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Attempt   Listen
verb
Attempt  v. t.  (past & past part. attempted; pres. part. attempting)  
1.
To make trial or experiment of; to try; to endeavor to do or perform (some action); to assay; as, to attempt to sing; to attempt a bold flight. "Something attempted, something done, Has earned a night's repose."
2.
To try to move, by entreaty, by afflictions, or by temptations; to tempt. (Obs. or Archaic) "It made the laughter of an afternoon That Vivien should attempt the blameless king."
3.
To try to win, subdue, or overcome; as, one who attempts the virtue of a woman. "Dear sir, of force I must attempt you further: Take some remembrance of us, as a tribute."
4.
To attack; to make an effort or attack upon; to try to take by force; as, to attempt the enemy's camp. "Without attempting his adversary's life."
Synonyms: See Try.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Attempt" Quotes from Famous Books



... 'conformity to measure' [Greek: metriotaes], by which he (Plato) proposes to discriminate between good and evil. The concluding qualification of virtue—'a rational determination, according to the ideal judicious man'—is an attempt to assign a standard or authority for what is the proper 'Mean;' an authority purely ideal or imaginary; the actual authority being always, rightly or wrongly, the society of ...
— Moral Science; A Compendium of Ethics • Alexander Bain

... touches questions of pure Ethics in every page, and though it is the parent immediate or remote of innumerable volumes of formal morality, is not, as is well known, a professed treatise on Moral Philosophy; it is an attempt to determine the Law of Nature, or Natural Law. Now, without entering upon the question, whether the conception of a Law Natural be not exclusively a creation of the Roman jurisconsults, we may lay down that, even on the admission of Grotius himself, the dicta of the Roman jurisprudence ...
— Ancient Law - Its Connection to the History of Early Society • Sir Henry James Sumner Maine

... Here was an attempt at bridge-building, but it was conceived as a scientific matter, to be taken in hand by the State, and for the good of the State. But Nietzsche would destroy the State. His Superman appears as individualistic as a "rogue" elephant, a few passages to the contrary ...
— A Handbook of Ethical Theory • George Stuart Fullerton

... sudden and strange return of the interesting stranger? Speak, girl! Attempt not to deceive; subterfuge will not avail ye! Say, what means this unexpected appearance? Ah! why that crimson blush ...
— Nell, of Shorne Mills - or, One Heart's Burden • Charles Garvice

... appeal, my dear Miss Clack, to your experience of children," he went on. "A child pursues a certain course of conduct. You are greatly struck by it, and you attempt to get at the motive. The dear little thing is incapable of telling you its motive. You might as well ask the grass why it grows, or the birds why they sing. Well! in this matter, I am like the dear little thing—like ...
— The Moonstone • Wilkie Collins

... the most hateful man I know!" She made an attempt in the gloom to crawl away to some distance from him and his rug, but he ordered her to ...
— Banked Fires • E. W. (Ethel Winifred) Savi

... so when every one exerted themselves to make it a happy day for him, he understood what it means "to be nearly killed with kindness," and sternly resolved to be an honor to his family, or perish in the attempt. Evening brought Polly to what she called a "festive tea," and when they gathered round the table, another gift appeared, which, though not of a sentimental nature, touched Tom more than all the rest. It was a most delectable cake, with a nosegay atop, ...
— An Old-fashioned Girl • Louisa May Alcott

... expressions on her face, was convinced she knew more of the mystery than she dared confide to her new friend. There was no use trying to force her confidence, however; in her childish way she was both shrewd and stubborn and any such attempt would be doomed to failure. But after quite a period of silence Mary Louise ...
— Mary Louise in the Country • L. Frank Baum (AKA Edith Van Dyne)

... believed that the man who stole Jack's aunts' ring, and those men who made an unsuccessful attempt to get his, thought they could, by use of the emblems send two boys, pretending to be Jack and John to Tevis, and get a lot of ...
— Jack Ranger's Western Trip - From Boarding School to Ranch and Range • Clarence Young

... the same time a sufficient quantity of fertile land below the hills to maintain the same army with which he had fought us, with better knowledge how to employ them, to keep us out on a future occasion. Between the attempt of Kasim Ali and our attack upon Nepal, the Gorkha masters of the country had, by a long series of successful aggressions upon their neighbours, rendered themselves in their own opinion and in that of their neighbours the beat soldiers of India. ...
— Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official • William Sleeman

... my attempt will succeed. Not every reader has imagination or sympathy enough to step into another's shoes—especially into the sorry shoes of a convict—and to realize facts which, even if we credit them, are disquieting and unpleasant. They make us uncomfortable and keep us ...
— The Subterranean Brotherhood • Julian Hawthorne

... one reason why I did not like the pictures here, dear uncle—which you think me stupid about. I used to come from the village with all that dirt and coarse ugliness like a pain within me, and the simpering pictures in the drawing-room seemed to me like a wicked attempt to find delight in what is false, while we don't mind how hard the truth is for the neighbors outside our walls. I think we have no right to come forward and urge wider changes for good, until we have tried to alter the evils which ...
— Middlemarch • George Eliot

