The 2529 example sentences from the OED (2nd ed) containing 'promise':

(? A. 1500) Chester Pl. xiii. 6 "Vnto whom I was promised, before the world began, to pay ther ransome and to become man. "

(1432-50) tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 231 "The Romanes made promise to Marcus, a nowble kny&ygh.hte, that he scholde haue predominy of the cite [urbis dominium], and a perpetualle memory if he cowthe delyuer that cite. "

(1432-50) tr. Higden (Rolls) III. 201 "Promisenge to hym a grete summe of moneye in that day he scholde be a proctor a fore a iuge and haue &th.e victory in his causes. "

(1432-50) tr. Higden (Rolls) V. 451 "Wherefore &ygh.itte..the consuetude of Britons is to have as in noo reputacion the promise of Ynglische men. "

(1432-50) tr. Higden (Rolls) VI. 73 "The kynge..askede for&ygh.ifenesse, promisenge that he wolde not use oblocucion after that in that parte. "

(1465) Paston Lett. II. 237 "Upon trust of Calles promise, we may soon onthryve. "

(1474) Caxton Chesse ii. i. (1883) 22 "Not only her promises but their othes her sealis and wrytynges &. signes of their propre handes. "

(1475) Caxton Jason 63 b, "Ofte times they [promises] ben enfrainte and broken. "

(1475) Caxton Jason 77 b, "And [he] promised so moche good that they conjured the deth of the king appollo."

(1477) Caxton Jason 76 b, "And [they] promised them grete nombre of money if they might come and obteyn their entent. "

(1477) Norton Ord. Alch. 18 "When such men promise to Multiplie, They compasse to doe some Villony. "

(1477) Norton Ord. Alch. i. in Ashm. (1652) 17 "With promise they please the Covetise..The Covetise is brought to threed bare clothes."

(1477) Norton Ord. Alch. in Ashm. (1652) 17 "The Multiplier doth him beguile With his faire promise. "

(15..) T. Hacket Treas. Amadis de Gaule (Bynneman) 259 "To drawe them..by efficace promises and perswasions."

(1509) Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 49 "Where they two borowed, they promise to pay three, Their day of payment longer to defarre. "

(1509) Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxiv. (Percy Soc.) 171 "She promised..To love you best..Though that Disdayne brought her to her lure. "

(1514) Barclay Cyt. &. Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.) 9 "Fulfill thy promise, I praye the now begynne. "

(1515) Scot. Field 109 "The King was glade of that golde,..And promised him full peertly, his part for to take. "

(1524) Hen. VIII Instruct. Pace in Strype Eccl. Mem. I. App. xiii. 29 "Infractours of their promises. "

(1524) R. Pace [at Lucca] in Strype Eccl. Mem. I. App. xi. 22 "His collega Trenouls had not according to promise written to hym syns his departeur. "

(1525) Abp. Warham in Ellis Orig. Lett. iii. I. 370 "To whome I have feighfully promised not to vtter the same. "

(1526) Dalaber in Foxe A. &. M. (1583) 1196, "I made danger of it a while at first: but afterwarde being perswaded by them..I promised to do as they wold haue me."

(1526) Tindale 2 Cor. i. 19-20 "Goddis sonne Jesus Christ..was not ye and naye: but in hym it was ye. For all the promises of God, in hym are ye [1881 R.V. in him is yea. For how many soever be the promises of God, in him is the yea]: and are in hym Amen. "

(1526) Tindale Prol. Moses Wks. 7 "Fayth, is the beleuyng of Gods promises, and a sure trust in the goodnes and truth of God, which fayth iustified Abrah. "

(1528) Tindale Obed. Chr. Man 89 "This worde..representeth allwaye some promise of God. "

(1528) Wriothesley in Pocock Rec. Ref. I. xl. 79 "To pass his promise on such sort..might..make much broylery."

(1528) Wriothesley in Pocock Rec. Ref. I. xli. 79 "To pass his promise on such sort..might make much broylery. "

(1529) More Dyaloge iv. Wks. 266/1 "The deuil is desperate and hath not nor cannot haue faith and trust in gods promises. "

(1530) Palsgr. 726/1, "I promise you that this matter sowndeth moche to your dishonour. "

(1530) Tindale Answ. More iv. xi. Wks. (1573) 336/2 "Faith..shall receaue according to the truth of the promiser. "

(1530) Doctor &. Student ii. xxiv, "If his promise be so naked that there is no manner of consideration why it should be made, then I think him not bound to perform it. "

(1531) Elyot Gov. iii. iv. (1883) II. 220 "In euery couenaunt, bargayne, or promise aught to be..one playne understandinge or meaning betwene the parties."

(1531) Tindale Expos. 1 John (1537) 2 "Understandynge them [ye promises of mercye]..after the mercifullest fashion. "

(1531) Dial. Laws Eng. ii. xxii. (1638) 103 "There is a promise that is called an Advow. "

(1532) More Confut. Tindale Wks. 554/1 "Though he haue made a true faithfull promise of pardone, to al true repentauntes and penitentes. "

(1532) Tindale Exposit. (Parker Soc. 1849) 89 "God promiseth to forgive us our sins, and to impute us for full righteous. "

(1533) Frith Mirror (1829) 291 "Advertising the kindness of God, and our promise in baptism. "

(1535) Coverdale Zech. Contents ch. x, "Thorow corporal promises, the prophet ledeth men vnto the promises that are fulfilled in Christ."

(1536) Cheke Remedy for Sedition E i b, "The swete adhortations, the hyghe and assured promises that God maketh unto us. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises (1908) A ij, "Man must nedes be lost, And cleane secluded, from the faythfull chosen sorte, In the heauens aboue. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises 1, "Plages of coreccyon Most grevouse and sharpe, hys wanton lustes to slake. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises 11, "I knowe thy mercye is farre above hys rudenesse."

(1538) Bale God's Promises A iv, "Pater c&oe.lestis [to Adam]. Than wyll I tell the, what thu shalt stycke vnto, Lyfe to recouer. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises i. in Hazl. Dodsley I. 287 "But through his ordinance Each have his strength and whole countenance. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises i. in Hazl. Dodsley I. 288 "He must needs but fall..And danger himself. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises i. in Hazl. Dodsley I. 289 "They shall hereafter dissent; His seed with her seed shall never have agreement. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises ii, "All thys is true, Lorde, I cannot thy wordes reprove. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises ii, "Beynge thy subject, he is undreneth thy cure, Correct hym thu mayest. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises ii, "The covenaunt, whych I to Adam made, He regardeth not, but walketh a damnable trade. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises ii. (1744) 11 "Lose hym not yet, Lorde, though he hath depely sworved. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises ii. (facs.) B j b, "I wyll destroye..all that on earthe do stere. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises iii. B iv, "Wylde fyre and brymstone shall lyght vpon them all. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises iii. C ij, "O most myghtye gouernour of thy people,..that of two maketh one, vnynge the Jews with the gentyles in one churche."

(1538) Bale God's Promises iii. C ij, "Stoppe not my wynde pypes, but geue them lyberte, To sounde to thy name. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises iii. in Dodsley O. Pl. I, "I wyll not one iote, Lorde, from thy wyll dyssent. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises iii. in Dodsley Old Plays (1780) I. 18 "In my syght, he is more venym than the spyder. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises iii. in Hazl. Dodsley I. 297 "An uncomelye acte without shame Ham commysed."

(1538) Bale God's Promises iii. in Hazl. Dodsley I. 297 "Neither kindness nor extreme handling can Make him to know me. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises iii. in Hazl. Dodsley I. 301 "The sure health and raise of all mankind. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises iii. in Hazl. Dodsley I. 302 "Let me show forth thy commendations free. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises in Dodsley (1780) I. 25 "The adders ded stynge other wycked persones els In wonderfull numbre. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises in Dodsley (1780) I. 9 "They come that thereof wyll shewe the certytude. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises in Dodsl. O.P. (1780) I. 11 "Good Lorde I axe the mercy. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises in Dodsley (1780) I. 14 "Doth what hym lust without dyscrete advysement, And wyll in no wyse take myne advertysement. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises in Dodsley O. Pl. (1780) I. 19 "Tell me, blessed Lorde, where wyll thy great malyce light."

(1538) Bale God's Promises in Dodsley O. Pl. (1780) I. 32 "Ten of the twelve trybes became Samarytanes. And the other two were Hierosolymytanes. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises in Dodsley O. Pl. (1780) I. 9 "Yet shall they not with hym take."

(1538) Bale God's Promises in Dodsley O.P. (1780) I. 39 "The matters are such as..ought not to slyde from your memoryall. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises iv. (1744) 21 "Thynkest thu that I wyll so sone change my decre? No, no, frynde Moses; so lyght thu shalt not fynde me. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises iv. (1744) 21, "I wyll first conclude, and then saye on thy mynde. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises iv. (facs.) C ij b, "By a Soden plage, all their firstgotten ware, Thu slewest in one nyght. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises Prol. in Dodsley O.P. (1780) I. 8 "Ye may loke to have no tryfeling sporte In fantasyes fayned, nor such lyke gaudysh gere. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises v, "Of late dayes thu hast mysused Bersabe, The wyfe of Urye. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises v. (1744) 26 "A scarsenesse vii. years, or else iii. monthes exyle. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises v. 21 "What tho' fearce Pharao wrought myschef in thy syght, He was a pagan, lay not that in our lyght. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises vii, "O perfyght keye of David,..whych openest and no man speareth. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises vii. (Dodsley) 33 "In thy mother's wombe wert thou sanctyfycate By my godlye gyft."

(1538) Bale God's Promises vii. E iv, "In hys onlye deathe was mannys lyfe alwayes restynge, And not in *wyll workes. "

(1538) Bale God's Promises vii. in Dodsley O. Pl. I. 36 "Preache to the people..Doppe them in water-they knowledgynge their offence. "

(1538) Bale Gods Promises in Dodsley O. Pl. (1780) I. 13 "An ympe though I be of helle, deathe and dampnacyon. "

(1538) Bp. Bale God's Promises i, "Her sede shall..Slee hys suggestyons, &. hys whole power confounde. "

(1540-1) Elyot Image Gov. (1556) 159 "By kepyng his promise and touche. "

(1541) Coverdale tr. Bullinger's Old Faith (1624) iii, "This is the first promise, and the first sure Evangelion. "

(1543) Becon Nosegay C j b, "Nothynge can be gyuen to vs more grate, acceptable &. pleasaunt than this your gyfte nowe promised. "

(1545) Elyot, "Desponsus, et desponsa, affianced or promised in mariage. "

(1546) Gardiner Decl. Art. Joye 66 b, "That vnderstande not the nature of correlatiues, and se not howe a promise, can onely be apprehended by fayth. "

(1546) J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 47, "I promise you an olde sacke axeth much patchyng. "

(1547) Homilies i. (1859) 108 "And it please your grace, you did once promise me. "

(1547) Homilies i. Of Swearing G j b, "When men make faithful promises with attestacion of the name of God. "

(1547) Homilies I. Swearing ii. G iv b, "Aswell they vse the name of God in vayne..as they whiche do promise [etc.]. "

(1547) tr. Abp. Herman's Consultation H h vj, "They whiche haue mutually promised matrimonie betwene themselues shal go both the spouse and spousesse [etc.]. "

(1548-9) (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Catechism, "They did promise and vowe three thinges in my name. "

(1548-9) (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Public Baptism, "These infantes muste..promise by you, that be theyr suerties. "

(1548-9) Bk. Com. Prayer, Catechism, "Question. Doest thou not thinke that thou art bound to beleue, and to doe as they haue promised for thee? Aunswere. Yes verely. And by Gods helpe so I will. "

(1548) Cranmer Catech. 70 "The fayth and promise made in matrimony. "

(1548) Hall Chron., Edw. IV (an. 15) 237 b, "Your moste renoumed name, by suche a desloialtie, and untruthe against promise, to be both blotted and stained. "

(1548) Hall Chron., Edw. IV, 233 b, "The king of England had so great trust..in the honor and promise of the French kyng. "

(1548) Hall Chron., Hen. IV 28 "To kepe your promise sincerly inviolated and faithfully observed. "

(1548) Hall Chron., Hen. VI, 113 "Thei with money, and gay promises, first corrupted a Miller. "

(1548) Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 169 b, "Whiche Articles he promised..inviolatly to observe and kepe. "

(1548) Hall Chron. (1809) 547 "Remembrynge the brytilnes of your promise. "

(1548) Hall Chron. 157 b, "Whiche promise he caused to bee performed..to the..feblishement of the Duchy."

(1548) Hall Chron. 204 "Caused the lord Welles..to be behedded there, to the terrible example of other, which shal put their confidence in the promise of a prince. "

(1548) Hall Chron. 228 b, "Ponderynge together yestardayes promise, and two-dayes doyng. "

(1548) Vicary Anat. (1888) 15 "Likewise a Chirurgion must take heede that he deceiue no man with his vague promises. "

(1548) Confut. N. Shaxton I v a, "The justice of God..is to rewarde the spirituall..with the blessynges promised, &. the fleshlynges, the reprobate, with the plages thretned."

(1549) Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Heb. iii. 7-13 "Leste he..dooe grieuouslye punyshe them, and seclude them from the rest and quietnes promised. "

(1549) Latimer 3rd Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 87 "Thy Iudges are vnfaythefull, they kepe no touche..they wil pretende this and that, but thei kepe no promise. "

(1550) Coverdale Spir. Perle viii. (1588) 93 "His vnmutable truthe, wherby he doth faithfully performe all his promises."

(1550) Cranmer Sacrament i. 45 "Christ hath promised in both sacraments to be assistent with us. "

(1550) Hall Chron. 2 "Saiyng, when he was diyng: I haue saued the birde in my bosome: meaning that he had kept both his promise and othe. "

(1550) Hooper Serm. Jonas iv. 69 b, "These comfortable promises, which the deuil auenturth to swad vs vnto. "

(1551) Princess Mary in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. II. 177 "The promise made..by your Majesties counsell..although they seeme now to quallefye and deny the thing. "

(1551) T. Wilson Logike (1580) 77 b, "If you will promise me to kepe that close, whiche I shall disclose unto you. "

(1551) T. Wilson Logike (1580) 86 "Promised to give hym a greate somme of money..and gave hym..halfe in hande. "

(1552) Huloet, "Stipulation, bonde, bargayne, obligation, or promise to do, perfourme, &. satisfye yt thinge for the whyche suche stipulation or bond is made, whether it be for paiment of any summe of mony, or other act to be performed,..stipulatio. "

(1552) Huloet, "Bargayned, contractus, sponsus. Bargayned or promised to be perfourmed, stipulatus. "

(1552) Latimer Serm. 23rd Sund. Trinity (1584) 205 "Let vs be moued at the least wayes with his promises. "

(1553) Grimalde Cicero's Offices iii. (1558) 159 "Hast thou thy faithed promise broke."

(1553) T. Wilson Rhet. 15 "To performe their bargaines, to stand to their promises, &. yelde their debtes. "

(1555) Bale in Strype Eccl. Mem. III. App. xxxix. 108 "It promiseth ful remission of our sins thro Christ's gainful sufferings. "

(1555) Eden Decades (Arb.) 71 "This Katherine..being suborned therto eyther by the kinge or his brothers promises. "

(1555) in Strype Eccl. Mem. (1721) III. App. xliii. 122 "He made them this faithful promise to the intent that they should not quaile. "

(1558) Bp. T. Watson 7 Sacr. xvi. 98 b, "He that hath promysed pardone vnto vs, whensoeuer we conuerte, dothe not promise vnto vs longe lyfe and to lyue whyle to morowe."

(1558) Bp. Watson Sev. Sacram. v. 27 "With pacience and continuaunce kepyng our promise. "

(1558) Knox Baptism Sel. Writ. (1845) 253 "The promises of Salvation in Christ Jesus are not in the papistical baptism livelily and truly explained to the people. "

(1559) Mirr. Mag., Mowbray's Banishm. xi, "And whyle the rest prouyded for this thing, I flatter I..brake fayth and promise both."

