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Befall   Listen
verb
Befall  v. t.  (past befell; past part. befallen; pres. part. befalling)  To happen to. "I beseech your grace that I may know The worst that may befall me."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Befall" Quotes from Famous Books



... whose spear had pierced me, leaned beside With quivering lips and humid eyes;—and all Seemed like some brothers on a journey wide 1830 Gone forth, whom now strange meeting did befall In a strange land, round one whom they might call Their friend, their chief, their father, for assay Of peril, which had saved them from the thrall Of death, now suffering. Thus the vast array 1835 Of those fraternal bands were ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Volume I • Percy Bysshe Shelley

... what was about to befall him, and was making himself ready for the visit. He was well aware that he should be sorely perplexed as to what he should say in the coming interview. He could not speak lightly of such an evil as this marriage with a Jew; nor ...
— Nina Balatka • Anthony Trollope

... sense that he had to justify himself from the charge of ingratitude—the latent consciousness of many other barriers between himself and Dorothea besides the existence of her husband, had helped to turn away his imagination from speculating on what might befall Mr. Casaubon. And there were yet other reasons. Will, we know, could not bear the thought of any flaw appearing in his crystal: he was at once exasperated and delighted by the calm freedom with which Dorothea looked at him and spoke to him, and there was something so exquisite in thinking ...
— Middlemarch • George Eliot

... watcher. A faint cold thrill passed over me,— perhaps some chill uprising from the depths,—perhaps the creeping only of a ghostly fancy. Old superstitions of the coast recurred to me,—old vague warnings of peril in the time of the passage of Souls. I reflected that were any evil to befall me out there in the night,—meddling, or seeming to meddle, with the lights of the Dead,—I should myself furnish the subject of some future weird legend.... I whispered the Buddhist formula of farewell—to the lights,—and ...
— In Ghostly Japan • Lafcadio Hearn

... only light being that given by the frothing waters. There was no longer any thought of order. Each ship had to shift for herself; and each captain to do his best to save those under his charge, without thought of what might befall ...
— The Boy Knight • G.A. Henty

... that for love of thee which I endure! It hath indeed brought down on me estrangement and dismay. Read thou my writ and apprehend its purport, for my case This is and fate hath stricken me with sorrows past allay. Know, then, the woes that have befall'n a lover, neither grudge Her secret to conceal, but keep her counsel ...
— Tales from the Arabic Volumes 1-3 • John Payne

... there were even then. Lady Diana was not to be expected to like Harold's L1,200 a year as well as Piggy's heirship to the Erymanth coronet, or any of the other chances that might befall an ...
— My Young Alcides - A Faded Photograph • Charlotte M. Yonge

... the sequel of His victory, He enlarges His gifts to His servants, couching the charter in the words of a psalm (Ps. xci.). Nothing can harm the servant without the leave of the Master, and if any evil befall him in his work, the evil in the evil, the poison on the arrow-head, will be wiped off and taken away. But great as are the gifts to the faithful servant, they are less to be rejoiced in than his personal inclusion among the citizens ...
— Expositions Of Holy Scripture - Volume I: St. Luke, Chaps. I to XII • Alexander Maclaren

... two hidden treasures—or even the beautiful young artist with whom he was destined to fall in love—if his life might be cut off at any moment by some man that he counted his friend? When his death should befall, Mother Trigedgo had not told, for the signs had been obscure; but when it did come it would be by the hand of the man that he called his best friend. A swift surge of resistance came over him again as he gazed at the promised land and he shut his ...
— Silver and Gold - A Story of Luck and Love in a Western Mining Camp • Dane Coolidge

... love, and made his time beautiful thereby, like one of his own rich, many-colored church casements, that told holy tales as the sun streamed through them. Ah, yes, my friends, to go back to our masters!—that would be the best that could befall us. But they are gone, and even the perishable labors of their lives outlive them. For many, many years I, once honored of emperors, dwelt in a humble house and warmed in successive winters three generations of ...
— The Nuernberg Stove • Louisa de la Rame (AKA Ouida)

... Such a sight we shall not soon see. Believe it or not, thou canst not die till it be seen, old man. And what was that saying about thyself? Though it come to the last, I shall still go before thee thy pilot. And when thou art so gone before —if that ever befall —then ere I can follow, thou must still appear to me, to pilot me still? —Was it not so? Well, then, did I believe all ye say, oh my pilot! I have here two pledges that I shall yet slay Moby Dick and survive it. Take another pledge, old man, said the Parsee, as his eyes lighted ...
— Moby-Dick • Melville

... Socrates and his followers had very fixed opinions as to what would befall man hereafter; but the sole point of belief on which they were determined—that the soul has nothing in common with the body, and survives it—was enough to give the Platonic philosophy that sublime aspiration by which it is distinguished. It is clear from the works of Plato, that many philosophical ...
— Democracy In America, Volume 2 (of 2) • Alexis de Tocqueville

... of the valley, and surrounded by precipitous mountains in every direction. The eye and mind can now vividly recall the picture of the scenes than around me. My mule had my confidence, but I feared lest some fatal mishap might befall some of my companions, and especially I feared for a lady who ventured the journey, but she fortunately displayed pluck and coolness, and at the end of the day we all arrived at the hut in the valley safe and sound, ...
— Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate and Cabinet - An Autobiography. • John Sherman

... those lightning moments she could move neither hand nor foot; nor could she cry for help. And yet she realized, as in some nightmare, that if once those horrible hairy hands closed upon her she was lost utterly. And in that same clear flash of reason she realized that for whatever might befall she had herself alone to blame. She had touched pitch, and played with fire—and all that men might some day ...
— The Penalty • Gouverneur Morris

... the one idea in his mind was that the mountains called him. One distant peak, in especial, seemed imbued with life, using human speech and gesture—warning him to come, and come at once, lest some terrible thing befall him. He must ...
— Dorothy on a Ranch • Evelyn Raymond

... to the Apostle (Rom. 3:8) we should not do evil that good may come of it. Therefore, in like manner, good should not be omitted lest evil befall. Now fraternal correction is a good thing. Therefore it should not be omitted for fear lest the person corrected ...
— Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) • Thomas Aquinas

... fool, if you like, and certainly I was going to do a foolish, over-bold act; but I was determined to do it with all the precautions in my power. These biscuits, should anything befall me, would keep me, at least, from starving till far on in the ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 6 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson

... the secret alchemies are plain; He tells most surely how these things befall, In words grown intimate with roots and rain; And yet, he is so tender of it all, So wise and kind in ways of leaf and sod, Sometimes I think ...
— Ships in Harbour • David Morton

