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Fain   /feɪn/   Listen
Fain

adverb
1.
In a willing manner.  Synonyms: gladly, lief.  "I would fain do it"






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Fain" Quotes from Famous Books



... men, but too fair and fresh for warriors, not having the sunburnt, warlike hue of our old Castilian soldiery. They were huge feeders also, and deep carousers, and could not accommodate themselves to the sober diet of our troops, but must fain eat and drink after the manner of their own country. They were often noisy and unruly, also, in their wassail; and their quarter of the camp was prone to be a scene of loud revel and sudden brawl. They were, withal, of ...
— Washington Irving • Charles Dudley Warner

... mother." "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection," says St. Paul. Of course Satan will try to turn all our attempts to his own purposes. He will try to make us think too much of ourselves for what we do; he would fain make us despise others; he will try to ensnare us in other ways. Of course he turns all things to evil, as far as he can; all our crosses may become temptations: illness, affliction, bereavement, pain, loss of worldly ...
— Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII (of 8) • John Henry Newman

... that it is employed upon. It is made up of flesh and blood, and of English flesh and blood too. It may not always be willing to move, or to strike when moved. The Boroughmongers see that their titles and estates hang upon the army. They would fain coax the people back again to feelings of reverence and love. They would fain wheedle them into something that shall blunt their hostility. They have been trying Bible-schemes, school-schemes, and soup-schemes. And at last they are ...
— Political Pamphlets • George Saintsbury

... have very handsomely explain'd the Matter, by the comparing of Texts, which is the best Way of expounding Scripture. But I would fain know what it is he calls Sacrifice, and what Mercy. For how can we reconcile it, that God should be against Sacrifices, who had commanded so ...
— Colloquies of Erasmus, Volume I. • Erasmus

... apprehensions pointed correctly, Mr. Romfrey kissed her on the forehead. She could not understand how it had come to pass that she found herself suddenly on this incline, precipitated whither she would fain be going, only less hurriedly, less openly, and with her secret merely peeping, like ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... pay a very ill compliment to my gray hairs; and would fain make me a very ill return for the service I have done you, when you ask me to lend a hundred pounds to a young lady who owns to having forged to the extent of one thousand two hundred pounds, and to owing eight hundred pounds besides. I wished to save a personage ...
— The International Monthly Magazine, Volume 5, No. 1, January, 1852 • Various

... hand is so comforting as it lies on the Major's on the chair-arm that he is fain to enjoy it a little, however reproachful the clock-face may be looking. You can pretend your toddy is too hot, almost any length of time, as long as no one else touches the tumbler; also you can drink as slow as you like. No need ...
— Somehow Good • William de Morgan

... stirring and o'er-creep The ford of sleep, Thy shape, great Love, grows shadowy in the East, Thine accents least Of all those warring voices of false morn: And oh, forlorn Thy hope, thy courage vanishing, thine eyes Sad with surprise. Oh, with the dawn I know, I know how vain Is love that's fain To beat and beat against her obstinate door. For as once more It groans, she passes out not heeding me, Nay, will not see:— As when a man, rich and of high estate, Sees at his gate (Or will not see) a famishing poor ...
— Poems New and Old • John Freeman

... shown me. Those cadets near me bought lemons, lemonade, etc, and shared with me, and when, on another occasion, I was the purchaser, they freely partook of my "good cheer." What conclusion shall I draw from this? That they are unfriendly or prejudiced? I fain would drop my pen and burn my manuscript if for even an instant I thought it possible. And yet how shall I explain away this bit of braggadocio in the words italicized in this article from the ...
— Henry Ossian Flipper, The Colored Cadet at West Point • Henry Ossian Flipper

... methinks, have laughed heartily." But what shall be said of a Professor like the egregious M. Fleury, who holds that Ronsard was despised at Court? Was there a party at tennis when the king would not fain have had thee on his side, declaring that he ever won when Ronsard was his partner? Did he not give thee benefices, and many priories, and call thee his father in Apollo, and even, so they say, bid thee sit down beside him on his throne? Away, ye scandalous folk, who tell us ...
— Letters to Dead Authors • Andrew Lang

... letter dated Barnstable &.c, in which mention is made of some rude Aspersions cast upon the characters of himself and several others of our Committee by your Representative Mr Bacon in a public meeting of your Town. As the intelligence was thus uncertain the Committee would fain hope that it was impossible for one of Mr Bacon's station in life to act so unjustifiable a part; especially after the handsome things which he had the credit of saying of every one of Committee upon a late occasion in the House of ...
— The Writings of Samuel Adams, vol. III. • Samuel Adams

... less strenuous but more sympathetic, who reported themselves to us hauntingly, during a considerable period, as enjoying every conceivable agrement at Tours and at the then undeveloped Trouville, even the winter Trouville, on the lowest possible terms. Fain would I, as for the "mere pleasure" of it, under the temptation to delineate, gather into my loose net the singularly sharp and rounded image of our cousin Charlotte of the former name, who figured for us, on the field of ...
— A Small Boy and Others • Henry James

... so fair and dear That death would fain disown thee, grief made wise With prophecy thy husband's widowed eyes, And bade him call the master's art to rear Thy perfect image on the sculptured bier, With dreaming lids, hands laid in peaceful guise Beneath the breast that seems to fall and rise, And lips that at love's ...
— Artemis to Actaeon and Other Worlds • Edith Wharton

... repelled him entirely, but that she offered him a good subject. He said to himself that she was a bad lot, but what sort of a bad lot was not so clear as to make her devoid of interest to him; he must discover how she played her life-game; she had a history, and he would fain know it. As I have said, however, so far it had come to nothing, for, upon the surface, Sepia showed herself merely like any other worldly girl who knows "on which side her ...
— Mary Marston • George MacDonald

... was of an age to ride to the court, the people saw him gladly, and wedded wives and maids were alike fain that he should tarry there. By order of Siegmund and Sieglind he was richly clad, and without guards he was suffered not to ride abroad. They that had him in charge were wise men versed in honour, to the end that he might win ...
— The Fall of the Niebelungs • Unknown