... he could creep across the space that lay between, and set the bound boy free, how gladly would he attempt it. And the more he contemplated the thing, the better satisfied did Thad become that he could ...
— The Boy Scouts' First Camp Fire - or, Scouting with the Silver Fox Patrol • Herbert Carter

... accompanied the Riviera earthquake have attracted but little study, although they seem to have been widely observed. No attempt was made to define the limits of the area over which they were audible; but Professor Mercalli states that in the two outer zones (Fig. 33) the sound generally passed unobserved. It was, however, heard near Piacenza in Lombardy ...
— A Study of Recent Earthquakes • Charles Davison

... When the clash finally came there was a heavy downpour. The flat plain became a swamp. The war chariots sank into the mud and were helpless. The Canaanites became panic-stricken and fled in terror. Many of them were drowned in the attempt to cross the Kishon, which is usually a shallow creek, but on that day was a deep and swiftly flowing torrent. Sisera, himself in flight, was killed by a woman in whose tent he tried to take refuge. The battle was won for Jehovah's people. The Hebrews could still be free and ...
— Hebrew Life and Times • Harold B. Hunting

... desolate; and thus ended the kingdom of Judah and the reign of David's house, after it had endured four hundred and four years under twenty kings. It is remarkable that the King of Babylon made no attempt to colonize the country he had depopulated, as was done by the Assyrians in Israel; and thus, in the providence of God, the land was left vacant, to be re-occupied by the Jews after seventy years of ...
— Half Hours in Bible Lands, Volume 2 - Patriarchs, Kings, and Kingdoms • Rev. P. C. Headley

... suffering, had arisen on the bed. "Oh, Teacher, is that you!" she cried, bursting into fresh tears. Helen went and sat on the edge of the bed, and took her hand. "What is it?" she whispered. "Perhaps it's not so bad!" she faltered, making a vague attempt ...
— The End of the Rainbow • Marian Keith

... librarian; you will have to spend something on the matter; and when I return to town, I shall expect to go shares with him. Well, after reading these speeches I wrote a wretched trifle, destined for drowning or burning. No, indeed my attempt at writing did not come off at all to-day; the composition of a hunter or a vintager, whose shouts are echoing through my chamber, hateful and wearisome as the law-courts. What have I said? Yes, it was rightly ...
— Meditations • Marcus Aurelius

... The greatest epic poets and satirists have always transcended rules to follow "Nature's light"; Pope, over-topping them all, has "still corrected Nature as she stray'd" (pp. 19, 21). But perhaps Harte's most successful attempt to elevate The Dunciad comes in section two of his poem. Unlike Dryden, in whose Discourse the account of the "progress" of satire is confined almost exclusively to a few Roman writers, Harte begins his account of its progress with Homer ...
— An Essay on Satire, Particularly on the Dunciad • Walter Harte

... exceptionally heavy; so strong, indeed, that it would have been very hard to carry the place by a general assault. The Germans, knowing the character of the works, had refrained from the sacrifice of life that such an attempt must entail, though they well knew that many of the forts were manned by unseasoned soldiers. With only a combat here and there, to tighten their lines or repulse a sortie, they wisely preferred to wait till ...
— The Memoirs of General P. H. Sheridan, Complete • General Philip Henry Sheridan

... answered the professor in a voice nothing like as steady as his. 'If any other man but you had even hinted at such a thing, I would have seen him—well, in a lunatic asylum first. But there, I will trust my Inca to you. It seems a fearful thing even to attempt, and yet, after all, if it fails there will be no harm done, and if it succeeds—ah, yes, if it succeeds—it ...
— The Romance of Golden Star ... • George Chetwynd Griffith

... be touched as he had nothing to do with the murder, and Sylvia and myself are not going to prosecute him for his attempt to get the ...
— The Opal Serpent • Fergus Hume

... are born than usual, and then the trouble begins. They eat up everything round about their homes, and they begin to wander in search of food in packs of thousands, like swarms of locusts. The farmers try to destroy them, but they soon give up the attempt, as for days and days the lemmings come on in great waves, eating up the grass and the crops wherever they pass. Except the sea, nothing will stop them when once they have made a start; they come down the mountain-sides, swim the rivers ...
— Peeps at Many Lands: Norway • A.F. Mockler-Ferryman

... men, who crouched in the doorway talking to one another. Once it passed so close that Woody could almost have touched it. Finally his companion fired into it, and off it ran, badly wounded, without an attempt at retaliation. Next morning they followed its tracks in the snow, and found it a quarter or a mile away. It was near a pine and had buried itself under the loose earth, pine needles, and snow; Woody's companion almost walked ...
— Hunting the Grisly and Other Sketches • Theodore Roosevelt

... of Fran. dead. Lewis le gros K. of France.] In this meane time king Henrie being aduertised of the death of Philip king of France, and not knowing what his sonne Lewes, surnamed Crassus might happilie attempt in his new preferment to the crowne, sailed ouer into Normandie, to see the countrie in good order, and the townes, castels, and fortresses furnished accordinglie as the doubtfull time required. [Sidenote: Ambassadors from the emperour.] ...
— Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (2 of 6): England (3 of 12) - Henrie I. • Raphael Holinshed