... in the early morning, when all such things befall. For then the mind is not yet recaptured by life and no longer held by sleep. There is in it a pure expectancy, open to strange influences: influences from memory and the under-soul. It visualizes easily, and dream ...
— The Case of Richard Meynell • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... riots took place when subscriptions to the stock of banks were opened, the earliest comers subscribing the whole with the purpose of selling to others at an advance. To make a bank was thought the great panacea for every ill that could befall. In this we see that the American people, bright as they were, ...
— History of the United States, Volume 3 (of 6) • E. Benjamin Andrews

... Persia long before if it had not been for the resistance which this city, strong in its admirable position and its mighty walls, had been able to offer. But miserable as they now were, and although they were filled with a still greater fear of what might befall them hereafter, they were supported by this slender hope, that, either from his own inclination or from being won over by their prayers, the emperor might consent to keep their city in its existing state, as the strongest ...
— The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus • Ammianus Marcellinus

... within him to such a degree, that all sense of pain flew at once beyond the empyrean. "I've only had to bear a few blows," he reflected, "and yet every one of them puts on those pitiful looks sufficient to evoke love and regard; so were, after all, any mishap or untimely end to unexpectedly befall me, who can tell how much more afflicted they won't be! And as they go on in this way, I shall have them, were I even to die in a moment, to feel so much for me; so there will indeed be no reason for regret, albeit ...
— Hung Lou Meng, Book II • Cao Xueqin

... "Evil befall his little dead ones, whatever he is," returned the other, by way of welcome to the young man who ...
— The Heart of Rome • Francis Marion Crawford

... his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 55, No. 340, February, 1844 • Various

... Pernambuco be taken down by the notary-public, this testimony being taken from the men who had come with him, "and the Frenchmen who were present at my undoing, and others who heard it from persons who were in the ships of the French who destroyed me." Acuna desires this in case any accident befall him while on the way to Portugal, and "that the emperor may be informed of the truth, and that I may give account of myself." This testimony is much the same as that contained in the other documents. (Nos. xxiii, pp. 225-241; ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803, Volume II, 1521-1569 • Emma Helen Blair

... much more essential to success than numbers that no addition was made to the force already on the lines. One brigade was ordered to commence its march so as to reach the scene of action in time to cover the troops engaged in the attack should any unlooked-for disaster befall them, and Maj. Henry Lee of the light dragoons, who had been eminently useful in obtaining the intelligence which led to the enterprise, was associated with Wayne as far as cavalry could be employed in such a service. The night of the 15th (July, 1779), and the hour ...
— Life And Times Of Washington, Volume 2 • John Frederick Schroeder and Benson John Lossing

... Varney; "and as I have no reason to grieve for Tressilian, who would have my heart's blood were he able, I shall reconcile myself easily to what may befall the gentleman in consequence of your frank disclosure of his having presumed to intrude upon your solitude. You, who know my lord so much better than I, will judge if he be likely to ...
— Kenilworth • Sir Walter Scott

... child. The baby is not washed until it is a year old. Then it is cured again, by the shaman, who on various occasions throughout its life repeats his curing, that the child may grow well and that no sickness or bad accidents may befall it. To protect it still further, pieces of palo hediondo or the chuchupate root, the strong smell of which is supposed to avail against disease, are wrapped in a piece of cloth and ...
— Unknown Mexico, Volume 1 (of 2) • Carl Lumholtz

... view to-night of your loving face, What a price I would gladly pay! The wonderful face . . . . . . smiling still despite loads of care, Tis crowned by a silvering sheen. Your picture I carry next to my heart; With it no harm can befall. It has helped me to smile through many a care, Since I heeded my country's call. O mother who nursed me as a babe And prayed for me as a boy, Can I not show, now at man's estate, That you are my pride and joy? ...
— The War Romance of the Salvation Army • Evangeline Booth and Grace Livingston Hill

... except by its reduced size; and in every part of America it appears to be a somewhat rare species. It confines itself to the fresh-water marshes, and thereby escapes many of the mishaps which befall its relative. This circumstance also has caused the people of New Jersey to bestow upon it the name of the Fresh Water Mud Hen, and renders it not unknown on the bogs and swampy grounds near the Ohio and Mississippi. Their flesh is not inferior to that of the Soree, ...
— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXIII No. 5 November 1848 • Various

... they recked little of them. These always formed part of their lot; and with so well found a ship, and so good a crew, they felt confident of being able to face anything that might befall them. ...
— By Right of Conquest - Or, With Cortez in Mexico • G. A. Henty

... pleasant occupation around the fire in the winter evenings, and the real archer has the happiness of making his tackle while his mind dwells upon the coming spring shooting. As he makes his shaft he wonders what fate will befall it. Will it speed away in a futile shot, or last the grilling of a hundred practice flights, or will it be that fortunate arrow which flies swift and true and brings down the bounding deer? How often have I picked up a shaft and marked it, saying, "With this I'll kill a bear." And with ...
— Hunting with the Bow and Arrow • Saxton Pope

... guided. No greater evil can befall a lad than to be left to do as he pleases. Yet in well-born children, such as yours, much may be trusted to nature. I rely on human essence. Freedom is the best school. I don't believe we are born with evil ...
— A Dream of Empire - Or, The House of Blennerhassett • William Henry Venable

... feeling of the miners toward her father. Now she felt that the condition of affairs was more than she could cope with and from the day of her arrival home she was constantly in fear lest some dread catastrophe should befall the family because the "biggest man" in Hollyhill kept himself severely fortified against the adulation of his fellow townsmen and the character weakening influence of ...
— Campfire Girls in the Allegheny Mountains - or, A Christmas Success against Odds • Stella M. Francis

... lean against the rail, his shoulder lightly touching hers, and calmly say to himself that he loved her. He could calmly permit her to pass out of his life as a cloud passes down the sea-rim. He hadn't enough, but this evil must befall him. Love! He ...
— Parrot & Co. • Harold MacGrath

... after some time he married the youngest sister. At their wedding permission was granted to him to go wherever he liked in the neighborhood; they only begged him not to enter one valley, which they pointed out, otherwise some misfortune would befall him; it was called, they said, the Valley ...
— Roumanian Fairy Tales • Various

... was weak enough, further still, to defer her journey and agree to accompany the gentlemen on their own, might a separate carriage mark her independence; though it was in spite of this to befall after luncheon that she went off alone and that, with a tryst taken for a day of her company in London, they lingered another night. She had, during the morning—spent in a way that he was to remember later on as the very climax of his foretaste, as warm with presentiments, with ...
— The Ambassadors • Henry James