(1560) Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 249 b, "For a nerer frendship, the lady Elenore..was promised freely to my eldest sonne. "

(1560) Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 321 b, "To the promotours they promise a reward and to kepe their counsel. "

(1560) Extracts Aberd. Reg. (1844) I. 328 "Be the lewing Lord, the eternal God..I do heir promise..that [etc.]. "

(1560) in Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) III. 397 "An assured promise under their hand&dubh.writs. "

(1561) Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 315 "Dispatch vs from euils, graunt us the good thinges promised. "

(1561) T. Hoby tr. Castiglione's Covrtyer (1577) S ij a, "I wyll not haue the Courtier bereaued from hys due honoure and the fournymentes whiche you youre selfe promised hym yesternyght. "

(1561) T. N[orton] Calvin's Inst. iv. xix. (1634) 723 "Extreme annointing hath neither ordinance of God to be grounded on, nor promise of grace annexed. "

(1561) T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iii. xxiv. (1634) 471, "I confuted their errour, which thinke that the generallnesse of the promises extendeth equally to all mankinde. "

(1561) T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iv. 161 "Esay..promiseth that kinges shalbe fosterfathers of ye Chirch. "

(1561) T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iv. xiv. 94 "When the Apostle exhorteth the Ephesians to remembre that they were forein gestes of the testamentes,..he saith, that they were not partakers of Circumcision. Whereby he doth (by figure of transnomination) signifie that they were excluded from the promise it self, which had not receiued the signe of the promise. "

(1561) T. Norton Calvin's Instit. III. 310 "The vniuersalnesse of ye promise. "

(1561) in Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) III. 148 "Seeing he..showed himself so constant in religion, that neither the fear of his souereign's indignation could wauer him, nor great promises win him. "

(1562) J. Heywood Prov. &. Epigr. (1867) 71 "Euery promise that thou therin dost vtter, Is as sure as it were sealed with butter. "

(1562) Sandys in Strype Ann. Ref. (1735) I. 339 "Every Bishop by the Subscription of his hand, promiseth, that he shall not..Alienate any of his Manors. "

(1562) W. Wightman Ep. Ded., in Phaer &Ae.neid (ed. 2) 1 "He..promised to vse all hys possible diligence for the finishing of the other three bookes then vtterly vnbegonne. "

(1563-87) Foxe A. &. M. III. 353 "If I shall enter bonds, covenant, and promise to appear. "

(1563) Foxe A. &. M. 973/2 "The societie betwixt Christ &. vs, is promised to them that take bread and wyne. "

(1563) Homilies ii. Alms-deeds iii. (1859) 399 "It is contrary to God's Word, it repugneth with his promise. "

(1563) Homilies ii. Common Prayer &. Sacram. 146 b, "And so was circumcision a sacrament, whiche preached vnto the out&dubh.warde senses the inwarde cuttyng away of the foreskyn of the harte, and sealed and made sure in the hartes of the circumcised, the promise of god. "

(1565) Harding in Jewel Def. Apol. (1611) 443 "For the promise with the deliuery is more vaileable to transfer my right in the horse, then my promise alone."

(1565) Jewel Repl. Harding (1611) 257 "The Heathens are become Coinheritours, Concorporall, and partakers of the promise in Christ Iesus. "

(1565) T. Stapleton Fort. Faith 65 "The calling of the gentils *fore&dubh.promised. "

(1565) in Calderwood Hist. Kirk (1843) II. 303 "Persons lying in fornication, under promise of mariage, which they differe to solemnize, sould satisfie publicklie in the place of repentance, upon the Lord's Day, before they be maried. "

(1566) Painter Pal. Pleas. (1890) III. 329 "Hee..like a playne dealinge man, beleued what she promised. "

(1567) Allen Def. Priesthood Pref., "The dishonoure and the derogation..standeth vpon vnfaythfulnes, mistrust of Gods promise. "

(1567) Maplet Gr. Forest 29 "Not onely intending an Aegemonie which we onely promised and is but the chiefest part, but an vniuersaltie which is ye whole."

(1568) Grafton Chron., Hen. VI, II. 538 "The newe French Kyng..studiyng howe to compasse the Parisians, eyther with money, or with promise. "

(1568) Grafton Chron. II. 173 "We..promise to observe and holde his deede firme and stable. "

(1568) Grafton Chron. II. 258 "The same Jaques had promised the king..to endue his sonne the Prince of Wales therewith [Flaundyrs]. "

(1568) Grafton Chron. II. 313 "A number of the souldyours..whome king Peter promised to pay, came home agayne vnpayde. "

(1568) Grafton Chron. II. 683 "As for the towne of Calice..the sayde Monsire de Vawclere promised thereof to make him a good reconyng."

(1568) in H. Campbell Love-lett. Mary Q. Scots (1824) App. 44 "They..promised to observe hir Majesty's direction, both in the secresy, and in the suspension of their judgments. "

(1569) J. Rogers Gl. Godly Love 181 "We repent and beleeve in the promise of God in Christ. "

(1570-6) Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 295 "Sundry of the Noble men, partly upon remorse of their former promise made,..made defection to Maude. "

(1570) T. Norton Nowel's Catech. (1853) 151 "He continued and maintained the assuredness of his promises. "

(1571) Golding Calvin on Ps. Ep. Ded. 6 "Hee might recover newe strength and cheerfulnesse, by interminding Gods former promises and benefites."

(1571) Golding Calvin on Ps. iii. 84 "God will mainteyne the faithfulnesse of his promises against such forsworne naughty packs. "

(1571) Golding Calvin on Ps. xviii. 44 "That was but a florish of the sovereintie promised to Christ. "

(1571) Hanmer Chron. Irel. (1633) 119 "Being frustrated of your long desired presence and promises. "

(1574) tr. Marlorat's Apocalips 37 "So euident an assurance of rewarde (if he bee of credite that hath promised it). "

(1574) tr. Marlorat's Apocalips 5 "Prouoke vs to impaciencie, or thruste any douting of Gods promise into vs. "

(1575-6) Durham Depos. (Surtees) 312 "This examinate promised..that he wold marye the said Grace..so that he might be shutt of the promises he hadd maid to one Marian Raic. "

(1575-85) Abp. Sandys Serm. (Parker Soc.) 303 "As a seal and sure pledge of his irrevocable promise. "

(1576) Fleming Panopl. Epist. 357 "They..with a smiling face promise us their benevolence. "

(1576) Fleming Panopl. Epist. 43 "Your promise was, that your dealing shoulde measure their deseruing. "

(1576) Fleming Panopl. Epist. 96, "I protest vnfainedly, and promise religiously, that I will be wholy in your iurisdiction. "

(1577-87) Holinshed Chron. Scotl. (1805) II. 237 "If the Scots would most holilie and handfastlie promise. "

(1577-87) Holinshed Chron. III. 1127/2 "Shortlie after..she performed hir promise to the pith."

(1577-87) Holinshed Chron. III. 1133/2 "The queene tangling hir selfe contrarie to promise in hir husbands quarrell. "

(1577-87) Holinshed Scot. Chron. (1805) II. 237 "The which if the Scots would most holilie and handfastlie promise."

(1577) B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iv. 189 b, "Till the swallow with her appearing, promise a welcommer season. "

(1577) Fenton Gold. Epist. 204 "To confirme to him [Abraham] his promise, and to impatronize him of that religion for and in the name of such as shoulde descende of him. "

(1577) Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 364 "He was..incensed, and promised to worke them a displeasure. "

(1577) Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 85 "When as Tatianus promised to sift out the darke speeches and hidden mysteries of Holy Scripture. "

(1577) Hanmer Anc. Eccles. Hist. v. xii. (1619) 85 "Rhodion promised also to publish the resolutions of his Problemes. His Commentaries upon the six daies works are at this day extant. "

(1577) Harrison England ii. v. (1877) i. 127 "A verie sharpe imprecation..promiseth like measure to the meter, as he dooth mete to others. "

(1577) Holinshed Chron. II. 553 "Hugh le Brun..(vnto whom Queene Isabell..had beene promised in mariage before that King Iohn was motioned vnto hir..). "

(1577) Vautrouillier Luther on Ep. Gal. 146 "But let us suffer the law and the promise to encounter together. "

(1577) Vautrouillier Luther on Ep. Gal. 231 "In his exhortation he intermingleth threatnings and promises. "

(1577) Vautroullier Luther on Ep. Gal. 178 "The blessing promised to Abraham and exhibited by Christ. "

(1577) F. de Lisle's Legendarie B ij, "To wrest from the Dauphine Henrie a promise of restauration vnto the counties of Prouence and Anjou. "

(1577) St. Aug. Manual (Longman) 70, "I know..that he [God] is Soothfast of promise."

(1577) tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 450 "By alluring inticements of many fair promises. "

(1577) tr. Bullinger's Decades iv. i. 534/2 "The vnfigured and vnrecouered promises..in the Psalmes. "

(1577) tr. Bullinger's Decades iv. i. 534/2 "The vnfigured and vnrecouered promises..in the Psalmes."

(1578) Fenton Hist. Guicciardin (1618) 232 "Somewhat affying themselues in the great promises he made. "

(1578) Timme Caluine on Gen. 324 "To the end the new promise may lean upon a better piller. "

(1578) Timme Caluine on Gen. xv. 324 "The wicked..do at no hand giue credite to his promises: but the godly..they giue place lest they stop the way to the word of God. "

(1578) Timme Calvin on Gen. 360 "His promise was an addition, or an appendix of that principal point. "

(1579) Fenton Guicciard. i. 19 "He promised..by a writing subsigned with his owne hand, that [etc.]. "

(1579) Fenton Guicciard. i. 4 "He made the Pope promise him..the office of vicechancellorshippe (the principallest place in the Court of Rome). "

(1579) Fulke Heskins' Parl. 363 "If we discern the two testaments, the promises are not the same. "

(1579) Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 60 " It is hard to say that all offend, yet I promise you, I wil sweare for none. "

(1579) J. Stubbes Gaping Gulf D ij b, "Oathes and sworn promises contested at theyr high altar of their masse. "

(1579) Knewstub Confut. 54 a, "Wayting concordably..for the promises of the father. "

(1579) Northbrooke Dicing (1843) 168 "By dauncing commeth filthie talke and communications, vnaduised promises. "

(1579) Tomson Calvin Serm. Tim. 374/2 "When we beate vpon these promises to purpose. "

(1580-3) Greene Mamillia Wks. (Grosart) II. 207 "Hath she not promised to chaunge..the state of a Curtizan into the staie of a matron. "

(1580) Lupton Sivqila 139 "His disabilitie to performe his promise. "

(1580) Sidney Arcadia (1622) 184 "Plexirtus, mingling forsworne excuses with false-meant promises."

(1580) Sidney Arcadia (1622) 426 "To lay their hang-worthy neckes vpon the constancie of his promised pardon. "

(1580) Sir P. Hume Promise Jas. VI L'envoi 10 "Thow dois but fleiche the King. "

(1581) J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 269 b, "Nor ever obliged themselves by any promise privy or aperte, that they would accomplishe the same. "

(1581) J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 379 "When as we promise or foreprophecy in the name and person of God, thinges to come to passe. "

(1581) J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 397 b, "Wherein he promised full remission..in the fullnesse of his Porterly power [= power of the keys]."

(1581) Marbeck Bk. of Notes 154 "Heauen and earth shal sooner perish, then one iot bide behind of that he hath promised. "

(1581) Marbeck Bk. of Notes 374 "Yt same false faith in their owne works, raineth ye mercy promised to the merits of their own works."

(1581) Pettie tr. Guazzo's Civ. Conv. ii. (1586) 111 b, "Your philosophie perchaunce hath so mortified you, that you can promise your selfe the constancie of that Philosopher whome a woman tooke for an image."

(1581) Rich Farewell (Shaks. Soc.) 185 "Her daughter..she committed to the outlawes..who..promised to drie nurse the child so well as thei could till she should make retourne. "

(1581) York Bakers' Guild §.39 in Arch&ae.ol. Rev. (1888) May, "If any jurneyman..dothe promise anie maister to come and helpe him to bake at tyme appointed, and..go to an other to worke, and disapoint the maister. "

(1582) N. T. (Rhem.) Eph. iii. 6 "The Gentils to be coheires and concorporat and comparticipant of his promise in Christ Jesus by the Gospel. "

(1582) N. T. (Rhem.) John xii. 19 note, "He [Holy Ghost] is promised and performed onely to the Church and chiefe gouernors and general councils thereof. "

(1582) Stanyhurst &Ae.neis iv. (Arb.) 95 "Had not I fore&dubh.snaffled my mynde by votarye promise,..Haplye this oane faulty trespas might bring me toe bending. "

(1582) N. T. (Rhem.) Matt. xiv. 7 "The daughter of Herodias daunced before them: and pleased Herod. Wherevpon [Tindale, Wherefor] he promised with an othe, to giue her whatsoeuer she would aske of him. "

(1583) Golding Calvin on Deut. cc. 1245 "He will not deceiue vs in his promises, nor holde vs downe with our nebbes in the Water as they say. "

(1583) Golding Calvin on Deut. lxxiii. 448 "Although some fayre promises be made them, all is but holy water of the Court as they terme it. "

(1583) Golding Calvin on Deut. xiii. 76 "Where as God promised the land of Chanaan..this was no parte of that Countrie: he gaue them this as an income or overplus. "

(1583) Hollyband Campo di Fior 75 "They promised me to bring me..some of the leavinges, or fragmentes [of a feast]. "

(1583) Stocker Civ. Warres Lowe C. ii. 64 a, "The Souldiers helde a councell for their wages, whiche was promised them.. or els be brought into a better corner. "

(1583) Stocker Civ. Warres Lowe C. iv. 44 "The Lordes Liutenauntes..together all Magistrates and Chief Officers..shall be bounde to promise to obserue..this vnion. "

(1583) Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 57 "As these foolish starre tooters promised. "

(1583) Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 57 "As these foolish starre tooters promised. "

(1584) Powel Lloyd's Cambria 94 "They promised to Intreate the King for him. "

(1586) A. Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 28 "You would according to your honourable promises have done me an expected good. "

(1586) J. Hooker Girald. Irel. in Holinsh. II. 152/2 "And for easing whereof he..in verie deed had also promised, and deuised how and by what means these charges might be answered. "

(1586) J. Hooker Hist. Irel. in Holinshed II. 83/1 "One of your horssemen promised me a choise horsse, if I snip one haire from your beard. Well, quoth the earle,..if thou plucke anie more than one [etc.]. "

(1586) W. Webbe Eng. Poetrie (Arb.) 55 "Abraham Flemming in his conuersion of the Eglogues, promised to translate and publishe [the Georgics]. "

(1587) Fleming Cont. of Holinsh. III. 1579/2 "The Scottish queene did not onelie advise them, but also direct, comfort, and abbet them, with persuasion, counsell, promise of reward, and earnest obtestation."

(1587) Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1020/1 "All which their promises and auowries they performed. "

(1587) Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1578/1 "She..promised correspondencie in all that she might. "

(1587) T. Newton Herbal for Bible l. 274 "So doth the Wiseman [marg. Eccle. i. 24] vse it, whereby he promiseth felicitie..to him that..embraceth Wisedom. "

(1587) T. Norton's Calvin's Inst. iv. xx. 496 marg., "Magistracy [is] not taken away by the libertie which is promised in the gospell. "

(1588) A. King tr. Canisius' Catech. 20 b, "Promised to al thame quha vn&dubh.feignedlie sal incal on the. "

(1588) Fraunce Lawiers Log. i. iv. 27 "As if a man, meaning to be brief, should promise that he would gallop over al the rest of his text. "

(1588) Shaks. Tit. A. iv. iv. 97 "For I can smooth and fill his aged eare, With golden promises. "

(1590) Greene Never too late (1600) 17 "The poore woman..promised to venture a ioynt, but shee would further him."

(1590) Shakes. Com. Err. iv. i. 49 "You vse this dalliance to excuse Your breach of promise to the Porpentine. "

(1590) Shaks. Mids. N. iii. i. 200 "Good master Mustard seede... I promise you, your kindred hath made my eyes water ere now. "

(1590) Swinburn Testaments 229 "The promise or assumption made by the testator. "

(1591) Lyly Endym. iii. i, "Whose vnmellowed conceits promise rype counsell. "

(1591) Shaks. 1 Hen. VI, v. i. 54 "The summe of money which I promised..For cloathing me in these graue Ornaments. "

(1592) Greene Def. Conny Catch. (1859) 15 "The gentleman..promised to acknowledge a statute staple to him, with letters of defeysance. "

(1592) Greene Def. Conny Catching Wks. (Grosart) XI. 55 "The gentleman..promised to acknowledge a statute staple to him, with letters of defeysance. "

(1592) Greene Upst. Courtier B 2 b, "To warne such light a loue wenches, not to trust euery faire promise that such amorous Batchelers make them. "

(1592) Nashe P. Penilesse Wks. (Grosart) II. 10, "I am quite vndone through promise-breach. "

(1592) Shaks. Ven. &. Ad. 86 "Vpon this promise did he raise his chin, Like a diuedapper peering through a waue. "

(1592) Wyrley Armorie, Ld. Chandos 30 "We..high honors plant as if perdurance had promised continuall showring. "

(1592) Wyrley Armorie, Ld. Chandos vii, "Led onward with hope of long assurance We neuer thinke of fortunes frowning, But high honors plant as if perdurance had promised continuall showring. "

(1592) Arden of Feversham i. i. 256 "As sharpe witted Poets..Vse humble promise to their sacred Muse. "

(1592) Conspir. Pretended Ref. 94 "Entertayning the said twelue persons with mountaines of large promises. "

(1592) Sc. Acts Parl. (1597) c. 148 "Quha gettis in his hand by buying, contract or promises, the growand corne on the field, salbe repute a regratour. "

(1593) G. Harvey Pierce's Super. 172 "The golden Asse, in the superabundance of his rich humours, promiseth many other golden mountaines; but hath neuer a scrat of siluer. "

(1593) G. Harvey Pierce's Super. iii. 109 "Some-body oweth the three-shapen Geryon a greater duty, in recognisance of his often-promised curtesies. "

(1593) Nashe Christ's T. 4 "He..wooed them (with many fayre promises) to repent. "

(1593) Nashe Christ's T. Q 4, "Certaine meanes hee hath assigned vs, which he hath promised to blesse, but without means no blessing hath he warrantizd. "

(1593) Shaks. 3 Hen. VI, ii. iii. 53 "Promise them such rewards As Victors weare at the Olympian Games. "

(1593) Shaks. 3 Hen. VI, iii. i. 51 "Warwicke..in conclusion winnes the King from her, With promise of his Sister, and what else, To strengthen and support King Edwards place. "

(1593) Shaks. Lucr. 1697 "At this request..Each present Lord began to promise aide, As bound in Knighthood to her imposition. "

(1593) Bacchus Bountie in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) II. 273 "He promised to honour the eating thereof with the best increments of his overflowing tunne."

