A Description of its Fabric and a Brief History of the See of Sarum • Gleeson White
... murder'd sire, While the sad virgin on her lover's face, Weeps, with the last farewel, the last embrace, And the lone widow too, with frenzied cries, Amid the common wreck, unheeded dies. O Peace, bright Seraph, heaven-lov'd maid, return! And bid distracted nature cease to mourn! O, let the ensign drear of war be furl'd, And pour thy blessings on a bleeding world; Then social order shall again expand, It's sovereign good again shall bless the land, Elate the simple villager shall see, Contentment's inoffensive revelry; Then, once again shall o'er the foaming tide, The swelling ...
— Poetic Sketches • Thomas Gent
... flag was flapping its misplaced triumph over eyes which glared at it in hatred and hands which quivered to rend it piecemeal. Their wishes were anticipated; for the foremost rank had scarcely reached the threshold of the palace, when down went the ensign of the Bourbons, and the much-loved tricolor streamed out amidst thunder shouts which seemed ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 6, April, 1858 • Various
... stretching to the farther sky, with that long lane of golden light crossing it to the sun, Alcatras, Angel Island, Saucilito, the rocky fortresses, and the men-of-war in the harbour, on one of which flew the British ensign—the ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker
... on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union; on States dissevered, discordant, belligerent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood! Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the republic, now known and clamored throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their original lustre, not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured, bearing for its motto, no such miserable interrogatory as "What is all this worth?" nor ...
— The American Union Speaker • John D. Philbrick
... be much longer on the practice-ship," said the young man, with a gesture which seemed as if his hand were feeling for the hilt of his sword, which was not there, "for I am going very soon on my first voyage as an ensign." ...
— Serge Panine • Georges Ohnet
... stupified, and can remember nothing that passed for some minutes. As I recovered my scattered senses, however, I recollect gazing at the anchorage from the open window of the Admiralty House, near which we stood. The flag-ship then lay just off Osnaburg Point, with her ensign, or, as it used to be called in old books, her Ancient, the "meteor flag of England," dropped, in the calm, so perpendicularly from the gaff-end, that it looked like a rope more than a flag; while its ...
— The Lieutenant and Commander - Being Autobigraphical Sketches of His Own Career, from - Fragments of Voyages and Travels • Basil Hall
... were still observed to be flying on the Nuernberg, the Kent opened fire again. Fire was finally stopped five minutes later on the colors being hauled down, and every preparation was made to save life. The Nuernberg sank at 7:27 P.M., and, as she sank, a group of men were waving a German ensign attached to a staff. Twelve men were rescued, ...
— New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 2, May, 1915 - April-September, 1915 • Various
... in London, and is giving out to his friends that that government offers him two millions of dollars the moment he can raise an ensign of rebellion as big as an handkerchief. Some of his partisans will believe this, because they wish it. But those who know him best will not believe it the more because he says it. For myself, even in his most ...
— Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson - Volume I • Thomas Jefferson
... one has she utterly to live. O beside my wealth hers is little worth; I have but one possession upon earth. My heart was lordless when with trumpet blare And multitudinous song you came, its king, The banners of my thought your ensign bear, You fill my soul with glory, like the spring. Yes, I must needs thank God, when it is past, That I was lonely till I found out thee,— That I lay dead until the trumpet blast Waken'd me ...
— Love's Comedy • Henrik Ibsen
... Homer speaks of "sceptred kings"—[Greek: skeptouchoi basilees]; and the book of Genesis, "of far elder memory," of a sceptre, as denoting a king or supreme governor[14]. There is a very early form of delivering this ensign of authority preserved in the Saxon coronation services; and the coins and seals of succeeding reigns usually place it in the hand of our monarchs. Very anciently, too, our kings received at their coronations ...
— Coronation Anecdotes • Giles Gossip
... was resolved to hold fast by the hearths of their fathers, and while the debate was going on in the ruins of the senate-house a troop of soldiers were marching in, and the centurion was heard calling out, "Plant your ensign here; this is a good place to stay in." "A happy omen," cried one of the senators; "I adore the gods who gave it." So it was settled to rebuild the city, and in digging among the ruins there were found the golden rod of Romulus, the brazen tables on ...
— Young Folks' History of Rome • Charlotte Mary Yonge
... informed that the waters rise one hundred and fifty feet perpendicular, from the bed of the river. This information I received from a gentleman, who was surgeon's mate to a party sent there, and the only survivor of three captains command, each consisting of one captain, two lieutenants, one ensign, a surgeon's mate, three serjeants, three corporals, and ...
