"Improperly" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... subordinate, we may remember, as M. Arago observes, that man owes the knowledge of it entirely to his own resources, and thereby has raised himself to the most eminent rank in the world of ideas. Indeed, astronomical investigations might not improperly excuse a little vanity ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 441 - Volume 17, New Series, June 12, 1852 • Various
... first fruits is not expressly affirmed, it appears to be implied both by the solemn preparations made for eating them and by the danger supposed to be incurred by persons who venture to partake of them without observing the prescribed ritual. In all such cases, accordingly, we may not improperly describe the eating of the new fruits as a sacrament or communion with a deity, or at all events with ...
— The Golden Bough - A study of magic and religion • Sir James George Frazer
... within inverted commas, is given as a short specimen of the taste of Garcilasso, and the respectable talents of his translator, Sir Paul Rycant, in 1688. It gives an account of one of these singular meteors or fire balls, improperly termed a comet in the text, which some modern philosophers are pleased to derive from the moon, and to suppose that they are composed of ignited masses of iron alloyed with nickel. It were an affront to our readers to comment on the ridiculous pretended prognostication ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 5 • Robert Kerr
... and you will pardon me if I say improperly so. I think you were wrong in suffering Jane to go with him ...
— Precaution • James Fenimore Cooper
... by any of the influences named as general causes for diseases of the organs of respiration, but in many instances it is from neglect. A common cold or sore throat may be followed by pneumonia if neglected or improperly treated. An animal may be debilitated by a cold, and when in this weakened state may be compelled to undergo exertion beyond his strength; or he may be kept in a badly ventilated stable, where the ...
— Special Report on Diseases of the Horse • United States Department of Agriculture
... nay, even a hardened criminal, whom even the preparations for his execution cannot awaken out of his callousness. But yet, notwithstanding this agitating truthfulness, how tender and mild is the pervading tone of the picture! The piece takes improperly its name from punishment; the true significance of the whole is the triumph of mercy over strict justice; no man being himself so free from errors as to be entitled to deal it out to his equals. The most beautiful embellishment of the composition ...
— Lectures on Dramatic Art - and Literature • August Wilhelm Schlegel trans John Black
... alarmed at the numbers of strange faces thronging around him; he was not well, too, with the many sweet things and fruits he had eaten, and now it was approaching his usual bed-time, and though he had had a sleep, yet he had been roused from it suddenly and improperly, fed with sweet cake since, and any experienced person present might know that shortly the child would get so excited in the scene before him, it would be no easy matter ...
— Brotherly Love - Shewing That As Merely Human It May Not Always Be Depended Upon • Mrs. Sherwood
... was gone, Mrs. Tyrrel, most unwisely and improperly, sent for Norah, and, repeating the conversation that had taken place, warned her of the reception she might expect from the man who stood toward you in the position of a father, if she accepted an offer of marriage on your part. When I tell you that Norah's faithful attachment to her ...
— No Name • Wilkie Collins
... currency, or currency, as it is more commonly called, consists of four Spanish dollars. The dollar is divided into five parts—called in Spanish pistoreens—each of which is termed a shilling. Each of these shillings or pistoreens is again subdivided into twelve parts, called pence, but improperly, for there is no coin answering to any such subdivision. To meet the want a great variety of copper coins are used, comprising the old English halfpenny, the halfpenny of later coinage, the penny, the farthing, the American cent.; all and each pass as the twenty-fourth ...
— The Backwoods of Canada • Catharine Parr Traill
... the embroidery of conversation, but it should not be the web. 2. It is called so, but it is improperly called so. 3. Was Cabot the discoverer of America, or was he not the discoverer of America? 4. William the Silent has been likened to Washington, and he has justly been likened to him. 5. It was his address that pleased me, and it was not his ...
— Higher Lessons in English • Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg
... to the study of Greek antiquity a special and peculiar value, since in regard to the body of religious belief and observance with which we are here immediately concerned, neither in what we may not improperly term its ultimate (early Aryan), nor in what has been generally considered its proximate (Syro-Phoenician), source, have these intermediate stages been preserved; in each case the ritual remains are illustrative of ...
— From Ritual to Romance • Jessie L. Weston
... neighbor of the impropriety of taking articles to the camp on the Sabbath, and he had acknowledged his fault, and promised amendment. The duty of forgiving offenders, and undoing wrongs, was also insisted on. Several had been improperly excluded from church privileges through the influence of white power. It was, therefore, decided to-day that those who had the confidence of the church should be restored to ...
— Mary S. Peake - The Colored Teacher at Fortress Monroe • Lewis C. Lockwood
... woman rubbed her forefinger among it to show that it was rough and hard, and that the particles were as sharp as though sand had been mixed with it. The stuff was half-boiled Indian meal, which had been improperly subjected at first to the full heat of boiling water; and in its present state was bad food either for children or grown people. "Feel of that," said the woman; "would you like to be 'ating ...
— Castle Richmond • Anthony Trollope
... which is called the pulmonary circulation, is the one step in real advance that was made between the time of Galen and the time of Harvey. And I would beg you to note that the word "circulation" is improperly employed when it is applied to the course of the blood through the lungs. The blood from the right side of the heart, in getting to the left side of the heart, only performs a half-circle—it does not perform a whole circle—it does not return to ...
— William Harvey And The Discovery Of The Circulation Of The Blood • Thomas H. Huxley
... Separators Not Properly Expanded Before Installation. Improperly Treated Separators. Rotten and Carbonized Separators. Separators with Clogged Pores. Separators with ...
— The Automobile Storage Battery - Its Care And Repair • O. A. Witte
... despondent passion, he wrote two other poems at this period, from which, as they exist only in the Miscellany I have just alluded to, and that collection has for some time been out of print, a few stanzas may, not improperly, be extracted here. ...
