"Mettled" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... of gold ye shall not lack, Nor braid to bind your hair, Nor mettled hound, nor managed hawk Nor palfrey fresh and fair; And you the foremost o' them a' Shall ride our forest queen"— But aye she loot the tears down ...
— The Golden Treasury - Of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language • Various
... faces of the horse and the rider, who still spurred and plashed his headlong way through the heavy road beneath. Emerging at length from the deep and overshadowed valley, a steep hill raised its crest in advance, but still up the stony acclivity the feet of the mettled steed rattled rapidly, and flashed fire from the flinty path. As they approached the top of the hill, the force of the storm became more apparent; and on reaching its crest, the fierce pelting of the mingled rain and hail made the horse impatient of ...
— Handy Andy, Vol. 2 - A Tale of Irish Life • Samuel Lover
... the wagon over the hind board, and grasping the reins, put the high-mettled animal to the top ...
— Try Again - or, the Trials and Triumphs of Harry West. A Story for Young Folks • Oliver Optic
... a Wednesday that the pranking army of high-mettled warriors issued forth from the ancient gates of Antiquera. They marched all day and night, making their way, secretly as they supposed, through the passes of the mountains. As the tract of country they intended to maraud was far in the Moorish territories, ...
— Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada • Washington Irving
... my devoir I will pay, Whene'er occasion comes to point the way. Save at fit times, no words of mine can find A way through Cassar's ear to Cassar's mind: A mettled horse, if awkwardly you stroke, Kicks out on all sides, and ...
— The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry • Horace
... Mind to find out the Varlet in Person, and tread him under his Feet. But as he could not leave the Hall-house where the Court was sitting, he sent a Lad of his own to take Account of him, who did the Business tightly. He was a well-mettled Blade, and Steel to the Back. He came up with him at the Corner of a Farmer's Yard, where he gave him and his Desperados a wofull Drubbing, kicked him i'the A——e, soused him in the Horse-pond, which he swam over to save his Bacon, and looked so miserably scared in his ...
— The True Life of Betty Ireland • Anonymous
... and was entangled in the net of her affections, replied, "whatever you advise, that is best, and I will without hesitation carry the same into effect." When the princess found me obedient, and her servant, she ordered two swift and high-mettled horses (which might vie with the wind in speed), to be brought from the royal stables, and kept in readiness. I went and picked out just such beautiful and high spirited horses as she required, and had them saddled and brought [to our house]. When ...
— Bagh O Bahar, Or Tales of the Four Darweshes • Mir Amman of Dihli
... eyes spilled over with tears, but Mistress Hortense was the high-mettled, high-stepping little dame. She fairly stamped her wrath, and to Jack's amaze took him by the hand and marched off with the hauteur of ...
— Heralds of Empire - Being the Story of One Ramsay Stanhope, Lieutenant to Pierre Radisson in the Northern Fur Trade • Agnes C. Laut
... patriot strain—which may now sound absurd "Yankee Doodle" indeed might more fittingly ring "In Cliveden's proud alcove," which POPE stooped to sing. O Picknickers muse; and, O oarsmen, repine! Those fair hanging woods, BULL, no longer are thine. Our high-mettled racers may pass o'er the sea— Shall sentiment challenge thy claims, L. S. D.? Our pictures may go without serious plaint— What are the best pictures but canvas and paint? Our Press? Let the alien toff take his pick. When the Dollar dictates shall mere patriots ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 104, May 20, 1893 • Various
... indicating his bare, chilly room, 'here the most high-mettled gallant, who chafes at a word and draws swords for a syllable elsewhere will entreat with clasped hands. There is no city merchant so proud, no woman so vain of her beauty, no soldier of so bold a spirit, but that they entreat me here, one and all, with tears of rage ...
— Gobseck • Honore de Balzac
... dress was one of the weaknesses of the Camisard chiefs. He wore a tight-fitting doeskin coat ornamented with gold lace, scarlet breeches, a muslin cravat, and a large beaver with a white plume; his long fair hair hanging over his shoulders. Catinat rode by his side on a high-mettled charger, attracting all eyes by his fine figure, his martial air, and his magnificent costume. Cavalier's faithful friend, Daniel Billard, rode on his left; and behind followed his little brother in military uniform, between the ...
— The Huguenots in France • Samuel Smiles
... Gervaise on board his own ship was always an event in the fleet, even though his absence had lasted no longer than twenty-four hours. The effect was like that which is produced on a team of high-mettled cattle, when they feel that the reins are in the hands of an experienced and ...
— The Two Admirals • J. Fenimore Cooper
... Cavelier de la Salle was born at Rouen about the year 1644. He belonged to an excellent family, and was well educated. From his earliest years he was passionately fond of stories of travel, and the older he grew the more cramped he felt in the civilization of Europe; like the mettled mustang of the vast prairies of America, he longed for the immensity of unknown plains, for the imposing majesty of forests which the foot of man had not yet trod. Maturity and reason gave a more definite aim to these aspirations; at the age of twenty-four ...