— Some Historical Account of Guinea, Its Situation, Produce, and the General Disposition of Its Inhabitants • Anthony Benezet
... bidding of the bell, he had no eyes for any but the frail apparition whose crown of black seemed to weigh her toward the pavement. The change wrought in her by a year's traffic might have shocked, as the eyes might have haunted him; but she was nothing but a symbol by now. A frayed ensign, she stood for an earldom and a fee. The time had been when her beauty had bewitched him; that was when she went flesh and blood, sun- browned, full of the sap of untamed desires. Now she was a ghost with a dowry; stricken, but holding ...
— The Forest Lovers • Maurice Hewlett
... incautious and rash, O emperor, to trust yourself with but a few troops in the country of another." But Julian, with a sarcastic smile, replied, "Keep these prudent speeches for Constantius. I offered you the ensign of my royal rank to ease you of your fears, and not to ...
— The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus • Ammianus Marcellinus
... to the deck, and, as on the other ship, he breathed deeply to rid his lungs and nostrils of the abhorrent stench. The ensign in charge of the ...
— Astounding Stories of Super-Science, June, 1930 • Various
... Ensign Thomas Grayson took over the command of his destroyer when its captain was killed on his bridge. An electrified crew saw the strange, brooding youngster perform prodigies of skill and courage, and responded to them. In one week of desultory action the battered destroyer had accounted for ...
— The Adventurer • Cyril M. Kornbluth
... do nothing better now than write another play. Play-making was as fashionable an amusement in those days of Old Drury, the only patented theatre then, as novel-writing is in 1860; and when the young ensign, Vanbrugh, could write comedies and take the direction of a theatre, it was no derogation to the dignity of the Staffordshire squire's grandson to do as much. Accordingly, in the following year he brought out a better ...
— The Wits and Beaux of Society - Volume 1 • Grace Wharton and Philip Wharton
... had one whose right arm hung a dead weight, when strong men with their two hands, went down before him? He caught at a rope, found it impossible to save himself alone, and then for the first time said,—"I am injured; can any one help me?" Ensign Taylor, at the risk of his own life, brought the rope around his shoulder in such a way that it could not slip, and he ...
— Sanders' Union Fourth Reader • Charles W. Sanders
... bridge of boats, struck against one of the estoccades. Alexander, unmindful of danger, used every exertion of his authority to stimulate the sailors in their attempts to clear away the monstrous machine which threatened destruction to all within its reach. Happily for him, an ensign who was near, forgetting in his general's peril all rules of discipline and forms of ceremony, actually forced him from the estoccade. He had not put his foot on the river bank when the machine blew up. The effects were such as really baffle description. The bridge was burst through; the ...
— Holland - The History of the Netherlands • Thomas Colley Grattan
... minutes entered Colonel Le Noir, Captain Zuten, Ensign Allen and Sergeant Baker. They were accommodated with seats near the ...
— Capitola the Madcap • Emma D. E. N. Southworth
... all had by purchase: from which it follows that their Officers do not trouble their heads about the service; and understand of it, very VERY few excepted, absolutely nothing whatever [what a charming set of "Officers"!]—and this goes from the Ensign up to the General. Their home-customs incline them to the indulgences of life; and, nearly without exception, they all expect to have ample and comfortable means of sleep. [Hear, hear!] This leads them often into military negligences, which would sound incredible, were they ...
— History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. XX. (of XXI.) • Thomas Carlyle
... Dolly," exclaimed I. "Put them in Prussian blue at once, and fly the German ensign. Rifles in a place like this—and two unarmed strangers against them! Why should the rogues hide their beautiful faces? If they would know all about us, what's to prevent them? Do we look like highwaymen or ...
— The House Under the Sea - A Romance • Sir Max Pemberton
... Etonians, I ought to know them," the ensign said. "I only left six months ago. What are ...
— The Young Buglers • G.A. Henty
... last feeble and lingering glance rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the Republic now known and honored throughout the earth; still full, high, advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their original lustre, not a stripe erased nor polluted, not a single star ...
— Hidden Treasures - Why Some Succeed While Others Fail • Harry A. Lewis
... the most considerable being John Mackenzie of Kernsary, cousin-german to the Earl, and Donald Bain, brother to Tulloch and Chamberlain to Seaforth in the Lewis, both being heavy and corpulent men not fit to fly, and being partly deceived by Seaforth's principal ensign or standard-bearer in the field, who stood to it with some others of the Lochbroom and Lewis men, till they were killed, and likewise Captain Bernard Mackenzie, with the rest of his company, which consisted of Chanonry men and some others thereabout, being ...