(1594) ? Greene Selimus 1102 "My life forepassed in Pleasure's court Promises weak resistance in the fight. "

(1594) Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. ii. (1611) 5 "His promises are nothing else but declarations what God will do for the good of men. "

(1594) O. B. Quest. Profit. Concern. 32* b, "I had rather be packing while my bones be whole, then to be promised golden splents when they are broken. "

(1594) R. Parsons Conf. Next Success. i. v. 84 "The astipulation and promises made on both sides. "

(1594) Shaks. Rich. III, iii. i. 197 "Ile clayme that promise at your Graces hand. "

(1594) Shaks. Rich. III, iv. ii. 93, "I clayme the gift..Th' Earledome of Hertford, Which you haue promised. "

(1594) West 2nd Pt. Symbol., Chancerie §.108 "The said R.L. did faithfully promise..to enter into a Counterbond unto your said Orator. "

(1594) West 2nd Pt. Symbol. Chancerie §.140 "Who..with faire promises delaied time, and kept the said C. D. in hope from yeare to yeare. "

(1596) Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. II. 268 "With lettres to the Gouernour..; Quhairof this was the sence, that thay suld remayne constant and true in thair promise. "

(1596) Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. viii. 79 "The king of Jngland..prayes him to desist and to returne..The Scotis king returnes..humanlie and gentillie, confideng in his promises. "

(1596) H. Clapham Briefe Bible i. 63 "Moses..mounteth the Mount Nebo: from whence overpeering Iordan, he beholdeth the land of Promise. "

(1596) Raleigh Discov. Gviana A ij, "For your Honors many Honorable and friendlie parts, I have hitherto onely returned promises. "

(1596) Shaks. 1 Hen. IV, iii. i. 2 "These promises are faire, the parties sure, And our induction full of prosperous hope."

(1596) Shaks. 1 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 153 "This, in the Name of Heauen, I promise here. "

(1596) Shaks. Merch. V. iii. ii. 205 "Wooing heere, vntill I swet againe..I gat a promise. "

(1596) Shaks. Merch. V. iii. ii. 207 "At last, if promise last, I got a promise of this faire one heere To haue her loue. "

(1596) Shaks. Merch. V. iii. ii. 34 "Bass. Promise me life, and ile confesse the truth. Por. Well then, confesse and liue. "

(1596) Shaks. Tam. Shr. i. ii. 262 "Her father..will not promise her to any man, Vntill the elder sister first be wed. "

(1596) Shaks. Tam. Shr. iii. ii. 137 "He shall..make assurance heere in Padua Of greater summes then I haue promised. "

(1596) Shaks. Tam. Shrew i. ii. 263 "Her father..will not promise her to any man, Vntill the elder sister first be wed. "

(1597) Beard Theatre God's Judgem. (1612) 501 "Francis Pizarre..interrupted all their agreements by starting from his promises, and rekindled the halfe quenched fire of warre by his owne ambition. "

(1597) Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxvii. §.4 "They being the first that were commaunded to receiue from him, the first which were warranted by his promise that [etc.]."

(1597) Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. xxxv, "Sith his promise is our plaine warrant, that in his name what we aske we shall receyue. "

(1597) Shaks. 2 Hen. IV, i. iii. 27 "Who lin'd himself with hope, Eating the ayre, on promise of Supply. "

(1597) Shaks. 2 Hen. IV, i. iii. 28 "Who lin'd himself with hope, Eating the ayre, on promise of Supply."

(1598) Chapman Iliad iii. [vii.] 42, "I promise thee that yet thy soule shall not descend to fates, So hearde I thy suruiuall cast, by the celestiall states. "

(1598) Florio, "Patteggiatore, a bargainer, a covenanter, a conditioner, a promiser."

(1598) Florio, "Spromettere,..to vnpromise, to breake promise. "

(1598) Florio, "Votario, a votarie, a vower, a promiser, a vow-maker. "

(1598) Gosson Trump. Warre D 5 b, "Espialles were sent out to discouer the land of Promise, some of them hadde a sheepes eye:..Caleb had a Lions eye. [See Numbers xiii. 30, 31.] "

(1598) Grenewey Tacitus, Ann. ii. xvi. (1622) 56 "Flaccus..by way of great promises [per ingentia promissa], perswaded him..to enter into the Romane garrison. "

(1598) Marston Sco. Villanie i. iv, "To morrow doth Luxurio promise me, He will vnline himselfe from bitchery."

(1598) R. Bernard tr. Terence, Andria iii. ii, " The matter I stand most vpon, is the promise which my sonne himselfe made vnto me. "

(1598) R. Bernard tr. Terence, Andria v. i, "The good turne that..you promised me on your word. "

(1598) Shaks. Merry W. iv. vi. 33 "To this her Mothers plot She seemingly obedient likewise hath Made promise to the Doctor. "

(1598) Sylvester Du Bartas ii. ii. ii. Babylon 96 "Som he wins with promisefull intreats,..and som with rougher threats. "

(1598) in J. Ronald Landmarks Old Stirling (1899) 338 "They promised solemnlie be uphaulding of their hands. "

(1599) Hakluyt Voy. II. 178 "He wil not but maintaine yt faith promised her, &. the intercourse in due force. "

(1599) Kyd Sp. Trag. i. (1602) C j, "But where is old Hieronymo our Marshall? He promised vs..To grace our banquet with some pompous iest. Stage direction, Enter Hieronymo with a Drum, three Knightes..then he fetches three Kinges, etc. "

(1599) Porter Angry Wom. Abington (Percy Soc.) 41, "I promise ye, maister Philip, you haue spoken as true as steele. "

(1599) R. Greenham Wks. 288 "There was a solemne promise to bee made of the parties that should be maried before they were to be ioyned in mariage, and that was called their espousage."

(1599) Shaks. Much Ado i. i. 14 "A yong Florentine,..He hath borne himselfe beyond the promise of his age. "

(1599) Shaks. Much Ado iv. ii. 47, "I do not like thy looke I promise thee. "

(1600) E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 270 "Such as faithfully without promises..had loially serued them. "

(1600) J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa viii. 313 "The inhabitants of Cairo..will promise much, but performe little. "

(1600) Shaks. A.Y.L. iv. i. 196, "I will thinke you the most patheticall *breake-promise. "

(1600) Shaks. A.Y.L. iv. i. 199, "I will thinke you the most patheticall breake-promise..that may bee chosen out of the grosse band of the vnfaithfull. "

(1600) Shaks. A.Y.L. iv. i. 201 "Ros... Keep your promise. Orl. With no lesse religion, then if thou wert indeed my Rosalind. "

(1600) Look about you C 4, "Will you promise me to bring no maides To set vppon my litle manship there? "

(1601) Dent Pathw. Heaven 234, "I iudge these to be most sound and infallible euidences of a mans saluation: Assured faith in the promises..Groundednesse in the truth. "

(1601) Shaks. All's Well ii. i. 146 "Oft expectation fails, and most oft there Where most it promises. "

(1601) Shaks. All's Well ii. iii. 182 "Tell her she is thine: to whom I promise A counterpoize, if not to thy estate A ballance more repleat."

(1601) Shaks. All's Well ii. iii. 183 "To whom I promise A counterpoize; If not to thy estate, A ballance more repleat. "

(1601) Shaks. All's Well ii. iii. 183 "To whom I promise A counterpoize: If not to thy estate, A ballance more repleat. "

(1601) Shaks. Jul. C. ii. i. 58 "O Rome, I make thee promise, If the redresse will follow, thou receiuest Thy full Petition at the hand of Brutus."

(1601) Shaks. Twel. N. ii. iii. 136 "To challenge him the field, and then to breake promise with him. "

(1602) Fulbecke 2nd Pt. Parall. 17 "The receit of such goodes into the Inne is an implicatiue promise, that the goodes shall be safe. "

(1602) Shaks. Ham. iii. ii. 98 "King. How fares our Cosin Hamlet? Ham. Excellent Ifaith, of the Camelions dish: I eate the Ayre promise-cramm'd. "

(1602) Shaks. Ham. iii. ii. 99, "I eate the Ayre promise-cramm'd, you cannot feed Capons so. "

(1602) Warner Alb. Eng. ix. lii. 234 "Such as be vnreade In that sweete Promise. "

(1602) 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. iii. i. (Arb.) 35 "My promise for farming my tithes at such a rate. "

(1602) Return fr. Parnass. Prol. (Arb.) 4 "We haue promised the Copies to the Chandlers to wrappe his candles in. "

(1603-26) Breton Poste Mad Lett. (Grosart) 39/1 "Your kind promise vpon any urgent occasion to stand me instead. "

(1603) Holland Plutarch's Mor. 168 "To enter into some disadvantageous promise. "

(1603) Holland Plutarch's Mor. 476 "They stood much upon promises of future prowesse or vanteries of present valour. "

(1603) Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 337 "[Mahomet II] kept no league, promise, or oath, longer than stood with his profit or pleasure. "

(1603) Shaks. Meas. for M. i. ii. 77 "He was euer precise in promise keeping. "

(1603) Shaks. Meas. for M. iii. i. 275 "If for this night he intreat you to his bed, giue him promise of satisfaction. "

(1603) Shaks. Meas. for M. iii. ii. 260 "Manie deceyuing promises of life. "

(1604) Hieron Wks. I. 500 "As soone as they came into the promised land, the man ceased. "

(1605) Chapman All Fooles ii. i, "I must yeeld,..I did..Make such a frivall promise. "

(1605) Chapman All Fooles Plays 1873 I. 134, "I did (to shift him with some contentment) Make such a frivall promise. "

(1605) Chapman All Fools ii. i. 70 "Promises are no fetters; with that tongue Thy promise past, unpromise it againe. "

(1605) Daniel Queen's Arcadia 694 "Clo. Yes, sure, My promise is already past. Tec. And if it be, I trust you are so wise T'vnpasse the same againe for your owne good."

(1605) Shaks. Lear i. ii. 157, "I promise you, the effects he writes of, succeede vnhappily. "

(1605) Shaks. Lear i. ii. 157, "I promise you, the effects he writes of, succeede vnhappily. "

(1605) Shaks. Macb. v. viii. 20 "Be these Iugling Fiends no more beleeu'd, That palter with vs in a double sence, That keepe the word of promise to our eare, And breake it to our hope. "

(1605) Shaks. Macb. v. viii. 21 "These Iugling Fiends..That keepe the word of promise to our eare, And breake it to our hope. "

(1606) Bp. Hall Medit. &. Vowes i. §.10 "Some promise what they cannot doe, as Satan to Christ;..some, what they meant for the time, and after retrait, as Laban to Jacob."

(1606) G. W[oodcocke] Hist. Ivstine xxix. 100 "Yet notwithstanding he promised to send friendly succours. "

(1606) G. W[oodcocke] Ivstine 24 a, "Darius..promised to beare out the whole charges of those Warres. "

(1606) G. W[oodcocke] tr. Hist. Ivstine 113 b, "Preferring the concience of their oath made to his father, before their latter promise. "

(1606) G. W[oodcocke] tr. Hist. Ivstine 38 b, "He promised to discharge them of the warres and danger they consisted in."

(1606) Holland Sueton. 249 "An Enginer also..promised to bring into the Capitoll huge Columnes with small charges. "

(1606) Rollock 1 Thess. xxiii. 293 "Let vs not wearie in doing good, and he addes to the promise, we shall reape the frute of our good deeds in our owne tyme, if we long not, but goe forward ay to the end."

(1606) W. Crashaw Rom. Forgeries 161 "Do but promise that you will iudge without partialitie, and I durst make you iudges in this case. "

(1607) Beaum. &. Fl. Woman-Hater iii. i, "I'll promise peace, and fold mine arms up; let but mine eye discourse. "

(1607) Chapman Bussy d'Ambois Plays 1873 II. 85 "This strange vision..stir[s] my thoughts With reminiscion of the Spirits promise. "

(1607) Cowell Interpr., "Assumpsit, is a voluntarie promise made by word. "

(1607) R. C[arew] tr. Estienne's World of Wonders V iij b, "That proud pedanticke.., who promised immortalitie to those to whom he dedicated any of his works. "

(1607) Shaks. Cor. i. viii. 2, "I do hate thee Worse then a Promise-breaker. "

(1607) Shaks. Cor. ii. iii. 202 "His gracious Promise, which you might..haue held him to. "

(1607) Shaks. Timon v. i. 28 "To Promise, is most Courtly and fashionable. "

(1608-33) Bp. Hall Medit. &. Vows (1656) 114 "When I have promised, I am indebted; and debts may be claimed, must be paid. "

(1608) Crakanthorpe Serm. 24 Mar. C iij, "That blessing and happinesse, which God hath promised..to the ruinaters and destroyers thereof."

(1608) H. Clapham Errour on Left Hand 102 "But you your promise once did breake. Giue me your hand, that you will pitch and pay."

(1608) W. Bradshaw Unreason. Separ. 26 "What obedience doe they promise to the Prelates in the intent of the Law, but onely in things that they shall judge honest and Lawfull. "

(1609) Holland Amm. Marcell. xx. iv. 149 "He..promised unto them all throughout five aurei apeece. "

(1609) R. Parsons Quiet Reckoning title-p., "In a large Preamble to a more ample Reioynder promised by him. "

(1609) Skene Reg. Maj. 30 "Ane donation is vnderstand, to be ane hecht or bair promise, rather then ane trew or effectuall gift. "

(1609) Bible (Douay) Exod. xvi. comm., "It is our way-faring special provision, dailie and supersubstantial bread, til we shal possesse the promised land. "

(1610) Beaum. &. Fl. Faithf. Sheph. iv. i, "Learn not to be a wronger Of your word; was not your promise laid. "

(1610) G. Carleton Jurisdict. 171 "The Pope..commanded the Archbishop to yeeld to the King without exception: whereupon hee did so, but afterward reuolted from that promise."

(1610) Healey St. Aug. Citie of God 819 "This [promise] some applie to the proofe of Chiliasme. "

(1610) Healey St. Aug. Citie of God xvii. ii. 621 "No part of the earthly promise was left vnfulfilled. "

(1610) Healey St. Aug., City of God viii. xvi. 307 "That perfection..that is promised vs after our acquittance from mortalitie. "

(1610) Shaks. Temp. i. ii. 250 "Thou did promise To bate me a full yeere. "

(1610) Shaks. Temp. v. i. 314 "I'le..promise you calme Seas, auspicious gales. "

(1610) Shaks. Temp. v. i. 315, "I..promise you..auspicious gales And saile, so expeditious, that shall catch Your Royall fleete farre off. "

(1611) Bible 1 Tim., iv. 8 "Promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. "

(1611) Bible 2 Cor. i. 20 "The promises of God in him are Yea, and in him Amen."

(1611) Bible Heb. ix. 15 "By meanes of death..they which are called, might receiue the promise of eternall inheritance. "

(1611) Bible Rom. iv. 14 "Faith is made voide, and the promise made of none effect. "

(1611) Shaks. Cymb. iv. iii. 36-8, "I heard no Letter from my Master..Nor heare I from my Mistris, who did promise To yeeld me often tydings. "

(1611) Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. viii. 532 "He makes it his first care to fasten to himself, by present largesse, and large promises of future fauours,..all the Stipendiarie Souldiers..of his deceased Brother. "

(1611) Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xv. (1623) 785 "The King..had promised a thousand marks to his taker. "

(1611) Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xvi. 666/1 "This I haue here promised and sworne, proceedeth of mine owne desire and free volunt."

(1611) Speed Theat. Gt. Brit. xiv. (1614) 27/2 "K. Richard the First..girt the legs of certaine choise knights with a tache of leather, which promised a future glory to the wearers."

(1611) W. Sclater Key (1629) 147 "If the thing couenanted be lawfull, rashnesse must be repented: but the promise performed. "

(1612-5) Bp. Hall Contempl. vi. Recollect. Treat. 1062 "He that hath brought us into this field, hath promised us victory. God knew their strength, ere he offred to commit us. "

(1612) Brinsley Lud. Lit. Comm. Pref., "Neither are these directions of meere speculation, whose promises are commonly as large, as the performance defectiue. "

(1612) Cotta Discov. Dang. Pract. Phys. i. ix. 71 "A sort of practitioners, whom our custome..doth call wisemen and wisewomen, reputed a kind of good..harmles witches or wisards, who by good words..promise to allay..diuels, practises of other witches, and the forces of many diseases. "

(1612) Davies Why Ireland, etc. (1787) 10 "The Irish Lords did only promise to become tributaries to King Henry the Second. And such as pay only tribute..are not properly subjects but sovereigns. "

(1612) Shelton Quix. iii. x. I. 209 "You must promise me that you will not interrupt the File of my doleful Narration. "

(1612) Sir J. Davies Why Ireland. etc. 93 "The faire and white promises of Lewes the 11. "

(1612) T. Taylor Comm. Titus i. 16 "Promises..of safety from wicked, lyonish, cruell, and blood&dubh.thirstie men. "

(1612) T. Taylor Titus ii. 6 "Those promises but hypocrisies, without any soundnesse. "

(1613) [see promise [sb.] 1].

