"Spindle-shanked" Quotes from Famous Books
... Piazza in his sark, before the Conclave sing Veni Creator. Judge of your Emperor with a swollen nose, blacken your Dukes in the eye: if they remain Dukes and Emperors you may safely obey them. They are men, Borso, they are men! Yes, you spindle-shanked rascal, you may well wince. Do you ponder how you would stand assay? So do I ponder it, brother, and doubt horribly." He clapped his hand to his face. "Steady now, steady, here comes another bout. Ah, ... — Little Novels of Italy • Maurice Henry Hewlett
... some other of our larger towns had followed suit. But in Horncastle the constable, by way of setting a thief to catch a thief, had, it was said, himself in his earlier years been a great smuggler, while in his age he was a spindle-shanked old man, whom a boy could knock down. Roused by the insecurity of property, the authorities decided to import a London detective, disguised in plain clothes. He came, and for a while marauders, among whom the secret soon leaked out, carefully ... — A History of Horncastle - from the earliest period to the present time • James Conway Walter |