— History Of The Mackenzies • Alexander Mackenzie
... Pitt's and Spencer's views prevailed, and a Royal Proclamation was drawn up on 22nd April, pardoning the crews if they would return to duty. A horseman riding at full speed bore the document to Portsmouth in seven hours, and the fleet, with the exception of the "Marlborough," re-hoisted the white ensign and prepared for sea. The discontent rife at Plymouth also subsided. On 26th April, during a Budget debate, Pitt promised to provide for the extra pay to ...
— William Pitt and the Great War • John Holland Rose
... are similar to those in "The Middy and the Ensign", which is not surprising, as the action takes place in the same ...
— The Rajah of Dah • George Manville Fenn
... daughter, and the merit of his son-in-law, and was in haste to conclude the affair. But the lady liked better to be courted than married, and kept him three years in uncertainty and attendance. At last she fell in love with a young ensign at a ball, and having danced with him all night, married him ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D, In Nine Volumes - Volume the Third: The Rambler, Vol. II • Samuel Johnson
... time of Edward the Confessor or William the Conqueror. "The Ancient of days'' is a Biblical phrase for God. In the London Inns of Court the senior barristers used to be called "ancients.'' From the 16th to the 18th century the word was also used, by confusion with "ensign,'' i.e; flag or standard-bearer, for that military title, as in the case of Shakespeare's "ancient Pistol''; but this use has nothing to do with "ancient'' ...
— Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia
... retinue started from that square, and traversed all the streets of Rome, wearing classical costumes and riding in antique cars, on one of which Caesar stood, clad in the robe of an emperor of old, his brow crowned with a golden laurel wreath, surrounded by lictors, soldiers, and ensign-bearers, who carried banners whereon was inscribed the motto, ...
— Celebrated Crimes, Complete • Alexandre Dumas, Pere
... the Nancy Jane," said the father; "only a sloop. But I don't know whose. Oh, yes; it must be that Yankee peddler back again. There's his codfish ensign at his masthead. He's making for the other side now, but he'll come over here to sell his rum and kickshaws before he ...
— Duffels • Edward Eggleston
... Selby's niece, has been a volunteer in her affections. How many still more forward girls would plead Mrs. Shirley's approbation of the hasty affection, without considering the circumstances, and the object! So the next girl that run away to a dancing-master, or an ensign, would reckon herself ...
— The History of Sir Charles Grandison, Volume 4 (of 7) • Samuel Richardson
... which were patterned, by the cold electric light, the branches of the bare elms ranged along the sidewalk. People leaned out of the windows, like theatregoers at a play. The light illuminated the red and white bars of the ensign, upheld by the standard bearer of the regiment, the smaller flags flaunted by the strikers—each side clinging hardily to the emblem of human liberty. The light fell, too, harshly and brilliantly, on the workers in the front rank confronting the bayonets, and these seemed strangely ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill
... very angry with Lord Oldborough for jilting me—Gascoigne with much ado kept him in proper manners towards the lieutenant-colonel, and I, in admiration of Gascoigne, kept my temper miraculously. But there was an impertinent puppy of an ensign, a partisan of the lieutenant-colonel, who wanted, I'm convinced, to have the credit of fighting a duel for the colonel, and he one day said, in Captain Henry's hearing, that 'it was no wonder some men should rail against ministerial influence, who had no friends to look to, and were ...
— Tales and Novels, Vol. VII - Patronage • Maria Edgeworth
... she'd a-backed round. Next day we giv' old Wiggins a funeral fit for the Emperor of Rooshy, and he well desarved it. I don't know as ever I seen a prettier sew-up than we done on him, wrappin' him first in the American ensign and then kiverin' him with brand-new No. 4 canvas. Considerin' the sails we'd lost and how much we needed the canvas, I think he must have been satisfied that we done the handsome thing by him. The day was beautiful and clear, although the wind still blowed a gale. We hadn't been able to do ...
— Stories by American Authors, Volume 9 • Various
... a vague yet limited apprehension of the question at issue, they had nothing to give in place of the thing they hated. And Victor Hugo was made captain of the victorious host, while the men who might have been in a certain sort his rivals took service as lieutenants, and accepted his ensign for their own. ...
— Views and Reviews - Essays in appreciation • William Ernest Henley
... dressmaker's, and heard that Kate had not been there for six hours. At the draper's he learned that at two o'clock in the afternoon she had been seen going up Ballure. The sound rocket was fired as he pushed through the town. A schooner riding to an anchor in the bay was flying her ensign for help. The sea was terrific—a slaty grey, streaked with white foam like quartz veins; but the men who had been idling on the quay when the water was calm were now struggling, chafing, and fighting to go out on it, for the blood of the old Vikings ...