... For instance, he might not have been born a Spaniard, and every man in his senses knows that Spain is the greatest nation on earth, while to be born a citizen of some other country is the most dreadful misfortune that can befall him. He has his licence from the State, and a charitable public sees that he does not absolutely starve; he has cigarettes to smoke—to say that a blind man cannot enjoy tobacco is evidently absurd—and therefore, ...
— The Land of The Blessed Virgin; Sketches and Impressions in Andalusia • William Somerset Maugham

... Venice, I accepted the fate appointed to young men on the Continent. I took lodgings, and I began dining drearily at the restaurants. Worse prandial fortunes may befall one, but it is hard to conceive of the continuance of so great unhappiness elsewhere; while the restaurant life is an established and permanent thing in Italy, for every bachelor and for many forlorn families. It is not because the restaurants are ...
— Venetian Life • W. D. Howells

... we ask, if that befall, Is this. Within your hearts be writ This single-line memorial:— He did his ...
— The First Hundred Thousand • Ian Hay

... days. I may be away three weeks. Should any evil chance befall us, you will take the horses over to Laville and hand them over to my cousin; who will, I am sure, gladly take you and Henri ...
— Saint Bartholomew's Eve - A Tale of the Huguenot WarS • G. A. Henty

... the thoughts and aspirations, they act as preservatives against low associations. "A natural turn for reading and intellectual pursuits," says Thomas Hood, "probably preserved me from the moral ship-wreck so apt to befall those who are deprived in early life of their parental pilotage. My books kept me from the ring, the dogpit, the tavern, the saloon. The closet associate of Pope and Addison, the mind accustomed to the noble though silent discourse of Shakespeare and Milton, will hardly seek ...
— How to Get on in the World - A Ladder to Practical Success • Major A.R. Calhoon

... trial's a lengthy one and these fellows hold him up until it's over, it will be a serious thing for George," he resumed, by way of implying that this was the worst that could befall his comrade. "The grain's ripening fast, and he hasn't made his arrangements for harvest yet. Men seem pretty scarce ...
— Ranching for Sylvia • Harold Bindloss

... I explained, "has been in charge of this case; and it was he who arranged to watch the house, for fear some harm would befall you...." ...
— The Gloved Hand • Burton E. Stevenson

... be left there all alone, in the gloomy and solitary forest. So he made all the haste possible in descending. There are a great many accidents which may befall a boy in coming down a tree. The one which Phonny was fated to incur in this instance, was to catch his trowsers near the knee, in a small sharp twig which projected from a ...
— Mary Erskine • Jacob Abbott

... the decay of our athletic prowess and the apparent apathy of the nation as to the fate that may befall it in the international contest ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146, January 28, 1914 • Various

... and Cato sprang to the rostra, harangued the multitude, and instigated the usual riot; Caesar ordered that they should be led away by lictors from the Forum, and took care that otherwise no harm should befall them—it was for his interest that the political comedy should remain ...
— The History of Rome (Volumes 1-5) • Theodor Mommsen

... greatest monsters of the Zodiac), Or for the loss of anxious worldly pelf, Or Delia's scornful slights, and cold disdain, Which check'd his amorous flame with coy repulse, The worst events that mortals can befall; By cares depress'd, in pensive hippish mood, With slowest pace the tedious minutes roll, Thy charming sight, but much more charming gust, New life incites, and warms our chilly blood. Straight with pert looks we raise our drooping fronts, And pour ...
— The Humourous Poetry of the English Language • James Parton

... who kneel beside us At altars not Thine own, Who lack the lights that guide us, Lord, let their faith atone! If wrong we did to call them, By honour bound they came; Let not Thy wrath befall them, But ...
— The Missionary • George Griffith

... be a saint by this time, then," said mamma; "for in the course of my days I have lost so many idols by breakage, and peculiar accidents that seemed by a special fatality to befall my prettiest and most irreplaceable things, that in fact it has come to be a superstitious feeling now with which I regard anything particularly pretty of ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 13, No. 79, May, 1864 • Various

... a person observed to be in extravagantly high spirits, or in any mood surprisingly beyond the bounds of his ordinary temperament,—the notion being that the excitement is supernatural, and a presage of his approaching death, or of some other calamity about to befall him. ...
— The English Mail-Coach and Joan of Arc • Thomas de Quincey

... had fall'n which could befall, He stood, a stranger in this breathing world, An erring spirit from another hurled; A thing of dark imaginings, that shaped By choice the perils he by chance ...
— Heiress of Haddon • William E. Doubleday

... dear Paul, I know not. God knows how gladly I would have it so, but hearts are very strangely made; yet you shall speak if you will, and I will give you my prayers." And then she stooped to Paul, and kissed his brow, and said, "There is a mother's kiss, for you are the son of my heart, whatever befall." ...
— Paul the Minstrel and Other Stories - Reprinted from The Hill of Trouble and The Isles of Sunset • Arthur Christopher Benson

... have been treated with contempt. Her brother Leonidas, one day boldly attacked him with virulent language, and scrupled not to tell him that he was well assured he would soon be king; thus preparing suspicions, and matter of accusation against Lycurgus, in case any accident should befall the king. Insinuations of the same kind were likewise spread by the queen-mother. Moved with this ill-treatment, and fearing some dark design, he determined to get clear of all suspicion, by travelling into other countries, ...
— Ideal Commonwealths • Various

... said the knight, "thou art free; depart. He whose prisoner thou art scorns to take mean revenge for what is past. But beware of the future, lest a worse thing befall thee. Maurice de Bracy, I say, BEWARE!" De Bracy bowed low and in silence, threw himself upon a horse, and galloped off ...
— The Junior Classics, V5 • Edited by William Patten

... with God above and Death below, our gallant bark and her clustered company together brave the dangers of the mighty deep. May Infinite Mercy watch over our onward path and bring us safely to our several homes; for to die away from home and kindred seems one of the saddest calamities that could befall me. This mortal tenement would rest uneasily in an ocean shroud; this spirit reluctantly resign that tenement to the chill and pitiless brine; these eyes close regretfully on the stranger skies and bleak inhospitality ...
— Glances at Europe - In a Series of Letters from Great Britain, France, Italy, - Switzerland, &c. During the Summer of 1851. • Horace Greeley