— Life of Lord Byron, Vol. I. (of VI.) - With his Letters and Journals. • Thomas Moore
... above, and in the Preface, on this head, the following opinion of an ingenious and candid foreigner, on this manner of writing, may not be improperly inserted here. ...
— Clarissa Harlowe, Volume 9 (of 9) - The History Of A Young Lady • Samuel Richardson
... precautionary arrangements to-day in order that the needs of to-morrow may be met. Fear and uneasiness about the future, the atra cura of the Latins, you will look for among us in vain. It is this care which poisons the pleasure of the present; whilst that other, which can only improperly be called care, but the real name of which is foresight, by means of the perfect sense of security which it creates concerning the morrow enhances the delight of present enjoyment by the foretaste to-day of future enjoyments already provided for. Herein lies the guarantee of ...
— Freeland - A Social Anticipation • Theodor Hertzka
... meal, if need be, than make a refuse bin of our bodies. All this may seem a digression, but I am so thoroughly convinced that a large proportion of the "ills that flesh is heir to"—and we accept the inheritance with a resignation "worthy of a better cause"—is due to unsound or improperly prepared food, that I make no apology. Many people have told me that they daren't touch certain vegetables, and when I have seen these as served by them have cordially agreed with them. The most common error, especially with ...
— Reform Cookery Book (4th edition) - Up-To-Date Health Cookery for the Twentieth Century. • Mrs. Mill
... the whole party very properly went to church; but during the sermon Captain Cuttwater very improperly went to sleep, and snored ponderously the whole time. Katie was so thoroughly shocked that she did not know which way to look; Norman, who had recovered his good-humour, and Alaric, could not refrain from smiling as they caught the eyes of the ...
— The Three Clerks • Anthony Trollope
... teat when fed, but to place, as is frequently done, a lump of chalk before them to lick, thus leading them to swallow the saliva. The chalk would so far supply the want of salt, of which cattle are often so improperly deprived, and it would also promote the formation of saliva. Indeed, calves are very much disposed to lick and suck every thing which comes within their reach, which seems to be the way in which Nature teaches them to supply ...
— Cattle and Their Diseases • Robert Jennings
... "Most improperly," said Fyne, who really was in a state in which he didn't mind what he blurted out. "He isn't himself. He begged me to tell his sister that he offered no remarks on her conduct. Very improper and inconsequent. He said . . . I was tired of this wrangling. I told him I made ...
— Chance • Joseph Conrad
... remainder. He is careful to say, and even to repeat, that the intellectual labor to which such disastrous results are attributed, is not in itself incompatible with the nature of the woman, nor, even when improperly pursued, can it be considered as the sole cause of the delicate health of American girls. Dr. Clarke indeed guards his every assertion with a care and precision that is worthy of imitation by those who draw such large deductions from his book. When, however, ...
— The Education of American Girls • Anna Callender Brackett
... figurative interpretation). This Cabala therefore the Church has never condemned. The false and impious Cabala is a certain mendacious kind of Jewish tradition, full of innumerable vanities and falsehoods, differing but little from necromancy. This kind of superstition, therefore, improperly called Cabala, the Church within the last few years ...
— Secret Societies And Subversive Movements • Nesta H. Webster
... Pipelet, bawling in a voice sharp enough to split the tympanum of a deaf man. "Alfred! have at 'em, old darling! They wanted to behave improperly to thy 'Stasie! (Anastasia). Those rascals would take liberties with me! Pitch into them with your broom! call the oyster-woman and the potboy next door to help you. Quick!— quick!—after them! Murder! police! thieves! Hish!—hish!—hish! bravo! Halloo! go it, old darling! Broom!—broom!" By ...
— The Mysteries of Paris V2 • Eugene Sue
... taken these names upon thee of good, modest, true; of emfrwn, sumfrwn, uperfrwn; take heed lest at any times by doing anything that is contrary, thou be but improperly so called, and lose thy right to these appellations. Or if thou do, return unto them again with all possible speed. And remember, that the word emfrwn notes unto thee an intent and intelligent consideration of every object that presents itself ...
— Meditations • Marcus Aurelius
... the attention of Congress to the condition of our people, with the earnest hope that provision may be made whereby great suffering may be relieved; and I assure you that so far as I am able to prevent it not one ounce of provisions or a cent of money contributed to the above need shall be improperly used. ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Volume IX. • Benjamin Harrison
... so much as to live Imitating other men's natures, thou layest aside thy own Immoderate either seeking or evading glory or reputation Impose them upon me as infallible Impostures: very strangeness lends them credit Improperly we call this voluntary dissolution, despair Impunity pass with us for justice In everything else a man may keep some decorum In ordinary friendships I am somewhat cold and shy In solitude, be company for ...
— Quotes and Images From The Works of Michel De Montaigne • Michel De Montaigne
... me to decide on leaving the convenient boarding-house of Mrs. Silvernail: a house correctly described as containing several "modern improvements": improperly, as being "in the immediate vicinity of all the places of public amusement." For, as the Central Park of New York is a place of public amusement, so likewise is Barnum's Museum; and these two places being at a distance of ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume V, Number 29, March, 1860 - A Magazine Of Literature, Art, And Politics • Various
... start to its arrival and back again; and not only waggons, but even the individual tarpaulins that cover them are watched and noted in this way, in order that the various companies over whose lines they pass may get their due, and that the companies owning them may get their demurrage if they be improperly detained on the way. For this purpose, at every point where separate railways join, there are stationed men in the pay of the Clearing-House, whose duty it is to take the numbers of all passenger carriages and goods, waggons ...
— The Iron Horse • R.M. Ballantyne
... justification among the lawyers; judges and ex-judges flew to Wheaton, Phillimore, and Lord Stowell. Before twenty-four hours were over, every man and every woman in Boston were armed with precedents. Then there was the burning of the "Caroline." England had improperly burned the "Caroline" on Lake Erie, or rather in one of the American ports on Lake Erie, and had then begged pardon. If the States had been wrong, they would beg pardon; but whether wrong or right, they would not give up Slidell and Mason. ...
