"Brisk" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... Pavillon, "for these schelms of lanzknechts are very devils at rummaging out the wenches. But I'll do my best.—We will to the other apartment, and there I will consider.—It is but a narrow stair, and you can keep the door with a pike, while I look from the window, and get together some of my brisk boys of the curriers' guildry of Liege, that are as true as the knives they wear in their girdles.—But first undo me these clasps—for I have not worn this corselet since the battle of Saint Tron [fought by the insurgents of Liege against the Duke of Burgundy, ...
— Quentin Durward • Sir Walter Scott
... through the darkest part of her trouble, and, thick though the shadows might still lie about her, she had at last begun to see light ahead. She went again and yet again to see Daisy, and each visit added to her tranquillity of mind. Daisy was wonderfully brisk for an invalid, and her baby was an endless source of interest. Even Lady Bassett could not cavil when her charge spoke of going to nursery tea at Mrs. Musgrave's. She made no attempt to check the ripening friendship, though ...
— The Way of an Eagle • Ethel M. Dell
... Psalmist, therefore, by this exhortation, persuadeth them that have believed the truth, to wait for the accomplishment of it, as by his own example he did himself—'I wait for the Lord,' 'my soul waiteth,' 'and in his word do I hope.' It is for want of hope that so many brisk professors that have so boasted and made brags of their faith, have not been able to endure the drum[3] in the day of alarm and affliction. Their hope in Christ has been such as has extended itself no further than to this life, and therefore they ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan
... of the Pony Rider Boys, understanding that they were nearing the camp of the cowboys, urged their ponies into a brisk gallop and drew up well into line with Tad and Big-foot. That is, all did save Stacy Brown, who, as was his habit lagged behind a ...
— The Pony Rider Boys in Texas - Or, The Veiled Riddle of the Plains • Frank Gee Patchin
... regrets. Next, transferring-to the evening, as far as is in my power, all of sociality, with Alex, or my few remaining friends, or the few he will present to me of new ones. 3rd. Constantly going out every day-either in brisk walks in the morning, or in brisk jumbles in the carriage of one of my three friends who send for me, to a tte—tte tea converse. 4th. Strict attention ...
— The Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay Volume 3 • Madame D'Arblay
... shrubs had been transplanted as usual, the chairs ranked in line, the grass edgings trimmed, the roads made to look as if they were suffering from a heavy thunderstorm; carriages had been called for by the easeful, horses by the brisk, and the Drive and Row were again the groove of gaiety for an hour. We gaze upon the spectacle, at six o'clock on this midsummer afternoon, in a melon-frame atmosphere and beneath a violet sky. The Swancourt equipage formed ...
— A Pair of Blue Eyes • Thomas Hardy
... had left Virginia at school, I went to call upon old Nanny, whom I found quite brisk and lively, sorting old ...
— Poor Jack • Frederick Marryat
... nodded to the other passengers, dived below for a moment or two, and then reappeared on deck, full of energy, blasphemy, and anxiety to get under way. In less than an hour the smart barque was outside the Heads, and heeling over to a brisk south-westerly breeze. Two days later she was four hundred miles ...
— By Rock and Pool on an Austral Shore, and Other Stories • Louis Becke
... plot is new, the characters are fresh, and the handling is spirited and brisk. No one who commences this little book will stop reading until ...
— A Brother To Dragons and Other Old-time Tales • Amelie Rives
... her hat on a peg in the hall, and was quickly ready. She put on her black kid gloves; determination sat upon her mouth, and Christian virtue rested between her brows. Setting out with a brisk step, the conviction was obvious in every movement that duty called, and to that clarion note Maria Jackson would never turn a deaf ear. She went like a Hebrew prophet, conscious that the voice of the ...
— The Hero • William Somerset Maugham
... disposed of all the missiles that were convenient to his hand, and having called the Native so many new names as must have given him great occasion to marvel at the resources of the English language, submitted to have his cravat put on; and being dressed, and finding himself in a brisk flow of spirits after this exercise, went downstairs to enliven 'Dombey' and his ...
— Dombey and Son • Charles Dickens
... various branches of the army and navy led to a brisk business in Boston. Druggists in nearby communities chanced the British blockade to send supplies which they had on hand. For example, Jonathan Waldo, an apothecary at Salem, Massachusetts, recorded in his account book[112] on April 8, 1777, that "13 packages ...
— Drug Supplies in the American Revolution • George B. Griffenhagen
... the drawing-room. Almost at once, Hilda Wade flitted up with her brisk step to the corner where I was sitting. "Oh, Dr. Cumberledge," she began, as if nothing odd had occurred before, "I WAS so glad to meet you and have a chance of talking to you, because I DO so want to get a ...
— Hilda Wade - A Woman With Tenacity Of Purpose • Grant Allen
... taking mental stock of her, decided instantly that she was 'the right sort.' She was tall, in her middle twenties, had a fresh complexion, light brown hair, a brisk decisive manner, and a pleasant twinkle in her hazel eyes. She was evidently not in the least afraid of her audience, a fact which at once gave her the right handle. She faced ...