... should neither spare "man in his rage nor woman in his lust;" and that, in the time of his next successor but one, "there should come in the fagot and the stake." Master Heywood closes Merlin's prophecies at his own day, and does not give even a glimpse of what was to befall England after his decease. Many other prophecies, besides those quoted by him, were, he says, dispersed abroad, in his day, under the name of Merlin; but he gives his readers a taste of one only, and ...
— Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions - Vol. I • Charles Mackay

... triumph for our country. It was forethought and preparation which secured us the overwhelming triumph of 1898. If we fail to show forethought and preparation now, there may come a time when disaster will befall us instead of triumph; and should this time come, the fault will rest primarily, not upon those whom the accident of events puts in supreme command at the moment, but upon those who have failed to ...
— State of the Union Addresses of Theodore Roosevelt • Theodore Roosevelt

... remembrance of the end of earthly days in his soul, he bent his steps towards the hermitage; and as he was now an aged man and nowise strong, Diarmait, one of the younger brethren, accompanied him in case any mischance should befall. ...
— A Child's Book of Saints • William Canton

... side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come ...
— History of the Plague in London • Daniel Defoe

... been more seditious, it is not more an argument of the infirmity of this or that commonwealth in particular, than of the excellency of that kind of polity in general, which if they, that have not altogether reached, have nevertheless had greater prosperity, what would befall them that ...
— The Commonwealth of Oceana • James Harrington

... judgment fell upon a race of men, our own brothers; the inveterate social malady they inherited came to a crisis. We watched it gather with exultation and insult. There fell on them the most terrible necessity which can befall men, the necessity of sacrificing the flower of their citizens in civil war, of tearing up their civil and social system by the roots, of transforming the most peaceful type of society into the most military. We magnified ...
— Our American Holidays: Lincoln's Birthday • Various

... he exclaimed, as if giving unconscious utterance to his I own reflections—"for what I had thoughts of about that darlin' an' lovely girl; but sure I'll make it up to her; an', indeed, I feel the words of goodness that's to befall her breakin' out o' my lips. A colleen dhas, I had some private discoorse wid you when I was here last, an' will you let me spake a few words to ...
— The Black Prophet: A Tale Of Irish Famine • William Carleton

... who art a vassal brave, Take Colada that I captured from a true knight without fail, From him of Barcelona, from Remond Berenguel. That thou mayst guard it rightly, therefore I give it thee, I know if aught befall thee, if occasion e'er should be, Great fame and estimation with the sword shalt thou attain." The lord Cid's hands he kissed them. He took the ...
— The Lay of the Cid • R. Selden Rose and Leonard Bacon

... they planned a great camp for the next summer, and there was talk of a grand hike into the almost unknown, to them, country far to the north. What strange adventures were destined to befall them during this eventful outing, together with the fun that William and Bobolink afforded the troop, will be recounted in the next volume, to be called: "The Banner Boy Scouts on a Tour; or, The Mystery of ...
— The Banner Boy Scouts - Or, The Struggle for Leadership • George A. Warren

... they were on the way going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went before them; and they were amazed, and afraid, as they followed him. And again taking the twelve aside, he told them the things that were about to befall him; [10:33] Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man will be delivered up to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and deliver him to the gentiles, [10:34]and they will mock him, and spit on him, ...
— The New Testament • Various

... and brag and bluster over our misfortune? Is there any magnanimity in hallooing and huzzaying because five or six hundred brave fellows have been caught by ten thousand on a seashore, and that fate has overtaken them which is said to befall the hindmost? I had a mind to design an authentic picture of the rejoicings at London upon our glorious success at St. Malo. I fancied the polished guns dragged in procession by our gallant tars; the stout horse-grenadiers prancing by; the mob waving hats, roaring cheers, picking pockets, and ...
— The Virginians • William Makepeace Thackeray

... on the ends, are sold everywhere on the streets. The origin of this custom is unknown.] in her hand. And he heard how she hissed at him: "You have wished to celebrate the festival of joy and merry moods in the midst of the time of fasting, which is called life. Therefore shame and dishonor shall befall you, until you change ...
— Invisible Links • Selma Lagerlof

... now turn back to Spain and try to form some idea of the way in which the doings of Columbus were being regarded there if we are to understand the extraordinary calamity that was soon to befall him. It must be remembered first of all that his enterprise had never really been popular from the first. It was carried out entirely by the energy and confidence of Queen Isabella, who almost alone of those in power believed in it as a thing which was certain ...
— Christopher Columbus, Complete • Filson Young

... screening delectable visions of Broadway and the Upper Forties and Seventh Avenue before his homesick eyes. It was a real nostalgia from which he suffered. He endured it, though, with what patience he might lest a worse thing befall. And at the end of that month he went back to the big town; an overpowering temptation was the reason for his going. There had arisen a chance for a large turnover and a quick get-away again, with ...
— Sundry Accounts • Irvin S. Cobb

... river, and beheld from its grassy banks a rich and smiling country, wherein, he doubted not, that the swine would find food of the best kind, and in great abundance. "Prithee, master," quoth he, "suffer me to drive the herd across that fair stream, and if aught amiss befall them, it shall not be for want of due care and caution on the part ...
— The Children's Portion • Various

... not give you a month's notice, according to the terms of my agreement with you. But I could not foresee the great good fortune that was about to befall me." ...
— Tillie: A Mennonite Maid - A Story of the Pennsylvania Dutch • Helen Reimensnyder Martin

... the troop, and all dance about it, singing after their style. Then one of the captains makes an harangue, setting forth that for a long time they have been accustomed to make this offering, by which means they are ensured protection against their enemies, that otherwise misfortune would befall them from the evil spirit. This done, the maker of the harangue takes the plate and throws the tobacco into the midst of the cauldron (the chasm of foaming water), whereupon they all together raise a loud cry. These poor people are so superstitious, that they would not believe it possible ...
— Pioneers in Canada • Sir Harry Johnston

... protect her with his life. His arms were around her and no one should take her from him—no one! Not the Tsar himself! She was breathing, she was there; she was a woman and he was a man, and his strength was as the strength of a lion. What harm could befall her? ...
— The Black Cross • Olive M. Briggs

... only by a faith equal to saying, 'Whatever has happened to him, death itself, it can be no evil to one who is about his father's business;' and such a faith I think the Lord could not yet have expected of them. That what the world counts misfortune might befall him on his father's business, would have been recognized by him, I think, as reason for their parental anxiety—so long as they had not learned God—that he is what he is—the thing the Lord had come to teach his father's men and women. His ...
— Hope of the Gospel • George MacDonald