... her trust her treasure, As misers to their gold, while others rest: Through this opaque of nature and of soul, This double night, transmit one pitying ray, To lighten and to cheer. Oh, lead my mind, (A mind that fain would wander from its woe,) Lead it through various scenes of life and death, And from each scene the noblest truths inspire. Nor less inspire my conduct, than my song; Teach my best reason, reason; ...
— The Illustrated London Reading Book • Various

... King's. Jerusalem the golden! With milk and honey blest, Beneath thy contemplation Sink heart and voice opprest; I know not, oh, I know not What social joys are there, What radiancy of glory, What light beyond compare; And when I fain would sing them, My spirit fails and faints, And vainly would it image The assembly of the Saints. They stand, those halls of Syon, All jubilant with song, And bright with many an Angel, And many a Martyr throng; The Prince is ever in them, ...
— Library Of The World's Best Literature, Ancient And Modern, Vol 4 • Charles Dudley Warner

... to be allowed to come as far as Kilimane, and, thinking that they would there see the ocean, I consented to their coming, though the food was so scarce in consequence of a dearth that they were compelled to suffer some hunger. They would fain have come farther; for when Sekeletu parted with them, his orders were that none of them should turn until they had reached Ma Robert and brought her back with them. On my explaining the difficulty of crossing the sea, he said, "Wherever you lead, they must follow." As I ...
— Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa - Journeys and Researches in South Africa • David Livingstone

... of Worship whilst there, tho for want of new Saints my Zeal grew something cold, which I was ever fain to supply with a Bottle, the old Remedy when Phyllis is ...
— The Works of Aphra Behn, Vol. I (of 6) • Aphra Behn

... American public, are not the latest of the author's writings. It completes, however, Messrs. Ticknor & Fields' reprint of his poetical works. His growing popularity calls for the present publication. We would fain number ourselves among the admirers of the husband of Elizabeth Barrett; the man loved by this truly great poetess, to whom she addressed the refined and imaginative tenderness of the 'Portuguese Sonnets?' ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 5, May, 1864 - Devoted To Literature And National Policy • Various

... of blue darkness where the big Forest swept the little garden with its league-long curve that was like the shore-line of a sea. A wave of distant sound that was like surf accompanied his voice, as though the wind was fain ...
— The Man Whom the Trees Loved • Algernon Blackwood

... many such prayers are flung out into the deep of God's mercy,—comfort for such a one whom we would fain comfort ourselves; feeble utterances and cries of pity; the stretching out of helpless hands, which nevertheless may bring down blessings? But so it shall be while men and women struggle and fall, and weep the tears common ...
— Not Like Other Girls • Rosa N. Carey

... ambition rather on doing without luxuries than on possessing them. For now the state, unable to keep its purity by reason of its greatness, and having so many affairs, and people from all parts under its government, was fain to admit many mixed customs, and new examples of living. With reason, therefore, everybody admired Cato, when they saw others sink under labors, and grow effeminate by pleasures, but beheld him unconquered by ...
— The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch - Being Parts of The "Lives" of Plutarch • Plutarch

... which, in days of yore, had been a convent of monks. Its former inmates, as the story went, had been any thing but ascetics in their practices, and at last so high ran the scandal of their evil doings, that they were fain to leave Pampeluna and establish themselves in another house of their order, south of the Ebro. Some time afterwards the convent had been subdivided into dwelling-houses, and one of these had for many years past been in the occupation of Basilio the cloth-merchant. Inside and out the ...
— Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 366, April, 1846 • Various

... "Oh, about the german;" to which Jerrold's voice was heard to say, "The german's all right. I'll lead if I'm well enough and am not bothered to death meantime; but I've got some private matters to attend to, and am not seeing anybody to-day." And with this answer they were fain to be content. It had been settled, however, that the officers were to tell Captain Chester at ten o'clock that in their opinion Mr. Jerrold ought not to be permitted to attend so long as this mysterious charge hung over him; and Mr. Rollins ...
— From the Ranks • Charles King

... them. I beseech ye, for the love of God, say on. Then told they him what they knew: and the King took counsel upon this matter with Rodrigo of Bivar, and Rodrigo said, that certes the Lord would help him to win the city; and he said that he would fain be knighted by the King's hand, and that it seemed to him now that he should receive knighthood at his hand in Coimbra. A covenant was then made with the two Monks, that they should go with the army against the city in ...
— Chronicle Of The Cid • Various

... indeed!" sighed the Abbe, "he was a devil incarnate—but what a magnificent man! What a wonderful huntsman! Notwithstanding his backslidings, there was a great deal of good in him, and I am fain to believe that God has taken him under ...
— A Woodland Queen, Complete • Andre Theuriet

... left the house and hastened to the barn. He would fain escape from those words of piercing power. They were like daggers in his heart. He entered the barn. Again he hears a voice. It comes from the hay-loft, in the rich silvery tones of his own noble boy. John had climbed up the ladder, and kneeling ...
— Children's Edition of Touching Incidents and Remarkable Answers to Prayer • S. B. Shaw

... and (as it seemed to me) from the same distance as before. Mr. Rogers, in the Rector's coat and the curate's hat, stepped hurriedly to the valise and began to re-pack it, kneeling with his back to the window, and full in the line of sight. I am fain to say that he played his part admirably. The suspense, which kept my heart knocking against my ribs, either did not trouble him or threw into his movements just the amount of agitation to make them ...
— The Adventures of Harry Revel • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... lay of the prodigal host! Who enters here leaveth behind not hope. Course follows course; entree, releve, ragout, Ambrosial sauces, pungent, after luscious soup. The landlord spurs his guests to fresh attack, With fricassee, rechauffe and omelets; A toothsome feast that Apicius would fain have served, While wine, divine, new zeal in all begets. Who is this host, my Muse, pray say? ...
— The Strollers • Frederic S. Isham