— The Makers of Canada: Bishop Laval • A. Leblond de Brumath
... least, he supplied that work with its title. But it was speedily to be perceived that animal interests had been subordinated to human. More prominent occupation by far was assigned to the rider than to the horse. A different plan of distributing parts prevailed when "The High-mettled Racer" and kindred works adorned the stage. A horse with histrionic instincts and acquirements had something like a chance then. But now he can only lament the decline of the equestrian drama. True, the circus is still open to him; but in the eyes of a well-educated performing horse ...
— A Book of the Play - Studies and Illustrations of Histrionic Story, Life, and Character • Dutton Cook
... to her mother dear, 'O mother dear, a sad load I bear.' 'And who gave thee that load to bear, My gypsy girl, my own daughter dear?' 'O mother dear, 'twas a lord so proud, A lord so rich of gentile blood, That on a mettled stallion rode— 'Twas he gave me this heavy load.' 'Thou harlot young, thou harlot vile, Begone! my tent no more defile; Had gypsy seed within thee sprung, No angry word had left my tongue, But thou art a harlot base and lewd, To stain thyself with ...
— The Romany Rye - A Sequel to 'Lavengro' • George Borrow
... stout-mettled as she deemed him, or else the all-consuming thirst of life, youth's stark horror of death, made him a temporizing craven ...
— The Historical Nights' Entertainment • Rafael Sabatini
... Miss Bloomer's dexterity. Often did he watch her guidance of a high-mettled steed, now urging it to its utmost speed, and then reining in the impatient animal. The sergeant, we have said, greatly admired Miss Bloomer's dexterity; but, what is more, he resolved to secure her hand in marriage. Plan after plan, laid with the view of obtaining an introduction, ...
— The Mysteries of All Nations • James Grant
... blood, of birth, which the thoroughbred horse has expressed in all lands and ages. Their lordly port was a thing that no one could dispute, and for an aristocracy I suppose that they had a high average of intelligence, though there might be two minds about this. They made me think of mettled youths and haughty dames; they abashed the humble spirit of the beholder with the pride of their high-stepping, their curvetting and caracoling, as they jingled in their shining harness around the long ring. Their noble uselessness ...
— Henry James, Jr. • William Dean Howells
... pair emerged from the inn after an hour's conversation over a bottle of burnt sherry—conversation which, upon the father's side, had borne, in truth, much the character of cross-examination—to mount the phaeton with which a pair of high-mettled bays were impatiently waiting the return homewards, there was a very definite look of mutual dissatisfaction to ...
— The Light of Scarthey • Egerton Castle
... motive and the cue for passion That I have? He would drown the stage with tears And cleave the general ear with horrid speech; Make mad the guilty, and appal the free; Confound the ignorant, and amaze, indeed, The very faculties of eyes and ears. Yet I, A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak, Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause, And can say nothing; no, not for a king Upon whose property and most dear life A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward? Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across? Plucks off my beard and blows it in my ...
— Hamlet, Prince of Denmark • William Shakespeare [Collins edition]
... seen; and now, when she herself was called upon to obey the unwritten law of her husband's country and service, Lenox noted, with a throb of pride, that for all her artist's tendency to shrink from pain and suffering, she rose to the situation like a high-mettled horse to a fence. ...
— The Great Amulet • Maud Diver
... Confederation? I will tell you. It is not dead but sleepeth. A Gentleman of this City told me the other day, that he could not believe the People without doors would follow the Congress PASSIBUS AEQUIS if such Measures as SOME called spirited were pursued. It put me in mind of a Fable of the high mettled horse and the dull horse. My excellenct Colleague Mr J. A. can repeat this fable to you; and if the Improvement had been made of it which our very valueable Friend Coll M——- proposd, you would have seen that Confederation compleated long ...
— The Writings of Samuel Adams, vol. III. • Samuel Adams
... habitual upward look about the head of this gentleman, as if dissatisfied with its natural proximity to the earth; and the expression of his countenance was that of busy care, He was the charioteer, and he guided the mettled animals along the precipice with a fearless eye and a steady hand, Immediately behind him, with his face toward the other two, was a tall figure, to whose appearance not even the duplicate overcoats which he wore, aided by the ...
— The Pioneers • James Fenimore Cooper
... stirs, But she hears the silver jingle of his ringing bit and spurs. Often, out the hazy distance, come the horsemen, day by day, But they come not as Bernardo—she can see it, far away; Well she knows the airy gallop of his mettled alazan,[5] Light as any antelope upon the Hills of Gavilan. She would know him mid a thousand, by his free and gallant air; By the featly-knit sarape,[6] such as wealthy traders wear; By his broidered calzoneros[7] and his saddle, ...