(1613) Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 631 "Which Boferes after with like perfidiousnes, and breach of promise, requited on three thousand Marochians. "

(1613) Shaks. Hen. VIII, i. i. 48 "As you guesse: One certes, that promises no Element. "

(1613) Sherley Trav. Persia 34 "Hauing promise of the Turke that he should be detained in Corassan where he was refuged. "

(1614) Jackson Creed iii. xxxii. §.3 "If men male-contented with this present, may haue sweete promises of euerlasting happinesse in the life to come. "

(1614) Lodge Seneca 2 "Hath..either..denied, or promised but difficultly..with strained and reproachful words. "

(1614) Raleigh Hist. World ii. (1634) 260 "God's..promise. and *fore-choice of his people. "

(1614) Raleigh Hist. World iii. 74 "They promised to absist from their purpose of making a war. "

(1614) Raleigh Hist. World iv. i. §.1. 160 "He also left Philip..for the gage of his promises to Pelopidas. "

(1614) T. Jackson Comment. Creede ii. 251 "Distrust or diffidence to God's promises. "

(1615) G. Sandys Trav. 19 "With much importunitie and promise of reward..I got them to set me ashore. "

(1615) J. Stephens Satyr. Ess. 229 "A Spend-thrift..will promise much and meane nothing: for he distributes his words as commonly as Printers. "

(1615) Lett. E. India Co. (1899) III. 194 "You are to pay the bringer 5 mas port; he hath promised me to make haste. "

(1616) B. Jonson Masques, Mercury Vind., "Paracelsus man..that he promised you out of white bread and Dele-wine. "

(1617) Hieron Wks. II. 332 "These vowes were the solemne promises, by which he..ingaged himselfe to God. "

(1617) J. Taylor (Water P.) London to Hamburgh C 4 b, "All his sugred sweet promises, were in the proofe but Gall and wormwood in the performance. "

(1617) Moryson Itin. i. 141 "I rested much vpon the Cardinals promise. "

(1617) Moryson Itin. i. 3 "The houses promise more beauty outwardly then they haue inwardly. "

(1617) Moryson Itin. i. 42 "Nothing were more pleasant..then Sea-voyages, if a man might promise himselfe a good wind, and a reasonable gale. "

(1617) Moryson Itin. ii. 57 "With promise to make good construction of his actions. "

(1618) Hales Gold. Rem. ii. (1673) 76 "Their answer was that it could not stand with their Conscience to promise Obedience to all Synodical Decrees. "

(1619) Ld. Doncaster in Eng. &. Germ. (Camd. 1865) 147 "Giving me commission to say what I would..wherein he promised to avow me."

(1619) Sir J. Sempil Sacrilege Handled App. 10 "What more reason is there heere to separate Tithing from the Patriarch and the Promises, then to separate Blessing, seeing all three are so syllogistically wouen and interlaced? "

(1619) Sir J. Sempill Sacrilege Handl. App. 10 "Shall we diuide Abrahams Patriarchship from his Promises?"

(1619) W. Sclater Expos. 1 Thess. (1629) To Rdr., "My succisiue houres..I promise to be wholly imployed that way. "

(1620) Shelton Quix. IV. xxii. (R.), "All concluded in the promise..of the disenchantment. "

(1620) T. Granger Div. Logike 219 "Whereby God promiseth his grace, and loue vnto men, and men repromise constant obedience due to him. "

(1621) Ainsworth Annot. Pentat., Gen. xviii. 10 "By the complement of the thing promised. "

(1621) Bp. Montagu Diatrib&ae. 388 "For my part I thinke no, vnlesse he held possessions in the Land of Promise. "

(1621) Bp. Mountagu Diatrib&ae. 387 "The *Leuiticality..of Tithing, being confined vnto place, the Land of Promise. "

(1621) Fletcher Isl. Princess iii. i, "I am no flatterer, To promise infinitely, and out-dream dangers. "

(1621) T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 48 "It is a brutish stupiditie and sencelesseness, both in yong and old men, to promise to themselues to morrow. "

(1621) T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 84 "His promise should passe for ready pay, and for money told on the nayle. "

(1621) T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 84 "His promise should passe for ready pay, and for money told on the nayle. "

(1622) Callis Stat. Sewers (1824) 32 "There is better concord betwixt the Title and Body of my Statute, for the Corps of the Act perform as much as the Title promised. "

(1622) G. Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 400 "[He] doth come to him vpon whom the said Bill was directed, and desireth his promise of acceptation."

(1622) J. Borough in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 130 "A private Library..to be sold, and [I] am promised a Catalogue of the particulars. "

(1622) R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea, "I know the Spaniard too too well and the manner of his proceedings in discharge of promises. "

(1622) Sparrow Bk. Com. Prayer (1661) 196 "Sunday after Ascens. This is called Expectation-week for now the Apostles were..expecting the fulfilling of that promise of our Lord."

(1623-4) Middleton &. Rowley Span. Gipsy v. i, "Promise me you'll get reprieve For the condemned man. "

(1623) Bingham Xenophon 143 "You..made no end of promises. "

(1623) Bp. Hall Serm. Chapell Earle Exceter (1627) 526 "Set out by the stile of the Promiser and Avower. "

(1623) Fletcher Bloody Brother ii. i, "A soder'd friendship Piec'd out with promises. "

(1623) Pr. Charles Let. (in Athen&ae.um 24 Feb. (1872) 241/2) "Ye euer promised that the King [my] father should be no farder preaced in matters of religion. "

(1624) Capt. Smith Virginia i. 3 "He was very iust of his promise. "

(1624) Capt. Smith Virginia iii. viii. 76 "Your promise I find..euery day violated by some of your subiects. "

(1624) Capt. Smith Virginia iv. 158 "They saw all those promises were but delusions. "

(1624) Dk. Buckhm. in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. III. 180 "[It] will facilitate..those passages of favors, grace, and goodnes which his Majesty hath promised for the ease of the Romaine Catholickes. "

(1624) F. White Repl. Fisher 164 "Such a..Faith, as is both an intellectuall and fiduciall assent to diuine Promises. "

(1624) Gataker Transubst. 197 "As the oraculous predictions of the Prophets and expresse promises of God himselfe describe it."

(1624) Sir E. Sandys 15 Apr. in Cobbett Parl. Hist. (1806) I. 1421 "In the lay of the first Imposition,..it was promised, That [etc.]. "

(1625) Bacon Ess., Boldness (Arb.) 519 "For Boldnesse is an ill keeper of promise. "

(1625) Bacon Ess., Of Boldness (Arb.) 519 "They haue promised great Matters and failed most shamefully. "

(1625) Hart Anat. Ur. ii. x. 119 "Our Paracelcists would faine feed vs with many such smoaky promises. "

(1625) J. Robinson Ess. iii. (1638) 18 "How graciously our wise and good God provides for our slipperie state, in scantling his promise of good things of that kinde to our Spirituall skill, and care of using them. "

(1625) K. Long tr. Barclay's Argenis iii. xxiv. 228 "In expectation of fire-workes, which hee had promised not far from the shore. "

(1625) K. Long tr. Barclay's Argenis v. x. (1636) 645 "Her promises came to nothing. "

(1625) Sanderson Serm. Ps. cvi. 30 "Do not show a cast of thy office for the promise or hope of a reward. "

(1625) Ussher Lett. (1686) 335 "For the former of these, which doth concern the Registership; I signified unto him..that I had made promise of it already. "

(1626) E. F. Hist. Edw. II (1680) 24 "His hypocritical Entreaties and mildewed Promises. "

(1626) Middleton Anything for Quiet Life v. i, "The lord Beaufort's most unlordly breach Of promise to him. "

(1626) Prynne Perpet. Regen. Man's Est. 55 "These promises which I haue mentioned must needes be absolute.., because that most of them are vncapable of any condition. "

(1626) R. Harris Hezekiah's Recov. 4 "'Tis our profession, our promise, our cheefage and rent that is due to him."

(1626) Shirley Brothers ii. i, "I have promised him As much as marriage comes to; and I lose My honour if my Don receive the canvas."

(1626) Shirley Brothers v. iii, "To clear myself *thought-free From any promise. "

(1626) in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 199 "Maister Lappage doth..promise that hee will continew his ministry..upon true payment and receivinge the afforesaid allowance. "

(1627) J. Carter Plain Expos. 112 "When the performance of Gods promise is long delayed, and nothing almost appeareth in the meane season,..then [etc.]. "

(1627) Rutherford Lett. i. (1862) I. 35 "[Christ] becomes caution to His Father for all such as resolve and promise to serve Him. "

(1627) Wren Serm. bef. King 6 "My sonne, love God; or, My sonne, praise God; or, My sonne, obey God;..My sonne, feare God, is a Project and Promise of them all."

(1627) Lisander &. Cal. iv. 58 "Beleeving that hee was dispensed of his promise. "

(1628) Feltham Resolves ii. viii. 19 "There are some nicks in Time, which whosoeuer findes, may promise to himselfe successe. "

(1628) Gaule Pract. The. (1629) 44 "The Promise made, the Prophets harpe the string."

(1628) J. Gaule Pract. Theor. Paneg. 22 "The most compendious Laconicke with a reinserted Parenthesis of (vt tribus dicam verbis) amongst many words, will promise to dispatch in Three. "

(1628) Jackson Creed ix. ix. §.5 " Abraham in that sacred banquet which the King of Salem exhibited to him did (as we say) take levery de seisin of the promised land. "

(1628) T. Spencer Logick 299 "This kinde of Connexe hath but three termes in it, viz. 1. Inheritance. 2. Promise. 3. Law. "

(1628) Venner Baths of Bathe (1650) 360 "Their Spaniel-like fawning carriage, and warrantizing promises."

(1628) in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1659) I. 551 "The Kings heart is the best guarder of his own promise. "

(1629) Maxwell tr. Herodian (1635) 145 "With these faire Promises he stroked the Senators. "

(1629) Maxwell tr. Herodian iv. 191 "Both the Emperours..seeking to win and wedge men to their seuerall Factions, by faire Promises. "

(1629) W. Simons Proc. Virginia iii. in Capt. Smith's Wks. (1819) I. 169 "The worst was our guilded refiners with their golden promises made all men their slaues in hope of recompences."

(1630) Bp. Hall Occas. Medit. §.100 (1634) 162 "These, thy promises of outward favours are never but with a subintelligence of a condition, of our capablenesse."

(1630) Prynne Anti-Armin. 9 "We must receiue Gods promises in such wise as they are generally set forth vnto vs."

(1630) R. N. tr. Camden's Hist. Eliz. 125 "If he [the Czar] should..be constrained..to leave his country, she promised..to receiue..him..with all honour worthy so great a Prince,..to assigne unto him a convenient place for his perigrination. "

(1630) Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. 53 "So we at starts do assent to the sweet and precious promises. "

(1631-3) J. Durie in Presbyt. Rev. (1887) 301 "[The King] had promised to give mee Promotoriall letters to further this end. "

(1631) Gouge God's Arrows iii. §.1. 179 "Before the particular exemplification of the foresaid promise, the Issue thereof is inserted. "

(1631) Gouge God's Arrows iii. §.33. 243 "God's promises are the most proper ground-worke of faith. "

(1631) Gouge God's Arrows iii. §.43. 261 "What is believed without a promise, is..rashly and audaciously presumed. "

(1631) R. Bolton Comf. Affl. Consc. (1635) 296 "It is not so much the muchness and measure of our sorrow, as the truth and heartinesse which fits us for the promises and comforts of mercy."

(1631) R. H. Arraignm. Whole Creat. xi. §.1. 99 "They promise..more than Saul to his Courtiers and Campers. "

(1631) Celestina 282 "Thou promisest mountaines, but performest Mole&dubh.hils. "

(1631) Celestina x. 117 "How much more advantageous..would an intreated promise have been, then a forced offerture? "

(1632) J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 71 "When hee asked who hee was, the Marquesse durst not discover him (so strictly was he tied by promise to conceale him). "

(1632) Lithgow Trav. iii. 91 "Within a small time he found the Captaines promise and performance different. "

(1632) Lithgow Trav. x. 484 "These promises..were to be performed againe Michaelmasse..But this day come he continued his drifts."

(1632) Massinger City Madam iii. ii, "I must be A doer, not a promiser. "

(1632) High Commission Cases (1886) 318 "It may be some promise to choake you with a Benefice. "

(1633) B. Jonson Tale of Tub ii. i, "I promise To keep my master's privities seal'd up In the vallies of my trust, lock'd close for ever. "

(1633) Bp. Hall Hard Texts, O.T. 295 "As this people have not rested themselves upon the Gracious promise of Gods protection."

(1633) Hart Diet of Diseased ii. xiv. 193 "Their smoakie promises not being seconded by answerable events."

(1633) Sherley in Bradford's Plymouth Plant. (1898) 368 "By Mr. Allertons faire propositions and large promises, I have over rune my selfe. "

(1633) T. Stafford Pac. Hib. v. (1821) 69 "Large promises, for increasing his Bonnoght. "

(1633) Costlie Whore iv. iii. in Bullen O. Pl. IV. 283 "Oh she was vertuous,..But this step-divell doth promise our fall. "

(1634) Bp. Hall Occas. Med. Wks. (1808) 195 "All favourable promises presuppose a capacity in the receiver. "

(1634) Massinger Very Wom. iv. i, "Ped. I thank ye, And soon I'll wait your promise. "

(1634) Sir T. Herbert Trav. 158 "Mahomet promised them his second glorious comming after a thousand yeares, which they seriously lately looking for, and seeing themselues guld by such credulity began to stagger. "

(1634) T. Norton's Calvin's Inst. Table of Contents, "The universality of the promises of salvation maketh nothing against the doctrine of the predestination of the reprobate. "

(1634) in Row Hist. Kirk 374 "We..undersubscryve, and oblishes and promises to obey the wholl contents of the said letter."

(1635-56) Cowley Davideis ii. Wks. 1710 I. 346 "Fair was the Promise of his dawning Ray. "

(1635) Jackson Creed viii. xvii. §.6 "The promised Prince of peace..should not be sought amongst the tumultuous hosts of warre. "

(1635) Jackson Creed viii. xxxiii. 376 "Those sophistical Novelists who thus mispoint the words of his promise... Verily I say unto thee this day, thou shalt be with me in Paradise. "

(1635) N. R. tr. Camden's Hist. Eliz. ii. 156 "He promised to cherish her as the henne cherisheth her chickens. "

(1636) B. Jonson Eng. Gram. i. vi, "I will promise..to giue, in the heel of the Book, some spur and incitement to that which I so reasonably seek. "

(1636) Heywood Chall. Beauty iii. F 1, "They are full of large promises outward, but lin'd with narrow and scant-performance within. "

(1636) Massinger Gt. Dk. Florence i. ii, "You..promise, in your clear aspect, some novel That may delight us. "

(1636) R. James Iter Lanc. (Chetham Soc.) 159 "Lord Thebith's daughter, whoe had promised..to liue aye A votall virgin till hir dying daye. "

(1636) Doc. Hist. St. Maine III. 95, "I think we shall make little lesse then &pstlg.11 share for the last yeares worke, which was &pstlg.6 portledge, and &pstlg.1 3s. 3d. for the fish deliuered Mr. Winter, and &pstlg.3 you promised me for my Charge in Bringinge ouer the shippe. "

(1637-50) Row Hist. Kirk (1842) 179 "And I promise, indureing the conference, not to countenance any enemies to that religion."

(1637) B. Jonson Sad Sheph. i. ii, "By his..fewmets, he doth promise sport. "

(1637) B. Jonson Sad Sheph. i. ii, "For by his Slot, his Entries, and his Port, His Frayings, Fewmets, he doth promise Sport. "

(1637) B. Jonson Sad Sheph. i. iv. (1640) 134 "And both [ewes and rams] do feed, As either promised to increase your breed At eaning-time. "

(1637) B. Jonson Sad Sheph. ii. ii, "That do I promise, or I am no good *hag-finder. "

(1637) B. Jonson Sad Shepherd i. ii, "By his slot,..His frayings, fewmets, he doth promise sport. "

(1637) Gillespie Eng. Pop. Cerem. ii. iii. 17 "Who promised some Reformation and Repurgation of superstitious worships."

(1637) R. Humphrey tr. St. Ambrose Pref., "It was the vanity of Democritus to promise the reservation of the bodyes of men. "

(1637) Sanderson Serm. (1681) II. 88 "Roll thy self then upon His Providence, and repose thy self..upon His promises. "

(1638) Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. II.) 156, "I am promised a retreate three miles from Bloys. "

(1638) Cowley Love's Riddle iv. i, "I am not satisfied with *wind-like promises Which only touch the lips. "

(1638) Earl of Cork in Lismore Papers Ser. i. (1886) V. 54 "Ned Stowt hath promised me to paie me..xxiijli due unto me for 23 yeares arrears of Rathnolan, for which he was destreigned, and he repleved."

(1638) Jackson Creed ix. xii. Wks. VIII. 259 "The true belief or persuasion of our interest in this promise is but the ingrossment of our former apprehension in our hearts. "

(1638) R. Baillie Lett. &. Jrnls. 132 "The Thesaurer..required that his Grace would see justice done upon him... The Commissioner promised him reason. "

(1639) Daniel Ecles. xiii. 26 "Hee..Promises mountaines, brings thee to his feast, And doth subvert thy Reason, in thy Tast. "

(1639) N. N. tr. Du Bosq's Compl. Woman i. 21 "There are some who promise to themselves, never to discover their secrets. "

(1639) S. Du Verger tr. Camus' Admir. Events 92 "This little child..had so many springing graces..that she promised ere long to be a Paragon of beauty. "

(1639) Saltmarshe Policy 43 "If you suspect the performance of a promise, worke them obliged by some speciall engagement and pawne."