... them up slowly as one of my most cherished possessions. I could not share his feelings about them at that time, whatever I may think of them now, and they formed a part of a scheme to make my essays less dull, and what I was fain to think even a little amusing. But apart from my opening sentence I had in this essay deprived myself of the pleasure of ornate phrasing and been as solid as possible. I had, however, taken great pains over ...
— Godfrey Marten, Undergraduate • Charles Turley

... aghast. He would fain have believed his chum had either not seen him or was joking. But a sinking at his heart told him otherwise, and a rush of anger told him that whatever the reason might be it ...
— Follow My leader - The Boys of Templeton • Talbot Baines Reed

... being, seem to us to belong to the singer alone who fanned the first spark within us. We hear her voice and record only what she has sung. It is, however, the inheritance of us weak mortals that, clinging to the clods, we are only too fain to draw down what is above the earth into the miserable narrowness characteristic of things of the earth. Thus it comes to pass that the singer becomes our lover—or even our wife. The spell is broken, and the melody of her nature, ...
— Weird Tales. Vol. I • E. T. A. Hoffmann

... had to answer with a vague assent; after which I was fain to rise and walk away, thinking how blind love was—all love save mine, which had a gift for seeing ...
— John Halifax, Gentleman • Dinah Maria Mulock Craik

... the Scots came in, Which made our English men fain; At Bramstone Green this battle was seen, There was ...
— Ballads of Scottish Tradition and Romance - Popular Ballads of the Olden Times - Third Series • Various

... those that declaimed against Marriage of old, as bringing more Creatures into the World to Sin, and be punished for it; tho' Salvation and Purity were their design: How much then above these are they to be blamed, who wou'd fain bring it into discredit, without any intent to keep Souls from Miscarrying, or set an unspotted life in it's place; but on purpose to spread their Abominations the wider, in defiance of all the Threatnings of God denounced against ...
— A Letter to A.H. Esq.; Concerning the Stage (1698) and The - Occasional Paper No. IX (1698) • Anonymous

... fain have kept his friend all night but Lorimer had engaged his room at a hotel. They were to meet as soon as ...
— A Modern Cinderella • Amanda M. Douglas

... interior, Jem became convulsed, and threatened another explosion of laughter, in spite of Don's severely reproachful looks; but in every case Jem's mirthful looks and his comic ways of trying to suppress his hilarity proved to be too much for Don, who was fain to join in, and they both laughed ...
— The Adventures of Don Lavington - Nolens Volens • George Manville Fenn

... the stock of truth; And it is nature which from height to height On to the summit prompts us. This invites, This doth assure me, lady, rev'rently To ask thee of other truth, that yet Is dark to me. I fain would know, if man By other works well done may so supply The failure of his vows, that in your scale They lack not weight." I spake; and on me straight Beatrice look'd with eyes that shot forth sparks Of love celestial in such copious ...
— The Divine Comedy, Complete - The Vision of Paradise, Purgatory and Hell • Dante Alighieri

... leaving you a few minutes alone," he said with his most silken irony. "I am desolated at the necessity, but this gentleman has a claim that cannot be ignored. Believe me, I shall make the absence very short. Dear my life, every instant that I am from you is snatched from Paradise. Fain would I be with you alway, but stern duty"—the villain stopped to draw a plaintive and theatric sigh—"calls me to attend once for all to a matter of small moment. Anon I shall be with ...
— A Daughter of Raasay - A Tale of the '45 • William MacLeod Raine

... one did chant this lovely lay: Ah see, who so fair thing dost fain to see, In springing flower the image of thy day; All see thy virgin ROSE, how sweetly she Doth first peep forth with bashful modesty, That fairer seems the less you see her may; Lo! see soon after, how more bold and free Her bared bosom she ...
— The Continental Monthly , Vol. 2 No. 5, November 1862 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy • Various

... thus. Give him the letter, for he will send it to Argos, so as to be well for thee, but let him that will slay me. Base is the man, who, casting his friends into calamity, himself is saved. But this man is a friend, who I fain should see the light ...
— The Tragedies of Euripides, Volume I. • Euripides

... are ringing; but ringing no gladness to me! Ringing, and ringing, and ringing; a death-peal, which fain would ...
— She and I, Volume 2 - A Love Story. A Life History. • John Conroy Hutcheson

... listen to horrid stories, we snatch a fearful joy. Human nature desires not only to be amused and entertained, but moved to pity and fear. All can sympathise with the youth, who could not shudder and who would fain acquire ...
— The Tale of Terror • Edith Birkhead

... because there was so much of what was pleasant and prepossessing in herself, that, in spite of her failings, I really liked her—when she did not rouse my indignation, or ruffle my temper by TOO great a display of her faults. These, however, I would fain persuade myself were rather the effect of her education than her disposition: she had never been perfectly taught the distinction between right and wrong; she had, like her brothers and sisters, been suffered, from infancy, to tyrannize over nurses, governesses, and servants; she had not been ...
— Agnes Grey • Anne Bronte

... fastidiously accurate in the choice of your words and names, and where there is so much to be seen and enjoyed as there is here one's thoughts are not always connected. That is intelligible—quite, peculiarly intelligible! And in this city folks are so polite that they are fain to wrap truth in some graceful disguise. May I, a barbarian from Judea, be allowed to set it before you, bare of clothing, ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... mean while all the shore rang with the trump of bull frogs, the sturdy spirits of ancient wine bibbers and wassailers, still unrepentant, trying to sing a catch in their Stygian lake; who would fain keep up the hilarious rules of their old festal tables, though their voices have waxed hoarse and solemnly grave, mocking at mirth, and the wine has lost its flavor. The most aldermanic, with his chin upon a heart leaf, which serves for a napkin ...
— The Destiny of the Soul - A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life • William Rounseville Alger

... lamp looked pale and ashamed; the carvings on the walls, like chained dreams, stared meaningless in the light as they would fain hide themselves. I looked at the image on the altar. I saw it smiling and alive with the living touch of God. The night I had imprisoned had ...
— The Gardener • Rabindranath Tagore