— The Manxman - A Novel - 1895 • Hall Caine
... tide would not float her off at high-water mark, and besides, had broke a hole in her bottom too big to be quickly stopped, and were set down musing what we should do, we heard the ship fire a gun, and make a waft with her ensign as a signal for the boat to come on board - but no boat stirred; and they fired several times, making other signals for the boat. At last, when all their signals and firing proved fruitless, and they found the boat did not stir, we saw them, by the help of my glasses, hoist ...
— Robinson Crusoe • Daniel Defoe
... staff was the ensign of bishops. Honorius describes it as in the form of a shepherd's crook, made of wood or bone, united by a ball of gold or crystal, the lower part ...
— Notes & Queries, No. 50. Saturday, October 12, 1850 • Various
... "No, little one, I'm only a poor ensign. The gentleman yonder, being the representative in Virginia of my Lord of Orkney and his Majesty King George the First, may somewhat smack of royalty. Indeed, there are good Virginians who think that were the King himself amongst us he could not more thoroughly ...
— Audrey • Mary Johnston
... also went by land the troops, muleteers, and vaqueros, with the herd of every sort. Finding insufficient pasturage for the cattle at Santa Maria, they advanced to Velicata, some thirty miles distant, and here was assembled the land expedition. In addition to the officers named, Don Miguel Costanso, ensign of royal engineers, was ordered to join the expedition as cosmographer and diarist, and Don Pedro Prat was appointed physician. To minister to the soldiers and take charge of the missions to be established in the new land, the following missionary ...
— The March of Portola - and, The Log of the San Carlos and Original Documents - Translated and Annotated • Zoeth S. Eldredge and E. J. Molera
... was no better than idle and ironical chatter in the mouths of men so hideously situated as we were. For my part I had no thought of saving the ship; indeed, I had scarce any hope of saving my own life. We found an American ensign in a small flag-locker that was lashed near the wheel, and we sent it half-mast high, with the stars inverted. Then we searched for fresh water, and found three iron tanks nearly full in the after-hold. The water stunk with keeping, as though it had grown rank in the bilge, ...
— The Honour of the Flag • W. Clark Russell
... the members of the company issued forth. Carriages were heard on the gravel, and young men in couples, preparing to light the ensign of happy release from the ladies (or of indemnification for their absence, if you ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith
... below, felling them upon the deck in windrows, and seizing the commander himself by the coat collar, after his cutlass had been knocked from his stalwart hand. The Dutchman was soon a prize, and her proud ensign came fluttering ...
— Famous Privateersmen and Adventurers of the Sea • Charles H. L. Johnston
... accomplishment of the work. It is known that there was some trouble in the early settlement of the place, growing out of the question of lands, but its exact character is not recorded; perhaps it was owing to the delay which now occurred. Ensign Noyes was a noted surveyor, but not so famous as Jonathan Danforth, whose name is often mentioned in the General Court records, in connection with the laying out of lands and towns, and many of whose plans are still preserved among the Archives in the State House. Danforth was the man wanted at ...
— The Bay State Monthly, Volume 1, Issue 5, May, 1884 - A Massachusetts Magazine • Various
... false hearts. Remember, Alexander, thou hast a camp to govern, not a chamber; fall not from the armour of Mars to the arms of Venus, from the fiery assaults of war to the maidenly skirmishes of love, from displaying the eagle in thine ensign to set down the sparrow. I sigh, Alexander, that, where fortune could ...
— The Growth of English Drama • Arnold Wynne
... hope I have as many friends elsewhere, as I have enemies in Holland. If my son disgraces himself so far, as to ask favours from the Dutch, he is unworthy to call me father. If he chuses rather to be an Ensign with you, than a Captain among others, he is mean-spirited, and forgetful of what he has been." Diederic had a design of writing the history of the Duke of Weymar; which project Grotius approved of, as worthy of a grateful mind. He sent him word, that if he would set about this ...
— The Life of the Truly Eminent and Learned Hugo Grotius • Jean Levesque de Burigny
... booty collected in the campaign. It would appear that they accompany a tall figure of a god or king, possibly that of the deity Ningirsu, patron of Lagash and its kings. Ningirsu raises in one hand an ensign, of which the staff bears at the top the royal totem, the eagle with outspread wings laying hold by his talons of two half-lions back to back; with the other hand he brings a, club down heavily upon a group of prisoners, who struggle ...