... England to join his laundry, Kidger, with a magnificent gesture, abandoned his fine collection of collars to his aunt, bidding her convert them to some patriotic end. The fond lady, however, fearing lest anything should befall her nephew if a hot sector of the line moved up to the laundry, preserved them carefully, and Kidger was very glad to reclaim them on ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 159, August 4th, 1920 • Various

... least, without so much as a glance at the enemy with whom he was contending. Else, while his arm was lifted to strike, he would stiffen into stone and stand with that uplifted arm for centuries, until time and the wind and weather should crumble him quite away. This would be a very sad thing to befall a young man who wanted to perform a great many brave deeds and to enjoy a great deal of happiness in this bright and ...
— Famous Tales of Fact and Fancy - Myths and Legends of the Nations of the World Retold for Boys and Girls • Various

... had borne fruit. I had learnt from De Gex's own lips that another deep and subtle trap was to be laid for me—a trap baited with the tragic-faced girl herself. Further, I had established that he intended that, sooner or later, an accident should befall the dainty little woman in that rich ermine cloak, the woman with whom he was chatting so affably. Also I had learned her identity, and it now remained for me to forewarn ...
— The Stretton Street Affair • William Le Queux

... so!" said Blanche, believing rightly, that Rose felt exactly as she did. "And yet it seems to do us good. It is as if some happiness were going to befall us." ...
— The Wandering Jew, Complete • Eugene Sue

... can be sure, that the great Belial of Hell must needs be always Yoked up from this piece of Mischief? The best man that ever lived has been called a Witch: and why may not this too usual and unhappy Symptom of A Witch, even a Spectral Representation, befall a person that shall be none of the worst? Is it not possible? The Laplanders will tell us 'tis possible: for Persons to be unwittingly attended with officious Daemons, bequeathed unto them, and impos'd upon them, by Relations that ...
— The Wonders of the Invisible World • Cotton Mather

... When all was done the king sat down on a pile of skins which had been prepared for him and talked long and earnestly with his son, giving him advice as to his conduct in future if aught should befall him ...
— The Cat of Bubastes - A Tale of Ancient Egypt • G. A. Henty

... he kept his word with the spectre, whom he soon saw floating through the air towards him; that he spoke to her, but she told him she was at that time in too much haste to attend to him, but bid him go away and no harm should befall him, and so the affair rested when I left the country. But it is incredible the mischief these aegri somnia did in the neighbourhood. The friends and neighbours of the deceased, whom the old dreamer had named, were in the utmost anxiety at finding them in such bad company in the ...
— Letters On Demonology And Witchcraft • Sir Walter Scott

... the monk, it struck The Trold to the verdant sward: "Now shame befall thee, shaven Monk, The blows of thy club ...
— The Serpent Knight - and other ballads - - - Translator: George Borrow • Thomas J. Wise

... of the earnings of her misery and shame, no matter if he beats and kicks her because she can not give him more, the girl in nearly every case, is faithful to "the kid" and the worst fate than can befall her is that "the kid" should "throw her down." [In ...
— Fifteen Years With The Outcast • Mrs. Florence (Mother) Roberts

... of Stanton; others spread sanctimoniously perfidious suggestions against the Secretary of War, and so does the National Intelligencer, this foremost Whig-Conservative, double or treble-faced organ. Stanton is called to account for all mishaps, mismanagement, disasters and disgraces which befall our armies between the Rio Grande and the Potomac. Such accusations, to a certain degree, could be justified if the Secretary of War were clothed with the same powers, and therefore with the same responsibilities as is the case in ...
— Diary from November 12, 1862, to October 18, 1863 • Adam Gurowski

... were wont to cheat A tedious hour—and now we never meet. As some grave gentleman in Terence says ('Twas therefore much the same in ancient days), "Good lack, we know not what to-morrow brings— Strange fluctuation of all human things!" True. Changes will befall, and friends may part, But distance only cannot change the heart: And were I called to prove the assertion true, One proof should ...
— The Task and Other Poems • William Cowper

... to a small island, then connected with the family property, and studied laboriously for a whole winter. He desired to establish what was in him, what exertion he was likely to be equal to, in the world's affairs. Then, lest trouble should ever befall him, he, another time, went into lodgings to test how little it was really possible to live upon. I don't recall at what figure the experiment worked out, but it was a ...
— The Romance of a Pro-Consul - Being The Personal Life And Memoirs Of The Right Hon. Sir - George Grey, K.C.B. • James Milne

... said Elizabeth, 'just as the corn ripens better with all the disasters that seem to befall it, than it would if we had the ...
— Abbeychurch - or, Self-Control and Self-Conceit • Charlotte M. Yonge

... should escape, as I see but small hopes, he will in the 23d year be under the very same evil direction, and if he should escape that also, the 33d or 34th year is, I fear'—here he was interrupted by the immoderate grief of his lady, who could no longer hear calamity prophecy'd to befall her son. The time at last came, and August was the inauspicious month in which young Dryden was to enter into the eighth year of his age. The court being in progress, and Mr. Dryden at leisure, he was invited to the country seat of the earl of Berkshire, his brother-in-law, to ...
— The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) - Vol. III • Theophilus Cibber

... further honors were to befall the fighting, landing, and building force, of which the navy is justly proud. In the early part of October it became necessary for the Allies to capture the bald, jagged ridge twenty miles due east of Rheims, known ...
— Winning a Cause - World War Stories • John Gilbert Thompson and Inez Bigwood

... had dim ideas that some Robinson Crusoe adventures might befall me before I returned ...
— A Flat Iron for a Farthing - or Some Passages in the Life of an only Son • Juliana Horatia Ewing

... years ago (so ran The old-time story) all Good wishes said above its span Would, soon or late, befall. ...
— The Complete Works of Whittier - The Standard Library Edition with a linked Index • John Greenleaf Whittier

... brands from the fire, which, as they walked, they kept crossed before them, the burning points keeping each other alight. Even with one man there would be little chance of losing the fire, but with two such a misfortune could scarcely befall them. ...
— The Young Carthaginian - A Story of The Times of Hannibal • G.A. Henty

... office. At his own solicitation had the duke been assigned an active part in the day's entertainment. The king, fearing for the safety of his guest and the possible postponement of the marriage should any injury befall him, had sought to dissuade him from his purpose, but the other had laughed boisterously at the monarch's fears and sworn he would break a lance for his lady love that day. Francis, too gallant a knight himself to interpose further objection to an announcement so in keeping with ...
— Under the Rose • Frederic Stewart Isham