... I fall, I fling this sheaf of script to your care; Take and read it; I fain would share My ...
— Reminiscences of a South African Pioneer • W. C. Scully

... before his time; but had he been more fortunate in other respects, there is little doubt that he would have worked out and introduced all or nearly all his inventions, and probably some others. His misfortunes and sorrows are so typical of the 'disappointed inventor' that we would fain learn more about his life; but beyond a few facts in a little pamphlet (published by himself, we believe), there is little to be gathered; a veil of silence has fallen alike upon his triumphs, his errors and ...
— Heroes of the Telegraph • J. Munro

... thought, with more emphasis than reverence, and he rode along silently, slowly, a frown clouding his fresh, boyish brow, face to face with the prose of the existence he would fain have had all romance ...
— One Day - A sequel to 'Three Weeks' • Anonymous

... discussing within himself. A gentleman of this turn began a speech in one of King Charles's parliaments: "Sir, I had the honor to be born at a time"—upon which a rough, honest gentleman took him up short, "I would fain know what that gentleman means: is there any one in this house that has not had the honor to be born as well as himself?" The good sense which reigns in our nation has pretty well destroyed this starched behavior among ...
— The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to prose. Volume III (of X) - Great Britain and Ireland I • Francis W. Halsey

... his, and talked how he must do his duty, and how he would do it, if it was against the first man in the country, or even his own brother; let alone one who had voted against him at the last election, as Sir Condy had done. So Sir Condy was fain to take the purchase-money of the lodge from my son Jason to settle matters; and sure enough it was a good bargain for both parties, for my son bought the fee-simple of a good house for him and his heirs for ever, for little or nothing, and by selling of it for that same, my master saved ...
— Tales and Novels, Vol. IV • Maria Edgeworth

... watch out the hours by sad beds of pain? Can you bear and forbear and forgive? Can you cheerfully hope e'en when hoping is vain, And when hope is dead, and to die you would fain, Can you still feel ...
— What a Young Woman Ought to Know • Mary Wood-Allen

... died, and I'll not go Where all my friends have perished so! Go, ye who fain would buried be; But not ...
— Aladdin & Co. - A Romance of Yankee Magic • Herbert Quick

... feelings were concerned: and now, as he stood battling with his impatience to be gone, he was suffering acute discomfiture from the demonstrative leave-taking in progress between Maurice and his sister. For their sakes, at least, he would fain have effaced himself: while they, as a matter of fact, were momentarily oblivious of ...
— The Great Amulet • Maud Diver

... in which man has at length learned to range the living productions, plant and animal, by which he is surrounded, and of which he himself forms the most remarkable portion. In an age in which a class of writers not without their influence in the world of letters would fain repudiate every argument derived from design, and denounce all who hold with Paley and Chalmers as anthropomorphists, that labor to create for themselves a god of their own type and form, it may be ...
— The Testimony of the Rocks - or, Geology in Its Bearings on the Two Theologies, Natural and Revealed • Hugh Miller

... in the water play ('Tis thus that ancient fables say), And Dryads fair among the trees, Fain the sprightly Fauns would please. So in their footsteps follow we,— My wife and I,—as fond and free, Love in our thoughts and in our talk; Direct we slow our sauntering walk To some near murmuring rivulet, Where 'neath a shady beech we sit, Hand clasped in hand, and side by side,— With ...
— Library Of The World's Best Literature, Ancient And Modern, Vol. 5 • Various

... No, Olga was fain to admit it. All her own private aversion notwithstanding, she did not want this man added to the list of victims. Cynical and even overbearing though he might be, she no longer desired to see him humiliated. And her face ...
— The Keeper of the Door • Ethel M. Dell

... face and hair,— As some wild bee unto a rose, That blooms in splendid beauty there Within the South,—my longing goes: My longing, that is over fain To call her mine, but all in vain; Since jealous Death, as each one knows, Is guardian of La belle Helene; Of her whose face is very fair— To my despair, Sweet ...
— Weeds by the Wall - Verses • Madison J. Cawein

... Prynne often dropped her work upon her knees, and cried out with an agony which she would fain have hidden, but which made utterance for itself betwixt speech and a groan—"O Father in Heaven—if Thou art still my Father—what is this being which I have brought into the world?" And Pearl, overhearing the ejaculation, or ...
— The Scarlet Letter • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... vain I have kept my fealty good To the human brotherhood; Scarcely have I asked in prayer That which others might not share. I, who hear with secret shame Praise that paineth more than blame, Rich alone in favors lent, Virtuous by accident, Doubtful where I fain would rest, Frailest where I seem the best, Only strong for lack of test,—. What am I, that I should press Special pleas of selfishness, Coolly mounting into heaven On my neighbor unforgiven? Ne'er to me, howe'er disguised, ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 11, No. 63, January, 1863 - A Magazine Of Literature, Art, And Politics • Various

... leave the town of Luebeck as soon as can be. For they have learned that the successful candidate must marry the daughter of the man in whose shoes they would fain have trodden the pedals. One look at the daughter was enough. She was not fair to see, and her years were thirty-four—just six years less than the total years ...
— The Love Affairs of Great Musicians, Volume 1 • Rupert Hughes

... public view, And with small change a pulpit grew. The cottage, by such feats as these, Grown to a church by just degrees, The hermits then desired the host To ask for what he fancied most. Philemon, having paus'd awhile, Return'd them thanks in homely style: 'I'm old, and fain would live at ease; Make me the parson, if you please.' Thus happy in their change of life Were several years this man and wife. When on a day, which prov'd their last, Discoursing on old stories past, They went by chance, amidst ...
— The Children's Garland from the Best Poets • Various

... of gallantry, Raleigh won his way to the queen's heart by deftly placing between her feet and a muddy place his new plush coat. He dared the extremity of his political fortunes by writing on a pane of glass which the queen must see, "Fain would I climb, but fear I to fall." And she replied with an encouraging—"If thy heart fail thee, climb not at all." The queen's favor developed into magnificent gifts of riches and honor, and Raleigh received various ...
— England in America, 1580-1652 • Lyon Gardiner Tyler