— Volume 1 • Anthony Trollope
... believed, that Cimon, unable to pay the fine to which Miltiades was adjudged, was detained in custody until a wealthy marriage made by his sister Elpinice, to whom he was tenderly, and ancient scandal whispered improperly, attached, released him from confinement, and the brother-in-law paid the debt. "Thus severe and harsh," says Nepos, "was his entrance upon manhood." [141] But it is very doubtful whether Cimon was ...
— Athens: Its Rise and Fall, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... back on the ability of the libraries, under CIPA's disabling provisions, see CIPA Sec. 1712 (codified at 20 U.S.C. Sec. 9134(f)(3)), CIPA Sec.1721(b) (codified at 47 U.S.C. Sec. 254(h)(6)(D)), to unblock a site that is patently proper yet improperly blocked. The evidence reflects that libraries can and do unblock the filters when a patron so requests. But it also reflects that requiring library patrons to ask for a Web site to be unblocked will deter many patrons because they are embarrassed, or desire ...
— Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) Ruling • United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
... orthodox. Yet if she could be examined by a commission to the ghosts, she would probably have some palliating circumstances to allege in mitigation of judgment. There were perhaps peculiarities in Milton's character which a young lady might not improperly dislike. The austere and ascetic character is of course far less agreeable to women than the sensuous and susceptible. The self-occupation, the pride, the abstraction of the former are to the female mind disagreeable; studious habits and unusual self-denial seem to it purposeless; ...
— Harvard Classics Volume 28 - Essays English and American • Various
... was led to cry out against all sorts of music; and the advices of our Society down to modern times have been uniformly in the same direction. It has been felt that the time required to become a proficient in its practice was improperly taken from more important uses; that the emotions it produces have no tendency to strengthen the intellectual or moral character; that the most melodious sounds that human instruments can make have no power to implant principles, give strength ...
— On Singing and Music • Society of Friends
... Nick with a regard which approached, though not improperly competing with it, the affection his master had placed on the same young head, and Chayter knew a good many things. Among them he knew his place; but it was wonderful how little that knowledge had rendered ...
— The Tragic Muse • Henry James
... is a faculty which enables her to 'put this and that together,' and arrive at conclusions which would amaze her less acute foreign sisters. You may not envy her this faculty, but do not accuse her of employing it improperly. She will never disgrace herself nor the coronet which she already feels pressing lightly upon her head. As she trips out of sight, it may give any man a heart-pang to think that there is at least one lovely woman who is impenetrable to love; but then, if she were like those dear, soft, ...
— Lights and Shadows of New York Life - or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great City • James D. McCabe
... baby, properly fed, will thrive. A baby deprived of fresh air, but wisely fed, will survive and even develop into a strong healthy man or woman. But the baby raised according to the latest and most approved rules of sanitation and hygiene, if improperly ...
— The Mother and Her Child • William S. Sadler
... be obvious to the Senate; and among those reasons against these secret individual negotiations is the distrust created that the chiefs so acting are doing what a majority of their people do not approve of, or else that they are improperly acted upon by bribery or threats or unfair influences. In this case we have most ample illustrations. Those opposed to the treaty accuse several of those who signed their assent to the amended treaty with having been bribed, and in at least one instance they ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Section 2 (of 2) of Volume 3: Martin Van Buren • James D. Richardson
... being the excess over complement of the Elias Denny three-league survey on Chiquito River, in one of the middle-western counties. This two-thousand-acre body of land was asserted by them to be vacant land, and improperly considered a part of the Denny survey. They based this assertion and their claim upon the land upon the demonstrated facts that the beginning corner of the Denny survey was plainly identified; that its field notes called to run west ...
— Whirligigs • O. Henry
... your chief of artillery or some other officer to do it; but I hope that none of the guns which belonged to the Army of the Valley before it became part of the Army of Northern Virginia, after the battle of Cedar Run, will be taken from it. If since that time any artillery has improperly come into my command, I trust that it will be taken away, and the person in whose possession it may be found punished, if his conduct requires it. So careful was I to prevent an improper distribution ...
— Stonewall Jackson And The American Civil War • G. F. R. Henderson
... they boast descent, are they to blame? [Footnote: The Athenians claimed to be of indigenous origin— Autoch'tho-nes, that is, Aborigines, sprung from the earth itself. As emblematic of this origin they wore in their hair the golden forms of the cicada, or locust, often improperly called grasshopper, which was believed to spring from the earth. So it was said that the Athenians ...
— Mosaics of Grecian History • Marcius Willson and Robert Pierpont Willson
... is infallible," answered Staniford. He was ashamed to know that the beautiful young girl was as improperly alone in church as she would have been in a cafe, and he began to hate the European world for the fact. It seemed better to him that the Aroostook should put about and sail back to Boston with her, as she was,—better that she should be going to her aunt in South Bradfield than to her aunt in Venice. ...
— The Lady of the Aroostook • W. D. Howells
... Swedish post, established on a small river (or, as it is improperly termed, creek) of the same name; and here that crafty governor Jan Risingh lay grimly drawn up, like a grey-bearded spider in the citadel ...
— Knickerbocker's History of New York, Complete • Washington Irving
... be dutiful, nor at all agreeable to what your poor dear grandfather always taught. Nobody can suppose that I am not come to years of discretion; and you very well know I have always been a good and tender mother to you; and so I always shall be; and I am sure you will not think hardly and improperly of my conduct in any way, for that would be very unkind and unbecoming; and, if I have done all for the best, to be hardly thought of afterwards would be very improper indeed. Mr. Thornby [the lawyer] is a very prudent man, and so ...