(1640) D'Ewes in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 165, "I have promised to take lodgings close by him in the Coven Garden. "

(1640) Goodwin Justifying Faith i. i. (R.), "The substantialness and essentiality of a promise relates to the actual execution of it. "

(1640) Hammond Poor Man's Tithing Wks. 1684 IV. 554 "Had the Promises been of any other sort,..the Apostles illation..had been utterly unconclusive, if not impertinent. "

(1640) Sir E. Dering Carmelite (1641) 41 "Your promise is of thoughts within, and your proof still of things done with&dubh.out. Well shot. Go to your Book again and study the point better. "

(1640) Boston (U.S.) Rec. (1877) II. 54 "Chrystopher Stanley is promised the refusall of six acres of upland..yf it be there to be sould. "

(1640) Canterb. Self-Convict. 120 "His oath and promise at his coronation to keep the laws, is to be exponed of his resolution to make his laws to be keeped by others. "

(1640) tr. Verdere's Rom. of Rom. i. xliii. 176 "When they had all promised rather to dye then be wanting to the duty of a good Knight [Fr. plustost que manquer au deuoir d'vn bon cheualier]. "

(1641) Baker Chron. (1679) 80/2 "Their spokesman to the King to aggravate his breach of promise. "

(1641) H. L'Estrange God's Sabbath 73 "The Spirit of Comfort (which in his late valediction he promised to send his Apostles). "

(1641) J. Shute Sarah &. Hagar (1649) 140 "Shall we think the doing of our duty to be meritorious of that which God hath promised? "

(1641) J. Shute Sarah &. Hagar (1649) 33 "Diffidence in the promise of God. "

(1641) Sir E. Dering Sp. on Relig. (1642) 97 "You give us..a promise of a Nationall Synod; I doe still wish the presency thereof."

(1641) Sir S. D'Ewes in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1692) iii. I. 314 "After the reiterated temeration of his Faith and Promises. "

(1641) Trappe Theologia Theologi&ae. 359 "The Promises are the hony-drops of Christs mouth. "

(1641) Warmstry Blind Guide 18 "To assure our selves upon that promise of our Lord Jesus."

(1641) Act of Oblivion in Neal Hist. Purit. (1733) II. 483 "His Majesty..promises..never to come in the Contrair of this Statute. "

(1641) Protestation of Parlt. 3 &. 4 May (Long Parliament), "I A. B. do..promise, vow, and protest, to maintain and defend..the power and privileges of Parliament. "

(1641) Termes de la Ley 211 "Bare contract, or naked promise, is where a man bargaineth or selleth his lands, or goods..and there is no recompence appointed to him for the doing thereof..This is a naked contract, and voyd in Law. "

(1641) Termes de la Ley 30 b, "Assumpsit is a voluntary promise made by word by which a man assumeth and taketh upon him to performe or pay any thing to another. "

(1641) Smectymnuus Vind. Answ. §.5. 63 "To performe the contrary to what hee hath deludingly promised."

(1642) Bridge Serm. Norf. Volunteers 22 "Make use of your experience as a stirrup to get up your spirits to the promise. "

(1642) D. Rogers Naaman 175 "Yet till she rests there, and sets downe her stafe upon the promise, shee shall haue no rest. "

(1642) Rogers Naaman 100 "All well affected Christians would be loth to lose their labour and sweat, till they haue enjoyed the promise. "

(1642) Rogers Naaman 19 "The freedome, bottomednesse, and unchangeablenesse of the promise."

(1642) Rogers Naaman 579 "Who make no bones of the Lords promises, but devoure them all. "

(1642) Rogers Naaman 581 "Who beleeve not promises according to the intention of them: They make them weaker and insufficienter then they are. "

(1642) Rogers Naaman 614 "Beware of oversight and inobservance of promises. "

(1642) Rogers Naaman 849 "Be persuaded to settle once for adoe upon the promise."

(1642) Rogers Naaman To Rdr., "Breaking daies, promises, yea oaths and vowes."

(1642) Rogers Naaman xxii. 844 "Our giggish heads have not the gift to observe a Promise. "

(1642) View Print. Book int. Observat. 22, "I promise him upon that to turn Reformado. "

(1643) Baker Chron., Edw. IV, 108 "The Duke of Burgoigne..had promised..to bring..foure thousand Stradiots or light horse. "

(1643) Burroughes Exp. Hosea iv. (1652) 77 "This promise is not yet thoroughly fulfilled. "

(1643) Caryl Sacr. Covt. 7 "A Covenant..is more than a promise, and lesse than a Oath. "

(1643) Caryl Sacr. Covt. 7 "The Lord doth r'ally all the promises of mercy made to us, which lie scattered. "

(1643) Prynne Sov. Power Parl. iii. 143 (2) "If I have over-shot my self..I shall promise them a thankfull acknowledgement, and ready palinody. "

(1643) T. Goodwin Child of Light 179 "Hast thou found a promise, which is a breast of consolation, milklesse?"

(1644) Hammond Pract. Catech. (J.) "Hope must be proportioned and attemperate to the promise. "

(1644) Hunton Vid. Treat. Monarchy iv. 30 "When the promise or Oath..amounts either expressely or equivalently to a relaxation of the bond of subjection. "

(1645) Fuller Good Th. in Bad T. (1841) 23 "Pinch me into the remembrance of my promises. "

(1645) Pagitt Heresiogr. (ed. 4) 40 "The Gentiles should not with the Jewes be made co-heriters..of the Promise. "

(1645) Quarles Sol. Recant. v. 66 "Make hast to pay what thy vow'd Promise owes; Destruction dwels in unperformed Vowes. "

(1645) Rutherford Tryal &. Tri. Faith (1845) 175 "This would seem pharisaical, and *merit-like, if holiness did not relate to the free promise of the covenant of grace. "

(1645) Rutherford Tryal &. Tri. Faith (1845) 85 "Christ hath covenant-right to the promises by this mother-right, that God is his God by covenant. "

(1645) Rutherford Tryal &. Tri. Faith (1845) 93 "Christ promiseth *Soul-ease. "

(1645) Ussher Body Div. (1647) 422 "Of the vowes and promises which we in our child-hood made by those who were undertakers for us. "

(1645) Direct. Publ. Worship in Scobell Acts &. Ord. i. li. (1658) 87, "I M. do take thee N. to be my married Wife, and do..promise and covenant to be a loving and faithfull Husband unto thee. "

(1646) Evance Noble Ord. 2 "Elyes degrading, or Gods revoking of his promise. "

(1646) Evance Noble Order 2 "Gods revoking of his promise. "

(1646) H. Lawrence Comm. Angells 168 "They hope to attaine the promise of God, that is, the thing promised. "

(1646) P. Bulkeley Gospel Covt. iv. 337 "These kind of promises..are declarative, making manifest who be those true beleivers to whom the life promised..doth belong. "

(1646) P. Bulkeley Gospel Covt. v. 360 "He grounds the truth and certainty of the promise upon the stablenesse of God's counsell. "

(1646) Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 67 "Physitions..promise therein a vertue against abortion. "

(1646) Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 89 "How to abate the vigour thereof, or silence its bombilation, a way is promised by Porta. "

(1646) Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. v. 89 "Some as Beringuccio in his Pyrotechny affirmeth, have promised to make it red. "

(1646) Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. II. vi. §.3. 99 "Did they answer their promise which are so commended, in Epilepticall intentions, wee would abate these qualities. "

(1646) Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. Pref., "Wee shall so farre encourage contradiction, as to promise no disturbance, or reoppose any Penne, that shall Elenchically refute us."

(1646) W. Bridge Serm. (1647) 17 "Get your soules in-arked in all these promises."

(1647) Clarendon Hist. Reb. iv. §.1 "They were promised payment upon the public faith in November following; till which time they were to respite it. "

(1647) Crashaw Poems 1 "Stars thou sow'st, whose harvest dares Promise the earth to *countershine Whatever makes Heaven's forehead fine. "

(1647) Jer. Taylor Lib. Proph. vii. 129 "That promise..which did not pertaine to Peter principally and by origination, and to the rest by communication. "

(1647) M. Hudson Div. Right Govt. ii. iii. 87 "Even the temporal part of that promise..was performed exactly in the reality, though not in the Modality thereof. "

(1647) N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. lix. (1739) 110 "One that came to the Crown without pre-engagement by Promise or Covenant. "

(1647) T. Calvert Heart Salve To Rdr., "The soule..is led into the Winecellar of Gods promises. "

(1647) Trapp Comm. 1 Tim. v. 12 "`Cast off their first faith': Not that of their baptisme.. but their viduall promised chastity and service to the Saints. "

(1647) Trapp Comm. Rom. ix. 6 "That word of promise..which is *sure-hold, Yea and Amen. "

(1648) Herrick Hesper., To His Mistresse ii, "Promise, and keep your vowes, Or vow ye never; Loves doctrine disallowes *Troth-breakers ever. "

(1649) Bp. Hall Cases Consc. iv. vi. 457 "That since marriage once passed, is irreversible, we may have some breathing-time betwixt our promise and accomplishment. "

(1649) Bp. Reynolds Hosea i. 16 "In the promise or Restipulation we have first the Covenant. "

(1649) Bp. Reynolds Hosea ii. 71 "Our faith to beleeve Gods promises. "

(1649) Bp. Reynolds Hosea iv. 57 "A manifestation of that love in some promise or other, ingageing unto assistance. "

(1649) Canne Snare Broken 14 "An oath is unlawfull when..we promise any thing that is unjust or unhonest. "

(1649) Chas. II. in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. III. 327, "I desire you..to lend me five hundred pounds, whereof I promise you..very faithfull re&dubh.payment. "

(1649) E. Marbury in Spurgeon Treas. David xxxiv. 22 "No age shall ever superannuate them [sc. God's promises], or put them out of full force and virtue. "

(1649) Heylin Relat. &. Observ. ii. 1 "That Party..being..tenable by no Oaths, Principles Promises, Declarations. "

(1649) Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. vii. §.13 "Would ascertain us into a possession of all the promises. "

(1649) Owen Stedfastness of Promises (1650) 14 "The Promise, that draws the Soul upward, and the weight of its unbelief, that sinks it downward:..the poor Creatures swaggs between both. "

(1649) Roberts Clavis Bibl. 308 "How..all-sufficiently able God is, in performing of his Promises. "

(1649) Alcoran 27 "God promiseth to you his grace and mercie; he is munificent, and omniscient. "

(1650) Baxter Saints' R. iii. §.2. 40 marg., "It is a Resting on the deceiving promise of the Devil for Justification. "

(1650) Bp. Hall Revelation unrev. §.8 Wks. 1808 X. 107 "How wild a paradox it is to tie those frequent and large promises of the Prophets..to a carnal literality of sense. "

(1650) R. Stapylton Strada's Low C. Wars i. 3, "I dare promise to produce more Cabinet counsels, then all the Civill and military news&dubh.men. "

(1650) R. Stapylton Strada's Low C. Wars v. 133 "In his Letters to the Governess, the Emperour promised her his endeavours, if any thing was yet uncomposed. "

(1650) Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. Pref., "We..promise no disturbance or reoppose any pen that shall fallaciously refute us. "

(1650) Stapylton Strada's Low C. Warres vii. 40, "I can promise many Animadversions concerning them, out of the Monuments of Letters in my hands."

(1650) Trapp Comm. Exod. xii. 41 "His promises are good sure-hold. "

(1650) Trapp Comm. Gen. xxi. 1 "He fools them not off with fair promises. "

(1650) Repl. Sanderson 10 "We owe time, which may suspend the adimpletion of a Promise, but not its obligation."

(1650) St. Trials, Colonel Andrewe (R.), "I was promised by Benson, that if Sir John Gell, and their pretended friends of the country, did *co-engage, I should be disengaged. "

(1651) Baxter Inf. Bapt. 175 "The promise determineth of the dueness of the reward. The threatening determineth of the dueness of the Penalty. "

(1651) Baxter Inf. Bapt. 190 "There can be no true closing with Christ in a promise that hath a qualification or condition expressed. "

(1651) Baxter Inf. Bapt. 218 "Dueness of Reward or Punishment is the immediate Product of Promise or Threatening. "

(1651) Baxter Inf. Bapt. 296 "Those to whom that Promise is yet unfilled."

(1651) Baxter Inf. Bapt. 76 "Some generall indefinite promises. "

(1651) Baxter Inf. Bapt 299 "The excellency of the mercy promised, rather than any absoluteness in the promise. "

(1651) G. W. tr. Cowel's Inst. 173 "He that is mute can neither Covenant nor promise, since he cannot speak nor utter words congruous to a Covenant. "

(1651) Gataker Ridley in Fuller Abel Rediv. 194 "His very outward making, promised a well-composed inside. "

(1651) Hobbes Govt. &. Soc. ii. §.14. 28 "His Will..hath simply before it, for its object, a certain good valuable with the thing promised."

(1651) Hobbes Govt. &. Soc. ii. §.20. 32 "Swearing is a speech joyned to a promise, whereby the promiser declares his renouncing of Gods mercy, unlesse he perform his word. "

(1651) Hobbes Leviath. (1839) 179 "Which swearing, or oath, is a form of speech, added to a promise; by which he that promiseth, signifieth, that unless he perform, he renounceth the mercy of his God, or calleth to him for vengeance on himself. "

(1651) Hobbes Leviath. ii. xx. 102 "He that promiseth, hath no right in the thing promised. "

(1651) Hobbes Leviath. ii. xx. 102 "Promises proceeding from fear of death, or violence, are no Covenants. "

(1651) Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxvi. 138 "They promise obedience, that they may receive life. "

(1651) Hobbes Leviath. iii. xxxiv. 210 "The bringing of Gods people into the promised land. "

(1651) Hobbes Leviath. iii. xxxviii. 244 "Wee do not read, that to any of the Reprobate is promised an Eternall life. "

(1651) Jer. Taylor Serm. for Year ii. xxiii. 290 "Their promises are but fair language,..and disband and unty like the air that beat upon their teeth, when [etc.]."

(1651) N. Bacon Disc. Gov. Eng. vii. 68 "Edward the Third..promiseth them [the Flemings] share and share like with his own People. "

(1651) Sir E. Nicholas in N. Papers (Camden) 216, "I doe faithfull promise and ingage myselfe that [etc.]."

(1651) Walton Life Wotton in Reliq. W. (1672) d 1 "By which means, and quitting the King of his promised reversionary Officers, and a piece of honest policy,..he got a Grant of it from His Majesty. "

(1652) Gaule Magastrom. 252 "She, having already obtained her desire, refused to stand to her promise. "

(1652) Gaule Magastrom. 296 "Epaminondas..commanded that those that promised victory should be layd on the right hand the oratory chaire, and the other on the left."

(1652) Gaule Magastrom. 307 "He could not foresee how Laomedon would perjure his promise. "

(1652) J. Burroughes Exp. Hosea vii. 130 "Afflictions are as lead to the net, the promise is as the corke. "

(1652) Urquhart Jewel Wks. (1834) 278 "No less miraculous acts were expected and promised..then those of Gideon with his water-lappers. "

(1652) Seas. Expost. Netherl. 5 "Promises of Neutralitie drawn up so ambiguously, as if they had come from jugling Delphos. "

(1653) H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. lxii. 253 "The recompenses which God hath promised to those that vilify themselves to serve him. "

(1653) H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. xxii. 78, "I promised..never to part from hence, till by some means or other I have recovered these poor soldiers my companions. "

(1653) Walton Angler i. 38, "I must be your Debtor..for the rest of my promised discourse. "

(1653) Walton Angler ii. 51 "You are so modest, that me thinks I may promise to grant it before it is asked. "

(1653) Walton Angler iv. 115, "I promised to tell you more of the Flie-fishing for a Trout. "

(1653) Walton Angler To Rdr. A vj b, "I hate to promise much, and fail. "

(1653) Waterhouse Apol. Learning 125 "A meer daring letterless Commander can..promise himself no more successe in his Enterprise then [etc.]. "

(1654-66) Earl Orrery Parthen. (1676) 610 "The two Princes summoned Callimachus of his promise."

(1654-66) Ld. Orrery Parthenissa (1676) 640 "Permit me to implore you the promise that I shall receive no worse usage from you. "

(1654) Owen Saints' Persev. v. 112 "The generall intention of God in all Gospel Promises, whereby they being equally Spirited, become as one. "

(1654) Owen Saints' Persev. v. 113 "The first great Promise of Christ..is that which Spirits and principles all other promises whatsoever. "

(1654) Trapp Comm., Ps. ci. Introd. (1657) II. 826 "A Psalm of David, wherein he promiseth and pre-ingageth, that whenever hee came to the Kingdome, he will be a singular example. "

(1654) Vilvain Theol. Treat. vii. 205 "Their progeny..enjoyed it [the promised land] proprietarily for many ages."

(1654) Whitlock Zootomia 361 "The Pulpit a Throne of higher Authority..rewarding with Promises of far more elevating Hopes than any earthly one can. "

(1654) Nicholas Papers (Camden) II. 95 "The Parisians are exeeding grumbling and the taxes promised to be abated are augmented. "

(1655-60) Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 316/2 "The Crocodilite, so named from this &Ae.gyptian Fable: A Woman sitting by the side of Nilus, a Crokodile snatch'd away her Child, promising to restore him, if she would answer truly to what he asked; which was, Whether he meant to restore him or not? She answer'd, Not to restore him, and challenged his promise, as having said the Truth. He reply'd, that if he should let her have him, she had not told true."

(1655) Fuller Ch. Hist. iii. i. §.28 "Rufus..on the imminence of any danger or distress..promised them the releasing of their taxes. "

(1655) Fuller Ch. Hist. iv. ii. §.8. 158 "The King..promised to take order with the Popes Provisions and Provensions, that so learned men might be advanced."

