"Coif" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... Burgundian crossbow man; for one was very tall, the other short, and by one of those anomalies which society, however primitive, speedily establishes, the long one held up the little one's tail. The tall one wore a plain linen coif on her head, a little grogram cloak over her shoulders, a grey kirtle, and a short farthingale or petticoat of bright red cloth, and feet and legs quite bare, though her arms were veiled in tight ...
— The Cloister and the Hearth • Charles Reade
... the first, and had decided in his own mind that Mr. Pickwick could not possibly have a case. That curious form of address from the Bench is now no longer heard—"who is with you, Brother Buzfuz?" Judges and sergeants were then common members of the Guild—both wore the "coif." ...
— Bardell v. Pickwick • Percy Fitzgerald
... solitary place?' The old man stopped too, in spite of his heavy burden, and bade her take shelter in his cottage, though it was but a little one. But at first she refused to come; she looked like an old woman, and an old woman's coif confined her hair; and as the man still urged her, she said to him, 'Heaven bless you; and may children always be yours! My daughter has been stolen from me. Alas! how much happier is your lot than mine'; and, though ...
— Greek Studies: A Series of Essays • Walter Horatio Pater
... hath won." Few Moors are left, so many have already fallen dead, For they who followed after slew them swiftly as they fled. He who was born in happy hour came with his host once more. On his noble battle-charger rode the great Campeador. His coif was wrinkled. Name of God! but his great beard was fair. His mail-hood on his shoulders lay. His sword in hand he bare. And he looked upon his henchmen and ...
— The Lay of the Cid • R. Selden Rose and Leonard Bacon
... to find; and though the becoming and fanciful costume in which she was decked could not heighten her natural charms, it certainly displayed them to advantage. Upon her smooth and beautiful brow sat a gilt crown, while her dark and luxuriant hair, covered behind with a scarlet coif, embroidered with gold; and tied with yellow, white, and crimson ribands, but otherwise wholly unconfirmed, swept down almost to the ground. Slight and fragile, her figure was of such just proportion that every movement and gesture had an indescribable ...
— The Lancashire Witches - A Romance of Pendle Forest • William Harrison Ainsworth
... was a queer bent creature with greenish eyes like a cat's, and white unruly hair that would not stay under her coif. In fact she looked not unlike a gaunt, grim old puss who had all her life fought what crossed her path, from snakes to staghounds. She was so old that the village people could not remember when she had been young, and ...
— Masters of the Guild • L. Lamprey
... cloth o' gold and comely frieze,' Winstanley said, and sighed, 'For velvet coif or costly coat, They fathoms deep ...
— Grace Darling - Heroine of the Farne Islands • Eva Hope
... his weapon to the sheath and added, "This is a rough welcome to your home, my pretty cousin, but wandering princesses must expect such adventures. And well I came up in time, for, let me assure you, the Black Troopers respect a countess's coronet as little as a country wench's coif, and I think your retinue is not qualified ...
— Quentin Durward • Sir Walter Scott
... my underlying strength of character (a lion clothed in rose-leaves—what?), my genius for the divinest of the arts. I think I shall lay myself at the feet of Donna Susanna. The rest of the sex"—his gesture put them from him—"may coif St. Catherine." ...
— The Lady Paramount • Henry Harland
... surprise this morning: mother had scarce time to slip on her scarlett gown and coif, ere he was in y^e house. His grace was mighty pleasant to all, and, at going, saluted all round, which Bessy took humourously, Daisy immoveablie, Mercy humblie, I distastefullie, and mother delightedlie. She calls him a fine man; he is indeede big enough, and like to become ...
— Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 3, July, 1851 • Various
... came towards us. How pretty she was, in the coif that framed her face! How large her blue eyes looked! They really were so, but a touch of excitement made them seem larger still. Above all, she had an enchanting smile, a smile of such kindness that we at once felt ...
— In the Field (1914-1915) - The Impressions of an Officer of Light Cavalry • Marcel Dupont
... against the wall in the archway. Two or three of the guardsmen were about her, one with a flambeau, by which they were all surveying her. She wore the coif and blouse, the black bodice and short striped skirt, of the country peasant girl, and, like a country girl, she showed a face flushed and downcast under the soldiers' bold scrutiny. She looked up at me as at a rescuing angel. It ...
— Helmet of Navarre • Bertha Runkle
... she ejaculated, startled at the sudden apparition of two scarlet-coated figures standing motionless outside the door, "Oh, m'sieurs, 'ow you fright me!" and the expressive eyes under the white coif and the shoulders and supple hands of the French-Canadian ...
— The Luck of the Mounted - A Tale of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police • Ralph S. Kendall
... well. Her muslin cap, without spot and covered with embroidery, had lappets trimmed with lace. At that time peasant women never allowed a single lock to be seen, and, although they conceal beneath their caps splendid coils of hair tied up with tape to hold the coif in place, even to-day it would be thought a scandal and a shame for them to show themselves bareheaded to men. Nowadays, however, they allow a slender braid to appear over their foreheads, and this improves their appearance very much. Yet I regret the classic head-dress of ...
— The Devil's Pool • George Sand
... Exchequer. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench. Master of the Rolls. The Vice-Chancellor of England. Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. Judges and Barons of the degree of the Coif, according to seniority Viscounts' younger Sons. Barons' younger Sons. Baronets. Knights of the Bath. Knights Commanders of the Bath. Field and Flag Officers. Knights Bachelors. Masters in Chancery. Doctors graduate. Serjeants at ...