... Understanding, that no man can conceive there is any greater degree of it, than that which he hath already attained unto. And from hence it comes to passe, that men have no other means to acknowledge their owne Darknesse, but onely by reasoning from the un-forseen mischances, that befall them in their ways; The Darkest part of the Kingdome of Satan, is that which is without the Church of God; that is to say, amongst them that beleeve not in Jesus Christ. But we cannot say, that therefore the Church enjoyeth ...
— Leviathan • Thomas Hobbes

... man's advice? The old sorcerer has never given false information, and the language of birds never deceives. Hasten to the river, and let the maiden dry your tears of longing." This gave the young man courage, for he reflected, "Nothing worse can befall me but death, and death is easier than constant weeping." He mounted his horse and took the well-known path to the banks of the river. When he came to the bridge, he could ...
— The Hero of Esthonia and Other Studies in the Romantic Literature of That Country • William Forsell Kirby

... raised his voice suddenly to a strident shout, "hear me all you within the house. Give up the girl and the child to their legal protectors, and no harm shall befall either life or property. We shall be on shipboard in half-an-hour. I shall see to it that every man within the castle is rewarded from the Maitland money that is safe beyond seas, out of the reach of ...
— The Dew of Their Youth • S. R. Crockett

... of my crew being long absent in the Diligence. We presently unladed her, and I that night set sail in her myself,[315] to see if I could come before Mr Davis came from thence, for I was told the junk was very leaky, and I wished to have her accompanied by the Hopewell, whatsoever might befall; as she had not a nail in her, but such as we had driven, and as we had none of ourselves, we caused the simple native smiths to make some iron pins, for they can make no nails,[316] and bestowed these in the most needful places. While striving in the Hopewell to reach Pulo-way, I was ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. VIII. • Robert Kerr

... thee, loud and still, That to me art in such will, And spares me and my house to spill As now I soothly find. Thy bidding, Lord, I shall fulfil, And never more thee grieve nor grill[23] That such grace has sent me till Among all mankind. Have done you men and women all; Help, for aught that may befall, To work this ship, chamber, and hall, As God ...
— Everyman and Other Old Religious Plays, with an Introduction • Anonymous

... and absolutely rejected the advice of Croker that he should grasp the helm of state to avert the worse evil of the whigs being recalled. "I look," he wrote, "beyond the exigency and the peril of the present moment, and I do believe that one of the greatest calamities that could befall the country would be the utter want of confidence in the declarations of public men which must follow the adoption of the bill of reform by me as a minister of the crown."[106] This language, repeated under reserve in the house of commons, after a direct appeal from the ...
— The Political History of England - Vol XI - From Addington's Administration to the close of William - IV.'s Reign (1801-1837) • George Brodrick

... my notes a remarkable case, relating to that most awful of diseases that can befall a woman—nymphomania.[43] ...
— Primitive Love and Love-Stories • Henry Theophilus Finck

... in vivid remembrance the statement which my father had made to me on the eve of my departure for school, and the caution he had given me against expecting any assistance from him after I had once fairly entered upon my career; and I resolved to endure the worst that could possibly befall me rather than act upon a suggestion which the master threw out, to the effect that possibly someone might be found in the town willing to cash (for a heavy premium) a draft of ...
— The Rover's Secret - A Tale of the Pirate Cays and Lagoons of Cuba • Harry Collingwood

... and we shall endeavor to press them upon all, and especially upon those whom we shall aid out of this fund. We believe that Mr. Hand would deplore it as the greatest calamity that could befall his gift, if it should in any way pauperize the colored people or take from them their sense of the need—the essential need of self-reliance and self-help—if it should tempt them to an idle life, to seeking after office or to become beggars for help ...
— The American Missionary, Volume 42, No. 12, December, 1888 • Various

... fairly dark and the words were in Latin. It stated, so the Professor read, that the money and the crucifix were the property of Timothy La Sarthe, Gentleman to Queen Henrietta Maria, and that, should aught befall him in his flight to France upon secret business for Her Majesty, the gold and the crucifix belonged to whichever of his descendants should find it—or it should be handed to; that all others were cursed who should touch it, and that it would ...
— Halcyone • Elinor Glyn

... "written his letters, and had fixed upon 'the hour for suicide—but before the very end he had suddenly changed his mind. It would always be thus—at the very last moment something would change, an unexpected accident would befall—no one could tell when he ...
— The Seven who were Hanged • Leonid Andreyev

... of life without his thoughts turning instantly to that which is beyond it? He or she who has made the best of the life after death has made the best of the life before it; who cares one straw for any such chances and changes as will commonly befall him here if he is upheld by the full and certain hope of everlasting life in the affections of those that shall come after? If the life after death is happy in the hearts of others, it matters little how unhappy was the ...
— The Humour of Homer and Other Essays • Samuel Butler

... in touch with our dead, we proceed, naturally, to ask them how it is with them, and under what conditions they exist. It is a very vital question, since what has befallen them yesterday will surely befall us to-morrow. But the answer is tidings of great joy. Of the new vital message to humanity nothing is more important than that. It rolls away all those horrible man-bred fears and fancies, founded upon morbid imaginations and ...
— The Vital Message • Arthur Conan Doyle

... welcomed at farmsteads, (to which welcome Agathemer's flageolet-playing greatly assisted us), invited to spend the night and had lavished upon our entertainment all their rustic abundance, so that we visibly grew fat. When such luck did not befall us we had no trouble in helping ourselves to supplies, for, far up the mountains, most habitations were shacks tenanted only in summer and only by lads acting as goat-herds or herdsmen, who spent the day abroad with their charges, so that we could readily enter their ...
— Andivius Hedulio • Edward Lucas White

... air—the elements acted on by the eyes and the voice. By the tone she gave to the two words, "Poor woman!" the Marquise betrayed the joy of satisfied hatred, the pleasure of triumph. Oh! what woes did she not wish to befall Lucien's protectress. Revenge, which nothing can assuage, which can survive the person hated, fills us with dark terrors. And Madame Camusot, though harsh herself, vindictive, and quarrelsome, was overwhelmed. She could find nothing to ...
— Scenes from a Courtesan's Life • Honore de Balzac

... but in a moment she heard a shout. It was Ted. Evidently thinking that something might befall her, he had followed, and in a few moments she heard ...
— Ted Strong in Montana - With Lariat and Spur • Edward C. Taylor

... nevertheless, he seems unable to keep himself from betraying our trust. Such a born spy and intriguer is he that he cannot refrain from intimidating the native, of whose quietness he is now assured by the presence of our troops, by threats of what will befall him when the Germans return, if he, the native, so much as sells us food or enters our ...
— Sketches of the East Africa Campaign • Robert Valentine Dolbey