— Monitress Merle • Angela Brazil
... were yet several hundred yards from the stream, suddenly there came to their ears, unmistakable though muffled by the intervening trees, the sound of a brisk splash, as if something had fallen into the water. Uncle Andy stopped short in his tracks, motionless as a setter marking his bird. The Babe stopped likewise, faithfully imitating him. A couple of seconds later came another splash, as heavy as the first; ...
— Children of the Wild • Charles G. D. Roberts
... accent that his audience laughed again. At all events his reading was punctuated with cheery applause, and at the conclusion the Scorpions renewed their acquaintance with those historic affinities whiskey and soda. Discussion was brisk. ...
— Kathleen • Christopher Morley
... may naturally wish for some representation of the figures of this couple. Mr. Thrale was tall, well proportioned, and stately. As for Madam, or my Mistress[1446], by which epithets Johnson used to mention Mrs. Thrale, she was short, plump, and brisk[1447]. She has herself given us a lively view of the idea which Johnson had of her person, on her appearing before him in a dark-coloured gown; 'You little creatures should never wear those sort of clothes, however; they are unsuitable in every ...
— Life Of Johnson, Vol. 1 • Boswell, Edited by Birkbeck Hill
... ones, and they could not get a hearing from the old natives of the town, they resolved to try it out by the power of the arm; so with their slings they battered the houses, and with rams they sought to break Eargate open, but Mansoul stood it out so lustily that after several skirmishes and brisk encounters they made a fair retreat and entrenched themselves in their ...
— The Worlds Greatest Books - Vol. II: Fiction • Arthur Mee, J. A. Hammerton, Eds.
... entered on its first summer. The crops sprang up, abundant and green: all the cattle throve and increased: the big garden bloomed full of its old-fashioned flowers; its wide borders of balm and lavender made the whole road-side sweet: the doors stood open, and the cheery sounds of brisk farm life were to be heard all day long. To all passers-by "Gunn's" seemed unchanged, unless it were that it had grown even more prosperous and active. But in the hall, two knobbed old canes which used to stand in the corner were hung ...
— Hetty's Strange History • Helen Jackson
... subtler views of our history, some more false and some more true than his, have become popular, or at least well known, when in the near future Carlylean or Catholic or Marxian views of history have spread themselves among the reading public, this book will always remain as a bright and brisk summary of the cock-sure, healthy-minded, essentially manly and essentially ungentlemanly view of history which characterised the Radicals of that particular Radical era. The history tells us nothing about the periods that it talks about; but it tells us ...
— Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens • G. K. Chesterton
... lace. By borrowed, I mean such as run into honest tradesmen's debts, for which they were not able to pay, as many of them did for French silver lace, against the last birth-day. Vide the shopkeepers' books.] Grave matrons are like clouds of snow, Where words fall thick, and soft, and slow; While brisk coquettes,* like rattling hail, *[Footnote: Girls who love to hear themselves prate, and put on a number of monkey-airs to catch men.] Our ears on every side assail. Clouds when they intercept our sight, Deprive us of celestial light: So when my ...
— The Humourous Poetry of the English Language • James Parton
... this moment were grouped some of the joyous members of that jovial sodality. There was Navailles, the brisk, the dissolute, the witty, always ready to risk everything, including honor, for a cast of the dice, for a kiss, for a pleasure or a revenge. There was Noce, pleasure-loving, pleasure-giving, always good-tempered, ...
— The Duke's Motto - A Melodrama • Justin Huntly McCarthy
... misunderstanding. The discharge of a gun had been agreed upon as the signal from the Alburkah for the Quorra to anchor; which being fired after dark, before the village, alarmed the natives, who opened a brisk discharge of musketry from the banks. The voyagers found it necessary to put a stop to this attack, by the discharge of their great guns, and in about twenty minutes the musketry from the shore was silenced. At day-break they made ...
— Life and Travels of Mungo Park in Central Africa • Mungo Park
... St. Peter Port was a change which made of Monica a new creature. The weather could not have been more propitious; day after day of still air and magnificent sky, with temperature which made a brisk walk at any hour thoroughly enjoyable, yet allowed one to sit at ease in the midday sunshine. Their lodgings were in the best part of the town, high up, looking forth over blue sea to the cliffs of Sark. Widdowson congratulated himself on having taken ...
— The Odd Women • George Gissing
... proved to be truly magical—a patient may bathe once every day, but on no account oftener. If he be not strong, he had better, at first, bathe only every other day, or even only twice a week. The bather, after leaving the machine, ought for half an hour to take a brisk walk in order to promote a reaction, and thus to cause a free circulation of ...
— Advice to a Mother on the Management of her Children • Pye Henry Chavasse
... a brisk rubdown, and breakfast put Buddy in fairly good fettle once more; so marked was his improvement, in fact, that Gray envied him his glorious ...
— Flowing Gold • Rex Beach
... continues still bed-rid. Here was Sir W. Batten and his Lady, and Mrs. Turner, and I very merry, talking of the confidence of Sir R. Ford's new-married daughter, though she married so strangely lately, yet appears at church as brisk as can be, and takes place of her elder sister, a maid. Thence home and to supper, and then, cold as it is, to my office, to make up my monthly accounts, and I do find that, through the fitting of my house this ...
— Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete • Samuel Pepys
... acquits Marat; he is conducted in triumph to the convention by the mob, who force themselves into the seats of the members. The commissioners of the convention, at Marseilles, are obliged to fly. The French make a brisk sally from Mayence. An insurrection at Breslau, raised by a taylor, (sic) and not suppressed without cannon. 30. Decreed, that the revolutionary tribunal shall be suspended till the 1st of June next. May 1. Dampierre ...
— Historical Epochs of the French Revolution • H. Goudemetz
... executioners. The Lamaseries are usually rich. The Tibetans are a deeply devout race, and the Lamas are not backward in extorting money, under pretences of all kinds, from the ignorant worshippers. Besides attending to their religious functions, the Lamas are traders. They carry on a brisk money-lending business, charging a high interest, which falls due every month. If this should remain unpaid, all the property of the borrower is seized, and if insufficient to repay the loan the debtor himself becomes a ...
— An Explorer's Adventures in Tibet • A. Henry Savage Landor
... they leave a tremendous amount of stuff behind; all the limbs and branches of the trees they have cut down, as they are only after the main stem; so when this gets nice and dry, after a year or so, and a fire starts, with a brisk wind to whip it, what follows is more than I can describe. I saw one such fire, and we only escaped with our lives by the quick wit of a logger along ...
— The Boy Scouts in the Maine Woods - The New Test for the Silver Fox Patrol • Herbert Carter
... arrived at Praed Street after a brisk walk that was intended to detach the mind from disturbing incident. In the broad thoroughfare of Portland Place (which looked as though it started with the idea of being a long, important roadway to the north, and became ...
— Love at Paddington • W. Pett Ridge
... Now, good morrow, friends. Now, good Cesario, but that piece of song, That old and antique song we heard last night; Methought it did relieve my passion much, More than light airs and recollected terms Of these most brisk and giddy-paced times. Come, but ...
— Twelfth Night; or, What You Will • William Shakespeare [Hudson edition]
... in the garden, all in the garden fair, And mused upon my hindmost sole all in the open air. When lo! I heard above my head a sound all like a wisk, I stepped me aside thereat out of the way so brisk. ...
— The Fifth Form at Saint Dominic's - A School Story • Talbot Baines Reed
... us that they sometimes sent from this house from fifteen hundred to two thousand slaves to the South in a year, and that they occasionally had three hundred to four hundred at once in their possession. That the trade was not now so brisk, but that prices were rising. The return and profits of this traffic appear to be entirely regulated by the fluctuations in the value of the cotton. Women are worth one-third less than men. But one instance of complete escape ...
— A Visit To The United States In 1841 • Joseph Sturge
... courtesans with a chance-come lover, take very considerable precautions against the gratitude of clients. The client before and after the lawsuit would furnish a subject worthy of Meissonier; there would be brisk bidding among attorneys for the possession of two ...
— Lost Illusions • Honore De Balzac
... always averse to the enjoyment on a summer afternoon. There were flocks of geese and ducks disporting themselves. And along the shore front docks had been built, there were business warehouses and shipping plying to and fro, for the trade with more southern ports was brisk. There were some noted taverns where one might see foreign sailors, and shops that displayed curious goods. There was damask Floreells silk, brocades and lutestrings done up in fair boxes, as you found when you entered. There were gold and silver laces and gold buttons and brocades ...
— A Little Girl in Old Philadelphia • Amanda Minnie Douglas
... velocity of 10 to 12 meters per second (22 to 27 miles an hour). We thought it would die down before long, and so remained indoors the early part of the morning. But when ten o'clock arrived, and the wind was as brisk as ever, we decided that we had better get the machine out and attempt a flight. We hung out the signal for the men of the life saving station. We thought that by facing the flyer into a strong wind, there ought to be ...
— The Early History of the Airplane • Orville Wright
... adapted; "Sweet Anne Page," "Babbling Echo," "Little Pickle" were set to sacred words. The music of "Few Happy Matches" was sung to the hymn "Lo, on a narrow neck of land;" and that of "When I was brisk and young" was disguised with the sacred words of "Let sinners take their course." The jolly old tune, ...
— Sabbath in Puritan New England • Alice Morse Earle
... in her imperious brisk way, like the little embodiment of will she was: "Oh! what does it matter? Phil never ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy
... as traders is lessened; and I cannot forbear to suspect, that my husband's honour as a wit is not much advanced, for he seems to be always the lowest of the company, and is afraid to tell his opinion till the rest have spoken. When he was behind his counter, he used to be brisk, active, and jocular, like a man that knew what he was doing, and did not fear to look another in the face; but among wits and criticks he is timorous and awkward, and hangs down his head at his own table. Dear Mr. Idler, persuade him, if you ...
— The Works of Samuel Johnson in Nine Volumes - Volume IV: The Adventurer; The Idler • Samuel Johnson
... brisk walk and searched his worn face. "You are not well," she said suddenly, "you are not ...