— The International Weekly Miscellany, Vol. 1, No. 7 - Of Literature, Art, and Science, August 12, 1850 • Various
... Sir George resumed, as his mettled charger suddenly jumped and curvetted, displaying the padded warrior's cavalry-seat to perfection. "Quiet, old lady!—easy, my dear! Well, when I found the little beggar turning tail in this way I said to him, 'Dash me, sir, if you don't ...
— The Newcomes • William Makepeace Thackeray
... sir! doubt not but that Angling is an art. Is it not an art to deceive a Trout with an artificial fly?—a Trout that is more sharp-sighted than any Hawk you have named, and more watchful and timorous than your high-mettled Merlin is bold. And yet I doubt not to catch a brace or two to-morrow for a friend's ...
— A Danish Parsonage • John Fulford Vicary
... II. ii. he accuses himself of being 'a dull and muddy-mettled rascal,' who 'peaks [mopes] like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of his cause,' dully indifferent to his cause.[51] So, when the Ghost appears to him the second time, he accuses himself of being tardy ...
— Shakespearean Tragedy - Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth • A. C. Bradley
... more willing animal than she is. But she has naturally a more irritable constitution than the black horse; flies tease her more; anything wrong in her harness frets her more; and if she were ill-used or unfairly treated she would not be unlikely to give tit for tat. You know that many high-mettled horses ...
— Black Beauty, Young Folks' Edition • Anna Sewell
... attracted by this young lady I should probably have found it difficult at that moment to explain. But my eyes were no longer under my control, and I thought surely no one ever moved more gracefully. I was young then, and a young man's imagination, like a high-mettled steed, soon runs away with him. Yet, being young, and probably in those days not altogether ill-looking, it is not unlikely that the lady was, on her side, not at all displeased to observe my very ...
— Tales of the Caliph • H. N. Crellin
... it that night for Mowbray, that he had always piqued himself on his horses, and that the animal on which he was then mounted was as sure-footed and sagacious as he was mettled and fiery. For those who observed next day the print of the hoofs on the broken and rugged track through which the creature had been driven at full speed by his furious master, might easily see, that in more than a dozen of places the horse and rider had been within a few ...
— St. Ronan's Well • Sir Walter Scott
... admiration of every beholder. As he sat gracefully upon his horse, he appeared almost like a golden statue, for his dress was so elaborately embroidered with gold that neither its material or its color could be distinguished. His high-mettled charger became frightened by the shouts of "Long live the king" which burst so enthusiastically from the lips of the crowd. But Louis managed the animal with so much skill and self-possession as to increase the admiration with which all seemed to regard him. After ...
— Louis XIV., Makers of History Series • John S. C. Abbott
... a widow long before a man came forward to woo her. His name was Herjolf; he was a "landed man" as to title, rich, and of much account. Herjolf was a tall and strong man, but he was not fair of feature; yet the most high-mettled of men, and was of all men the best skilled at arms. Now as they sat taking counsel on this matter, it was Thorgerd's place to reply to it herself, as she was a widow; and, with the advice of her relations, she said ...
— Laxdaela Saga - Translated from the Icelandic • Anonymous
... impatient, intolerant. feverish, febrile, hysterical; delirious, mad, moody, maggoty- headed. unquiet, mercurial, electric, galvanic, hasty, hurried, restless, fidgety, fussy; chafing &c v.. startlish^, mettlesome, high-mettled^, skittish. vehement, demonstrative, violent, wild, furious, fierce, fiery, hot-headed, madcap. overzealous, enthusiastic, impassioned, fanatical; rabid &c (eager) 865. rampant, clamorous, uproarious, turbulent, tempestuous, tumultuary^, ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget
... When the infectious and ill-natured brood Behold, and damn the work, because 'tis good, And with a proud, ungenerous spirit, try To pass an ostracism on poetry. But you, my friend, your worth does safely bear Above their spleen; you have no cause for fear; Like a well-mettled hawk, you took your flight Quite out of reach, and almost out of sight. As the strong sun, in a fair summer's day, You rise, and drive the mists and clouds away, The owls and bats, and all the birds ...
— The Comedies of William Congreve - Volume 1 [of 2] • William Congreve
... instrument relaxed. I retained him in this position for a few seconds longer, while the fierce heaves of Sir Charles, driving his steed to and fro in the delicious field of battle, testified to the soul-stirring effect that had been produced upon him and soon relieved his high mettled charger of a portion of his superabundant fluid. Then withdrawing from Frank, he laid him down on the bed, and again renewed his caresses which very soon reanimated the slightly drooping ...