— The Adventures of Hugh Trevor • Thomas Holcroft
... are single words, most of them monosyllables, employed to mark relation. Relation is also expressed by combinations of words which often correspond to simple prepositions in other languages. These combinations are, not improperly, ranked among the prepositions. The following lists contain first the Prepositions properly so called, which are all simple; secondly, improper Prepositions, which, with one or two exceptions, seem all to be made up of a ...
— Elements of Gaelic Grammar • Alexander Stewart
... fact they are no sufficient reason. When a large number of individuals to whom authority is delegated exercise that authority improperly, one may safely infer that the system is at fault as much as the individual. Local American legislative organization has courted failure. Both the system of representation and functions of the representative body have been admirably calculated to debase the quality ...
— The Promise Of American Life • Herbert David Croly
... with what readiness he should comply, and how anxiously he should desire to do his best for the person who had made the request, he mentioned what had arisen in his mind. It had occurred to him that he might not be unreasonably or improperly trespassing farther on Mr. Hogarth if, trusting to his kindness to refer the application to the proper quarter, he begged to ask whether it was probable, if he commenced a regular series of articles under some attractive ...
— The Life of Charles Dickens, Vol. I-III, Complete • John Forster
... early as 1625 an English author (Hagthorne) wrote that even in time of peace it was the purpose and aim of England to undermine and beat the Dutch and Spaniards out of their trades, "which may not improperly be called a war, for the deprivation and cutting off the trades of a kingdom may be to some prince more loss if his revenues depend thereon than the killing of his armies." The wars against Holland, which resulted in the subjection to ...
— The Land We Live In - The Story of Our Country • Henry Mann
... you will receive this explanation and if you deem it necessary, communicate it to the ministers of the departments of France interested in it. It is desired that the ministers may not entertain the belief that their attention is improperly understood by the authorities ...
— Movement of the International Literary Exchanges, between France and North America from January 1845 to May, 1846 • Various
... writer, used marks of quotation improperly, when the language of the author cited was altered or adapted. Worse than this are many instances of gross misquotation. In the former case, the quotation-marks were deleted; in the latter, ...
— The Shirley Letters from California Mines in 1851-52 • Louise Amelia Knapp Smith Clappe
... appeal all round to Felix, but he was not so practicable as the universal compliments to his good sense showed to be expected. He had expressed his opinion that it was a rash engagement, hitherto improperly carried on; but he could not be brought to advise his brother to break it off on his side while the lady held to it on hers. It might be best to give it up by mutual consent; but as long as one party was bound, so ...
— The Pillars of the House, V1 • Charlotte M. Yonge
... of the President of the Confederate States, a pardon is announced to such deserters and men improperly absent as shall return to the commands to which they belong within the shortest possible time, not exceeding twenty days from the publication of this order, at the headquarters of the department in which ...
— A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital • John Beauchamp Jones
... to me, but it is not so important as the impairing of your character which I see going on. You are becoming permanently distrustful, suspicious. You think one friend will fail us here, that that friend is untrue, that the other one may be influenced improperly. Very soon you will begin to suspect me, then you will suspect yourself, and then—then, you are utterly lost. Stop it. I would rather lose the fight than ...
— The Young Man and the World • Albert J. Beveridge
... of the Geological Society, in his anniversary address to that body on the 24th of May, 1841, remarks that, "It is much to be regretted that Government has not recognised Tasmania as the name of that island, improperly denominated Van Diemen's Land. The occurrence of a second Van Diemen's Land on the northern coast of Australia occasions confusion; and since Tasman, not Van Diemen, was the first discoverer of the island, it would be but just that ...
— Discoveries in Australia, Volume 1. • J Lort Stokes
... The sons of AEacus.—Ver. 4. 'AEacidis' may mean either the forces sent by AEacus, or his sons Telamon and Peleus, in command of those troops. It has been well observed, that 'redeuntibus,' 'returning,' is here somewhat improperly applied to the troops of AEacus, for they were not, strictly speaking, returning to ...
— The Metamorphoses of Ovid - Literally Translated into English Prose, with Copious Notes - and Explanations • Publius Ovidius Naso
... enabling him the better to evade an ill-bred curiosity, the disguise no doubt was the same sort of fillip to the fancy which a mask and domino or a fancy dress are to that of their wearers. Even in a disguise a man cannot cease to be himself; but he can get rid of his improperly "imputed" righteousness—often the greatest burden he has to bear—and of all the expectations formed on the strength, ...
— Sir Walter Scott - (English Men of Letters Series) • Richard H. Hutton
... testimony of Solomon, Eccl. ii. 12. "And I turned to behold wisdom, madness and folly," &c. And ver. 23: "All his days are sorrow, his travel grief, and his heart taketh no rest in the night." So that take melancholy in what sense you will, properly or improperly, in disposition or habit, for pleasure or for pain, dotage, discontent, fear, sorrow, madness, for part, or all, truly, or metaphorically, 'tis all one. Laughter itself is madness according to Solomon, and ...
— The Anatomy of Melancholy • Democritus Junior
... disorders the general circulation, and especially all causes that increase the action of the cerebral arteries, or, as it is usually though improperly expressed, which occasion a determination of blood to the head. Of the former kind are violent exercise, and external heat applied to the surface generally, as by a heated atmosphere or the hot bath; of the latter, the direct application of ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10, - Issue 268, August 11, 1827 • Various
... Barton said it was disgraceful, and that she would never hear of such a marriage; and when the doctor called next day she acquainted him with her views on the subject. She told him he had very improperly taken advantage of his position to make love to her daughter; she really didn't know how he could ever have arrived at the conclusion that a match was possible, and that for the future his visits must cease at Brookfield. And when Alice heard what had passed between Dr. ...
— Muslin • George Moore
... partitions, taking care that in reducing partitions you so estimate your stresses and strains that the roof of the world be not endangered by weight that is unsupported, or improperly supported! ...