— Ringfield - A Novel • Susie Frances Harrison
... drawn off into stone jugs, with a lump of white sugar in each, securely corked. It is brisk and pleasant, ...
— The American Frugal Housewife • Lydia M. Child
... still standing there, with her dreamy eyes on the old negress toiling up the hill with her basket of brushwood, when a man passed the fountain hurriedly, and came with a brisk, springy stride up the brick walk below the library. As she watched him, at first without recognition, she thought vaguely that his rugged figure made a picture of embodied activity, of physical energy and enjoyment. The ...
— One Man in His Time • Ellen Glasgow
... managed to enjoy themselves in a quiet manner, but the latter hailed the return of her schoolfellows with considerable relief. The house seemed so big and silent and lonely without its usual lively crew of boarders, and the dormitory with its empty beds oppressed her. Miss Poppleton came back more brisk and bustling than ever, and was at once immersed in the business of interviewing parents and rearranging school affairs, and in the thousand and one cares that always occupied her at the beginning ...
— The Leader of the Lower School - A Tale of School Life • Angela Brazil
... more pleasant epithets for our favourite flower than "pale," "faint," "that die unmarried;" and Milton follows in the same strain yet sadder. Once, indeed, he speaks of youth as "Brisk as the April buds in Primrose season" ("Comus"); but only in three passages does he speak of the Primrose itself, and in two of these he ...
— The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare • Henry Nicholson Ellacombe
... well for a time, and the two bold flyers sped swiftly over the sea, skimming along only a little above the waves, and helped on their way by the brisk east wind. Towards noon the sun shone very warm, and Daedalus called out to the boy who was a little behind and told him to keep his wings cool and not fly too high. But the boy was proud of his skill in flying, and as he looked up at the sun he thought ...
— Old Greek Stories • James Baldwin
... boys moderated their mad pace, and as there seemed to be no further signs of danger they finally fell into a walk. Still neither of them lagged, but kept up a brisk pace, Jack casting numerous apprehensive glances over his shoulder, haunted by a lingering suspicion that the spy might yet give ...
— Air Service Boys Over The Enemy's Lines - The German Spy's Secret • Charles Amory Beach
... statues; while the whole city is surrounded by vineyards and country houses. Tobacco, leather, linen, carpets and war-material are manufactured in Agram, which also contains the works of the Hungarian state railways, and has a brisk trade in grain, wine, potash, honey, silk and ...
— Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia
... day foregathered with a brisk north wind after luncheon, and it was still mid-afternoon when Betty and Eleanor ran up Miss Carter's front steps, delighted at the prospect of getting in out of the cold. At the door ...
— Betty Wales Senior • Margaret Warde
... clambered upon the Pleasant-Faced Lion's back, and convulsively hugging him half round his great neck, buried his head in the Lion's mane and shut his eyes, whilst the Lion took a bold jump from off his pedestal, and started in a brisk trot for Balham. ...
— The Tale of Lal - A Fantasy • Raymond Paton
... noisily and a brisk step fell upon the marble pavement. Unorna rose noiselessly to her feet and hastening along the open space came face to face with Keyork Arabian. He stopped and looked up at her from beneath his heavy brows, with surprise and suspicion. She raised ...
— The Witch of Prague • F. Marion Crawford
... before him consisted of French and Spanish peasants, the inhabitants of a neighbouring hamlet, some of whom were performing a sprightly dance, the women with castanets in their hands, to the sounds of a lute and a tamborine, till, from the brisk melody of France, the music softened into a slow movement, to which two female ...
— The Mysteries of Udolpho • Ann Radcliffe
... positively enervating and contemptible. Yet if one subtracts the idea of enjoyment from labour, there is no beauty-loving spirit which does not instantly and rightly rebel. There must be labour, of course, effective, vigorous, brisk labour, overcoming difficulties, mastering uncongenial details; but the end should be enjoyment; and it should be made clear that the greater the mastery, the richer the enjoyment; and that if one cannot enjoy a thing without ...
— Joyous Gard • Arthur Christopher Benson
... William Rogers and Pete, in their best clothes, were looking at the cows in the orchard, while Patty was gathering some cabbages to feed them. Martha was moving about in the kitchen and singing a quiet, sleepy psalm tune to herself, and on the sunny bench under the window sat a brisk-looking, white-haired old man with a wooden leg, beating time to the psalm tune with the stick in his hand. When he caught sight of the young ladies he jumped up directly and made quite a grand bow, though Angel almost caught hold ...
— Two Maiden Aunts • Mary H. Debenham
... Sleek hair, brisk glance, fleshy and yet alert, Red, full, and satisfied, Cased in obtuseness ...
— Miscellany of Poetry - 1919 • Various
... were making a splendid showing with their brisk, steady, sturdy paddling. Many a cheer went ...
— The High School Boys' Canoe Club • H. Irving Hancock
... Rawdon lies on the other side of this table land, quite in a valley. A bright, brisk little stream runs through it, and turns several large mills. It is a very pretty rural place, and is fast rising towards the dignity of a town. When we first came to Belleville, the spot on which Rawdon now stands belonged principally, if not ...