— Laura Middleton; Her Brother and her Lover • Anonymous
... appeared to him full of force and power, practical and resolute. To one of his sporting tastes she suggested a mettled steed whose high spirit was kept in check by thorough training. Her conversation was piquant, at times a little brusque, and utterly devoid of sentimentality. But now her choice of poetic thought and her tones ...
— Opening a Chestnut Burr • Edward Payson Roe
... indifferently as "Facetiae" and "Cruikshank's Comic Album," which contain a series of jeux d'esprits, published between the years 1830 and 1832, and comprising Old Bootey's Ghost and The Man of Intellect, by W. F. Moncrieff; The High-mettled Racer and Monsieur Nongtongpaw, by Charles Dibdin; Margate and Brighton; The Devil's Visit; Steamers and Stages; Monsieur Touson; Monsieur Mallet, by H. W. Montague; Mathew's Comic Annual (a miserable melange by our friend Pierce Egan); the ...
— English Caricaturists and Graphic Humourists of the Nineteenth Century. - How they Illustrated and Interpreted their Times. • Graham Everitt
... hold back the face of his throne, and did spread a cloud upon it; not to weaken Job's faith, but to try Job's strength, and to show to men of after ages how valiant a man Job was. Faith, if it be strong, will play the man in the dark; will, like a mettled horse, flounce in bad way, will not be discouraged at trials, at many or strong trials: 'Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him,' is the language of that invincible grace of God (Job 13:15). There is also an aptness in those that come to the throne of grace, to cast all degrees ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan
... the street? Must he have the delirium tremens? No! He may wear satin and fine linen; he may walk with hat scrupulously brushed; may swing a gold-headed cane, and step in boots of French leather, dismount from a carriage, or draw tight rein over a swift, sleek, high-mettled, full-blooded Arabian span, but yet be so thoroughly under the power of strong drink that he is utterly offensive to his Maker and rotten as ...
— The Abominations of Modern Society • Rev. T. De Witt Talmage
... I gloried in the sight of it. Thar war but few settlements then upon its banks, and thar war none of your roarin', splashin' steamboats about; but I like the steamboats—thar grand creatures, and go it like high-mettled horses. Well, I war a young man then; me and my brother and our old mother joined in with a neighbor, built a family boat, put in our goods, and started off down the stream, towards the lower part ...
— The Humors of Falconbridge - A Collection of Humorous and Every Day Scenes • Jonathan F. Kelley
... passion tells; Mystery, half veiled and half revealed; And Honour, with his spotless shield; Attention, with fixed eye; and Fear, That loves the tale she shrinks to hear; And gentle Courtesy; and Faith, Unchanged by sufferings, time, or death; And Valour, lion-mettled lord, Leaning ...
— Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field • Walter Scott
... that grew theron, As chosen heirloom for my Theseus' clan. Thence summoned, sped I with a tireless foot,— Hummed on the wind, instead of wings, the fold Of this mine aegis, by my feet propelled, As, linked to mettled horses, speeds a car. And now, beholding here Earth's nether brood, I fear it nought, yet are mine eyes amazed With wonder. Who are ye? of all I ask, And of this stranger to my statue clinging. But ye—your shape is like no human form, Like to no ...
— The House of Atreus • AEschylus
... through, he would win, he would slay dragons. Prometheus-like he would defy the gods. Again his thought was unformulated, little more than the push of young, untamed energy impatient of opposition. But that he could face this wild mood of nature and control and guide these high-mettled, headstrong horses gave him coolness and self-confidence. It yielded him assurance that there was, after all, an immensity of distance between himself and all caged, outworn creatures, and that the horrible example of deformity upon the brazen-faced girl's show-board had really nothing ...
— The History of Sir Richard Calmady - A Romance • Lucas Malet
... what felt the youth, 'Mid this examination of the truth. The nice proportions and the lily charms Soon raised within his bosom dire alarms; Like magick operated on the string, And from it, what was tied, soon gave a spring; Broke loose at once, just like a mettled steed, That, having slipt its halter, flies with speed; Against the abbess' nose with force it flew, And spectacles from ...
— The Tales and Novels, Complete • Jean de La Fontaine
... inform'd (says his grace) that the earl of Rochester had said something very malicious of me; I therefore sent colonel Aston, a very mettled friend of mine, to call him to account for it; he denied the words, and indeed I was soon convinced he had never said them. But a mere report, though I found it to be false, obliged me (as I then foolishly thought) to go on ...
— The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) - Vol. III • Theophilus Cibber
... said. "Every story have I heard, and, egad! they but fire my blood. She is high mettled, but I have dealt with termagants before—and brought them down, by God!—and brought them down! There is a way to tame a woman—and I know it. Begin with a light soft hand and a melting eye—all's fair in ...