... lives were so entwined that separation were death to her, and kissed his lips, his eyes, his hands, and wished she were his wife that they might blazon to the great round world the love they fain ...
— Volume 1 of Brann The Iconoclast • William Cowper Brann

... and bold enough, Fain would I learn both to knit and to sew; I've two little brothers at home, when they're old enough, They will work hard for the gifts you bestow; Pity, kind gentlemen, friends of humanity. Cold blows the wind, and the night's ...
— The Anti-Slavery Harp • Various

... since, Flying happily; He carried on his foot Silken straps, And his plumage was All red of gold.... May God send them together, Who would fain be loved." ...
— Chips From A German Workshop. Vol. III. • F. Max Mueller

... young wife thought when the enthusiastic adventurer came back with his story was never recorded. Neither, for that matter, was the tale he told her, as well as his friends and neighbors, many of whom, doubtless, would fain have dissuaded him from making what they viewed as a rash and risky move. Details of Putnam's life at this period of his career are lacking; but there stand the records, with their statement of facts. ...
— "Old Put" The Patriot • Frederick A. Ober

... here from Southland, Further Kalev's son had wandered; Sulev's son would fain have kissed me, Kalev's son my hand had taken; But I smote the son of Sulev, And in scorn the son of Kalev, I the ...
— The Hero of Esthonia and Other Studies in the Romantic Literature of That Country • William Forsell Kirby

... Thy whim of sadness I have sung thee strains To make thee weep in verse: now pay my pains, And write me a canzon divinely sad, Sinlessly passionate, and meekly mad With young despair, speaking a maiden's heart Of fifteen summers, who would fain depart From ripening life's new-urgent mystery,— Love-choice of one too high her love to be,— But cannot yield her breath till she has poured Her strength away in this hot-bleeding word, Telling the secret of her soul to ...
— How Lisa Loved the King • George Eliot

... fact no closer reference to the Saviour than any other stone they might have kissed in their own country. They believed; and as they reverently pressed their foreheads, lips, and hands to the top and sides and edges of the sepulchre, their faith became ecstatic. It was thus that Bertram would fain have entered that little chapel, thus that he would have felt, thus that he would have acted had he been able. So had he thought to feel—in such an agony of faith had he been minded there to kneel. But he did not kneel at all. He remarked to himself that ...
— The Bertrams • Anthony Trollope

... not that all when enfranchised will be capable, honest and chaste, but it is that they will possess the power to control their own conditions and those of society equally with men. Therefore my panacea for the ills which your hospital would fain mitigate is the ballot ...
— The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 2 of 2) • Ida Husted Harper

... thee for many a season How we met in the high voice of Hilda. Right fain I go forth to the spear-mote Being fitted for every encounter. There Cormac's gay shield from his clutches I clave with the bane of the bucklers, For he scorned in the battle to seek me If we set not the ...
— The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald • Unknown

... cried Leander to himself; "an idle tabby malkin, that perhaps never caught a mouse in his life, and I dare say is not descended from a better family than myself, has the honour to sit at table with my mistress: I would fain know whether he loves her so ...
— The Fairy Book - The Best Popular Stories Selected and Rendered Anew • Dinah Maria Mulock (AKA Miss Mulock)

... answer then for me Than the air may have of thee, Or the earth's warm woodlands girdling with green girth Thy secret sleepless burning life on earth, Or even the sea that once, being woman crowned And girt with fire and glory of anguish round, Thou wert so fain to seek to, fain to crave If she would hear thee and save And give thee comfort of thy great green grave? Because I have known thee always who thou art, Thou knowest, have known thee to thy heart's own heart, Nor ever have given ...
— Songs of the Springtides and Birthday Ode - Taken from The Collected Poetical Works of Algernon Charles - Swinburne—Vol. III • Algernon Charles Swinburne

... marvel if the door be kept shut against your master, when the entrance is so easy to you—well sir, you shall go there no more, lest I be fain to seek your voice in my lady's rushes, a ...
— Epicoene - Or, The Silent Woman • Ben Jonson

... reign of Malek Shah, he suggested the idea of a crusade against the misbeliever, which later popes carried out. He assures the Emperor of Germany, whom he was addressing, that he had 50,000 troops ready for the holy war, whom he would fain have led in person. This was in ...
— Historical Sketches, Volume I (of 3) • John Henry Newman

... and sneering world said that she was tired of the country, and wanted to marry again; but she little heeded its taunts; and Anne, who hated her step-mother and could not live at home, was fain to accompany her sister to the town where the Bluebeards have had for many years a very large, genteel, old-fashioned house. So she went to the town-house, where they lived and quarrelled pretty much as usual; ...
— Stories of Comedy • Various

... I would fain close this remarkable episode on a key of solemnity, but alas! If I am to be loyal to the truth, I must record that some of the other little boys presently complained to Mary Grace that I put out my tongue at them in mockery, during the service in the Room, to ...
— Father and Son • Edmund Gosse

... centre of the harbor; and almost all the time there was a pure and delightful breeze, fluttering and palpitating, sometimes shyly kissing my brow, then dying away, and then rushing upon me in livelier sport, so that I was fain to settle my straw hat more tightly upon my head. Late in the afternoon, there was a sunny shower, which came down so like a benediction that it seemed ungrateful to take shelter in the cabin or to put up an umbrella. Then there was a rainbow, or a large segment of one, so exceedingly brilliant ...
— Passages From The American Notebooks, Volume 1 • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... narrowly averted, scratched my thigh, but did more damage to my breeches than my skin, in exchange I touched him playfully on the shoulder, and the sting of it drove him back a second time. He was breathing hard by then, and would fain have paused awhile for breath, but I saw no reason to ...
— The Suitors of Yvonne • Raphael Sabatini