... chapters are the outcome of an attempt to set before a large Sunday evening congregation—composed for the most part of working men and women—the teaching of our Lord on certain great selected themes. The reader will know, therefore, what to look for in these pages. If he be a trained Biblical scholar he need go ...
— The Teaching of Jesus • George Jackson

... must explain to the French, you brought with you from Laon, and who has been long in your service—will transmit whatever you discover. We wish especially to know of any movement toward our left. If they attack in front from Soissons, we are prepared; but of any attempt to cross the Oise and take us in flank, ...
— Somewhere in France • Richard Harding Davis

... with a broad strong smile, "nothing but an attempt to make men out of brutes. This custom of shaving is not, thank Heaven, much wanted now: some years ago it was requisite to have several stations for barbers and tailors to perform their duties in. Now this is very seldom necessary; those gentlemen were especially marked out for the operation. ...
— Devereux, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... An attempt to explain the foregoing laws of geographical distribution, on the theory of allied species having a common descent Improbability of finding fossil forms intermediate between ...
— The Foundations of the Origin of Species - Two Essays written in 1842 and 1844 • Charles Darwin

... proof, since it is the accuser's duty to prove: as, for example, when anyone's sin conduces to the bodily or spiritual corruption of the community. If, however, the sin be not such as to affect the community, or if he cannot offer sufficient proof, a man is not bound to attempt to accuse, since no man is bound to do ...
— Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) • Thomas Aquinas

... Emily first ridiculed, though she shared, her fears, and then tried to sooth them; but neither attempt succeeded, and the girl persisted in believing and affirming, that what she had seen was nothing human. It was not till some time after Emily had recovered her composure, that she recollected the steps she had heard on the stair-case—a remembrance, however, which ...
— The Mysteries of Udolpho • Ann Radcliffe

... quality, to that of those who come after him. He is a seeker. His followers are not. The great work which marks the second stage of his school is not an inquiry, but a justification, not only of the Egyptian, but of all possible theurgies and superstitions; perhaps the best attempt of the kind which the world has ever seen; that which marks the third is a mere cloud-castle, an inverted pyramid, not of speculation, but of dogmatic assertion, patched together from all accessible rags and ...
— Alexandria and her Schools • Charles Kingsley

... abyss of boiling clouds, If though hast courage to attempt the plunge, Our pathless way must be. A moment more And we shall stand where angels seldom stand, And devils almost pity when ...
— Mazelli, and Other Poems • George W. Sands

... as he was not more inclined than the year before to part with his crown, he told his sons that he was extremely obliged to them for the pains they had taken: and since they had succeeded so well, he wished they would make a second attempt; he therefore begged they would take another year in order to procure a piece of cambric, fine enough to be drawn through the eye ...
— The Fairy Book - The Best Popular Stories Selected and Rendered Anew • Dinah Maria Mulock (AKA Miss Mulock)

... the deposit has fallen and the wine become perfectly clear. Sometimes it happens that, twist these men never so wisely, the deposit refuses to stir, and takes the shape of a bunch of thread technically called a "claw," or an adherent mass styled a "mask." When this is the case an attempt is made to start it by tapping the part to which it adheres with a piece of iron, the result being frequently the sudden explosion of the bottle. As a precaution, therefore, the workman protects his face with a wire-mask or gigantic wire spectacles, which give ...
— Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines • Henry Vizetelly

... or warped condition during the first shrinkage, the wood retains the shape to which it has been bent and firmly opposes any attempt at subsequent straightening. ...
— Seasoning of Wood • Joseph B. Wagner

... The first considerable attempt, as I remember, was made on a convoy of ammunition. The party sent out was commanded by a Saxon colonel, and consisted of 1000 horse and 500 dragoons, who burnt above 600 waggons loaded with ammunition and stores for the army, besides taking about ...
— Memoirs of a Cavalier • Daniel Defoe

... feel for you, and on this occasion with you! You are very unfortunate: you have not many real friends, and you lose—for I must tell it you, the chief of them! indeed, the only one who could have been of real use to you—for what can I do, but wish, and attempt, and miscarry?- -or from whom could I have hoped assistance for you, or warmth for myself and my friends, but from the friend I have this morning lost?—But it is too selfish to be talking of our losses, when Britain, Europe, the world, the King, ...
— The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2 • Horace Walpole

... "I wouldn't attempt to teach you what you write about in your office," said he, "and if need arose, I should come to you to ask about it. But you're so positive you know all the lore of the forest. It's difficult. Have you ...
— Anna Karenina • Leo Tolstoy

... time Alaric was crossing the Alps. There was no one to make any resistance. Honorius was at Ravenna, safe behind walls and marshes, and cared for nothing but his favorite poultry. Alaric encamped outside the walls of Rome, but he did not attempt to break in, waiting till the Romans should be starved out. When they had come to terrible distress, they offered to ransom their city. He asked a monstrous sum, which they refused, telling him what hosts there were of them, and that he might yet find them dangerous. "The thicker ...
— Young Folks' History of Rome • Charlotte Mary Yonge