— Astounding Stories of Super-Science July 1930 • Various
... years passed away, and notwithstanding the exhortations of Mrs. Sidney, and the bright examples of his cousins, no amendment was perceived in the character of Charles. Most persons who act improperly, as I have said before, endeavour to find an excuse for their conduct, and he formed no exception to the rule. His apology for his parsimony was, that he was saving every pound he could accumulate to help pay for his college education when he should be sent thither. A poor, ...
— The Young Lord and Other Tales - to which is added Victorine Durocher • Camilla Toulmin
... in great beauty in the mountain of Cairn Gorm, in Scotland. It consists of brown and yellow crystals of quartz, and is much admired for seal stones, &c.; it is sometimes improperly ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 20, - Issue 560, August 4, 1832 • Various
... Philip thought so too, and most improperly replied, "The difference of age would of course put that out of the question;" nor when he had committed the indiscretion, did he perceive the red spot which came upon Mrs. Hazleton's fair brow, and indicated sufficiently enough the effect his words had produced. There was an ominous silent ...
— The International Magazine, Volume 2, No. 3, February, 1851 • Various
... have been more abused in meaning and application than that of "the Prince's set." Properly used, it meant his personal friends or those who, along specific and often very diverse lines of sport, society, work, or travel, were necessarily intimate with His Royal Highness. Improperly applied, it was supposed to designate a rather fast and very "smart" set of wealthy social magnates. In this latter guise it had really no existence. Those who were familiar with the Prince of Wales' career and character knew that mere wealth was the last thing which ...
— The Life of King Edward VII - with a sketch of the career of King George V • J. Castell Hopkins
... observing, that we are now and then apt to draw too unfavourable conclusions from unpleasant appearances, which may perhaps be chiefly or altogether owing to gross or confused conceptions, or to a disgusting formality of demeanor, or to indeterminate, low, or improperly familiar expressions. The mode and language, in which a vulgar man will express himself on the subject of Religion, will probably be vulgar, and it is difficult for people of literature and refinement not to ...
— A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians, in the Middle and Higher Classes in this Country, Contrasted with Real Christianity. • William Wilberforce
... says, "Grammatica est recte scribendi atque loquendi ars;" that is, "Grammar is the art of writing and speaking correctly." Despauter, too, in his definition, which is quoted in a preceding paragraph, not improperly placed writing first, as being that with which grammar is primarily concerned. For it ought to be remembered, that over any fugitive colloquial dialect, which has never been fixed by visible signs, grammar has ...
— The Grammar of English Grammars • Goold Brown
... necessary to show how improperly these appellations were applied. Though the Gypsey chiefs might be gratified with such titles; and their descendants probably esteemed them persons of rank, it was merely a ridiculous imitation ...
— A Historical Survey of the Customs, Habits, & Present State of the Gypsies • John Hoyland
... presently got to wordy wars with Frank; in which, as you may suppose, she had little chance of victory. But she called in Clifton, to be her auxiliary; and he fell into the same pettish, half-haughty, half-contemning kind of manner, in which he had so improperly indulged, previous to the accident of the lake, in France. I looked at him; he understood me, and endeavoured, but rather awkwardly, to ...
— Anna St. Ives • Thomas Holcroft
... formerly the precious Honeywood bequest, improperly sold to Dibdin for 500 guineas; but the library still contains about 5000 volumes, to which the Dean and Chapter make additions from time to time; and there is a paid custodian, who is one of the minor canons. York Minster and Chapter ...
— The Book-Collector • William Carew Hazlitt
... distressed at this curse. We sought to propitiate that Brahmana of ascetic wealth that departed not from his vow. Addressing him, we said, 'Inflated with a sense of our beauty and youth, and urged by the god of desire, we have acted very improperly. It behoveth thee, O Brahmana, to pardon us! Truly, O Brahmana, it was death to us that we had at all come hither to tempt thee of rigid vows and ascetic wealth. The virtuous, however, have said that women should never be slain. Therefore grow thou in virtue. It behoveth thee not to slay us ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 • Kisari Mohan Ganguli
... the enormous influence of ideas upon the events of life. Prejudices, worthy of all respect, and bred by noble religious ideas, occasioned my misfortunes. This young girl belonged to an exceeding devout family, whose views of Catholicism were due to the spirit of a sect improperly styled Jansenists, which, in former times, caused troubles ...
— The Country Doctor • Honore de Balzac
... be rendered compound from without, the soft parts being damaged by the object which breaks the bone—as, for example, a cart wheel, a piece of machinery, or a bullet. Sloughing of soft parts resulting from the pressure of improperly applied splints, also, may convert a simple into a compound fracture. On the other hand, a simple fracture may be rendered compound from within—for example, a sharp fragment of bone may penetrate the skin; this is the least serious variety ...
— Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. • Alexander Miles
... the great deserts of the world, these authorities say:—"Perhaps the most absolute desert tract on the face of the globe is that which occupies the interior of the great island, or as it may not improperly ...
— Reminiscences of Queensland - 1862-1869 • William Henry Corfield
... something of most of them, and his genius was unquestionably of the kind to which a mere thumbnail study, a mere passing view, suffices for the acquisition of a thorough working knowledge of the object. In this case the Chevalier has served, and not improperly served, as the original of a thousand after-studies. His rival, less carefully projected, is also perhaps a little less alive. Again, Balzac was old enough to have foregathered with many men of the Revolution. But the most characteristic of them ...
— The Jealousies of a Country Town • Honore de Balzac
... died out, and the name of Socinian took its place. The term Socinian is, however, misleading. It by no means implies that those to whom it was given agreed with the doctrine of Faustus Socinus. It was often loosely and improperly applied on the one hand to many who really believed more than he did, and on the other to many who believed less. In fact, the stigma of Socinianism was tossed about as a vague, general term of reproach in the eighteenth century, ...