... understand before why there was so much excitement during the last Congress over the acquisition of Alta Vela. I could never understand why it was that some of our ablest statesmen and most disinterested patriots should entertain such dark forebodings of the untold calamities that were to befall our beloved country unless we should take immediate possession of that desirable island. But I see now that they were laboring under the mistaken impression that the Government would need the guano to manure the public lands on ...
— The Wit and Humor of America, Volume VIII (of X) • Various

... to marry your daughters? Do you want niggers to sit in school beside your children? Do you want niggers on the juries trying white men? If you don't want such dreadful calamities to befall the South, go to the polls and do your duty!" "What'd he say? Niggers er marryin our darters? Niggers in skule wid we uns? Thet aint er goin ter du! Le' me ...
— Hanover; Or The Persecution of the Lowly - A Story of the Wilmington Massacre. • David Bryant Fulton

... campaign lives of "Old Chapultepec," published in English, French, and German. Mr. Buchanan was unusually active in his opposition to the Whig ticket. "I should regard Scott's election," he wrote to a friend, "as one of the greatest calamities which could befall the country. I know him well, and do not doubt either his patriotism or his integrity; but he is vain beyond any man I have ever known, and, what is remarkable in a vain man, he is obstinate and self-willed and unyielding. His judgment, except in ...
— Perley's Reminiscences, Vol. 1-2 - of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis • Benjamin Perley Poore

... cheerful presence came, And kind eyes lighted On the monkey small; Straightway the weary World was not the same Such fortune did The little thing befall. ...
— Cole's Funny Picture Book No. 1 • Edward William Cole

... asked what sort of a place the country of the fortunate clouds might be. Sky O'Dawn answered: "There is a great swamp there. The people prophesy fortune and misfortune by the air and the clouds. If good fortune is to befall a house, clouds of five colors form in the rooms, which alight on the grass and trees and turn into a colored dew. This dew tastes as ...
— The Chinese Fairy Book • Various

... befall a man * Who hath of ears and eyes and wits full share: His ears He deafens and his eyes He blinds * And draws his wits e'en as we draw a hair[FN548] Till, having wrought His purpose, He restores * Man's wits, that warned ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 1 • Richard F. Burton

... man. If you lived in yourself alone,—having all evil to meet there, you were likely to succumb to it; and you were on the wrong road anyway. Come out, then; think not of your soul to be saved, nor of what may befall you after death. You, as you, are of no account; all that matters is humanity as a whole, of which you are but a tiny part.—Now, if you like, say that Confucius did not teach Theosophy, because, so far as we know, he said nothing ...
— The Crest-Wave of Evolution • Kenneth Morris

... others besides," answered the midshipman. "There's not a more gallant young officer in the service, and he'll make the world know it some day, if no harm befall him." ...
— The Rival Crusoes • W.H.G. Kingston

... surprise, I recognised Mrs Reichardt walking rapidly towards a part of the shore, near which I should be obliged to pass. From this I saw that she was intent on watching me from point to point, to know the worst, if any accident should befall me, and be at hand should there be a necessity for rendering assistance. I shouted to her, and she waved ...
— The Little Savage • Captain Frederick Marryat

... blow to the pride of poor Ni-ha-be, but it need not have been. Any girl in the world might have had just such an accident befall her, but not a great many could have helped themselves out of it so skilfully and so bravely. That was precisely what Steve Harrison had been thinking, and he had not joined at all in ...
— The Talking Leaves - An Indian Story • William O. Stoddard

... whined incessantly. "I assure you, sir, that I simply concealed myself in order to see the effect of my disappearance, and I am sure that you would not be so unjust as to imagine that I would have allowed any harm to befall poor young ...
— The Return of Sherlock Holmes - Magazine Edition • Arthur Conan Doyle

... doubt but that I shall have a heavy punishment for this affair, only that I was obliged to act thus. I'm glad of this, that some mischief will befall these women here through my agency, for the old man has, for a long time, been on the look-out for some occasion[105] to do them a bad turn; at last he ...
— The Comedies of Terence - Literally Translated into English Prose, with Notes • Publius Terentius Afer, (AKA) Terence

... air and beholding the sunlight; loaded with chains, beaten and insulted, starving and thirsting, spending days and nights in a monotony destructive alike to soul and body,—yet not for one moment did he lose the confident belief that this horrible lot might befall any one rather than himself, and something must interpose ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers

... "Take away this weight of care;" No, for that love I pray that all can bear, And for the faith that whatsoe'er befall Must needs be good, and for my profit prove, Since from my Father's heart most rich in love, And from His bounteous ...
— Daily Strength for Daily Needs • Mary W. Tileston

... says, "and the Legislature that had been elected, with almost a unanimous voice called upon me to convene the Legislature, in order that they might take such steps as they could to counteract the misfortune which they conceived was about to befall them in the adoption of this constitution," As already stated, Stanton had come to Kansas with the current Democratic prejudices against the free-State party. But his whole course had been frank, sincere, and studiously impartial, and the Oxford fraud had completely opened his ...
— Abraham Lincoln, A History, Volume 2 • John George Nicolay and John Hay

... orchard came back to him, and the stalwart old countryman, with his plain ways, his stout pride, his straight ideas, stood before him. He knew his pride in the girl; how close she was to his heart; and what a deadly blow it would be to him should anything befall her. He knew, moreover, how fiercely he would ...
— Gordon Keith • Thomas Nelson Page

... necessarily be presented to his remembrance, that those false happinesses which he hath in this world, have their times, and their seasons, and their critical days; and they are judged and denominated according to the times when they befall us. What poor elements are our happinesses made of, if time, time which we can scarce consider to be any thing, be an essential part of our happiness! All things are done in some place; but if we consider ...
— Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions - Together with Death's Duel • John Donne

... territory. There he found his daughter, Madame d'Urban, who did all she could to induce him to stay with her; but to do so would have been to flout Louis XIV's orders too publicly, and the marquis was afraid to remain so much in evidence lest evil should befall him; he accordingly retired to the little village of l'Isle, built in a charming spot near the fountain of Vaucluse; there he was lost sight of; none ever heard him spoken of again, and when I myself travelled in the south of France in ...
— Celebrated Crimes, Complete • Alexandre Dumas, Pere

... God's providence follow us in the smallest things of our lives? Do we take a step that falls outside of his cognizance? We have only to look back, to be assured of this. We may walk on tranquilly, Doctor, for, as sure as we live, no evil can befall us that does not have its origin within our own spirits. All the machinations of our most bitter enemies will come to naught, if we keep our hearts free from guile. They may rob us of our earthly possessions; but even this God will turn ...
— The Allen House - or Twenty Years Ago and Now • T. S. Arthur