... you gave way less to the excitement of clubs, less to the buoyancy which arises from talking to each other as to the effect of some smart speech in which the minister has been assailed, you would see that it is mere child's play to attempt to balk the intelligence of the country on this great question, and you would not have talked as you have talked for the last eleven days." Mr. Cobden proceeded to discuss the effect of the march of free trade on farmers; ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan

... seeking to regain his temper. "However, it won't do you any good to attempt to do your talking before you've ...
— The Young Engineers in Arizona - Laying Tracks on the Man-killer Quicksand • H. Irving Hancock

... Upton the precentor tried to limit the choice of the choristers to three candidates selected by the chapter; but this attempt to curtail their privilege was successfully resisted ...
— Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Salisbury - A Description of its Fabric and a Brief History of the See of Sarum • Gleeson White

... Tawdrey was produced at the Duke's Theatre, Dorset Garden, in September, 1676. There is no record of its performance, and the actors' names are not given. It was a year of considerable changes in the company, and any attempt to supply these would ...
— The Works of Aphra Behn, Vol. III • Aphra Behn

... Mediterranean. It lives in fresh as well as in salt waters, depositing its spawn in the former, hundreds of miles from the mouths of some of those rivers to which it has been known to resort. In 1859, great efforts were made to introduce this fish into the Australian colonies; and it is believed that the attempt, after many difficulties, which were very skilfully overcome, has ...
— The Book of Household Management • Mrs. Isabella Beeton

... prominent among the Girondins, are to be at once summoned before the revolutionary tribunal; seventy-three others, who have signed secret protests against the 31st of May and 2nd of June, are to be put in jail. No arguing! the majority dares not even express an opinion. Some of the proscribed attempt to exculpate themselves, but they are not allowed to be heard; none but the Montagnards have the floor, and they do no more than add to the lists, each according to personal enmity; Levasseur has Vigee put down, and Duroi adds the name of Richon. One their names being ...
— The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 4 (of 6) - The French Revolution, Volume 3 (of 3) • Hippolyte A. Taine

... "show her papers." Tom did not understand the Apache tongue well enough to comprehend the precise meaning of these words, although he was pretty well convinced of what the others were driving at. He did not dare to attempt to reply, nor did he dare to move faster; so he did the only dignified thing possible under the circumstances. He continued that automatic paddling, and, assisted by the current, was rapidly leaving his ...
— Through Apache Lands • R. H. Jayne

... the Colonel's strong point. His oratorical engines are driven by midnight oil. Wisely, therefore, he did not attempt an elaborate replique to Mr. BALFOUR'S "sword-play," but contented himself with a ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 150, March 15, 1916 • Various

... erroneously viewed, not as necessary consequences, but simply as bad habits, they suggested a base with reference not so much to commerce as to science. The suggestion was never acted on, however; indeed, it would have been in vain, as Delambre remarks, for the French commission to have made the attempt, not only for the reason he presents, but also because it does not agree with natural division, and is therefore not suited to commerce; neither is it suited to the average capacity of mankind for numbers; for, though some may be able to use duodecimal numeration and notation ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 5, No. 28, February, 1860 • Various

... are fighting, alongside their United Nations allies, because they know, as we do, that the aggression in Korea is part of the attempt of the Russian Communist dictatorship to take over the world, ...
— State of the Union Addresses of Harry S. Truman • Harry S. Truman

... a confirmed bachelor, and for several years had lived in a little flat on the fifth floor of an old house in the rue Bonaparte. He had not gone out to-day, but though he was resting he was not idle. For a whole month past he had been wholly engrossed in his attempt to solve the mystery surrounding the two cases on which he was engaged, the Beltham case, and the Langrune case, and his mind was leisurely revolving round them now as he sat in his warm room before a blazing wood fire, and watched the blue smoke curl up in ...
— Fantomas • Pierre Souvestre

... of millions of lives. The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize communism, but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into 15 independent republics. Since then, Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and market ...
— The 2001 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

... and with your counsel, Advise him humbly: charm, if possible, These feuds within; while I without extinguish, Or perish in the attempt, the furious Creon; That brand which sets ...
— The Works of John Dryden, Vol. 6 (of 18) - Limberham; Oedipus; Troilus and Cressida; The Spanish Friar • John Dryden

... blessed state of affairs. We have given privileges to giant corporations, which they have improved so profitably, that they now can defeat, in our Legislatures, any attempt to revoke them, and can laugh at any demand for ...
— Scientific American, Vol.22, No. 1, January 1, 1870 • Various

... courier will be permitted to depart; but, as I believe the streets are not more unsafe than the houses, I shall make an attempt to send this. I will write again in a few days. If to-morrow should prove calm, I shall be engaged in enquiring after the fate of my friends.—I beg my respects to Mons. And Mad. de ; and entreat you all to ...
— A Residence in France During the Years 1792, 1793, 1794 and 1795, • An English Lady

... go to," explained Collaton, with an attempt at jauntiness. "I'm dead broke, and if I don't have two thousand dollars to-morrow I'll quite ...
— Five Thousand an Hour - How Johnny Gamble Won the Heiress • George Randolph Chester