— The English Church in the Eighteenth Century • Charles J. Abbey and John H. Overton
... are nearly akin to those emotions, as hope or terror, or those passions, as anger and envy, which are acknowledged by all to belong exclusively to the spirit, and to involve no relation whatever to matter or the bodily organism. Such feelings are not infrequently styled sensations, though improperly." PORTER Human Intellect Sec. 112, p. 128. [S. '90.] Feeling is a general term popularly denoting what is felt, whether through the body or by the mind alone, and includes both sensation and emotion. A sense is an organ or faculty ...
— English Synonyms and Antonyms - With Notes on the Correct Use of Prepositions • James Champlin Fernald
... improperly drawn," observed Mr. Adolphus; "I myself saw four or five large carp just before ...
— Aunt Deborah • Mary Russell Mitford
... Every thing herein is not only in the place it ought to have been, but every thing is fitted for the place it hath. He presents you at first with that which ought to be first seen; he places in the middle what ought to be in the middle, and what would be improperly placed at the beginning or end, and he removes what ought to be at a greater distance, to create the more agreeable surprize; and, to use a comparison drawn from painting, he places that in the greatest light which cannot be too visible, and sinks ...
— The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753),Vol. V. • Theophilus Cibber
... pointed out that use might have been made of a signature given to a stranger as an autograph on a blank paper, the body of which had been improperly filled up ...
— The Lincoln Story Book • Henry L. Williams
... he was blind, for the most learned person in all that country. He had the whole Scriptures in his memory, but seemed to have been at more pains to retain them than understand them; as he talked much he often took occasion to quote them, and did it almost always improperly. Having invited him to sup and pass the night with me, I set before him some excellent mead, which he liked so well as to drink somewhat beyond the bounds of exact temperance. Next day, to make some return for his entertainment, he took upon him to divert me with some of those ...
— A Voyage to Abyssinia • Jerome Lobo
... what she had just said. "No woman of any delicacy ever speaks of a matter of this kind, when once she has taken upon herself to reject a proposal unconditionally. If she wishes for advice," continued the lady, recollecting herself, "or thinks that the suit may be pressed improperly, of course she's free to ask counsel and assistance of some female friend, on whom she can depend. But the moment the thing is decided, of course, she is silent for ever; for nothing can be more a matter of honorable confidence than an avowal of honorable love. I will ...
— The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 2, May, 1851 • Various
... 1484 (the year in which Innocent VIII. published his famous 'Witch Hammer' signally ratified 120 years later by the Act of Parliament of James I. of England) to 1680 might be characterised not improperly as the era of devil-worship; and we are tempted almost to embrace the theory of Zerdusht and the Magi and conceive that Ahriman was then superior in the eternal strife; to imagine the Evil One, as in the days of the Man of Uz, 'going to and fro in the ...
— The Superstitions of Witchcraft • Howard Williams
... vols.) is made up of several imperfect copies, which have been improperly put together. The bulk is formed by vols. 2-10 which are written in three different hands, and some of which bear date 1046 A.H. The contents of these nine vols. are as follows: Introduction and 1-3 (wanting ...
— Supplemental Nights, Volume 6 • Richard F. Burton
... understanding. The syllogism consists of propositions, these of words, words are the signs of notions, notions represent things. If our notions are fantastical, the whole structure falls to the ground; but they are for the most part improperly abstracted and deduced ...
— The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakspere Unfolded • Delia Bacon
... a young Southerner, may not improperly be mentioned here. He had gone to a Northern school, and had become a convert to Abolitionism. He went to Nashville, Tennessee, to canvass for a book called the Cottage Bible which would not ordinarily be supposed to be dangerous to well regulated ...
— The Abolitionists - Together With Personal Memories Of The Struggle For Human Rights • John F. Hume
... characteristic expression, and that the four which he chose would suffice for the varying needs of the hymns of the Church. In naming these scales a mistake was made, that upon re being called the Dorian, and all the other names being applied improperly. The series upon mi was called Phrygian, upon fa Lydian; upon sol Mixo-Lydian. The melodies of St. Ambrose were somewhat charged with ornament, a fact which indicates their Asiatic origin. It is probable that a part of the melodies of the Plain Song still in use ...
— A Popular History of the Art of Music - From the Earliest Times Until the Present • W. S. B. Mathews
... explained to each of these their duties. Thus, 1.) The Councilmen were to have the oversight of the preservation and improvement of the church and parsonage. 2.) That each in his turn should look after the life of the people, and if any one should conduct himself improperly, give timely notice of it to the pastor, so that with his concurrence and advice, and according to the circumstances of the persons and their deeds, they might be brought before the Church Council (Kyrkoraedet), and either admonished, ...
— The Organization of the Congregation in the Early Lutheran Churches in America • Beale M. Schmucker
... If a tax applies to a class which may be separately taxed, those within the class may not complain because the class might have been more aptly defined, nor because others, not of the class, are taxed improperly.[1063] ...
— The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation • Edward Corwin
... wrinkles, like the alforjos of a baboon, and a mouth so much accustomed to that contraction which produces grinning, that he could not pronounce a syllable without discovering the remains of his teeth, which consisted of four yellow fangs, not improperly, by anatomists, called canine. This person, I say, after having eyed me some time, said, "Oho, 'tis ver well, Monsieur Concordance; young man, you are ver welcome, take one coup of bierre—and come to mine house to-morrow morning; Monsieur Concordance vil show you de way." Upon ...
— The Adventures of Roderick Random • Tobias Smollett
... said that hunting, drinking, gambling, and too much enjoyment of women, are the four vices of kings. The man, that is addicted to these, liveth forsaking virtue. And people do not regard the acts done by a person who is thus improperly engaged, as of any authority. This son of Pandu, while deeply engaged in one of these vicious acts, urged thereto by deceitful gamblers, made Draupadi a stake. The innocent Draupadi is, besides, ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Part 2 • Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa
... therefore, as contingent, factitious generalizations. To this process of experiment, analysis, and classification, through which we attain to a scientific knowledge of principles, it might be shown that Aristotle, not improperly, applies the term ...