... really in hell? how can she know that the flames that burn her and consume not will some day cease? For the torment she suffers is like that of the damned, and the flames wherewith she is burned are even as the flames of hell. This I would fain know, that at this awful moment I may feel no doubt, that I may know for certain whether I dare hope or ...
— CELEBRATED CRIMES, COMPLETE - THE MARQUISE DE BRINVILLIERS • ALEXANDRE DUMAS, PERE

... for ever striving to swell beyond their natural size, to strain beyond their natural strength, to step beyond their natural stride. Search, search within your own waistcoats, dear brethren—YOU know in your hearts, which of your ordinaire qualities you would pass off, and fain consider as first-rate port. And why not you yourself, Mr. Preacher? says the congregation. Dearly beloved, neither in or out of this pulpit do I profess to be bigger, or cleverer, or wiser, or better than any of you. A short while since, a certain Reviewer announced that I ...
— Roundabout Papers • William Makepeace Thackeray

... fly, mother—I can fly with all the other happy children into the presence of the Almighty. I would fain fly; but, if you weep as you are weeping now, I might be lost to you—and yet I would go so gladly. May I not fly? And you will come to me ...
— What the Moon Saw: and Other Tales • Hans Christian Andersen

... Foot. Fraser wrote to Tom protesting against what he had done and from Maldon Barracks, in Essex, on April 5th, 1805, Tom answers his godfather's objections. Perhaps to add solemnity to his argument the old man had assumed the tone of a valetudinarian and Tom replies: "I would fain hope you had no reason for saying you would soon follow my dear Father. I hope God will spare you to us since he has thought proper to take my Father to Himself. Your loss would be irreparable, I having no other person to protect my mother and sisters ...
— A Canadian Manor and Its Seigneurs - The Story of a Hundred Years, 1761-1861 • George M. Wrong

... Had they not held Law fast, all had been gone; Which by their prudence stood them in such stead They took high Strafford lower by the head. And to their Land be't spoke, they held i' th' tower All England's Metropolitane that hour; This done, an act they would have passed fain No Prelate should his Bishoprick retain; Here tugged they hard (indeed), for all men saw This must be done by Gospel, not by law. Next the Militia they urged sore, This was deny'd (I need not say wherefore), The King displeas'd at York himself absents, They humbly ...
— Anne Bradstreet and Her Time • Helen Campbell

... fair sir; I would fain have speech with thee." He crossed and sat on a corner of Larry's table, one slippered foot dangling, and looked Larry over with an appraising eye. "Permit me to remark, sir," he continued in his grand manner, "that you look as though ...
— Children of the Whirlwind • Leroy Scott

... would fain ask the favor of Miss Bettey Burwell to give me another watch paper of her own cutting, which I should esteem much more though it were a plain round one, than the nicest in the world cut by other hands; however I am afraid she would think ...
— Threads of Grey and Gold • Myrtle Reed

... the evident good faith of the doctor's question, Wych Hazel's cheeks gave such instant swift answer, that he was fain ...
— The Gold of Chickaree • Susan Warner

... account of the public interest; and at the same time, that human nature is so subject to frailties and passions, as may easily pervert this institution, and change their governors into tyrants and public enemies. If the sense of common interest were not our original motive to obedience, I would fain ask, what other principle is there in human nature capable of subduing the natural ambition of men, and forcing them to such a submission? Imitation and custom are not sufficient. For the question still recurs, what motive first produces those instances of ...
— A Treatise of Human Nature • David Hume

... life, is in fact the history of her virtues; in studying the one, we have at the same time been making acquaintance with the other. Much however as we have learned of those resplendent virtues, we fain would pause a moment longer on them before relinquishing her sweet company, just as we love to linger over a beautiful sunset, and even after the great orb has disappeared, still to watch the traces of his departing glory resting on the ...
— The Life of the Venerable Mother Mary of the Incarnation • "A Religious of the Ursuline Community"

... better end than the diligent earning of tooth-aches, ear-aches, colds, sore throats, and unbecoming blank faces. Habit, it is true, makes us deem that a comfort, and our better halves (or those we would fain have so) think that a beauty, which our forerunners of old time would have held a plague, a disgrace, a deformity, a mortification: prisoned paupers in the Union think it an insufferable hardship to ...
— The Complete Prose Works of Martin Farquhar Tupper • Martin Farquhar Tupper

... With winter's lack, The wind blows cold Round field and fold; All folk are within, And but weaving they win. Where from finger to finger the shuttle flies fast, And the eyes of the singer look fain on the cast, As he singeth the story of summer undone And the barley sheaves hoary ripe ...
— The Story of the Glittering Plain - or the Land of Living Men • William Morris

... unceasingly the ill-treatment to which she had been exposed. At times, her indignation against her imaginary tormentors knew no bounds; at others, she would grow touchingly plaintive on the subject of her wrongs. That she was a nuisance, I am fain to confess; but the treatment she experienced at the hands of her Dalmatian countrymen was inconsiderate in the extreme. One who professed himself an advocate for sudden shocks, put his theory into practice by stealing quietly ...
— Herzegovina - Or, Omer Pacha and the Christian Rebels • George Arbuthnot

... Heights' had found acceptance at the hands of a publisher. Acceptance; but upon impoverishing terms. Still, for so much they were thankful. To write, and bury unread the things one has written, is playing music upon a dumb piano. Who plays, would fain be heard. ...
— Emily Bront • A. Mary F. (Agnes Mary Frances) Robinson

... flower looked into the soul of the dying woman, its fair leaves seemed to wither and wilt, as though some foul breath had come forth upon it, for therein it could see nothing because of the blackness and the sin. And at first the flower shrank into itself, and would fain have gathered up its perfume, but it thought of the prayer in the maiden's heart, and, opening out its snowy petals to their full, it breathed forth a fragrance which filled the foul room as with music and light. And as the dying woman looked upon the flower, ...
— Tom, Dot and Talking Mouse and Other Bedtime Stories • J. G. Kernahan and C. Kernahan

... stretched the desert, How far I fain would know; So at last I sallied forth, And three days sailed due north, As ...
— Selections From American Poetry • Various