... provide eventually for everything that can possibly happen, I will suppose the worst that can befall you at Hanover. In that case I would have you go immediately to the Duke of Newcastle, and beg his Grace's advice, or rather orders, what you should do; adding, that his advice will always be orders ...
— The PG Edition of Chesterfield's Letters to His Son • The Earl of Chesterfield

... distinct from the creatures by his attributes, neither is there anything besides himself in his essence, nor is his essence in any other besides him. He is too holy to be subject to change, or any local motion; neither do any accidents dwell in him nor any contingencies befall him, but he abides through all generations with his glorious attributes, free from all danger of dissolution. As to the attribute of perfection, he wants no addition of his perfection. As to being, he is known to exist by the apprehension of the understanding; ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 4 • Various

... "You cannot even tell whether it belonged to the boy or to Corbario. An apoplexy on you! You understand nothing! Ill befall the souls of your ...
— Whosoever Shall Offend • F. Marion Crawford

... walls of the Tower,—then wider, wider, wider,— till all England, and the seas around her cliffs, should be gladdened with the light. It was such an ecstasy as often ensues after long depression, and has been supposed to precede the circumstances of darkest fate that may befall mortal man. The earl pressed the ring to his heart as if it were indeed a talisman, the habitation of a spirit, as the queen had playfully assured him,—but a spirit of happier influences than her ...
— Other Tales and Sketches - (From: "The Doliver Romance and Other Pieces: Tales and Sketches") • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... heed, it is no need Such words to say to me; For oft ye prayed, and long assayed, Or I loved you, parde: And though that I of ancestry A baron's daughter be, Yet have you proved how I you loved, A squire of low degree; And ever shall, whatso befall To die therefore anone; For, in my mind, of all mankind I love ...
— Book of English Verse • Bulchevy

... not given you any example of the many adventures which may befall a traveller in such wilds, but they are naturally of ...
— Burma - Peeps at Many Lands • R.Talbot Kelly

... Lord Marnell, mournfully. "Mother, will you crede me if I tell you that no sorrow worser than this can ever befall me, and that had I known what would come of my seeking of Abbot Bilson, I had sooner ...
— Mistress Margery • Emily Sarah Holt

... the care of Helie de St. Saen; and it is probable, that his reason for intrusting that important charge to a man of so unblemished a character was to prevent all malignant suspicions, in case any accident should befall the life of the young prince. [MN 1110.] He soon repented of his choice, but when he desired to recover possession of William's person, Helie withdrew his pupil, and carried him to the court of Fulk, Count of Anjou, who gave him protection ...
— The History of England, Volume I • David Hume

... future years, you will look back to this night with satisfaction or repentance, accordingly as you now determine. As you would hereafter prosper—follow me; I pledge you the honour of a knight, that no evil shall befall you;—if you are contented to dare futurity—remain in your chamber, and I ...
— The Mysteries of Udolpho • Ann Radcliffe

... God, but it shows that the conception of God had not yet acquired that complete universality which alone deserves to be called monotheism, or belief in the One God. To him who has seen God face to face there is no longer any escape or doubt as to who is to be his god; God is his god, whatever befall. But this Jacob learnt not until he had struggled and wrestled with God, and committed himself to His care at the very time when no one else could have saved him. In that struggle Jacob asked for the ...
— Chips From A German Workshop - Volume I - Essays on the Science of Religion • Friedrich Max Mueller

... out for himself, if possible, in this offhand manner, whether what he had read was correct or not. When he had completed his experiment all interest in it was lost, and the jars and wires would be left to any fate that might befall them. In like manner Edison would make free use of the watchmaker's tools that lay on the little table in the front window, and would take the wire pliers there without much thought as to their value as distinguished from a lineman's tools. The one idea was to do quickly what he wanted to do; and ...
— Edison, His Life and Inventions • Frank Lewis Dyer and Thomas Commerford Martin

... never watched, awaiting till the great man's door unbarred? Didst thou never linger parting, saying many a sad last word? Spak'st thou never word of folly, one light thing thou would'st recall? Rare and noble hath thy life been! fair thy fortune did befall!" ...
— Indian Poetry • Edwin Arnold

... also to feel not a little uneasy as to the possible consequences of his hasty act—not half so uneasy, however, as he would have felt, had the laird been as well-to-do as his neighbour, Lord Lickmyloof—who would be rather pleased than otherwise, the master thought, at any grief that might befall either Cosmo or the lass Gracie. Therefore, although he would have been ready to sink had the door then opened and the laird entered, he did not much fear any consequences to be counted serious from the unexpected failure ...
— Warlock o' Glenwarlock • George MacDonald

... other ways of giving it. But there is a considerable proportion of persons with syphilis treated with pills who do not get rid of the disease even though the dose is as large as the stomach can stand. Such patients often have all the serious late complications which befall untreated patients. It seems almost impossible to give enough mercury by mouth to effect a cure. Thus pill treatment has come to be a second-best method, and suitable only in those instances in which we simply expect ...
— The Third Great Plague - A Discussion of Syphilis for Everyday People • John H. Stokes

... point from out of doors to get, When lo, my wife about my feet e'en in the threshold clung, Still to his father reaching out Iulus tender-young: 'If thou art on thy way to die, then bear us through it all; But if to thee the wise in arms some hope of arms befall, Then keep this house first! Unto whom giv'st thou Iulus' life, Thy father's, yea and mine withal, that ...
— The AEneids of Virgil - Done into English Verse • Virgil

... before us, as we have hinted, were expected, not without excitement, by those people for whose benefit we are about to review them. It must be confessed that they have not wholly escaped the fate that is apt to befall the progeny of parturient mountains. Not that they are precisely what Horace would have expected them to be: they are anything but small; yet, about the contents there is something mousey—the colour perhaps. The fact is, they are disappointing. The letters ...
— Pot-Boilers • Clive Bell

... would give an heir to the throne. On the other hand, nothing seemed more natural and probable than that the Jesuits should have contrived a pious fraud. It was certain that they must consider the accession of the Princess of Orange as one of the greatest calamities which could befall their Church. It was equally certain that they would not be very scrupulous about doing whatever might be necessary to save their Church from a great calamity. In books written by eminent members of the Society, and licensed by its rulers, it was distinctly laid down that means even more shocking ...
— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 2 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay



Words linked to "Befall" :   happen, betide, go on, come about, bechance, occur, pass off, take place, fall out, pass



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