— Life in the Clearings versus the Bush • Susanna Moodie
... and once only, I have consented to spare you all from certain punishment by not reporting to Mr. West this accident, which you ought to have prevented. But you must never ask or expect to be shielded by me again. Now we will go for a brisk walk as usual, and call for Graglia and Trevelyan minor on the way back. I dare say they will be ready ...
— Jack of Both Sides - The Story of a School War • Florence Coombe
... sitting on the retaining wall of the park, and her skin, which was flecked with the shadows of new maple leaves above her, was lighted not only by the yellow rays of the afternoon sun, but also with the bright colors which her brisk walk had brought to the soft surface. I assure you, ...
— The Blue Wall - A Story of Strangeness and Struggle • Richard Washburn Child
... their respective shoppings were completed, Maxwell rejoined Mrs. Burke, and they had started on a brisk trot towards ...
— Hepsey Burke • Frank Noyes Westcott
... Why are you vext Lady? why do you frown Here dwell no frowns, nor anger, from these gates Sorrow flies farr: See here be all the pleasures That fancy can beget on youthfull thoughts, When the fresh blood grows lively, and returns 670 Brisk as the April buds in Primrose-season. And first behold this cordial Julep here That flames, and dances in his crystal bounds With spirits of balm, and fragrant Syrops mixt. Not that Nepenthes which the wife of Thone, In Egypt ...
— The Poetical Works of John Milton • John Milton
... home to dinner brisk and cheerful; he felt better than for many a day. Brightly responsive, Sibyl welcomed ...
— The Whirlpool • George Gissing
... Officer is putting fresh clothes on his bed. Clean sheets and blankets and a snowy counterpane ("All sorts o' people come in to have a chat, Mr. McAlnwick") are arranged with due care. He is brisk to-night, is my good friend, having no log to modify this time, and nothing else on hand for a day or two. Photos dusted, ports opened, tobacco and whiskey duly placed between us, he climbs into his nest and proceeds to converse. A sort of "Tabagie" or tobacco ...
— An Ocean Tramp • William McFee
... and deeper in among the trees the five continued their journey; and, when they felt sure they had penetrated far enough to avoid any chance of detection, they turned their faces northward and set out at a brisk pace. ...
— The boy Allies at Liege • Clair W. Hayes
... stood there he heard his wife's voice coming out of the depth of the cellar, with that rapid telescoping of the syllables and interrogative cocking up of the final words to a high note, by which the West Sussex villager is wont to indicate a brisk impatience. "George! You ...
— The Invisible Man • H. G. Wells
... receipt of reassuring news from Europe, the market has advanced to DELMONICO'S, where wet goods are quoted from 10 cents upwards. Champagne brisk, with large sales. Counter-sales (sandwiches, etc.,) extensive. Change in ...
— Punchinello Vol. 1, No. 21, August 20, 1870 • Various
... Beating oars 280 The stern was formed A gilded shell Red and gold The brisk swell Rippled both shores Southwest wind Carried down stream The peal of bells White towers Weialala leia ...
— The Waste Land • T. S. Eliot
... rebellion had compelled the Government to withdraw some of their troops from the continent. France for a while was flattered and fluttered by a series of brisk successes which left almost the whole of the Austrian Netherlands in her possession at the end of the campaign of 1746. The battle of Lauffeld, near Maestricht, in Holland, in the summer of 1747, in which the allied Austrian, ...
— A History of the Four Georges, Volume II (of 4) • Justin McCarthy
... are they to lazy folks, Who pour down on us gifts of fluent speech, Sense most sententious, wonderful fine effect, And how to talk about it and about it, Thoughts brisk as bees, and pathos ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Vol I and II • Samuel Taylor Coleridge
... And the De la Cour minuet gracefully danc'd. The Lion and Unicorn, beasts of great fame, With much admiration, accomplish'd the same. The Tiger and Leopard, an active young pair, Perform'd a brisk jig, with an excellent air. Next Bruin[3] stood up with a good natur'd smile, } And caper'd a horn-pipe, in singular style, } With a staff in his paws, and erect all the while. } The Fox, Wolf, and Panther, their humours to please, [p 12] Danc'd three-handed reels with much spirit and ease. A few ...
— The Elephant's Ball, and Grand Fete Champetre • W. B.
... I've hit on, and I think we needn't lose more than one man in putting it into execution. Remove every thing from that cart, and let half a dozen men keep up a brisk fire in front of the hut, while I with the rest, will take the team to the back of the shanty. We can push it close under the roof and shelter ourselves from the fire of those within, if they discover the trick, which I don't think they will. By starting ...
— The Gold Hunter's Adventures - Or, Life in Australia • William H. Thomes
... he been so enterprising or so successful. This year he salted on account of the firm and for himself, and bought a quantity of herrings. Brisk and cheerful, he brought life and gaiety with him wherever he went, and all agreed that Jacob Worse ...