... paint the face or dye the hair is to me unintelligible. It is like attempting to pass off a counterfeit coin. It is either a confession that one is so ashamed of one's face that one dare not let it be seen in public, or it is an attempt to deceive the world into accepting you as something other than you are. It has the same effect on the observer that those sham oak beams and uprights that are so popular on the front of suburban houses have. They are not real beams or uprights. They do not support anything, or ...
— Pebbles on the Shore • Alpha of the Plough (Alfred George Gardiner)

... sang: "Death is a serious matter... Death has no time for jokes... Death is an urgent need..." Then he timidly and hesitantly stuck the first knife that he could get his hands on into his left breast. Blood and the bloody remains of salad spurted around him. This time the attempt to kill himself was crowned ...
— The Prose of Alfred Lichtenstein • Alfred Lichtenstein

... disdainful audacity which springs from its wilfulness. Alcibiades, a name closely connected with those events which resulted in the ruin of the Athenian empire, was perhaps the most variously accomplished of all those young men of genius who have squandered their genius in the attempt to make it insolently dominant over justice and reason. Graceful, beautiful, brave, eloquent, and affluent, the pupil of Socrates, the darling of the Athenian democracy, lavishly endowed by Nature with the faculties of the great statesman and the great captain, with every power and every opportunity ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 93, July, 1865 • Various

... us still fighting on this the last day of our attempt to relieve Ladysmith from this side; heavy firing commenced at daybreak, and we did our best to keep down the Boer fire, the 4.7 Naval gun on Signal Hill making fine practice. Meantime our troops now on Vaal Krantz, viz., Hildyard's East Surreys, Devons, and West ...
— With the Naval Brigade in Natal (1899-1900) - Journal of Active Service • Charles Richard Newdigate Burne

... are almost as mute as the fishes of the sea respecting their own deeds of daring and of mercy on the Goodwin Sands. It is but justice to those humble heroes of the Kentish coast that an attempt should be made to tell some ...
— Heroes of the Goodwin Sands • Thomas Stanley Treanor

... people indifferently. Even so doth he many times withdraw from them and their posterity again those beneficial gifts, if they be not thankful. If we should shut up into a strait corner the bountiful grace of the Holy Ghost, and thereupon attempt to build our fancies, we should make as perfect a work thereof as those that took upon them to build the Tower of Babel; for God would so provide that the offspring of our first-born children should peradventure become most unapt to learn, ...
— Early English Meals and Manners • Various

... (The fair de Compton smiled [v]sarcastically.) In the Turner old fields the fox will make his grand double, gain upon the dogs, head for yonder hill, and come down the ravine upon our right. At the fence here, within plain view, he will attempt a trick that has heretofore always been successful, and which has given him a reputation as a trained fox. I depend upon the intelligence of Flora to see through 'Old Sandy's' [v]strategy, but if she hesitates a moment, we must ...
— The Literary World Seventh Reader • Various

... is true, certain writers on the psychology of language[9] who deny its prevailingly cognitive character but attempt, on the contrary, to demonstrate the origin of most linguistic elements within the domain of feeling. I confess that I am utterly unable to follow them. What there is of truth in their contentions may ...
— Language - An Introduction to the Study of Speech • Edward Sapir

... only a few years ago that I began to realize that herbaceous perennials could, with success, be planted in the fall in our climate, and it was not until two years ago that I made any attempt at fall planting. That year I was quite successful, but last year, wishing to divide as close as possible, especially with the iris, I evidently overdid the matter, with the result that I lost many of my ...
— Trees, Fruits and Flowers of Minnesota, 1916 • Various

... sacrifice of Abel and of Cain;(40) the one grateful to and accepted by God, the other hateful and refused. In the eighth is the Deluge, when the ark of Noah is seen in the distance in the midst of the waters; some men attempt to cling to it for safety. Nearer, in the same abyss of waters, is a boat laden with many people, which, both by the excessive weight she has to carry and by the many and tumultuous lashings of the waves, loses her sail, and, deprived ...
— Michael Angelo Buonarroti • Charles Holroyd

... a moment, either in South Africa or Ireland. Miracles do not happen, and the pessimists, who are the curse of Ireland to-day, will be able to demonstrate with ease that the free Ireland of to-morrow will not enter instantaneously upon a millennium. It is useless to attempt to convert these extremists. For a century back, Hansard and the columns of daily papers have been full of their unfulfilled jeremiads about Canada, about Australia, and about the very smallest and most tardy attempts to give a little responsibility to the majority of ...
— The Framework of Home Rule • Erskine Childers

... sadness left behind her In the mansion whence she parted, Loneliness, and bitter heart-ache, Deep, unutter'd apprehension, Fearful looking for of judgment, It were vain in lays so feeble To attempt a true recital. ...
— Man of Uz, and Other Poems • Lydia Howard Sigourney

... privations and face all manner of perils, with every probability of ultimately falling into the hands of the Spaniards once more. Indeed, so certain did it seem that we should eventually meet our fate at the stake, or the rack, that more than once I doubted whether it was worth our while to attempt ...
— In the Days of Drake • J. S. Fletcher