— His Grace of Osmonde • Frances Hodgson Burnett
... artist that he was, he neglected no detail of his craft. As he was a perfect shot, so also he was a finished horseman; and his skill not only secured him against capture, but also helped him to the theft of such horses as his necessities required, or to the exchange of a worn-out jade for a mettled prancer. Once upon a time a credulous farmer offered twenty pounds and his own gelding for the Captain's mount. Hind struck a bargain at once, and as they jogged along the road he persuaded the farmer to set his newly-purchased horse at the tallest hedge, the broadest ditch. The bumpkin failed, ...
— A Book of Scoundrels • Charles Whibley
... of the city, and seemed to look down upon it with admiration. One of these was our old friend Father Antonio, and the other the Cavalier. The former was mounted on an ambling mule, whose easy pace suited well with his meditative habits; while the other reined in a high-mettled steed, who, though now somewhat jaded under the fatigue of a long journey, showed by a series of little lively motions of his ears and tail, and by pawing the ground impatiently, that he had the inexhaustible stock of spirits which ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 9, No. 52, February, 1862 • Various
... unguarded flank, and at the slightest stir in the crowd it would wheel violently around, to the great consternation its rider, and the evident alarm of contiguous Knights. PUNCHINELLO, who was very conspicuous in the throng, and was mounted upon a highly mettled Ukraine steed, observed the cavorting of the Knight of RUDESHEIMER, and cantered gaily towards him. In attempting to pass, his spur touched the side of the blind steed,—which kicked at PUNCHINELLO'S fiery Ukraine in a very ungracious manner. Our animal would take a kick from no other animal ...
— Punchinello, Vol.1, No. 12 , June 18,1870 • Various
... where they slept or spent The careless hours in merriment. These heard the summons and obeyed: From chamber, grove, and colonnade, On elephants or cars they rode, Or through the streets impatient strode. As birds on rustling pinions fly Through regions of the darkened sky, Thus cars and mettled coursers through The crowded streets of Lanka flew. The council hall was reached, and then, As lions seek their mountain den, Through massy doors that opened wide, With martial stalk the captains hied. ...
— The Ramayana • VALMIKI
... 'tis a most wonderful wild-fowl. My people swear he is mettled in all gentle arts, from the manage of horses to the ...
— The Lady of Loyalty House - A Novel • Justin Huntly McCarthy
... a senator of Syracuse, was by nature hot-mettled, but was schooled by Pythagore'an philosophy into a Stoic coldness and slowness of speech. He was a fast friend of the republic, and when Dionysius was made "King" by a vote of the senate, Damon upbraided ...
— Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol 1 - A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook • The Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D.
... must have the word for its authority. Zeal without knowledge is like a mettled horse without eyes, or like a sword in a madman's hand; and there is no knowledge where there is not the word: for if they reject the word of the Lord, and act not by that, 'what wisdom is in them?' saith the prophet (Jer 8:9; ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan
... ought to resist arbitrary power. We thought many of the King's proceedings were contrary to the laws of the realm; and, therefore, joined those who sought to abridge his prerogative. And now that we have buckled on armour, retreat is difficult; it is dangerous too; party is a high-mettled steed, when we are mounted we must hold out the whole race it pleases to run. But before we part for the night, I will propose one toast; it is your brave and virtuous Lord Falkland's, and in fact the prayer of every honest man ...
— The Loyalists, Vol. 1-3 - An Historical Novel • Jane West
... hay beside me, And opening sleepy eyes, scarce marvelling, I saw her, standing naked in the lamplight, Beneath the huge tent's cavernous canopy, Against the throng of elephants and camels That champed unwondering in the golden dusk, Moon-white Diana, mettled Artemis— Her body, quick and tense as her own bowstring, Her spirit, an arrow barbed and strung for flight— White snowflakes melting on her night-black hair, And on her glistening breasts and supple thighs: Her red lips parted, her keen ...
— Georgian Poetry 1913-15 • Edited by E. M. (Sir Edward Howard Marsh)
... appeared to study Moses carefully and thoughtfully, and encouraged the wild, gleeful frankness which he had brought home from his first voyage, as a knowing jockey tries the paces of a high-mettled colt. ...
— The Pearl of Orr's Island - A Story of the Coast of Maine • Harriet Beecher Stowe
... had that high-mettled cavalier signed the articles of capitulation, than, determined not to witness the humiliation of his favorite city, he turned his back on its walls, and made a growling retreat to his bowery, or country seat, which was situated about two miles off; where he passed the remainder ...
— Knickerbocker's History of New York, Complete • Washington Irving
... tiresome suffering: they need not be far behind men in a becoming courage to meet that which is sudden and sharp. The dangers and the troubles, too, which we may venture to say they now start at unreasonably, are many of them mere creatures of the imagination—such as, in their way, disturb high-mettled animals brought up to see too little, and therefore frightened at any leaf blown across ...