(1655) Fuller Ch. Hist. ix. 82 [tr. Let. Mary Queen of Scots] "To obtain of her, that she will let me go out of her country, whither I came, secured by her promises."

(1655) Fuller Ch. Hist. viii. i. §.6 "Her unperformed promise was the first court holy water which she sprinkled amongst the people."

(1655) Gouge Comm. Hebr. 45 "This extent of the promise to everlastingnesse."

(1655) Gurnal Christian in Arm. i. 27 "That which gave accent to Abraham's Faith, was that he was `fully perswaded, that what God had promised, he was able to perform.' "

(1655) Gurnall Chr. in Arm. II. 183/1 "When God seems to delay..before he comes with the mercy he promiseth, and we pray for; 'tis exploratory to faith. "

(1655) Gurnall Chr. in Arm. iii. (1669) 341/1 "The promise is an Assuring-office to secure him his adventure. "

(1655) Spurstowe Wels of Salvation 164 "Earthly things defile the heart with..corrupt affections, which do unqualifie it for the reception of..precious promises. "

(1655) T. White Grounds Obed. &. Govt. 36 "He who maketh a promise to another, so it be a perfect one,..puts himselfe and his promissary into a rank of agency and patiency."

(1655) tr. Com. Hist. Francion i. 8, "I promise to shape my assistance by the Patterne of your commands."

(1655) tr. Com. Hist. Francion xii. 37 "The Nights, I promise you, are very cold. "

(1655) tr. Sanderson's Promiss. Oaths i. §.9. 19 "The name of Promises may Metaleptically be extended to Comminations. "

(1656) Blount Glossogr., "Despond, to betroth or promise in marriage. "

(1656) Blount Glossogr., "Despondency, a promise in marriage."

(1656) Blount Glossogr., "Stipulate, to require and demand a thing to be given him, or done for him with ordinary words of the Law, to require by, or make a covenant, to promise effectually what he is required to do. "

(1656) Earl of Monm. Advert. fr. Parn. 239 "Maintaining promise both to God and man, which most commonly is so abusefully measured by the compass of interest. "

(1656) Jeanes Fuln. Christ 180 "An irreversible, and unrepealable promise of an omnipotent God. "

(1657) Cressy Father Baker's Sancta Sophia iii. iv. §.18. 187 "Let him that is to be receiued to a Religious Profession, promise..1. A constant Stability in that state. 2. A conuersion of his Manners, and 3. Obedience... And as for Stability, it regards both these [2 and 3], adding to them a perseuerance and a continuall progresse in both to the end. "

(1657) G. Starkey Helmont's Vind. 240 "Whose rash ventosities and aery promises we reject. "

(1657) J. Sergeant Schism Dispach't 410 "With such allusion to his name, and other particularisations, as..are apt to breed an expectation of something particular in the thing promised. "

(1657) M. Lawrence Use &. Pract. Faith 73 "He looks at a meet help as a portion promised from God. "

(1657) Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 108 "Such as..promise to fascinate and cure stinking breaths."

(1657) Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 593 "Mercury, wherewith a veneficous Circulator at Lutetia promised the cure of all diseases. "

(1657) W. Guthrie Chr. Gt. Interest (1825) 230 "God's condescendency and offer in that great and primary promise. "

(1657) Physical Dict., "Pollicitates, promises, assures, warrants."

(1658) Baxter Saving Faith §.4. 27 "The Promise of Infusion and Effusion [I will pour out my Spirit to you]. "

(1658) Baxter Saving Faith xii. 85 "The promised Glory, and the future blessings that are its necessary Foregoers. "

(1658) Earl Monm. tr. Paruta's Wars Cyprus 15 "Being allured by the no-certain promises of Princes. "

(1658) Gurnall Chr. In Arm. Verse 16. x. (1669) 210/1 "God promised him a Michaelmas spring (I may so say) a son in his old age. "

(1658) Phillips, "Nude contract, in Common-law, is a bare contract, or promise of any thing without assigning, or agreeing what another shall give. "

(1658) T. Wall Charact. Enemies Ch. 9 "The carnal delights which he has promised you will turn to unutterable dolours of soul. "

(1658) Ussher Annals 299 "His whole army cryed out for gelt, and he promised them pay. "

(1659-60) Pepys Diary 9 Mar., "I made a promise..to drink no strong drink this week, for I find that it puts me quite out of order. "

(1659) Bp. Walton Consid. Considered 306, "I shall promise to deal in like manner with him, if any rejoinder shall be found needful. "

(1659) Hammond On Ps. lxxvii. 10 "God's mercies were forgotten, and his promises cassate."

(1659) Hammond On Ps. xxiv. 6 Annot. 138 "Where God hath promised to exhibite himself to those that worthily approach him. "

(1659) Milton Hirelings 128 "[The] Lord of all things..doubtles will command the people to make good his promises of maintenance more honorably unask'd, unrak'd for. "

(1659) R. Gell Amendm. Bible 85 "Repromission or answering by promise to God's stipulation. "

(1659) T. Allen (title) "A Chain of Scripture Chronology..in VII periods, viz., From the Creation to the Flood, the Flood to the Promise, the Promise to the Law, the Law to the Temple, the Temple to the Captivity.., the Captivity to the Return, the Return to the Death of Christ. "

(1660-1) Marvell Corr. Wks. (Grosart) II. 43 "He promised me that nothing should be done of that nature to your prejudice. "

(1660) Milton Griffith's Serm. Wks. 1851 V. 390 "To charge him most audaciously and falsly with the renouncing of his own public Promises. "

(1660) tr. Amyraldus' Treat. conc. Relig. Pref. 9 "The Discourses seem to divert a little from the subject which the Lemma's of the Chapters promise. "

(1661) A. Brome Answ. Univ. Friend Poems 165 "Your next is money, which I promise, Full fifty pounds alas the summe is, That too shall quickly follow, if It can be rais'd from Strong or Tiffe. "

(1661) Earl Orrery State Lett. (1743) I. 59 "It is like the bills of mountebanks, where the contents promise more than in the chapter is made good. "

(1661) Pepys Diary 27 Mar., "I did get him to promise me some money upon a bill of exchange. "

(1662) Gurnall Chr. in Arm. iii. 176 "If ever you had but the sweetness of any one promise in it [sc. the water of life] milked out unto you. "

(1662) Gurnall Chr. in Arm. verse 18. i. i. §.1. (1679) 337/1 "Neither Gods promise, nor Abrahams faith thereon gave any Supersedeas to his duty in prayer. "

(1662) Gurnall Chr. in Arm. verse 18. i. xviii. (1669) 362/2 "That thy faith may not jet beyond the foundation of the promise."

(1662) Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. ii. v. §.8 "Not..meerly a Covenant for the Land of Promise. "

(1662) Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. ii. vi. §.11 "Now there had been no reason at all for this, if he had mixed promises together with his threatnings. "

(1662) Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr&ae. ii. iv. §.1 "In that same place God doth promise a succession of Prophets. "

(1662) Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr&ae. iii. iii. §.5 "If it were suitable to Gods nature to promise life to man upon obedience."

(1662) Bk. Comm. Prayer, Collect 13th Sund. Trin., "That we fail not finally to attain thy heavenly promises, through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. "

(1662) in Heath Grocers' Comp. (1869) 68 "The which we doe faithfully promise shall be payd to you agayne. "

(1663) Barrow Serm. (1683) I. xii. 162 "The ancient exhibition of a gracious promise. "

(1663) Boyle Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos. ii. v. xvi. 267 "What if a recommended Specifick..seem unable to produce the promised Effect?"

(1663) Bp. Patrick Parab. Pilgr. xxxix, "The Paracelsian promise of spinning out the life of man to a length equal with the clew of time. "

(1663) Butler Hud. i. ii. 1093 "Promises that yoke The Conqueror, are quickly broke, Like Sampson's Cuffs. "

(1663) Sanders Palmistry ii. 31 "Thy Natal Stars (meaning the Radical Position of the Heavens at thy Birth) promise thee happy success. "

(1663) in Modern Reports (1682) I. 132 "Confession and promise of future Obedience, ought to precede her remitter, or restitution to the priviledges of a wife. "

(1664) H. More Myst. Iniq. 89 "That it is not an Absolute, Inconditionate Promise to the Whole is plain. "

(1664) H. More Myst. Iniq. 90 "[The] conditionality of the promise. "

(1664) J. Wilson Cheats iv. v, "If I marrie, I promise you it shall not be Tyro, 'Tis such a piece of Ginger&dubh.bread! "

(1664) Marvell Corr. Wks. 1872-5 II. 181, "I never yet saw a Prince..whose young mind did in his greenest years promise and threaten so much and so handsomely. "

(1664) Floddan F. viii. 78 "For unto death till we be dight I promise here to take thy part. "

(1665) Boyle Occas. Refl. (1675) 69 "We..find not..that Satisfaction..that the Eagerness of our unruly Appetites promises us. "

(1665) Glanvill Def. Vanity Dogm. 50 "Though the first of their respective solutions is pleasant and encouraging, and seems to promise my mind a requiem. "

(1665) J. Fraser Polichron. (S.H.S.) 159 "Sir Walter..promised Lord Hugh all the kindness and service prestible by him, south and north. "

(1665) J. Sergeant Sure Footing 39 "What Certainty can we undertakingly promise to weaker heads, that is, to the Generality of Mankind?"

(1665) J. Spencer Prophecies 114 "There being not the least air of any promise of Prophecy made. "

(1665) Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 133 "And the King of France, had with his promises, and some implicite threats, commended his Brother herein. "

(1665) Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 90 "She promised them both men and money, for their assistance, they giving caution for repayments. "

(1665) Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 125 "Berry is a Village which promises much at a distance, but when there, deludes the expectation. "

(1665) Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 251 "Finding that neither by threats nor promises he could allay the mutinous humour of the Camp. "

(1665) T. Manley Grotius' Low C. Wars 49 "Others, after the old manner of Mourning, in a vowed Habit, promise and swear, Never to cut their Hair, untill they had revenged the Blood of those Noble-men."

(1665) Wither Lord's Prayer 125 "It is usual with the Prophets to express in the Imperative Mood, and by way of Prayer, those Benedictions which God hath decreed and promised to the Righteous. "

(1666-7) Pepys Diary 4 Mar., "He hears that the Dutch..will have a promise of not being obliged to strike the flag to us before they will treat with us. "

(1666) Bunyan Grace Ab. 24 "If I could in any place espy a word of promise. "

(1666) J. Davies Hist. Caribby Isls. 268 "They will fall off from what they have promised. "

(1666) T. Watson Godly mans Pict. 96 "The Promises are comfortable: 1 For their sureness... 2 For their suitableness."

(1667) Milton P.L. iv. 84 "The spirits beneath, whom I seduc'd With other promises and other vaunts Then to submit, boasting I could subdue Th' Omnipotent. "

(1667) Milton P.L. xii. 138 "By promise he receaves Gift to his Progenie of all that Land. "

(1667) Milton P.L. xii. 487 "The promise of the Father, who shall dwell His Spirit within them."

(1667) Pepys Diary 29 Jan., "He..promised she should stay till she had fitted herself. "

(1667) Poole Dial. betw. Protest. &. Papist 49 "If Christ did indeed promise the perpetual visibility of his Church. "

(1667) Decay Chr. Piety i. &page.10 "This clear proposal of the promises is most proper to encourage and inspirit our endeavours. "

(1667) Decay Chr. Piety iv. 51 "We make all our addresses to the promises, hug and caress them, and in the interim let the commands stand by neglected. "

(1667) Phil. Trans. II. 535 "This Author..promises the publishing of a Treatise about Insects. "

(1668) H. More Div. Dial., Schol. (1713) 567 "When the whole Empire of the World was promised..to the Familists, by their Mimo-Prophet H. N. "

(1668) Howe Bless. Righteous 325 "Are not the exceeding great and precious promises, the Vehicula, the conveighances of the Divine Nature?"

(1668) Owen Exp. Heb. (1790) I. 131 "Unless we look on the words as a pursuit of the first promise. "

(1669) Address to hopef. yng. Gentry Eng. Ep. Ded. A 2 b, "His vanity to promise the uncentring of that vast body and unweildy."

(1670-1) Marvell Corr. Wks. (Grosart) II. 374, "I think we shall perplex one of them against the other, so that neither shall make any promise. "

(1670) R. Montagu in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 485 "Promises made at large. "

(1671) R. Montagu in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 503 "He did relinquish him of his promise of sending any land forces."

(1672) Cave Prim. Chr. iii. iv. (1673) 335 "When Christ promises so much to them who engage with him. "

(1672) Eachard Hobbs' State Nat. (1705) 13 "I'le promise you to be very towardly for the future."

(1672) Eachard Lett. 1 "A friend had promised me the running of two or three letters. "

(1672) Ravenscroft Cit. turned Gentl. iv. i. 64 "Luc. But you have promis'd I should be his Wife. Jord. If I promised you, I unpromise you."

(1672) Temple Ess. Govt. Wks. 1731 I. 98 "Goodness, is that which makes Men prefer their Duty and their Promise before their Passions, or their Interest. "

(1673) Dryden Marr. à. la Mode iv. v, "As ostentatious priests, when souls they woo, Promise their heaven to all, but grant to few. "

(1673) O. Walker Education (1677) 94 "These then promise virtue- modesty, obedience, advisableness."

(1673) Ray Journ. Low C. 224 "Gentlemens houses..having more in the recess than they promise in the front. "

(1673) True Worship God 52 "It is a piece of Religious worship, as every Vow made to God is, implying an Invocation of God to judge according to the Truth or Falshood of what we promise. "

(1674) Ray N.C. Words 25 "To Hight (Cumb.), to promise or vow. "

(1674) Essex Papers (Camden) I. 197 "[He] promiseth to give his resolution about ye petitioners before his departure."

(1675) Baxter Cath. Theol. ii. ii. 40 "Of the latter, there is a flat Promise, and premiant Law or Covenant made by God."

(1675) Traherne Chr. Ethics 414 "The great felicity which lovers promise to themselves, and taste also when they meet together in the marriage-bed. "

(1675) Woodhead, etc. Paraph. St. Paul 13 "This promise, being a restorement to the dominion of all things lost in Adam."

(1675) Essex Papers (Camden) I. 307 "Wee, the undernamed parrish priests in the County of Kyery,..doe undertake and faithfully promise..That in our respective congregations wee shall publike and solemnly declare, and denounce, all toreys, murtherers, thieves &. Robors. "

(1676) Earl Anglesey in Essex Papers (Camden) II. 84 "Our King hath the French promises the generall peace shall not stick for want of the surrender [of Sicily]. "

(1676) Etheredge Man of Mode i. i. (1684) 9 "Not without he will promise to be bloody drunk. "

(1676) Hale Contempl. i. 378 "The next Expedient is Faith and Recumbence upon those Promises of his. "

(1676) Wycherley Pl. Dealer i. i. "Thou mayst easily come to..out-promise a Lover. "

(1677) Gilpin D&ae.monol. (1867) 403 "That God promiseth to keep him in his ways, but not in self-created dangers. "

(1677) Gilpin Demonol. (1867) 250 "These suspicions of non-election prevailing, all promises and comforts are urged in vain. "

(1677) Gilpin Demonol. (1867) 466 "The comfortable and *peace-bringing promises of the gospel. "

(1677) Lady Chaworth in Hist. MSS. Comm. 12th Rep. App. v. 43 "The D[uchess] of Portsmouth..has promised it to her ghostly father. "

(1677) Temple Let. to Chas. II, Wks. 1731 II. 438, "I promised to represent the whole to Your Majesty in the truest Lines and Colours I could possibly. "

(1677) W. Hubbard Pres. St. New-Eng. 125 "We asked him what they intended who promised to wing us. "

(1677) 2nd Pacquet Advices 42 "They are likely to give us nothing New but a New Parliament, and that shall be a Swinger, as the Dissolver hath promised us. "

(1677) Govt. Venice 271 "Men are apt to promise any thing in danger, and to perform nothing when out of it, according to the Proverb of their Countrey:..When the danger's past, the Saint may go whistle. "

(1678) Bunyan Come &. Welc. 57 "The sweet and warm gleads of the promise are like the comfortable beams of the Sun, which liven and refresh."

(1678) Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. v. 709 "Our Saviour Christ, was unquestionably, that One Eximious Prophet, which God..promised to send. "

(1678) J. Phillips Tavernier's Trav., India ii. ii. iv. 114 "The Raja..made him mountainous promises to no effect. "

(1678) Temple Let. II. 503 "A Chicane about Words, whether the French Declaration were in Form, or their Promise in Writing. "

(1678) W. Brown Entring Clerk's Vade Mecum 108 marg., "As to the first, second, and third promises the Defendant pleads Non assumpsit. "

(1678) Gunpowder Treason in Select. Harl. Misc. (1793) 252 "Catesby..thereupon engaged Sir Everard Digby, that promised to advance fifteen hundred pounds towards it; and Mr. Francis Tresham, that gave him assurance of two thousand pounds. "

(1678) in Burt Lett. N. Scot. (1818) I. 64 "[Inscription in a house] 16 Christ is my life and rent 78 His promise is my evident. "

(1679) C. Nesse Antichrist 203 "Our own aptness to antedate promises, and to postdate threatnings. "

(1679) Everard Popish Plot 14 "Which I complimentally was..wont to promise them I would do. "

(1679) Harby Key Script. ii. 34 "It principally intends..that true quadriform Righteousness of Gospel-Promise. "

(1679) Harby Key Script. ii. 45 "That future quadrate Righteousness of Gospel-Promise."