... overlooked. Bp. Lloyd, in the interesting "Monitum" already quoted, remarks of the Eusebian Canons,—"quorum haec est utilitas, ut eorum scilicet ope quivis, nullo labore, Harmoniam sibi quatuor Evangeliorum possit conficere." The learned Prelate can never have made the attempt in this way "Harmoniam sibi conficere," or he would not have so written. He evidently did not advert to the fact that Eusebius refers his readers (in his IIIrd Canon) from S. John's account of the Healing of the Nobleman's son to the account ...
— The Last Twelve Verses of the Gospel According to S. Mark • John Burgon

... flock in from an early hour, and by midday every male of the Sarci capable of bearing arms had come in. Each brought with him a supply of cooked meat and cakes sufficient to last for three or four days. In the afternoon the tribes began to pour in, each tribe under its chiefs. There was no attempt at order or regularity; they came trooping in in masses, the chiefs sometimes in chariots sometimes on horseback, riding at their head. Parta welcomed them, and food was served out to the men while the chiefs were entertained in the hall. Beric, looking at the wild figures, rough and uncouth but ...
— Beric the Briton - A Story of the Roman Invasion • G. A. Henty

... saw several thousand men drawn up to dispute the passage, but the Northern troops recognizing its impossibility at that time, made no attempt. Nevertheless their cannon sent shells curving over the stream, and the Southern cannon sent curving shells in reply. But the burning bridge roared louder and the pyramid of flame rose higher. The rain, which had never ceased to pour in a deluge, ...
— The Scouts of Stonewall • Joseph A. Altsheler

... instance, shall we go, Getzel?" And at once he answered himself: "There, far outside the town, on the other side of the mill. There we shall be alone, the two of us. No one will disturb us. Let any one attempt to disturb us, and we will break bones, and ...
— Jewish Children • Sholem Naumovich Rabinovich

... gesture. "I leave that entirely to your discretion, madam. As you may perceive, I have wholly ceased to attempt ...
— Charles Rex • Ethel M. Dell

... Let us attempt to get rid of every bias, and, thinking as dispassionately as we can, we still seem to read the name of Tennyson in the golden book of English poetry. I cannot think that he will ever fall to a lower place, or be among those whom only curious students pore over, like Gower, ...
— Letters on Literature • Andrew Lang

... the people and menace public safety. It is an impotent civilization and an inadequate government which lacks the genius and the courage to guard against such a menace to public welfare as we experienced last summer. You were aware of the Government's great concern and its futile attempt to aid in an adjustment. It will reveal the inexcusable obstinacy which was responsible for so much distress to the country to recall now that, though all disputes are not yet adjusted, the many settlements which have been made were on ...
— State of the Union Addresses of Warren Harding • Warren Harding

... landed, and before the plan could be carried out, than the Cavaliers in great force once more approached our lines to attempt taking the town by assault; but Colonel Blake, hurrying to the front, placed himself at the head of a chosen band, and sallying forth drove them back. The battle lasted little more than an hour, and during ...
— The Boy who sailed with Blake • W.H.G. Kingston

... home. Do not think you can be careless at home and then shine in the splendor of Christian virtue when before the public. Your life at home leaves its mark upon you. Shine in Christian beauty at home, and you will shine in beauty in public; but attempt away from home to be more than you are at home, and you will miserably fail. A few years ago while in one of our large Eastern cities laboring for Jesus and souls for whom he died I wrote a few lines ...
— Food for the Lambs; or, Helps for Young Christians • Charles Ebert Orr

... had been dug, and here the besieged were finding such protection as they could from the rifle-fire that came down from the hills on either side. Even now he could see Indians lying in watch for any who might attempt to escape. The camp had been attacked on Monday morning after the wagons had moved a hundred yards away from the spring. It was now Friday. For four days, therefore, with only what water they could bring by dashes ...
— The Lions of the Lord - A Tale of the Old West • Harry Leon Wilson

... hastily conclude from the foregoing chapter that I attempt to whiten, to acquit entirely, the dismal bride of the Devil. If she often did good, she could also do no small amount of ill. There is no great power which is not abused. And this one had three centuries of actual reigning, in the interlude between two worlds, the ...
— La Sorciere: The Witch of the Middle Ages • Jules Michelet

... second trial. This time the pebble may swing off at an angle in another direction. He follows up in the direction indicated for perhaps another half mile, when on a third trial the stone may veer around toward the starting point, and a fourth attempt may complete the circuit. Having thus arrived at the conclusion that the missing article is somewhere within a certain circumscribed area, he advances to the center of this space and marks out upon the ground a small circle inclosing a cross with arms pointing ...
— The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees • James Mooney

... Strait of Admiral de Fonte passed unexamined. Progress along the Coast of America. Behring's Bay. Kaye's Island. Account of it. The Ships come to an Anchor. Visited by the Natives. Their Behaviour. Fondness for Beads and Iron. Attempt to plunder the Discovery. Resolution's Leak stopped; Progress up the Sound. Messrs Gore and Roberts sent to examine its Extent. Reasons against a Passage to the North through it. The Ships proceed down it to the ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16 • Robert Kerr

... She did not attempt to run away or to lock up the house, knowing that that would be useless with a man of his sort; but kept her seat. All she did was to pick up an unfinished stocking Katrina had left lying on the ...
— The Emperor of Portugalia • Selma Lagerlof