... Zion, fain To send forth greetings from thy sacred rock Unto thy captive train, Who greet thee as the remnants of thy flock? Take thou on every side— East, west, and south, and north—their greetings multiplied. Sadly ...
— Hebrew Literature

... fain come in, and sit Beside their fire, and hear the voice Of children; yea, and if my choice Were free, and I dared mention it, And some sweet child should think me fit To hold a child upon my knee One moment, would my soul ...
— Mercy Philbrick's Choice • Helen Hunt Jackson

... with a pale face and an Indian heart; the earth be light to thee and thine. May the white Manitou clear for thee the mountain path, and may you never fail to remember Opishka Toaki (the White Raven), who is thy Comanche friend, and who would fain share with thee his home, his wealth, and his wide prairies. I ...
— Travels and Adventures of Monsieur Violet • Captain Marryat

... without an introduction, but I believe that I am not violating the civil service rules laid down by Mr. Hayes for the guidance of postmasters when I tell you, lady, that something has broke loose and that the red garment that you fain would hide from the gaze of the world has asserted itself and appears to the naked eye about two chains and three links below your dress. I am going abroad, to visit Joe Lindon, the independent candidate for sheriff, and you can step into the back office ...
— Peck's Sunshine - Being a Collection of Articles Written for Peck's Sun, - Milwaukee, Wis. - 1882 • George W. Peck

... the skies were sunshine, Our faces would be fain To feel once more upon them The cooling plash ...
— The Poems of Henry Van Dyke • Henry Van Dyke

... thirty years, fellow of a college now above forty years' standing, and fifty-eight years of age; am bachelor of divinity, and have preached before kings; but am now your honour's suppliant, and would fain retire from the study of humane learning, which has been so little beneficial to me, if I might have a little prebend, or sufficient anchor to lay hold on; only I have two or three matters ready for ...
— Calamities and Quarrels of Authors • Isaac D'Israeli

... quoth she, wist thou not what it is? Oft as I say OSEE, OSEE, I wis, Then mean I, that I should be wondrous fain That shamefully they one and all were slain, Whoever against Love ...
— The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Vol. II. • William Wordsworth

... leans and reaches From my body still and pale, Fain to hear what tender speech is In your love to help my bale. O my poet, Come and show it! Come, of latest love, to glean "Sweetest ...
— The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Volume IV • Elizabeth Barrett Browning

... agreed that the army should halt at the distance of four miles from the town. Notwithstanding this preliminary, James advanced at the head of his troops; but met with such a warm reception from the besieged, that he was fain to retire to St. John's Town in some disorder. The inhabitants and soldiers in garrison at Londonderry were so incensed at the members of the council of war, who had resolved to abandon the place, that they threatened immediate ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. - From William and Mary to George II. • Tobias Smollett

... and lover and soldier in so many breaths, and could show so much care for some pages of written parchment. Then Guido would have me go with him, but I was of a mind to see what Dante would do next, and was fain to watch him. Guido disapproved of this, and he would not share in it, saying that it was not for us to dog the ...
— The God of Love • Justin Huntly McCarthy

... held, and about it was written in letters of gold, 'Whoso pulleth out this sword is by right of birth King of England.' They marvelled at these words, and called for the Archbishop, and brought him into the place where the stone stood. Then those Knights who fain would be King could not hold themselves back, and they tugged at the sword with all their might; but it never stirred. The Archbishop watched them in silence, but when they were faint from pulling he spoke: 'The man is not here who shall ...
— The Book of Romance • Various

... guitar fall to the floor, he or she? Who embraced the other in affectionate haste, he or she? Who pressed the lips so lovingly to the other lips, he or she? And who said, "I love you? What bliss to again repose in your affection, I would fain die now. In this moment a whole life has been consecrated, for love has revealed to ...
— Old Fritz and the New Era • Louise Muhlbach

... In the same strain of Roland will I tell Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme, On whom strange madness and rank fury fell, A man esteemed so wise in former time; If she, who to like cruel pass has well Nigh brought my feeble wit which fain would climb And hourly wastes my sense, concede me skill And strength ...
— Orlando Furioso • Lodovico Ariosto

... swinish gluttony Ne're looks to Heav'n amidst his gorgeous feast, But with besotted base ingratitude Cramms, and blasphemes his feeder. Shall I go on? Or have I said anough? To him that dares 780 Arm his profane tongue with contemptuous words Against the Sun-clad power of Chastity, Fain would I somthing say, yet to what end? Thou hast nor Eare, nor Soul to apprehend The sublime notion, and high mystery That must be utter'd to unfold the sage And serious doctrine of Virginity, And thou art worthy that thou shouldst not know More happiness then this thy present ...
— The Poetical Works of John Milton • John Milton

... And now you sink in the abyss. Pray to him, your Mammon, in the days of your need; there will be no other consolation for you. Carouse, laugh, and be cruel to-day; to-morrow you will be hungry and you will groan: Ah, we have delayed too long! Believe me a day will come when you fain would justify your lives to Me, crying: 'Lord, we would willingly have given you food, drink, and lodging, but you did not come to us.' But I did come to you. I came in the starving, the thirsty, the homeless, only ...
— I.N.R.I. - A prisoner's Story of the Cross • Peter Rosegger

... himself that he drinks to Brunhilde alone. But no sooner has he partaken of it than her memory leaves him, and he finds himself gazing admiringly upon Gutrune. Gunther then proceeds to tell Siegfried the story of Brunhilde, whom he would fain woo to wife. Although the hero dreamily repeats his words, and seems to be struggling hard to recall some past memory, he does not succeed in doing so. Finally he shakes off his abstraction, and ardently proposes to pass through the fire and win Brunhilde ...
— Stories of the Wagner Opera • H. A. Guerber