(1680) Charnock Wks. (1864) I. 53 "Good men have providence cabineted in a promise. "

(1680) H. More Apocal. Apoc. 349 "The participation of the promised Spirit of Christ, without which all Religion is but a mere Mask or dead Vizard. "

(1681) Burthogge Argument (1684) 10 "This is the Clymax; if Believers, then Christ's; if Christ's, then Abraham's Seed; if Abraham's Seed, then Heirs according to the Promise. "

(1681) Flavel Meth. Grace i. 11 "He may seem to..tast some sweetness in the delicious promises..of the Gospel by a misapplication of them to himself. "

(1681) Flavel Meth. Grace xv. 291 "In him the relieving promises are made to believers. "

(1681) Flavel Meth. Grace xx. 350 "The world is full of hope without a promise, which is but as a spider's web, when a stress comes to be laid upon it. "

(1681) J. Flavel Right. Mans Ref. 207 "God never out-promised himself. "

(1681) Manton Serm. on Ps. cxix. 92 Wks. 1872 VII. 426 "The adhering of the soul to the promises is the unquestionable way to obtain a sound peace. "

(1681) Stair Inst. Law Scot. 116 "Whether it be a naked Paction or Promise, or a Mutual Contract. "

(1681) T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 14 "Jest... But you promised me I should see Mr. Character brought to bed. Earn. That you shall presently, of a Premunire at least, by the help of his own man-midwifery. "

(1681) T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 20 I. 135 "To profess sincere Loyalty to his Majesty's Person and Government, to give him humble Thanks for his Gracious Promises in his Declaration..is now become perfect Toryism, Tantivyism, and tantum non Abhorrism."

(1681) T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 51 (1713) II. 70 "A Man in Authority promises to examine a *Poll-book by the Poors-book,..if he put off the Performance of it till the Poll being declared, it cannot answer any End. "

(1681) Right. Man's Ref. 246 "The..more comprehensive Promises are found in the general expressures of the Covenant."

(1682) Bunyan Holy War (1905) 210 "This Son of Shaddai, I say, having stricken hands with his Father, and promised that he would be his servant to recover his Mansoul again, stood by his resolution. "

(1682) Flavell Fear 102 "The sealing graces are in you, the sealing spirit is ready..the sealing promises belong to you. "

(1682) Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. xix. 107 "But Honest Men's Words are Stygian Oaths, and Promises inviolable."

(1682) Sir T. Browne Chr. Morals 55 "Many things happen, not likely to ensue from any promises of antecedencies. "

(1682) T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 65 (1713) II. 156 "'Twas..promised, that the poor Prisoners should have Amends..for that pinch-gut Year they had. "

(1682) T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 67 (1713) II. 164 "The *Looking-glass-man you almost promised to deal withal the last time we met. "

(1682) Addr. fr. Chester in Lond. Gaz. No. 1764/4 "[We] do further resolve and promise not to Caress or Encourage any person who shall obstinately persist in courses disliked by Your Majesty. "

(1682) Enq. Elect. Sheriffs 9 "Or suppose that they [Papists] are again provided of one or two bigotted Fellows..that have promised to do the sanctified job [the assassination of Charles II] for them."

(1683) A. D. Art Converse 95 "You can neither tye them by Promise, nor by Oath; for if they Promise or Swear, 'tis with a mental Precision. "

(1683) W. Hedges Diary (Hakl. Soc.) I. 132, "I told him the last time he was here..I promised him a Persian Horse; I had now one at his Service, which he accepted with some ceremony. "

(1683) Apol. Prot. France v. 68 "That promise, of which our King was the Garante. "

(1683) Col. Rec. Pennsylv. I. 91 "To put him in Master of ye Rolls, who doth Solemnly promise to officiate therein with care and Diligence. "

(1683) Pennsylv. Archives I. 72, "I have long promised my&dubh.self to visit thee wth a Letter."

(1684) Prideaux Lett. 136 "Ye University concern is about ye town carter..to induce them to surrender it, ye Earle of Abington promised them ye addition of several new grants. "

(1684) Charnock Attrib. God (1834) I. 367 "The promise of eternal life is as ancient as God himself..as it hath an *ante-eternity, so it hath a post-eternity. "

(1684) Hockin Gods Decrees 304 "What method imaginable more persuasive..than the divine promises and interminations are."

(1684) Otway Atheist i. (1735) 24 "Will you promise me..to be very governable, and very civil. "

(1685) Baxter Paraphr. N.T. Acts ii. 39 "The Messiah with his Grace of Remission, and the Spirit, is promised. "

(1685) Dryden Alb. &. Alban. Pref., Ess. (ed. Ker) I. 280 "If it finds encouragement, I dare promise myself to mend my hand, by making a more pleasing fable. "

(1686) Kettlewell Serm. Death Ld. Digby 3 "Those who are now no longer..Expectants, but inherit the Promises. "

(1687) A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 254 "The other two Consuls..were not released, till their Nations..promised the Basha to pay..the value of the Ships Loadings. "

(1687) Evelyn Diary 10 Mar., "They would not promise his Majesty their consent to the repeal of the Test and penal Statutes against Popish Recusants. "

(1687) J. Bishop Marrow Astrol. 76 "Narrowly observe all the Aspects, as well those in the World, as those in the Zodiack, for many times a Zodiacal Aspect may promise good in the Business, when there may be a Mundane Aspect will frustrate the good promised by the other. "

(1687) Pharisee Unmask'd 6 "To satisfie those to whom he hath promised a Demonstration Dioti. "

(1688) Burnet Lett. State Italy 11 "Those who are discontented do naturally go into every new thing that..promises relief. "

(1689) R. Meeke Diary 30 Nov. (1874) 18, "I was at first in a study what to do, at last I promised."

(1690) Dryden Don Sebastian Pref., "I dare boldly promise for this Play, that in the Roughness of the Numbers..you will see somewhat more masterly..than in..any of my former Tragedies. "

(1690) Locke Govt. II. §.14 "The Promises and Bargains..between the two Men in the Desert Island, mentioned by Garcilasso De la vega,..are binding to them, though they are perfectly in a State of Nature. "

(1690) Norris Beatitudes (1692) 95 "So [it] prevents and anticipates that Repletion, which our Lord promises. "

(1691) Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 236 "If his master doe not speedily remitt the money promised, and quota of officers and engineers. "

(1692) Cov. Grace 58 "The Promise is made..without any Condition in us Antecedaneous, as a moving cause. "

(1692) Miracles performed by Money Ep. Ded., "Out-lye a News-writer, out-promise a Cit. "

(1692) Scotch Presbyt. Eloq. (1738) 138 "Lord, feed them with the Plumdanes and Raisins of thy Promises. "

(1693) Col. Rec. Pennsylv. I. 405 "You shall alwayes find me stedfast to what I promise you. "

(1693) in Hickes &. Nelson J. Kettlewell iii. lxxii. (1718) 382, "I promise a great Watchfulness..against all Temptations to any Degrees, or Instances,..of Recidivation till I am called to lay aside my Business here."

(1695) Luttrell Brief Rel. III. 550 "One Chapman of the Southwark clubb is bailed on promise to discover the rest of the Jacobite clubb. "

(1696) Brookhouse Temple Open. 2 "These Marks confirm and ratifie their Claim, and give them a Passo-porto to enter into the Millennium, which is the promised Land of the Christians. "

(1696) C. Leslie Snake in Grass (1697) 97 "Their Spiriting away the Letter of the Promised Seed. "

(1696) J. F. Merch. Wareho. laid open 36, "I shall now begin according to my promise to treat of Sleasie Lawns, it being a very useful Linnen here with us, it takes its name from a town called Slesia in Hamborough, and not for its wearing Sleasie, as a great many do imagine. "

(1696) Lorimer Goodwin's Disc. vii. 71 "The Sin of Man..disabled the Law of Works that it could not give that Eternal Life which after the Fall it promised only &oe.conomically. "

(1696) Phillips (ed. 5), "Promitters or Promissors, a Term in the Genethliack part of Astrology, so called because they promise in the Radix something to be accomplished, when the Time of direction is fulfilled."

(1696) Phillips, "Amusement..the making of vain Promises to gain Time. "

(1696) Sewall Diary 12 Oct. (1878) I. 435 "Lt. Govr...promised his Interposition for them, as become such an Alumnus to such an Alma Mater. "

(1696) Tate &. Brady Ps. xciii. 5 "Thy Promise, Lord, is ever sure. "

(1697) Dampier Voy. (1698) I. xiii. 364, "I..advised him not to be too credulous of the Generals promises. "

(1697) Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 363 "When he stands collected in his Might, He roars, and promises a more successful Fight. "

(1697) Dryden Virg. Past. iv. 23 "Fragrant Herbs (the promises of Spring). "

(1697) Jos. Woodward Relig. Soc. ii. (1701) 28 "Undersetters, whom gain and the promises of court-favour had brought over to their party."

(1699) Bentley Phalaris 296 "This being the Point he promised to prove, he presently shifts hands, and changes the Question."

(17..) in Westm. Gaz. 16 Oct. (1906) 2/3 "Promises..which he design'd certainly to have comply'd with, had not a Tide of new Things flow'd in, and prevented the Method of his Prosecutions."

(1700) Dryden Cymon &. Iph. 252 "Tho' both repenting, were by Promise bound, Nor could retract. "

(1700) Dryden Cymon &. Iph. 329 "Like a fiery meteor sunk the sun, The promise of a storm. "

(1700) Dryden Ovid's Metam. xii. 267 "He had either led Thy Mother then; or was by Promise ty'd. "

(1701) W. Wotton Hist. Rome Notes 154 "Antony..promises 5000 Denares to every private Soldier. "

(1702) S. Parker tr. Cicero's De Fin. iv. 231 "Hitherto your Objections have been Vulgar and of Course; and therefore I promise myself you have a higher Strein in Reserve."

(1703) De Foe Ref. Mann. Pref., "He promises to give Testimony to their Repentance, as an Amand Honourable in a manner as publick as possible. "

(1703) Earl Orrery As you find it ii. i. 20 "I'll promise you nothing but an English-Dinner, and an English-Welcome. "

(1704) F. Fuller Med. Gymn. (1711) 100 "It seems to promise enough, and carry more Healing with it. "

(1704) Hearne Duct. Hist. (1714) I. 185 "Which Land the Lord gave to Abraham and his Generation, and promised that in his Family all the Nations of the Earth should be Blessed."

(1704) Marlborough Lett. &. Disp. (1845) I. 244 "Her Majesty can't go back from what she has promised. "

(1704) Nelson Fest. &. Fasts ix. (1739) 585 "Those who promised by their Sureties in Baptism do renew..that Contract. "

(1705) Addison Italy (1733) 211 "For, I promise, I long for it. "

(1705) Hearne Collect. 25 Nov. (O.H.S.) I. 98 "Dr. Hudson..having many Promises from..the Bishops..was yet shamefully postpon'd by them."

(1705) J. Blair in W. S. Perry Hist. Coll. Amer. Col. Ch. I. 151 "A copy..which he promised as soon as it could be fair drawn out. "

(1705) Sir E. Walker Hist. Disc. v. 364 "They had promised..to clear His by-past Actions. "

(1705) Stanhope Paraphr. II. 392 "That First Covenant..promised Immortality to unsinning Obedience. "

(1705) Stanhope Paraphr. III. 413 "A *Covenant-right to the Promises of God. "

(1706) Estcourt Fair Examp. iii. i, "A yellow or dark Spot upon the middle Finger, with me denounces Trouble, and a white one promises Joy. "

(1706) Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v., "He had a great Recumbency upon his Promise. "

(1706) Phillips, "Parathesis,..a Figure in Rhetoric, when a small hint of a thing is given to the Auditors, with a Promise to inlarge on it at some other convenient Time. "

(1706) Watts Hor&ae. Lyric&ae. II. 205 "Ye vulgar charms of eyes and ears, Ye unperforming promisers! "

(1706) Reflex. upon Ridicule 47 "To promise every body and keep touch with no body. "

(1707) Watts Hymn `Begin, my tongue' ii, "Sing the sweet promise of his grace, And the performing God. "

(1707) Watts Hymn, `Begin, my tongue' ii, "Sing the sweet promise of his grace, And the performing God. "

(1709) Addison Tatler No. 108 &page.7 "Religion..does not only promise the entire Refinement of the Mind, but the glorifying of the Body. "

(1709) Atterbury Serm. (Rom. xi. 6) (1726) II. 256 "Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob..to whom the Promise of the Blessed Seed was severally made. "

(1709) Bruce Soul Confirm. 18 (Jam.) "The Israelites had never known the merchiness of that promise, if a Red Sea had not made it out."

(1709) Bruce Soul Confirm. 18 (Jam.) "The Lord is reserving a merchy piece of the word of his promise to be made out to many of his friends and people. "

(1709) M. Bruce Soul-Confirm. 22 (Jam.) "Hold ay your shoes on your feet, and in God's name I promise you ye shall hade the gate, fail who will. "

(1709) Mrs. Manley Secret Mem. (1736) I. 219 "He saw Promises were no longer Specie, or would any more pass current with Zara. "

(1709) Pope Ess. Crit. 595 "When they promise to give scribbling o'er. "

(1709) Steele &. Addison Tatler No. 160 &page.9, "I should have fretted my self to Death at this Promise of a Second Visit. "

(1709) Steele Tatler No. 108 &page.7 "Religion which does not only promise the entire Refinement of the Mind, but the glorifying of the Body. "

(1709) in Slingsby's Diary (1836) 193 "Upon her Lady-ships promise that the said Gate, &. Stoups, &. all things belonging to it should be hung. "

(1710) O. Sansom Acc. Life 43 "Because I would not stoop under them,..to promise to go to no more Meetings..they Fined me Five Pounds. "

(1710) Palmer Proverbs 172 "Jupiter puts the discourses and promises of lovers into a bottomless bag. "

(1710) Steele Tatler No. 78 &page.7 "An artful Way to disengage a Man from the Guilt of rash Words or Promises. "

(1711) Addison Spect. No. 247 &page.9 "An excellent Anatomist has promised me to dissect a Woman's Tongue, and to examine whether there may not be in it certain Juices, which render it so wonderfully voluble or flippant. "

(1711) Addison Spect. No. 58 &page.1, "I dare promise my self. "

(1711) Harley in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. IV. 266 "This the Queen has done without any reciprocal obligation or promise from her Majesty to France. "

(1711) Swift Jrnl. to Stella 16 Oct., "One Boyer, a French dog, has abused me..: the Secretary promises me to swinge him."

(1711) Swift Jrnl. to Stella 28 May, "I..promised to do what I could to help him to a service, which I did for Harry Tenison's memory. "

(1711) Act of Genl. Assembly of Ch. of Scotl. (Subscription Formula, Question 6) "Do you promise that you shall follow no divisive courses from the present establishment of the Church? "

(1712) Budgell Spect. No. 425 &page.3 "September, who came next, seem'd in his Looks to promise a new Spring."

(1712) Steele Spect. No. 493 &page.1 "When Suitors of no Consideration will have Confidence enough to press upon their Superiors, those in Power..are mortgaged into Promises out of their Impatience of Importunity. "

(1712) Swift Jrnl. to Stella 27 Dec., "Steele I have kept in his place. Congreve I have got to be used kindly, and secured. Rowe I have recommended, and got a promise of a place. "

(1712) Caldwell Papers (Maitl. Club) I. 229 "He promised, that..he would not stand to help him to purchase a place. "

(1713) Addison Guardian No. 136 &page.3 "He has been as good as his promise. "

(1713) Swift Let. to Miss Vanhomrigh Lett. 1766 II. 285 "When I am fixed anywhere, perhaps, I may be so gracious to let you know, but I will not promise. "

(1713) Young Last Day i. 107 "Not folded arms, and slackness of the mind, Can promise for the safety of mankind. "

(1713) Young Last Day iii. 317 "There, buds the promise of celestial worth. "

(1714-21) Pope Let. Earl Burlington (1737) 19, "I thought myself cocksure of his horse which he readily promised me. "

(1714) Mandeville Fab. Bees (1725) I. 172 "He promises never to be a deer-stealer, upon condition that he shall have venison of his own. "

(1715) Burnet Hist. Ref. iii. ii. 41 "These are in the Promise, or Pollicitation, which I do now publish. "

(1715) Burnet Own Time II. 177 "They promised..to carry off his impeachment with a mild censure. "

(1715) De Foe Fam. Instruct. i. i. (1841) I. 29 "The fulfilling of Old Testament types, and Old Testament promises."

(1715) Pope Iliad iii. 64 "Thy figure promised with a martial air, But ill thy soul supplies a form so fair."