— Skipper Worse • Alexander Lange Kielland
... Cedar Creek, on the left of the Valley pike, Emory on the right of the pike, the Sixth Corps on the right of Emory, and the cavalry on the flanks. In the afternoon a heavy skirmish-line had been thrown forward to the heights on the south side of Cedar Creek, and a brisk affair with the enemy's pickets took place, the Confederates occupying with their main force the heights north of Strasburg. On the morning of the 13th my cavalry went out to reconnoitre toward Strasburg, on the middle road, about ...
— The Memoirs of General P. H. Sheridan, Complete • General Philip Henry Sheridan
... pretty strongly, even for the time, the place, and the girl. She promptly swung a brisk right toe, kicked the burly youth under the chin, and flattened ...
— The Heart of the Range • William Patterson White
... Indian, although treading almost on his heels. He appreciated more strongly than he had ever done before how much keener were the faculties of the Indians in some respects than his own, for they went along at a brisk rate, making their way through the trees with as little hesitation as if it had been broad daylight. Occasionally there was a pause for an instant as Pita slashed through ...
— With Cochrane the Dauntless • George Alfred Henty
... as possible in our rather novel positions, with which we were rather pleased than otherwise, we proceeded on our way at a brisk speed, for our horse was quite fresh and showed no disposition to loiter on the road, since like ourselves he was ...
— From John O'Groats to Land's End • Robert Naylor and John Naylor
... horse I was riding, whose various demonstrations of dislike to the arrangement afforded my small equestrian extreme delight and triumph. My whole afternoon was spent in shifting my bed and bed-room furniture from a room on the ground-floor to one above; in the course of which operation, a brisk discussion took place between M—— and my boy Jack, who was nailing on the vallence of the bed; and whom I suddenly heard exclaim in answer to something she had said—'Well den, I do tink so; and dat's the speech of a man, whether um bond or free.' A very trifling incident, ...
— Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation - 1838-1839 • Frances Anne Kemble
... dressed, snatched their arms and accoutrements and formed in the company streets. As soon as a company was ready it started for the color line, and, as soon as the regiment was formed, it started on a brisk walk towards the front, or in the direction of our pickets. When once fairly under way the order was to "step out," and finally, to "double quick." We went in the direction of Edson's Hill, where our picket reserves were stationed. It ...
— Personal Recollections of the War of 1861 • Charles Augustus Fuller
... take the thing down-heartedly? As well seek wine in a milk-pail as love in that girl's heart! Be done with this, and be a man. After the league of the lions, let us have a conspiracy of mice, and pull this piece of machinery to ground. You were brisk enough last night when nothing was at stake and all was frolic. Well, here is better sport; here is ...
— Prince Otto • Robert Louis Stevenson
... brisk trot they rode out, the trooper lagging a pace to the rear, the watchful eyes of both men sweeping suspiciously across the prairie. The two parties met suddenly upon the summit of a sharp ridge, and Brant drew in his horse with an exclamation of astonishment. It ...
— Bob Hampton of Placer • Randall Parrish
... it might brisk things up a little for Miss Elvira to let him come." Hugh's apologetic tone seemed, somehow, the result of ...
— Ainslee's, Vol. 15, No. 6, July 1905 • Various
... friends in the galley, upon seeing him murdered, gave a shriek that was heard to the shore, and weighed anchor immediately. Their flight was assisted by a brisk gale, as they got out more to sea; so that the Egyptians gave up their design of pursuing them. The murderers having cut off Pompey's head, threw the body out of the boat naked, and left it exposed to all who were desirous of such a sight. Philip stayed ...
— The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch - Being Parts of The "Lives" of Plutarch • Plutarch
... with radiant eyes from face of gold glanced o'er the white heavens, the firm soil, and the savage sea, and drave away the glooms of night with his brisk and clamorous team, then sleep fast-flying quickly sped away from wakening Attis, and goddess Pasithea received Somnus in her panting bosom. Then when from quiet rest torn, her delirium over, Attis at once recalled to ...
— The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus • Caius Valerius Catullus
... Cavalry, Major Bradford, and the 6th Phalanx Battery of heavy artillery, numbering 262 men, and six guns. At sunrise on the 13th, General Forrest's forces advanced and attacked the fort. The garrison maintained a steady brisk fire, and kept the enemy at bay from an outer line of intrenchments. About 9 A. M. Major Booth was killed, and Major Bradford taking command, drew the troops back into the Fort, situated on a high, steep and partially timbered bluff ...
— The Black Phalanx - African American soldiers in the War of Independence, the - War of 1812, and the Civil War • Joseph T. Wilson
... in the temple of Bacchus. From the day that saw him a licensed victualler he ceased to attend the Socialist meetings; it was, of course, a sufficient explanation to point to the fact that he could not be in two places at the same time, for Sunday evening is a season of brisk business in the liquor trade. At first he was reticent on the subject of his old convictions, but by degrees he found it possible to achieve the true innkeeper's art, and speak freely in a way which could offend none of his customers. ...
— Demos • George Gissing
... A brisk wind sprung up the river full in their faces, relieving them from the extreme heat of the weather, which was remarkably fine; the scene before them was very animating, and the whole of them were in high glee and spirits. Other canoes joined them, and never did the British flag ...