— Friends in Council (First Series) • Sir Arthur Helps
... yoke in vain Quiver; their nostrils vainly void as foam Dense tides of lava; and in vain they rear; For Number on their mettled haunches poised Holds them, or duly with the rein controls, Or in their flanks buries ...
— Fabre, Poet of Science • Dr. G.V. (C.V.) Legros
... "Thereupon, like a high-mettled bull that hath been struck, Bhimasena, considering himself as censured by Draupadi, could not bear (that). And that Pandava of the gait of a lion or a bull, and graceful, and generous, and having the splendour of gold, and intelligent, and strong, and proud, and sensitive, ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Bk. 3 Pt. 2 • Translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli
... solemn steeds: how some are shaped Like curved sea-shells dyed by the azure depths 140 Of Indian seas; some like the new-born moon; And some like cars in which the Romans climbed (Canopied by Victory's eagle-wings outspread) The Capitolian—See how gloriously The mettled horses in the torchlight stir 145 Their gallant riders, while they check their pride, Like shapes of some diviner element Than English air, and beings nobler than The envious ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Volume I • Percy Bysshe Shelley
... been issued against firing at game, because of the nearness of the Indians. Young Jackson was a man of great strength, a keen swordsman, who always kept the finest edge on his blade, and he was on a swift and mettled Kentucky horse, which luckily had but one eye. Riding at full speed he soon overtook the quarry. As the horse hoofs sounded nearer, the grim bear ceased its flight, and whirling round stood at bay, raising itself on its hind-legs and threatening its pursuer with bared ...
— Hunting the Grisly and Other Sketches • Theodore Roosevelt
... felt wildly that he might meet the fate of the rash youth in his patron story. He had never ridden a horse like this, which, like all high-mettled Arabs, resented the authority of any but his master, and though a good horseman Ryder had all he could do to keep his seat and Aimee in ...
— The Fortieth Door • Mary Hastings Bradley
... comradely, and bold; High-mettled; all her thoughts a challenge, like gay ships Adventurous, with treasure in the hold. I met her with the ...
— Georgian Poetry 1920-22 • Various
... accompanied by the Crown Princess and two daughters. They proceeded to the presence of the Emperor, to offer the first congratulations. Next came a carriage whose splendid accompaniments eclipsed all others. Preceded by a mounted herald in scarlet and silver, on a mettled and caparisoned steed, and by other outriders in the same glittering fashion, came the carriage, surmounted by silver crowns, drawn by six horses; carriage, steeds, coachman, and footmen in shining livery and flowing plumes. At the door of the Crown Prince's palace the stout figure ...
— In and Around Berlin • Minerva Brace Norton
... pilgrimages to Sacramento, he returned with a superb mettled pony, the gift of Lieutenant Russell. With this pet she soon became a daring and accomplished horsewoman. She was an expert, too, with the small Winchester and revolver which her father brought with him from the East. Perched ...
— A Waif of the Mountains • Edward S. Ellis
... answer: she declared they were one and the same, affirmed that the years between were a bad night's dream, that her heart had been faithful, that he who conjures visions of romance in a young girl's bosom must always have her heart, as a crisis will reveal it to her. She had the volubility of the mettled Browny of old, and was lectured. When she insisted on shouting 'Matey! Matey!' she was angrily ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith
... 455 And Troy's reprieve thenceforth is at an end. Go—take refreshment now that we may march Forth to our enemies. Let each whet well His spear, brace well his shield, well feed his brisk High-mettled horses, well survey and search 460 His chariot on all sides, that no defect Disgrace his bright habiliments of war. So will we give the day from morn to eve To dreadful battle. Pause there shall be none Till night divide us. Every buckler's thong 465 Shall sweat on the toil'd bosom, every ...
— The Iliad of Homer - Translated into English Blank Verse • Homer
... blood and mettled speed, The choicest of the running breed, Of youthful strength and beauty vain, Refused subjection to ...
— Favourite Fables in Prose and Verse • Various
... an infant, I do," returned Sam, flicking his whip at a weed and gathering his lines up quickly as the mettled horses jumped. ...
— The Early Bird - A Business Man's Love Story • George Randolph Chester
... an impossible dream," he said, in reply to the remarks of Gualdro and Salustri, "that idea of all men fraternizing together in one common pig-sty of equality. Look at the differences of caste! Birth, breeding and education make of man that high-mettled, sensitive animal known as gentleman, and not all the socialistic theories in the world can force him down on the same level with the rough boor, whose flat nose and coarse features announce him as plebeian even before one hears the tone of his voice. We cannot ...
— Vendetta - A Story of One Forgotten • Marie Corelli
... placed, I have seen the taper tips of the most beautiful fingers in the world constrain the highest-mettled and hottest thorough-bred horses, and "rule them when they're wildest." It is an implement which will give to the weakest hand the power of the strongest, which most of the strongest hands cannot be trusted to wield, and which, if ladies' hands are light, ...