— Christianity and Greek Philosophy • Benjamin Franklin Cocker
... witness the establishment of an entirely new school of poets, in the persons of Dryden and his contemporaries. But, roughly speaking, the dates above given mark the limits of one literary epoch, which may not improperly be called the Elisabethan. In strictness the Elisabethan age ended with the queen's death, in 1603. But the poets of the succeeding reigns inherited much of the glow and splendor which marked the diction of their forerunners; ...
— Brief History of English and American Literature • Henry A. Beers
... proposition because it had nothing but its reason to recommend it. On the other hand, being totally destitute of all shadow of influence, natural or adventitious, I was very sure that if my proposition were futile or dangerous, if it were weakly conceived or improperly timed, there was nothing exterior to it of power to awe, dazzle, or delude you. You will see it just as it is; and you will treat it just as ...
— Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 7 • Various
... uniformly judge improperly when we assent to what we do not clearly perceive, although our judgment may chance to be true; and that it is frequently our memory which deceives us by leading us to believe that certain things were ...
— The Principles of Philosophy • Rene Descartes
... The white flag was at once brought to the deck where it was bent on to the halliards. It fluttered gaily at the top of the short flagstaff. Some difficulty was experienced in securing the staff because of an improperly fitting socket. ...
— Boy Scouts in the North Sea - The Mystery of a Sub • G. Harvey Ralphson
... Constitution of the Colony. The relations of the Chambers have always been delicate in the British colonies, and in Newfoundland friction soon arose. The Legislative Council, under Chief Justice Boulton—who improperly called himself the Speaker instead of the President—set itself to thwart and discredit the popular Chamber. On both sides the controversies were petty, and were conducted in a petty spirit. The popular ...
— The Story of Newfoundland • Frederick Edwin Smith, Earl of Birkenhead
... records of the society show that from the year 1717, at least, the era commonly, but improperly, distinguished as the restoration of Masonry, the operative element of the institution has been completely discarded, except so far as its influence is exhibited in the choice and arrangement of symbols, and the typical use of its ...
— The Symbolism of Freemasonry • Albert G. Mackey
... of several inverted volumes improperly arranged and not in the order of their common letters with scintillating titles ...
— Ulysses • James Joyce
... come, be easily swept away. And first, I will make a remark to some of the French Canadian gentlemen who are said to be opposed to our project, on French Canadian grounds only. I will remind them, I hope not improperly, that every one of the Colonies we now propose to re-unite under one rule—in which they shall have a potential voice—were once before united as New France. Newfoundland, the uttermost, was theirs, and one large section of its coast is still known as the 'French shore;' Cape ...
— Canada and the States • Edward William Watkin
... knocking my master down, who conducted himself improperly towards me. This time I did not go back to the great house, having a misgiving that they would not receive me; so I turned my back to the great house where I was born, and where my poor mother died, and wandered for several days I know not whither, supporting myself on a few ...
— Lavengro - The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest • George Borrow
... resembling the balls of hair found in the stomachs of cows; it adheres to nothing, but rolls from one part of the lake to another. The Conserva vagabunda dwells on the European seas, travelling along in the midst of the waves; (Spec. Plant.) These may not improperly be called itinerant vegetables. In a similar manner the Fucus natans (swimming) strikes no roots into the earth, but floats on the sea in very extensive masses, and may be said to be a plant of passage, as it is wafted by the winds from one ...
— The Botanic Garden. Part II. - Containing The Loves of the Plants. A Poem. - With Philosophical Notes. • Erasmus Darwin
... it, and when he sees my body either burned or buried, may not be afflicted for me, as if I suffered some dreadful thing, nor say at my interment that Socrates is laid out, or is carried out, or is buried. For be well assured," he said, "most excellent Crito, that to speak improperly is not only culpable as to the thing itself, but likewise occasions some injury to our souls. You must have a good courage, then, and say that you bury my body, and bury it in such a manner as is pleasing to you, and as you think is most ...
— Museum of Antiquity - A Description of Ancient Life • L. W. Yaggy
... he shut his eyes, and when again he opened them I saw in them distress. For the moment I believe of my presence he was utterly unconscious. His hands lay idle upon the table; like a man facing a crisis, he stared before him. Quite improperly, I felt sorry for him. In me he thought he had found a victim; and that the loss of the few dollars he might have won should so deeply disturb him showed his need was great. Almost at once he abandoned me and I went on deck. When I returned an hour later ...
— The Red Cross Girl • Richard Harding Davis
... bad cartridge, or the pistol improperly loaded. It did not pierce the cloth of his cap, and even the skin of the scalp ...
— Sail Ho! - A Boy at Sea • George Manville Fenn
... needs of the borough,—was not disposed to listen to dictation. But Sir Thomas insisted. "It's as well that we should understand each other at once," said Sir Thomas. "I should throw up the contest in the middle of it,—even if I were winning,—if I suspected that money was being spent improperly." How often has the same thing been said by a candidate, and what candidate ever has thrown up the sponge when he was winning? Mr. Trigger was at first disposed to tell Sir Thomas that he was interfering ...
— Ralph the Heir • Anthony Trollope
... replaced in time to answer the demands on them, which will now be made within a few weeks. Mr. Grand has, by my direction, credited you in the account he now sends for the two sums of ten thousand livres and two thousand, seven hundred and twenty-four livres and sixty-six sous, improperly charged in your former account. He had also debited you in his account for the whole sums paid by the United States, as well as those paid by Virginia, as by himself. The purpose of this was to keep the accounts unmixed, though in fact the funds have been applied occasionally ...