... the armies of St. Domingo, and, as such, signed the Convention with General Maitland for the evacuation of the island by the British. From this period, until 1801, the island, under the government of Toussaint, was happy, tranquil, and prosperous. The miserable attempt of Napoleon to re-establish slavery in St. Domingo, although it failed of its intended object, proved fatal to the negro chieftain. Treacherously seized by Leclerc, he was hurried on board a vessel by night, and conveyed ...
— The Complete Works of Whittier - The Standard Library Edition with a linked Index • John Greenleaf Whittier

... labored and not altogether successful attempt at appearing to speak with suddenness and want of premeditation, "what did you mean this morning, about ...
— Nancy - A Novel • Rhoda Broughton

... frequently cultivated. They may be collected in almost any locality, but no person who is not perfectly familiar with their characteristics and therefore able to judge the non-poisonous kinds from the poisonous should attempt to gather them. Fresh mushrooms can usually be found in the markets, but as they are expensive, they should be considered a luxury and used only occasionally. Instead, some of the small canned varieties, which are usually satisfactory for most purposes, should be used when mushrooms ...
— Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 2 - Volume 2: Milk, Butter and Cheese; Eggs; Vegetables • Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences

... coach. He was mildly delirious with considerable stupor, and moderate pulse, and could give no account of himself. He continued in a kind of cataleptic stupor, so that he would remain for hours in any posture he was placed, either in his chair, or in bed; and did not attempt to speak for about a fortnight; and then gradually recovered. These two last cases are not related as being certainly owing to parotitis, but as they might probably ...
— Zoonomia, Vol. II - Or, the Laws of Organic Life • Erasmus Darwin

... isolated during the early colonization when Mars made a feeble attempt to break free of Space Lobby. Their supplies had been cut off and they had been forced to do for themselves. Now they were largely self-sufficient. They grew native plants and extracted hormones in crude ...
— Badge of Infamy • Lester del Rey

... indisputable. Whether this has arisen as the result of experience, by the following of some particular event close upon the heels of signs observed, or whether it has been an intuitive science, in which provision has been used to afford an interpretation, is not quite clear. It seems idle to attempt to dismiss the whole thing as mere superstition, wild guessing, or abject credulity, as some try to do, with astrology and alchemy also, and other occult sciences; the fact remains that omens have, in numberless instances, ...
— Tea-Cup Reading, and the Art of Fortune-Telling by Tea Leaves • 'A Highland Seer'

... invalid, irritably. "Clear the room, Crampton. You know that I hate to have a parcel of women round me.—There is no need for you to go, madam"—with an attempt at civility as Olivia was about to withdraw at this plain speaking. "Give the lady a ...
— Doctor Luttrell's First Patient • Rosa Nouchette Carey

... apparent causes which led to that schism amongst the Reformers, on points of discipline, which afterwards ended in the subversion, for a time, of the rites and ordinances of the Church of England, any attempt towards beautifying and adorning (other than with carved pulpits and communion-tables or altars) the places of divine worship, which were now stripped of many of their former ornamental accessories, would have ...
— The Principles of Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture, Elucidated by Question and Answer, 4th ed. • Matthew Holbeche Bloxam

... cast but one more shadow on the coolie quarter, and then we will search for sunshine. It is folly to attempt to ignore the fact that the seeds of leprosy are sown among the Chinese. If you would have proof, follow me. It is a dreary drive over the hills to the pest-house. Imagine that we have dropped in upon the health ...
— In the Footprints of the Padres • Charles Warren Stoddard

... these circumstances? 1. In the days of the apostles there would have been more brethren to take the oversight of so large a body as we are. The Lord has not laid upon us a burden which is too heavy for us; he is not a hard master. It is evident that he does not mean us even to attempt to visit all the saints as much as is evidently needful, and much less as frequently as it would be desirable. We mention this, to prevent uncomfortable feelings on the part of the dear saints under our pastoral care, who find themselves not as much ...
— The Life of Trust: Being a Narrative of the Lord's Dealings With George Mueller • George Mueller

... juxtapositions or the complex relations invented by constructive imagination or subtle intellect, they are, to most, more difficult to recollect than the extremes would be without these ponderous aids. Hence, in their professed attempt to aid the memory, they really impose a new and additional burden ...
— Assimilative Memory - or, How to Attend and Never Forget • Marcus Dwight Larrowe (AKA Prof. A. Loisette)

... the party, and provides for them in every respect,—that is, if they make the arrangement with him in that way, which they generally do, inasmuch as, since they do not, ordinarily, know the language of the country, it is much more convenient for them to arrange with him to take care of them than to attempt to take care of themselves. Accordingly, in making a journey of several days, as, for example, from Genoa to Florence, from Florence to Rome, or from Rome to Venice, or to Naples, the vetturino determines the length of each day's journey; he chooses the hotels where ...
— Rollo in Naples • Jacob Abbott

... two eclectic jurists, who attempt a defence of property, one is entangled in a set of dogmas without principle or method, and is constantly talking nonsense; and the other designedly abandons the cause of property, in order to present under the same name the ...
— What is Property? - An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government • P. J. Proudhon