— Hints on Horsemanship, to a Nephew and Niece - or, Common Sense and Common Errors in Common Riding • George Greenwood
... the cavalry, taking his place, as usual, in the foremost rank. He was superbly accoutred. Over his shining mail he wore a sobre-vest of slashed velvet of a rich crimson color; and he rode a high-mettled charger, whose gaudy caparisons, with the showy livery of his rider, made the fearless commander the most conspicuous object in ...
— History Of The Conquest Of Peru • William Hickling Prescott
... John, coolly, "you are not used to such mettled nags as mine—it would be indiscreet for you to drive them: if, however, you will be good enough to take Emily into your gig—Grace Chatterton, I am sure, is not afraid to trust my driving, and we might all get ...
— Precaution • James Fenimore Cooper
... themselves men of parts, and for that reason neglected to be instructed, he proved to them that men of the best natural parts are they who have most need of instruction; and to this purpose he alleged the example of a high-mettled horse, who, having more courage and more strength than others, does us very great service, if he be broke and managed in his youth; but if that be neglected, he grows so vicious and unruly that we know not what to do with him. Thus also dogs of a good breed, and that by nature ...
— The Memorable Thoughts of Socrates • Xenophon
... out." Some of its rounds are wanting; others are loose and worn to a mere splinter. Warned by the voice below me, I proceed with a trembling caution, tenfold more exciting to the strained nerves than the wildest bound on a mettled racer, the fiercest rush that ever tingled through every fibre of the ...
— Atlantic Monthly Volume 7, No. 39, January, 1861 • Various
... with the hatred and the fear, there was a pitiful sneaking admiration. He looked so grand and unruffled—so old, and yet sitting the skittish, high-mettled horse so firmly; so feeble, and yet full of such an absolute confidence in his power to rule and subordinate, accustomed for forty years to the unfailing subjection of such things as servants, horses, and women. Her heart bumped against her stays, and her face became red and then white, when she ...
— The Devil's Garden • W. B. Maxwell
... eyes were fixed upon the road ahead and his hands, encased in fur mitts, were on the "lines" with a tenacious grip. The horses needed no urging. They were high-mettled and cold. The gushing quiver of their nostrils, as they drank in the crisp, night air, had a comforting sound for the occupants of the sleigh. Weather permitting, those beautiful "blacks" would do the distance in ...
— The Story of the Foss River Ranch • Ridgwell Cullum
... Spain now lay at ease. A great pile of low stone buildings gave them commodious quarters. Rich gifts of gold and clothing, and ample food supplies, were given and provided for the white men; and their hearts, whether of the high-mettled and scornful cavaliers, or of the rude boors who formed the common soldiery, were won by the gentle courtesy and the generosity of Montezuma and the respect of the Aztecs who obeyed him. Even the savage and hated Tlascalan allies were lodged ...
— Mexico • Charles Reginald Enock
... not fancy the exchange, as was manifest by an indignant snort, and an attempt to shake Sam off, but a word from Hugh quieted him, and the latter offered the reins to Sam, who was never a skillful horseman, and felt a mortal terror of the high-mettled steed beneath him. With a most frightened expression upon his face, he grasped the saddle pommel with both hands, and ...
— Bad Hugh • Mary Jane Holmes
... excitement before one, and loneliness! Rousseau—in his own way, a great though rather a morbid epicure of this world's enjoyments—talks with rapture of his pedestrian rambles when in his first youth. But what are your foot-ploddings to the joy which lifts you into air with the bound of your mettled steed? ...
— The Disowned, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... Nicholas was proud-mettled, and his very bearing angered the money-lender. He called him a young puppy, and a pauper besides, to which Nicholas replied with heat and spirit. His mother succeeded in smoothing things over for the time, and though Ralph Nickleby from that ...
— Tales from Dickens • Charles Dickens and Hallie Erminie Rives
... meeting. Under impression of the various doubts which succeeded each other in his imagination, he sometimes pressed Fairy's sides with his legs; sometimes laid his holly rod lightly on her neck; sometimes incited her by his voice, for the mettled animal needed neither whip nor spur, and achieved the distance betwixt the Castle of Holm-Peel and the stone at Goddard Crovan, at the rate of twelve miles within ...
— Peveril of the Peak • Sir Walter Scott
... had a splendid horse, sir. And the man himself seemed rather a mettled personage. If that's out of the ...
— The Long Roll • Mary Johnston
... others, speak; And I shall yoke them." Rituparna said:— "I know thou hast deep skill in stable-craft; Yoke therefore such four coursers as thou wilt, But quickly!" Thus those horses, two by two, High-mettled, spare, and strong, Prince Nala put Under the bars; and when the car was hitched, And eagerly the Raja made to mount, At sign the coursers bent their knees, and lay Along the earth. Then Nala (O my King!), With kindly voice cheering the gaunt ...