— The Writings of Thomas Jefferson - Library Edition - Vol. 6 (of 20) • Thomas Jefferson
... in the course of the argument on points on which the Court feels no inclination to comment particularly, but which may, perhaps not improperly receive ...
— John Marshall and the Constitution - A Chronicle of the Supreme Court, Volume 16 In The - Chronicles Of America Series • Edward S. Corwin
... were not vexed and anxious, I should tell you that you were speaking very improperly of your aunt. I am perfectly satisfied that she is doing what is right by dear Fred, as well as by me; and if I am satisfied, no one else has any ...
— Henrietta's Wish • Charlotte M. Yonge
... particularly careful to prevent the men from loading the guns improperly, or otherwise than may be specially ordered, and will prevent ...
— Ordnance Instructions for the United States Navy. - 1866. Fourth edition. • Bureau of Ordnance, USN
... since passed upon them. He regarded his own experiences, which we found so thrilling, in the same spirit of modest depreciation. They were the commonplaces of the life which he had led, and he was sensitive lest they should be regarded as improperly heroic. No one was more astonished than he when he found great throngs eager to hear him speak. The people assembled an hour before the advertised time, they stormed the building as soon as the doors were open, ...
— The Glory of the Trenches • Coningsby Dawson
... of this opera, as it is somewhat improperly termed, being rather a dramatic poem, strongly indicate the taste of Charles the Second's reign, for what was ingenious, acute, and polished, in preference to the simplicity of the true sublime. The judgment ...
— The Works of John Dryden, Volume 5 (of 18) - Amboyna; The state of Innocence; Aureng-Zebe; All for Love • John Dryden
... sum considerably exceeding the whole of the revenue raised in the reign of Charles the Second, and what part of the sum granted to the king for extraordinary expenses might be applied to the same use, the article might not improperly be swelled with the vast expense incurred by expeditions to the coast of France; the chief, if not sole, design of which seemed to be a diversion in favour of the nation's allies in Germany, by preventing France from sending such numerous armies ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. - From William and Mary to George II. • Tobias Smollett
... Q.C.—who made a very humble and touching little appeal. He said he represented the relatives of the young lady; he was himself a near relative; and they were all inclined to beg his Lordship to take a merciful view of the case. They did not think the young man, though he had acted most improperly, was inspired by mercenary motives. He was now in Court; and was anxious to make the most ...
— The Beautiful Wretch; The Pupil of Aurelius; and The Four Macnicols • William Black
... was a shrewd land agent living in Austin who devoted his undoubted talents and vast knowledge of land titles, and the laws governing them, to the locating of surveys made by illegal certificates, or improperly made, and otherwise of no value through non-compliance with the statutes, or whatever flaws his ingenious and unscrupulous ...
— Rolling Stones • O. Henry
... word is often improperly used for only. That is alone which is unaccompanied; that is only of which there is no other. "Virtue alone makes us happy," means that virtue unaided suffices to make us happy; "Virtue only makes us happy," means that nothing else can do it—that ...
— The Verbalist • Thomas Embly Osmun, (AKA Alfred Ayres)
... acknowledges that the negroes on the coast, who associate with Europeans, are inclined to licentiousness and fraud; but he says those of the interior are humane, obliging, and hospitable. Golberry repeats the same praise, and rebukes the presumption of white men in despising "nations improperly called savage, among whom we find men of integrity, models of filial, conjugal, and paternal affection, who know all the energies and refinements of virtue; among whom sentimental impressions are more deep, because they observe, more than we, the dictates of nature, and know how to sacrifice ...
— An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans • Lydia Maria Child
... that introduced by the praetors, which is also called 'honorary,' is most usual in the actual practice of the courts. Thus the pecuniary compensation awarded for an outrage rises and falls in amount according to the rank and character of the plaintiff, and this principle is not improperly followed even where it is a slave who is outraged; the penalty where the slave is a steward being different from what it is when he is an ordinary menial, and different again when he is condemned ...
— The Institutes of Justinian • Caesar Flavius Justinian
... seen him? If so, he was undone. He ran up to reproach Miss Vernon. "True," was the reply; "she is the niece of Fox, but since she has twenty thousand pounds to her fortune, I thought I had not acted improperly in introducing you." ...
— Beaux and Belles of England • Mary Robinson
... A year and another year passed. The pretty home was beginning to look old. The bloom of its youth had most improperly faded—for surely a home should never fade—but there was the boy, a growing delight to his father, so why complain? Better this easy-going life ...
— Paste Jewels • John Kendrick Bangs
... sensitive fern, which resented the intrusive hand with all Mimosa's coyness? I never did but once. I have wooed many a delicate frond of all varieties of fern since, but never one so conscious. Now, too, ere the trees come into leaf, is the time to seek the boxwood, called, I hope improperly, by the ominous name of the Southern dogwood. It is worth an afternoon's ramble to come upon one of those trees, standing in an open glade of the forest, a pyramid of white or cream-colored blossoms. Before a leaf is on the tree, it clothes itself in this lovely livery, and at a little distance ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 27, January, 1860 • Various
... troubles of the preceding six months began again then and there, and grew worse and worse continually. Money did not come in quickly, for Ellen cheated him by keeping it back, and dealing improperly with the goods he bought. When it did come in she got it out of him as before on pretexts which it seemed inhuman to inquire into. It was always the same story. By and by a new feature began to show itself. Ernest had inherited ...
— The Way of All Flesh • Samuel Butler
... I beg your pardon a thousand times, and Her Highness's too. Really, I spoke quite thoughtlessly and most improperly.' he answered, laughing at her mock displeasure, 'And now, Djama, since we have had two declarations of love and a peacemaking, don't you think it would be cruel to keep Her Highness waiting any longer on the threshold of her new life? Come, Hartness, you ...
— The Romance of Golden Star ... • George Chetwynd Griffith |