... he loses his way in paths that are not in the line of direction upon which the improved speculation is moving; or he gives narrow conjectural solutions of difficulties that have long since received sure and comprehensive ones. It is as if a man should in these days attempt to colonize, and yet, through inertia or through ignorance, should leave behind him all modern resources of chemistry, of chemical agriculture, or of steam-power. Hazlitt had read nothing. Unacquainted with Grecian philosophy, with Scholastic ...
— Biographical Essays • Thomas de Quincey

... that I shall make no use of it to your Disadvantage; on the Contrary, I take it for granted, that from the bad Character you had heard of the Book from every Quarter, you had sufficient Reason to write against it, as you have done, without any further Enquiry. This being settled, I shall attempt to shew you the Possibility, that a Book might come into such a general Disrepute without deserving it. An Author, who dares to expose Vice, and the Luxury of the Time he lives in, pulls off the Disguises of artful Men, and examining in to the false Pretences, which are made ...
— A Letter to Dion • Bernard Mandeville

... that custom I can never come into it, but the same tender sentiments revive in my mind, as if I had actually walked with that beautiful creature under these shades. I have been fool enough to carve her name on the bark of several of these trees; so unhappy is the condition of men in love, to attempt the removing of their passions by the methods which serve only to imprint it deeper. She has certainly the finest hand of any woman in ...
— The Coverley Papers • Various

... horse-loads of the latter before he reached Fort Cumberland, where he arrived a very few days after, with the shattered remains of the English troops."—Review of the Military Operations in North America. Dinwiddie wished Dunbar to remain and make a new attempt on Duquesne; but a council of officers unanimously decided the scheme was impracticable, and on the next day (August 2d) began his ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, v. 13 • Various

... run in debt a little; he did not attempt to reduce the expenses of his housekeeping; he never gave his wife a hint respecting the true state of his business matters, but insisted upon her accepting, as usual, a liberal allowance of funds to ...
— The Wedding Guest • T.S. Arthur

... primer dependiente, chief clerk primo-a, cousin principal, principal, chief, leading principiar, to commence principio, beginning prisa, speed, haste, hurry probar, to try, to prove, to attempt proceso, process, case, lawsuit producir, to produce producto, product, produce, output productos accesorios, bye-products productos quimicos, chemicals profesor, professor prohibir, to prohibit pronto, quick, speedy, soon propietario, landlord, owner ...
— Pitman's Commercial Spanish Grammar (2nd ed.) • C. A. Toledano

... viewed it from several angles, and said an inquest was unnecessary. It would reveal no new facts, and, as so many were dying of the same disease, could give no more relief to his friends. Concerning his death, no one could doubt the cause being black vomit. With a frigid attempt at consolation for Franconia, he will withdraw. He has not been long gone, when the warden, a sheet over his left arm, again makes his appearance; he passes the sheet to Harry, with a request that he will wind the ...
— Our World, or, The Slaveholders Daughter • F. Colburn Adams

... epistle of Paul to the Laodiceans (perhaps forwarded along with the three epistles now under consideration) and which the Colossians were to obtain from Laodicea. This is the most probable supposition. On the attempt to identify this epistle with our canonical epistle to ...
— Companion to the Bible • E. P. Barrows

... variety said not to take it but you see how it affects it. It girdles it and the new wood builds it up. The tree is doomed. It is gone now but it has made a tremendous attempt to recovery. You see the new growth that has tried to come out there trying to bridge it and make it up. Of course even that is hopeful. In view of that we feel justified in breeding. The Chinese resist it much better. They take it more readily but they resist it far better. The efforts at self-bridging ...
— Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Eleventh Annual Meeting - Washington, D. C. October 7 AND 8, 1920 • Various

... never to despair; at least not till I had seen what was beyond the next bend in the stream of life. I was quite confident I should find the ark of my safety in a few moments more, and I did not even attempt to hurry the crazy float on which I travelled. I reached the bend, and strained my eyes to peer through the gloom, which hung deep and heavy over the swamp. The stream was straight for half a mile ahead of me, but ...
— Down The River - Buck Bradford and His Tyrants • Oliver Optic

... well aware of the uselessness of trying to direct the conversation to make any attempt to continue the talk, which, moreover, had taken a turn not at all to his liking. He settled himself in his chair, in ...
— The Philistines • Arlo Bates

... for the rest of the multitude of those that went so zealously to fight with the Samaritans, the rulers of Jerusalem ran out clothed with sackcloth, and having ashes on their head, and begged of them to go their ways, lest by their attempt to revenge themselves upon the Samaritans they should provoke the Romans to come against Jerusalem; to have compassion upon their country and temple, their children and their wives, and not bring the utmost dangers of destruction upon them, in order to avenge themselves upon ...
— The Wars of the Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem • Flavius Josephus

... this history, and would be scarcely of interest to the reader. One thing, however; specially interested me, and that was the large-heartedness of Maurice St. Mabyn. He refused to allow his brother to attempt any explanation, although I felt sure he understood what his ...
— "The Pomp of Yesterday" • Joseph Hocking



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