— History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 3 (of 12) • G. Maspero
... Isis however, to whose custody he was committed, was so far from putting him to death, that she even loosed his bonds and set him at liberty. This action of his mother so extremely incensed Orus, that he laid hands upon her, and pulled off the ensign of royalty which she wore on her head; and instead thereof Hermes clapt on an helmet made in the shape of an oxe's head—After this, Typho publicly accused Orus of bastardy; but by the assistance of Hermes (Thoth) his legitimacy was fully established by the judgment of the ...
— Egyptian Ideas of the Future Life • E. A. Wallis Budge
... young to remember their Christian baptism, and were bred up as Mahometans, with no home but their corps, no kindred but their fellow soldiers. Their title, given by the Sultan who first enrolled them, meant New Soldiers, their ensign was a camp kettle, as that of their Pashas was one, two, or three horses' tails, in honor of the old Kurdish chief, the founder of the Turkish empire; but there was no homeliness in their appointments, their weapons—scimitars, pistols, and carabines—were crusted with ...
— A Book of Golden Deeds • Charlotte M. Yonge
... the grave the bodies of the men who had fallen in Mexico. The State has raised a monument to them, to the soldiers of 1812, to those who fought at the river Raisin. The Legislature has ordered a medal to be struck in honor of a boy who had defended his ensign. No man can make a public speech in Kentucky without mention of Encancion and Monterey, or of the long line of battles in which every generation of our people has fought. This is the other proof that in times of peace we do not ...
— Aftermath • James Lane Allen
... planted on the spot chosen by the Conqueror for the high-altar of the Abbey of Battle. The Warrior was Harold's 'personal ensign.' ...
— The Visions of England - Lyrics on leading men and events in English History • Francis T. Palgrave
... his place The new shape of Sword, with an humbler face,[D] Rebuking his brother, and preaching for right, Yet aye when it came, standing proud on his might, And squaring its claims with his old small sight; Then struck up his drums, with ensign furl'd, And said, "I will walk through a subject world: Earth, just as it is, shall for ever endure, The rich be too rich, and the poor too poor; And for this I'll stop knowledge. I'll say to it, 'Flow Thus far; but presume no farther to flow: ...
— Captain Sword and Captain Pen - A Poem • Leigh Hunt
... ensign yet Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks, And death's pale flag is not ...
— Familiar Quotations • John Bartlett
... bade bring him forth of the underground dungeon and caused him draw near to him and saw his case. Then he bestowed on him a dress of honour and the folk rejoiced in this. Moreover, he tied him an ensign[FN134] and giving him a numerous army, despatched him to the region aforesaid, whither all who went were still slain or made prisoners. So Melik Shah betook himself thither with his army and when it was one of the days, behold, the enemy fell in ...
— Tales from the Arabic Volumes 1-3 • John Payne
... need only be made of the sixth, GEORGE THOMAS KEPPEL (1799—1891), British general, second son of the fourth earl, born on the 13th of June 1799. Educated at Westminster School he entered the army as ensign, 14th Foot, in 1815. He joined his regiment in Belgium and took part in the Waterloo campaign and the march to Paris, joined the second battalion in Corfu, and was transferred to the 22nd Foot, with which he served in Mauritius and at the Cape, returning ...
— Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia
... lordship, and was in the very act of writing out the form of the placard declaring the noble heir of the noble house of —— a cheat and a scoundrel, when by the twopenny-post I received a notice from the Horse Guards that I was on that day to appear in the Gazette as an ensign in his majesty's —— regiment, then serving in the Peninsula, with orders to join without delay. This was enough from his lordship, and was certainly better for me than running the chance of damages in the King's Bench, for provoking his ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Vol. 12, Issue 337, October 25, 1828. • Various
... war-cry, which was "The sword of Mahomet and of God." And in one of the first of their great battles they lost their standard; but, not long baffled, the commander-in-chief cut off the tail of his beautiful steed, and, putting it on the end of a pole, hoisted it as a standard. This ensign they long used. This kingdom, however, is to dry up—that is, to disappear gradually, as a river dries up. All this is taking place. Turkey sends emigrants nowhere. They are literally dying out. In number they are fewer each year. Turkey will pass away for want of Turks. Her ...
— The Lost Ten Tribes, and 1882 • Joseph Wild
... His Highness the Kuhina Nui repeated the words "God preserve the King," which were re-echoed everywhere throughout the Church with loud cheers; His Majesty's Royal Standard and the National Ensign were hoisted and a royal salute fired from ...
— Speeches of His Majesty Kamehameha IV. To the Hawaiian Legislature • Kamehameha IV |