— Lander's Travels - The Travels of Richard Lander into the Interior of Africa • Robert Huish
... It was indeed nearly helpless and much swollen, though she had been hardly conscious of it since the little accident happened. The brisk, black-eyed Sister had soon put a comforting bandage round it, chattering all the time of Mrs. Fountain and the ups and ...
— Helbeck of Bannisdale, Vol. II • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... D—— & Co.," said the brisk young clerk. They had treated me with great respect of late, for, indeed, our claim was steadily growing in weight, and was sure to come right before long. I ...
— On the Church Steps • Sarah C. Hallowell
... day no less than seven canoes with natives, including several women and children, came off to the ship boldly and without hesitation, as if confidence were now established. At one time we had five canoes alongside, with a brisk and noisy traffic going on. The people parted very readily with their weapons and ornaments, also coconuts in abundance, and a few yams and bananas, for strips of calico and pieces of iron hoop. Axes, however, ...
— Narrative Of The Voyage Of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By The Late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S. Etc. During The Years 1846-1850. Including Discoveries And Surveys In New Guinea, The Louisiade • John MacGillivray
... contemptuous companion spoke I had no answer, felt out of date and dull, a fogey and an idle man. I had no answer ready—none that would have satisfied this brisk young man, none that would not have seemed remote and trivial ...
— Old Junk • H. M. Tomlinson
... position to be occupied by the cats, and Wolfe refers in a despatch to a conversation he had with Cook upon the matter. The attack took place on 31st July, aided by the fire of the Pembroke, Trent, and Richmond, which were "anchored clear over to the north shore before Beauport, a brisk firing on both sides," but the boats were thrown into confusion by a reef (marked on the chart as visible at low water), and were some time before they could effect a landing, then a heavy storm of rain came on, rendering the ground, which was steep, very ...
— The Life of Captain James Cook • Arthur Kitson
... medicine that she knew awaited her as soon as she should declare herself awake, when Soeur Ursule entered the room. She had come with some message to Soeur Lucie, and when it was delivered, stood chatting a few minutes by the window where Soeur Lucie sat knitting. She was a gaunt, brisk, elderly woman, who had been governess in a large school, before an opportune legacy had enabled her to fulfil her dearest wish and enter the convent, where, with fresh zeal and energy, she resumed the duties most congenial to her, as teacher ...
— My Little Lady • Eleanor Frances Poynter
... not to be resisted. Through the opened top of the window came the noises of Polk Street, already long awake. One heard the chanting of street cries, the shrill calling of children on their way to school, the merry rattle of a butcher's cart, the brisk noise of hammering, or the occasional prolonged roll of a cable car trundling heavily past, with a vibrant whirring of its jostled glass and the ...
— McTeague • Frank Norris
... the path, he tied an end of the cord he had brought to a post, then retreated into the shadow and tied the other end about the column. The youth he had seen came on at a brisk walk. Pike was sure it was Hodge. He almost ceased to breathe as the unsuspecting young fellow approached the cord. He put himself in position for ...
— Frank Merriwell's Reward • Burt L. Standish
... zealously as any farmer on the ground—taking care, in the mean time, to wear his spectacles and broad-brimmed hat, and to keep up his character in voice and manner; and, as the morning advanced, he began to drive a brisk business. ...
— Cruel As The Grave • Mrs. Emma D. E. N. Southworth
... foolish stock, or a soldier lamed by his ill- fitting shoes, or a soldier deprived of the use of his limbs by straps and buttons, or a soldier elaborately forced to be self-helpless in all the small affairs of life. A swarm of brisk, bright, active, bustling, handy, odd, skirmishing fellows, able to turn cleverly at anything, from a siege to soup, from great guns to needles and thread, from the broadsword exercise to slicing an onion, from ...
— Somebody's Luggage • Charles Dickens
... the introduction was accomplished, he proceeded to make himself as agreeable to that lady as he possibly could. In the first place, he liked her appearance, he liked her brisk, frank manner; and then, is n't it always well to have a friend ...
— The Lady Paramount • Henry Harland
... and go begin chopping up fodder to feed with come supper time," answered his wife, her usual attitude of brisk generalship coming into her capable voice and eyes after their softening under the strain of the varied emotions of the last half hour in the store. "Let's me and you get mops and broom and begin on a-cleaning up for Mr. Crabtree before his moving, Lou. I reckon you want to go ...
— Rose of Old Harpeth • Maria Thompson Daviess
... a little brisk, and she spoke with a benign smile in the tranquil accents of absolute conviction. But she did not move her head; she waited to look at Thomas Batchgrew until he came within her field of vision at the foot ...
— The Price of Love • Arnold Bennett
... fleeting, cursory, short-lived, ephemeral; flying &c. v.; fugacious, fugitive; shifting, slippery; spasmodic; instantaneous, momentaneous[obs3]. temporal, temporary; provisional, provisory; deciduous; perishable, mortal, precarious, unstable, insecure; impermanent. brief, quick, brisk, extemporaneous, summary; pressed for time &c. (haste) 684; sudden, momentary &c. (instantaneous) 113. Adv. temporarily &c. adj.; pro tempore[Lat]; for the moment, for a time; awhile, en passant[Fr], ...