... threw us into the hands of a drunken driver, who, after losing his way, and jolting us over ditches and ploughed fields, actually brought us back in sight of the dreadful bridge, the thought of which still made us shudder. We would fain have persuaded ourselves that we were mistaken, but the truth was beyond dispute; there before us rolled the Don, and yonder stood Axai, the village through which we had passed after reseating ourselves in the britchka. Conceive our indignation at having floundered about for ...
— Celebrated Women Travellers of the Nineteenth Century • W. H. Davenport Adams

... he said so heartily, and appearing meanwhile so satisfied with the completeness of his reply, that I was fain to take some satisfaction in it myself. "What I wanted most to say to you," he went on, "is this: you remember you promised to tell me whatever you could learn about her—and about ...
— The Guest of Quesnay • Booth Tarkington

... rival. Her constitution was extremely delicate, as we have seen already, and she was surrounded by those who would fain lay bare, so to say, her hidden scars. Her apartments in the palace were Kiri-Tsubo (the chamber of Kiri); so called from the trees that were planted around. In visiting her there the Emperor had to pass ...
— Japanese Literature - Including Selections from Genji Monogatari and Classical - Poetry and Drama of Japan • Various

... held on for a moment, and then the arm was wrested free. He seized another, speaking gently the while. The man uttered a yell of horror, and struggled so fiercely, that Mark was fain to ...
— The Black Bar • George Manville Fenn

... saluted the king, who told him of the strange knight sorrowing as he rode, and the king bade him follow and bring back the knight to him, 'for,' said he, 'the sorrows of that knight were so piercing that I would fain know his grief.' ...
— King Arthur's Knights - The Tales Re-told for Boys & Girls • Henry Gilbert

... first I cam to be a man Of twenty years or so, I thought myself a handsome youth, And fain the world would know; In best attire I stept abroad, With spirits brisk and gay, And here and there and everywhere Was like a morn in May; No care I had, nor fear of want, But rambled up and down, And for a beau I might have past In country or in town; I still was pleased where'er I ...
— The Modern Scottish Minstrel , Volume I. - The Songs of Scotland of the past half century • Various

... ardent enough, of that he could not doubt. He recalled the long years of ritual; childish memories of paternal pieties. No, the secret conspiracy had not embraced the Da Costa household. And he would fain believe that his more distant progenitors, too, had not been hypocrites; for aught he knew they had gone over to the Church even before the Expulsion; at any rate he was glad to have no evidence for an ancestry of deceit. None of the Da Costas had been cowards, ...
— Dreamers of the Ghetto • I. Zangwill

... will not brew more than four score thousand barrels a year for five years to come. He did promise that much, however; and so Johnson bade me write it down in the 'Thraliana';—and so the wings of Speculation are clipped a little—very fain would I have pinioned her, but I had not strength to ...
— Autobiography, Letters and Literary Remains of Mrs. Piozzi (Thrale) (2nd ed.) (2 vols.) • Mrs. Hester Lynch Piozzi

... goodlier gift is there given than the dower of brotherly love; But you, O May-Day Medusa, whose glance makes the heart turn cold, Art a bitter Goddess to follow, a terrible Queen to behold. We are sick of spouting—the words burn deep and chafe: we are fain, To rest a little from clap-trap, and probe the wild promise of gain. For new gods we know not of are acclaimed by all babbledom's breath, And they promise us love-inspired life—by the red road of hatred and death. The gods, dethroned and deceased, cast forth—so the chatterers say— ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 102, April 30, 1892 • Various

... health. The day had been damp and dreary, and he had suffered from neuralgia. Doubtless the pain had acted upon his nervous system, and was accountable for his present and perpetually increasing anxiety. A little later he was fain to dismiss this supposition as untenable. His sense of constraint was changing into a positive dread, and not at all of Julian, around whom he had believed that his thoughts were in flight. Something, he knew not at all what, interposed between him and Julian, ...
— Flames • Robert Smythe Hichens

... broad that she may scoop away much earth at a time; and little or no tail she has, because she courses it not on the ground, like the rat and mouse, of whose kindred she is, but lives under the earth, and is fain to dig herself a dwelling there. And she making her way through so thick an element, which will not yield easily, as the air or the water, it had been dangerous to have drawn so long a train behind her; for her enemy might fall upon her rear, and fetch her out, before she had completed or ...
— The Coverley Papers • Various

... I would fain ask those philosophers, who found so much of their reasonings on the distinction of substance and accident, and imagine we have clear ideas of each, whether the idea of substance be derived from the impressions of sensation or ...
— A Treatise of Human Nature • David Hume

... I say, "Forgive my foul offence!" Fain promise never more to disobey; But, should my Author health again dispense, Again I might desert fair virtue's way: Again in folly's path might go astray; Again exalt the brute and sink the man; Then how should I for heavenly mercy pray, Who act so counter heavenly ...
— The Complete Works of Robert Burns: Containing his Poems, Songs, and Correspondence. • Robert Burns and Allan Cunningham

... that which is not-me, the Selfless world, though we would fain bring in the Self to help us. We are shouting the Shakespearean advice to warriors: 'Then simulate the action of the tiger.' We are trying to become again the tiger, the supreme, imperial, warlike Self. At the ...
— Twilight in Italy • D.H. Lawrence

... my lady's train Some stubborn field I fain would plough Lay on the lash and clamp the chain! I bear them ...
— The Elegies of Tibullus • Tibullus

... through the bay of Jacatra, to its eastern point, where we all came to anchor for the night. During the night, the Dutch from Jacatra sent a junk filled with combustible matter, and on fire, which came so near our fleet that we were fain to weigh our anchors and get out of her way. The 25th, being Christmas-day, we again saw the Dutch fleet standing to the eastwards, and we sent our barge to follow them all night, to see what course they took, because we had left the James Royal in the bay of Bantam, with the Advice and ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume IX. • Robert Kerr

... Australian night have gone from the bush and town; My spirit revives in the morning breeze, though it died when the sun went down; The river is high and the stream is strong, and the grass is green and tall, And I fain would think that this world of ours is a ...
— In the Days When the World Was Wide and Other Verses • Henry Lawson



Words linked to "Fain" :   willing, inclined, gladly, lief, prepared, disposed



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