— The Manual of Heraldry; Fifth Edition • Anonymous
... law.—Servientes ad legem, or serjeant-countors. The coif or covering to the head worn by this order has also given a denomination to them. There exists some differences of opinion among judicial antiquarians as to the origin of the coif. It is supposed ...
— An Essay on Professional Ethics - Second Edition • George Sharswood
... morning returned in the garb of a scholar to his convent. But one day while he was chanting mass, his wife perceived him and pointed him out to her mother; who, however, could not believe that it was he until she had pulled off his coif while he was in bed, and from his tonsure learned the whole truth, and the deceit used ...
— The Tales Of The Heptameron, Vol. V. (of V.) • Margaret, Queen Of Navarre
... books—my life—absorb me whole. Here too I visit, or to smile, or weep, The winding theatre's majestic sweep; The grave or gay colloquial scene recruits My spirits spent in Learning's long pursuits. 30 Whether some Senior shrewd, or spendthrift heir, Wooer, or soldier, now unarm'd, be there, Or some coif'd brooder o'er a ten years' cause Thunder the Norman gibb'rish of the laws. The lacquey, there, oft dupes the wary sire, And, artful, speeds th'enamour'd son's desire. There, virgins oft, unconscious what they prove, What love is, know not, yet, unknowing, ...
— Poemata (William Cowper, trans.) • John Milton
... about a cubit long, or even more, which they ornament with peacocks feathers on the top, and all around with the feathers of a wild drake, and even with precious stones. The rich ladies wear this ornament on the top of their heads, binding it on strongly with a kind of hat or coif, which has a hole in its crown adapted for this purpose, and under this they collect their hair from the back of the head, lapped up in a kind of knot or bundle within the botta; and the whole is fixed on by means of a ligature ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 1 • Robert Kerr
... left her the dower-house—small but delicately Jacobean—and she was now nearly as old as the Duke had been when he married her. She was largely made, shapeless, and untidy. Her mannish face and head were tied up in a kind of lace coif; she had long since abandoned all thought of a waist; and her strong chin rested ...
— Marriage a la mode • Mrs. Humphry Ward
... of his beauty with blessings on his valour; and one comely middle-aged dame, in particular, distinguished by the tightness with which her scarlet hose sat on a well-shaped leg and ankle, and by the cleanness of her coif, pressed close up to the young squire, and, more forward than, the rest, doubled the crimson hue of his cheek, by crying aloud, that Our Lady of the Garde Doloureuse had sent them news of their redemption by an angel from the sanctuary;—a speech which, although ...
— The Betrothed • Sir Walter Scott
... rewarded at last by the appearance of a very old woman in a peaked hat and coif, apparently on the ...
— The Panchronicon • Harold Steele Mackaye
... there. The finely arched brows, the oval of the face which the years had scarcely sharpened, the proud, delicate nose, all spoke of it. It was as if their possessor recognised those things and would not part with them, for her attire had none of the dishevelment of a sickroom. Her coif of fine silk was neatly adjusted, and the great robe of marten's fur which cloaked her shoulders was fastened with a jewel of rubies which glowed in the lamplight ...
— The Path of the King • John Buchan
... girl had a more limited vocabulary. Her eyes glared in the shadow of her white coif. "Ah," she gasped. "Brutta bestia!" and ...
— Olive in Italy • Moray Dalton
... strong, in no whit dismayed by the anger of his adversary. He raised his own glaive on high, striking fiercely at Arthur's brow. Frollo was strong beyond the strength of man. His brand was great and sharp, and the buffet was struck with all his power. The blade sheared through helm and coif alike, so that King Arthur was wounded in his forehead, and the blood ran down ...
— Arthurian Chronicles: Roman de Brut • Wace
... thought proper to send me about my business, I must be patient as her dear Bremond had been. What was said was done. She took possession of me as of a man that belonged to her, gave me her gloves to keep, her fan, her cinda, and her coif, and ordered me to go here or there, to do this or that, and I instantly obeyed her. She told me to go and send away her gondola, because she chose to make use of mine, and I immediately sent it away; she ...
— The Confessions of J. J. Rousseau, Complete • Jean Jacques Rousseau
... the locking out of chambers were old customs also kept up. The judges of Common Pleas retained the title of knight, and the Fratres Servientes of the Templars arose again in the character of learned serjeants-at-law, the coif of the modern serjeant being the linen coif of the old Freres Serjens of the Temple. The coif was never, as some suppose, intended to hide the tonsure of priests practising law contrary to ecclesiastical prohibition. The old ceremony of creating ...
— Old and New London - Volume I • Walter Thornbury
... with bandages close and tight as a nun's coif. They framed a face hardly less white and set ...
— Treasure and Trouble Therewith - A Tale of California • Geraldine Bonner
... and bit her lip in charming confusion; while an abbess, with face serene in the frame of her snowy coif, caught up the ball ...
— The Day of Days - An Extravaganza • Louis Joseph Vance
... and a charming vision appeared, to wit, Mistress Betty Carrington, rosy from sleep and hastily clad in a dressing-gown of sombre silk. Her little white feet were bare, and her dark hair had escaped from its prim, white night coif. She started when she saw a visitor, and her feet drew demurely back under the hem of her gown, while her hands went up to her disheveled hair; but a second glance showing her his quality, she recovered her composure and spoke to her father ...
— Prisoners of Hope - A Tale of Colonial Virginia • Mary Johnston |