— Hindu Literature • Epiphanius Wilson
... had not had a fast and a high-beating heart. And his passionate heart was not all spent in holy love to Jesus Christ, though much of it was. For the dregs of it, the unholy scum and froth of it, came out too much in his books of debate and in his differences with his own brethren. His high-mettled and almost reckless sense of duty brought him many enemies, and it was his lifelong sanctification to try to treat his enemies aright, and to keep his own heart and tongue and pen clean and sweet towards them. And he divined that among the merchants and magistrates of Leith, anger ...
— Samuel Rutherford - and some of his correspondents • Alexander Whyte
... My love! for I imagine not that all The warrior Greeks shall safe from Troy return, Since fame reports the Trojans brave in fight, Skill'd in the spear, mighty to draw the bow, And nimble vaulters to the backs of steeds High-mettled, which to speediest issue bring The dreadful struggle of all-wasting war— I know not, therefore, whether heav'n intend 320 My safe return, or I must perish there. But manage thou at home. Cherish, as now, While ...
— The Odyssey of Homer • Homer
... regions of the earth be spread, Great Quixote crowned in grim Bellona's hall To-day exalts La Mancha over these, And above Greece or Gaul she holds her head. Nor ends his glory here, for his good steed Doth Brillador and Bayard far exceed; As mettled steeds compared with Rocinante, The reputation they have ...
— Don Quixote • Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
... be the fastest horse in the Province. As to temper, the horse was well named; for he could be as sweet, when properly handled, as a rose; and as sharp and briary as any rose-stalk under contrary conditions. A nervous, sensitive, high-mettled animal; Mistress Putnam, though a good rider, said it was too much work to manage him. While her husband always responded that Sweetbriar could be ridden by any one, for he was as ...
— Dulcibel - A Tale of Old Salem • Henry Peterson
... from want of work and from overmuch corn, galloped about in a very extravagant manner, and said to himself: "My father surely was a high-mettled racer, and I am his own child in speed and spirit." On the next day, being driven a long journey, and feeling very weary, he exclaimed in a disconsolate tone: "I must have made a mistake; my father, after all, could ...
— Aesop's Fables - A New Revised Version From Original Sources • Aesop
... nay, he went deliberately to the window, and gazed a moment on the high-mettled pony and the well-dressed, spirited rider. In that moment changes passed over Randal's countenance more rapidly than clouds over the sky in a gusty day. Now envy and discontent, with the curled lip and the gloomy scowl; now hope and proud self-esteem, with the clearing brow and ...
— My Novel, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... asked Hewson what he was, he told me he was his captain-lieutenant of horse; I desired to know where he had him? he told me he made him so from a serjeant, and a very mettled fellow he was; it was he that did the King's business for him upon the scaffold. In 1653 there was a disbanding of the army in Ireland; this gentleman was then continued captain-lieutenant in Pretty's regiment; I discoursed with Pretty concerning ...
— State Trials, Political and Social - Volume 1 (of 2) • Various
... that ever was. And I may say of him, as was said of a celebrated poet, Cui unquam poetarum magis proprium fuit subito astro incalescere? Quis ubi incaluit, fortius et faeclicius debacchatur? His verse is smoother and deeper, his thoughts more quick and surprising, his raptures more mettled and higher, and he has more of that in his writings, which Plato calls sophrona manian than any other heroic poet. And those who shall go about to imitate him, will be found to flutter and make a noise, but ...
— The Works Of John Dryden, Vol. 7 (of 18) - The Duke of Guise; Albion and Albanius; Don Sebastian • John Dryden
... Bow is strung; And next, the Lion's grinning visage hung: 100 The Scorpion's claws here clasp a wide extent, And here the Crab's in lesser clasps are bent. Nor would you find it easy to compose The mettled steeds, when from their nostrils flows The scorching fire, that in their entrails glows. Even I their headstrong fury scarce restrain, When they grow warm and restive to the rein. Let not my son a fatal gift require, But, ...
— The Poetical Works of Addison; Gay's Fables; and Somerville's Chase • Joseph Addison, John Gay, William Sommerville
... renown, Much more her chief does fierce Bellona crown. Prizing La Mancha more than Gaul or Greece, As Quixote triumphs over Amadis. Oblivion ne'er shall shroud his glorious name, Whose very horse stands up to challenge fame! Illustrious Rozinante, wondrous steed! Not with more generous pride or mettled speed, His rider erst Rinaldo's Bayard bore, Or ...
— Wit and Wisdom of Don Quixote • Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
... Slavin, with an oath, as the mettled, high-strung animal began to kick affrightedly. Slipping again it sank down in the snow and remained still for ...
— The Luck of the Mounted - A Tale of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police • Ralph S. Kendall |