— Roget's Thesaurus
... gruffly. It was Sergeant Klomp, and Tristram turned it over in his mind whether to offer an apology or no. While he was still debating, a brisk young officer ...
— The Blue Pavilions • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
... my physique I should mention that all my reflexes are very brisk, though I am only slightly ticklish in the ordinary sense of the term. I sweat easily and am very shy, not only with women, but with any strangers. I have, however, trained myself not to show this. About averagely passionate, I should say, and extremely critical where women are concerned, the latter ...
— Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 3 (of 6) • Havelock Ellis
... Achitophel," in 1681, convulsed the town and angered the city. Men talked for a time of nothing else. Tate, who was in the secret of its authorship, talked of it to Dryden, and urged an extension of the poem. Were there not enough of Shaftesbury's brisk boys running at large who deserved to be gibbeted? Were there not enough Hebrew names in the two books of Samuel to name each as appropriately as those already nomenclatured? But Dryden was indisposed to undertake a continuation which must fall short of what had been executed in the exact proportion ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 2, Issue 11, September, 1858 • Various
... She was a brisk, cheery old soul, with the colour of a winter-apple in her face, plenty of fire in her quick black eyes, and a mouthful of fine teeth, though she must have been sixty. She was dressed in the costume of the place: a linen cap with several ...
— Shawl-Straps - A Second Series of Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag • Louisa M. Alcott
... puritanical eyes the flaunting of an ungodly thing. There was a transparent pallor in her white skin and heavy shadows beneath her big dark eyes that made them seem even larger and duskier. A whispered rumor went around that she was not too strong—that it was the brisk keen air for which John Anderson had brought ...
— Once to Every Man • Larry Evans
... manufactured articles and objects of luxury. Florence, Venice and Genoa ranked as the polished and learned cities of the world. Further east, again, Constantinople still remained in the hands of the Greek emperors, or, during the Crusades, of their Latin rivals. A brisk trade existed via the Mediterranean between Europe and India or the nearer East. This double stream of traffic ran along two main routes—one, by the Rhine, from Lombardy and Rome; the other, by sea, from Venice, Genoa, Florence, Constantinople, the ...
— Seeing Europe with Famous Authors, Volume 4 (of 10) • Various
... situation for a few difficult seconds, then took brisk command. "Why don't you have a smoke?" she said. "You'd find it ...
— Charles Rex • Ethel M. Dell
... antlers, followed by two does, had been feeding in the open space beyond the ruins. The wind was brisk just then from that direction, and they had not scented the two hunters. They had slowly drawn nearer and nearer until they were now about three hundred yards away. That is a greater distance than is at all safe shooting for any but the best marksmen, and sometimes ...
— The Talking Leaves - An Indian Story • William O. Stoddard
... you are gone out of town, Which shows very plainly that Trim could have earned large wages had he lived in the nineteenth century. These 'Palmy Days' are not long enough, however, to permit the introduction of all the characters, nor the outlining of the entire story, with its brisk love-interest. But this bit of dialogue, which occurs after Sable has discovered the much-alive Lord Brumpton, is too good ...
— The Palmy Days of Nance Oldfield • Edward Robins
... wash-day in every well-ordered family. Mrs. Leverett and Betty had the washing out early, but it was not a brisk drying day, so no ironing could be done in the afternoon. Betty changed her gown and brought out her sewing, and Doris studied her lessons ...
— A Little Girl in Old Boston • Amanda Millie Douglas
... brisk Lass Upon the Grass, Will sport, and Give her Love; She'll wink and pink, Till she can't ...
— The Merry-Thought: or the Glass-Window and Bog-House Miscellany. Part 1 • Samuel Johnson [AKA Hurlo Thrumbo]
... following morning it was observed that before the judges took their seats Mr. Chaffanbrass entered the Court with a manner much more brisk than was expected from him now that his own work was done. As a matter of course he would be there to hear the charge, but, almost equally as a matter of course, he would be languid, silent, cross, and unenergetic. They who knew ...
— Phineas Redux • Anthony Trollope
... of the top of the voice requires practice upon passages expressing brisk, gay, and joyous emotions, and the extremes of pain, fear, and grief. The following examples ...
— The American Union Speaker • John D. Philbrick
... delivers his words, singing and trembling with his whole body, looking before and on each side of him with a steady countenance, sometimes moving with a slow grave pace, then again with a quick and brisk one. ...
— An Account Of The Customs And Manners Of The Micmakis And Maricheets Savage Nations, Now Dependent On The Government Of Cape-Breton • Antoine Simon Maillard
... scene of their strange encounter and stranger adventure, the party of youthful aviators clambered back into the Golden Butterfly and once more winged aloft. It was a short dash to their shed and they reached it without incident. Then, with hearts that felt lighter for the brisk, healthy influence of breezy James Bell, they trudged to the small hotel at which they were stopping, in order to avoid being seen by Mortlake and his aides ...
— The Girl Aviators' Sky Cruise • Margaret Burnham |