(1716) B. Church Hist. Philip's War (1867) II. 133 "And Whale-men then will be very serviceable in this Expedition, which having a promise made to them, that they shall be released in good season to go home a Whaling in the Fall. "

(1716) B. Church Hist. Philip's War (1867) II. 133 "Whale-men..having a promise made to them, that they shall be released in good season to go home a Whaling in the Fall. "

(1716) Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Mar 21 Nov., "She..remains still inflexible, either to threats or promises. "

(1716) Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 145, "I cannot promise upon this so very soon, we having much public business. "

(1718) Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Mar 10 Mar., "I have received..that short note.. in which you..promise me a direction for the place you stay in. "

(1718) Free-thinker No. 136. 236 "The Subject..promises no small Glory to the Genius who shall versify upon it. "

(1718) Free-thinker No. 68, 87, "I promised..to admonish the Ladies against the Innovation of Masquerades. "

(1719) Phillips tr. Thirty-four Conferences 338 "He hath promised to send you a Copy with the first Opportunity. "

(1719) Watts Hymns i. l. ii, "He [God] makes the Branch of promise grow. "

(1720) Mrs. Manley Power of Love (1741) 242 "The young Springle..promised her all she could ask. "

(1720) Mrs. Manley Power of Love vii. (1741) 359 "Castruchio..promised to receive and refuge her at a fair House he had at Tivoli. "

(1720) Pope Iliad xxiii. 220 "Behold Achilles' promise fully paid. "

(1721) J. Perry Stopping Dagenham Breach 93 "One of my Securitys..promised to take care of the finishing the work in my Absence. "

(1721) Swift South Sea Project Wks. 1841 I. 622/1 "The nation then too late will find..Directors' promises but wind, South Sea, at best, a mighty bubble. "

(1721) Young Revenge ii. i, "I wrung a promise from him he would try. "

(1722) De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 4 "He..promised to be stout when grown up. "

(1722) Wollaston Relig. Nat. vi. §.19 (1724) 144 "He, who acts unfaithfully, acts against his promises and ingagements."

(1723) Lady Bristol in Lett.-bks. J. Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol (1894) II. 278 "The wiskers have promised me some diversion. "

(1724) A. Collins Gr. Chr. Relig. 69 "Tho' absolutely speaking, the promise of the Messias might be fulfilled without it, yet hypothetically it could not. "

(1724) Savage Sir T. Overbury i. i. 6 "The Statesman's Promise, or false Patriot's Zeal, Full of *fair Seeming, but Delusion all. "

(1725) Bailey Erasm. Colloq. (1733) 322 "The Gamester..promises I shall go Snips with him in what he shall win. "

(1725) De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 254 "If wild and uncouth places be a diversion to you, I promise your curiosity shall be fully gratified. "

(1725) De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 313 "The Captain..promised to have the fellows punished, and satisfaction to be made. "

(1725) Pope Odyss. xv. 202 "This promised bless."

(1726) Ayliffe Parerg. 246, "I shall here..define Espousals to be a mutual Promise of a future Marriage. "

(1726) J. Trapp Popery i. 50 "There is no Promise of Indefectibility made by our Saviour to any particular church. "

(1726) Swift Gulliver ii. viii, "I made him promise he would come to see me at my house. "

(1727) A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. II. l. 222 "He loaded me with fair Promises, and sent after me..a small Jar of Sam&dubh.shew, or Rice Arrack. "

(1727) Arbuthnot John Bull iii. xvii, "Exasperated at the Non-performance of John Bull's Promise. "

(1727) De Foe Syst. Magic i. iv. (1840) 105 "Ali..failed not to ask the vision how he should obtain his promised assistance in the like cases of difficulty. "

(1727) Fielding Love in Sev. Masq. Wks. 1775 I. 58 "La. Promise not to dodge us. Wi. Not even to look after you. "

(1727) J. Willison Afflicted Man's Comp. ii. (1850) 77 "Faith gripes to the great Gospel promise of Salvation. "

(1728) Thomson Spring 99 "The promised fruit Lies yet a little Embryo..Within its crimson folds. "

(1728) Vanbr. &. Cib. Prov. Husb. v. ii, "This promises a Reverse of Temper. "

(1729) G. Jacob New Law-Dict. sig. H h h h 2, "Quantum meruit, i.e. how much he has deserved, is a Man's Action of the Case,..grounded upon the Promise of another, to pay him for doing any Thing so much as he should deserve or merit. If a man retains any person to do work or other thing for him..without any certain agreement; in such case the law implies that he shall pay for the same, as much as they are worth, and shall be reasonably demanded; for which Quantum meruit may be brought. "

(1729) Tindal tr. Rapin's Hist. Eng. xvii. IX. 30 "James returned a stout Answer, and vindicated himself for not having performed his Promise. "

(1729) W. Reeve Serm. 234 "Christ appearing to the Apostles..adds a promise of Ratihabition. "

(1730) Beveridge Priv. Th. i. 111 "As the Promises of God are to be the Object of my Hope, so are His Threatenings to be my Fear and Aversation."

(1730) Fielding Tom Thumb ii. v, "In vain to me a suitoring you come, For I'm already promised to Tom Thumb. "

(1731-8) Swift Pol. Conversat. i. 47 "Neverout. Miss, I'll tell you a Secret, if you'll promise never to tell it again. Miss. No, to be sure. "

(1732) Swift Beasts' Confess. Wks. 1755 IV. i. 271 "His promises he ne'er forgot, But took memorials on the spot. "

(1735) H. Walpole Let. 9 Sept. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. i. 259 "These dark &. subterraneous negociations wth ye promise of secrecy in all events. "

(1735) N. Jersey Archives XI. 432, "I do hereby promise to Pay to the said Discoverer the Sum of Thirty Pounds, *Proclamation Money. "

(1735) in Swift's Lett. (1768) IV. 141, "I promise..to send the paper by the carman. "

(1736-7) Mrs. Delany Autobiog. &. Corr. (1861) I. 586 "[She] dies with impatience for the colutea-seed you promised her. "

(1736) Butler Anal. i. iii. Wks. 1874 I. 69 "The wonderful power and prosperity promised to the Jewish nation in the Scripture. "

(1736) Butler Anal. ii. vii. 363 "Some of these promises are conditional, some are as absolute, as anything can be expressed. "

(1736) T. Sheridan in Swift's Wks. (1814) XIX. 16 "Poor old Mr. Price cannot hold out a fortnight; and his son claims your promise of getting him something from the Concordatum. "

(1737) L. Clarke Hist. Bible (1740) II. v. 126 "He promises them the reward of an hundredfold by way of comfort and equivalency. "

(1737) Pope Hor. Epist. ii. i. 178 "When..we..promise our best Friends to rhyme no more. "

(1739) King's Declar. War agst. Spain in Beatson Nav. &. Mil. Mem. (1790) I. App. 10 "Notwithstanding the many promises made, and cedulas issued, signed by the said King [of Spain]."

(1739) R. Bull tr. Dedekindus' Grobianus 162 "Then all the Vengeance of the Gods invoke, In Case this Pye-crust Promise should be broke. "

(1740) Warburton Div. Legat. v. (R.), "I doubt then the learned professor was a little disoriented when he called the promises in Ezekiel and in the Revelations the same. "

(1741) E. Lucas Jrnls. &. Lett. (1850) 11, "I promised to tell you when the mocking bird began to sing. "

(1741) Warburton Div. Legat. II. 556 "The promises and denunciations..obumbrated a future state of rewards and punishments. "

(1742) Fielding J. Andrews i. xii, "This the maid readily promised to perform,..being..not so squeamish as the lady. "

(1742) J. Glas Lord's Supper ii. (1883) 76 "Our sabbatizing, or resting from our own works on the first day of the week is a sign of the truth of the promise of entering into his rest. "

(1742) Young Nt. Th. ix. 2174 "Sleep's dewy wand Has strok'd my drooping lids, and promises My long arrear of rest. "

(1742) Young Nt. Th. vii. 478 "The third witness..falsly promises an Eden here."

(1742) Young Nt. Th. vii. 633 "All promise, some ensure, a second scene. "

(1743) Walpole Let. to Mann 10 June, "He promised me too to go to Lord Islay, to know what cobolt and zingho are."

(1744) Z. Grey Notes Butler's Hudibras i. i. 10, "I have heard of..a Precisian.., who after the Restoration, rebuking an orthodox clergyman for the length of his hair;..he [the clergyman] replied, `Old Prig, I promise you to cut my hair up to my ears, provided you will cut your ears up to your hair'. "

(1745) Collins Ode Death Col. Ross x, "Where'er from time thou court'st relief, The Muse shall still, with social grief, Her gentlest promise keep."

(1745) De Foe Eng. Tradesm. I. xix. 181 "A promise or appointment for a further day. "

(1745) De Foe's Eng. Tradesman I. xix. 183 "The promises are really not absolute but conditional. "

(1745) Fortunate Orphan 68 "Emanuel..remember'd Azem of his Promises. "

(1746) Eliza Heywood Female Spect. No. 24 (1748) IV. 319 "They will needs have us take up the pen again, and promise to furnish us with a variety of topics yet untouched upon. "

(1746) Francis tr. Horace, Ep. ii. i. 70 "Ennius..Forgets his Promise, now secure of Fame, And heeds no more his Pythagoric Dream. "

(1746) Francis tr. Horace, Epist. ii. i. 69 "Ennius..Forgets his Promise, now secure of Fame, And heeds no more his Pythagoric Dream. "

(1746) Col. Rec. Pennsylv. V. 45, "I promise myself that you will proceed to some less exceptionable Method. "

(1747) West Resurrection (ed. 2) 275 "God..promised to continue that delegated vicarial Sceptre of Righteousness in his [David's] Posterity for ever. "

(1748) Gray Alliance Educ. &. Govt. 21 "The vernal Promise of the Year. "

(1748) Richardson Clarissa (1811) III. 13 "How artfully does he (unrequired) promise to observe the conditions?"

(1748) Richardson Clarissa (1811) VIII. 275 "Excuse me, Sir, for the sake of my executorial duty and promise. "

(1748) Smollett Roderick Random lxvi, "[He] promised to procure for us the company of an English signior. "

(1748) Anson's Voy. Introd., "A Voyage round the World promises a species of information, of all others the most desirable and interesting. "

(1749) Fielding Tom Jones vii. vii. (1840) 90 "You have promised to bear me company. "

(1749) Fielding Tom Jones xi. v, "I can neither live on Hopes or Promises, nor will my Woollen-draper take any such in Payment. "

(1749) Fielding Tom Jones xvii. iii, "Did I ever go off any bargain when I had promised?"

(1749) Fielding Tom Jones xviii. i, "I promise thee it is what I have desired. "

(1749) Smollett Gil Blas vii. xii. (1782) III. 89 "Let me know what is the business, and I promise you shall get some snips out of the minister. "

(1749) Phil. Trans. XLVI. 79 "He has pick'd up his Flesh, and promises to enjoy a good Habit of Body. "

(1750) Johnson Rambler No. 13 &page.13 "Promises of friendship are useless and vain, unless they are made in some known sense, adjusted and acknowledged by both parties. "

(1750) Johnson Rambler No. 51 &page.11 "The composition of this pudding she has however promised Clarinda, that..she shall be told. "

(1750) Mrs. Delany Life &. Corr. (1861) II. 607, "I cannot promise too much for you till I have finished a plain fringe I am knotting..; as soon as that is finished I will do some sugar-plum for you."

(1751) Smollett Per. Pic. lxxxvii, "Meanwhile the infanta [a girl] herself..promised to keep a stricter guard for the future."

(1751) Female Foundling II. 35 "He has no Pre-engagement, and consequently no Promise to recal. "

(1752) Johnson Rambl. No. 201 &page.9 "A promise is never to be broken. "

(1753) Chambers Cycl. Supp., "Alternative promise is where two or more are engaged to do a thing..though if either of them discharge it, both are acquitted. "

(1753) Richardson Grandison (1811) II. xxix. 297 "Your father, my dear, (but you might not know that,) could have absolved you from this promise. "

(1754) Dodsley Agric. ii, "His various esculents, from glowing beds Give the fair promise of delicious feasts. "

(1754) Hume Hist. Eng. iv. (1812) I. 289 "In return he promised that he would assist his brother. "

(1754) Richardson Grandison (1781) II. xxix. 278 "To be a single woman all my life, if he would not disengage me of my rash, my foolish promise. "

(1754) Richardson Grandison II. xxiii. 168, "I give you emotion, madam. Forgive me. I have performed my promise. "

(1754) Richardson Grandison IV. xv. 115, "I haue promised to be with the sweet Bully early in the morning of her important day."

(1754) Sherlock Disc. (1759) I. vii. 223 "This Reliance on the Promises of God. "

(1754) Wilkes Corr. (1805) I. 26 "Gentlemen, I come here uncorrupting, and I promise you I shall ever be uncorrupted. "

(1754) Connoisseur No. 26 &page.4 "Every hedge ale-house that promises good home-brewed. "

(1755) Amory Mem. (1766) II. 252 "A realizing, presentiating faith of the unseen things promised by God. "

(1755) B. Martin Mag. Arts &. Sci. 7 "You promised me a regular Account of natural Things, and said we should begin with the Heavens. "

(1755) Young Centaur ii. (1757) IV. 159 "God's promises are better than anything we can carve for ourselves."

(1755) Young Centaur iii. Wks. 1757 IV. 173 "Greater professions of friendship can no man make, than this arch-promiser: greater proofs of the contrary can no man give. "

(1755) Mem. Capt. P. Drake II. v. 188 "Unless we left our Swords, and promised not to go to handy Grips. "

(1756-9) A. Butler Lives of Saints, St. Frances, "The Oblates make no solemn vows, only a promise of obedience to the mother-president. "

(1756) G. Harris tr. Justinian's Instit. §.13. 91 "If a man gives his cloaths to a fuller, that they may be cleaned, or to a taylor, that they may be mended, and there is no agreement or promise made, an action of mandate will lie. "

(1756) J. Warton Ess. Pope (1782) I. iv. 229 "Obstacles, which might prevent his arising to that height, which the figure of his nativity promised."

(1757) Burke Abridgm. Eng. Hist. iii. viii. Wks. 1812 V. 684 "They had strength enough to oblige him [John] to a solemn promise of restoring those liberties and franchises, which they had always claimed. "

(1758) Johnson Idler No. 17 &page.1 "By fatal confidence in these fallacious promises [of fine weather]..many curls have been moistened to flaccidity. "

(1758) Jortin Erasmus I. 305 "He promises..to send him the apotheosis of his friend Reuchlin. "

(1758) S. Hayward Serm. Introd. 19 "The promise yet stands. "

(1758) S. Hayward Serm. xvi. 475 "He was under no obligations to take human nature, only what arose from his free..promise. "

(1759) Dilworth Pope 17 "Mr. Pope promised to revise his poems..finding great room for amendment. "

(1759) Johnson Rasselas viii, "My father had obliged me to the improvement of my stock, not by a promise..but by a penalty which I was at liberty to incur. "

(1760-72) H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) IV. 116 "The apt type and prefiguring promise of what Christ will be. "

(1760) C. Johnston Chrysal i. iv. I. 22 "Making my fortune a prey to every sharking projector who flattered my vanity with promises of success. "

(1760) Ellis in Phil. Trans. LI. 933 "It promises, from the thickness and woodiness of its stem,..to become a shrub of six or seven feet high. "

(1760) Washington Diaries I. 112 "The morning..promised much rain or other falling weather. "

(1760) tr. de Vattel's Law of Nations I. ii. xvii. 230 "The only state of things, on account of which the promise is made, is essential to it, and the change of that state alone can lawfully hinder or suspend the effect of that promise. This is the sense which ought to be given to that maxim of the civilians, Conventio omnis intelligitur rebus sic stantibus. "

(1762) Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) IV. lxiv. 768 "He ordered that such of the prisoners as should simply promise to obey the laws for the future should be set at liberty. "

(1763) H. Walpole Lett. (1891) IV. 154 "Not paying Lord Clive the three thousand pounds, which the Ministry had promised him in lieu of his *Nabobical annuity. "

(1763) Rhode Island Col. Rec. (1861) VI. 359 "All mortgages, bonds, [etc.]..wherein the payment of money is..promised, shall be taken and understood to mean lawful money. "

(1764) Gray Corr. w. Nicholls (1843) 59 "A half promise of being declared secretary to the embassy. "

(1764) J. Penn in Pennsylvania Archives 4th Ser. (1900) III. Papers of Governors 292, "I do..promise, that there shall be paid..the following several and respective premiums and Bounties for the prisoners and Scalps of the Enemy Indians that shall be taken or killed. "

(1764) Museum Rust. III. i. 1 "The wheat-corn was remarkably backward, though it, in general, promised to be a good crop."

(1765) Blackstone Comm. I. 45 "A compact is a promise proceeding from us, law is a command directed to us. "

(1765) Blackstone Comm. I. vi. (1809) 235 "After this the king or queen..shall say, `The things which I have here before promised I will perform and keep: so help me God': and then shall kiss the book. "

(1765) C. Brietzcke Diary 18 Feb. in N. &. Q. (1963) 109/2 "He good-naturedly promised me he would. "

(1765) Chesterf. Lett. cccli. (1774) IV. 221 "You may depend upon what I promised you, before Midsummer next, at farthest."

(1765) Goldsm. Ess. ii. Wks. (Globe) 288/2 "The public has been so often imposed upon by the unperforming promises of others. "

(1765) S. Cibber Let. 3 Oct. in Private Corresp. David Garrick (1831) I. 201, "I hope you remember that I have lost poor little *swivel-eye, that was blind, and also that you promised me a dog that could see. "

(1765) T. Hutchinson Hist. Col. Mass. i. 4 "He promised to connive. "

(1766) Goldsm. Vic. W. iii, "Instead of money he gave promises. "

(1766) Goldsm. Vic. W. viii, "An amour, which promises little good fortune, yet may be productive of much."

(1766) Goldsm. Vic. W. xiv, "Mr. Thornhill having kindly promised to inspect their conduct himself. "

(1766) Goldsm. Vic. W. xx, "He assured me that I was on the very point of ruin, in listening to the office-keeper's promises. "

(1766) Goldsm. Vicar xxxi, "Else nothing could have ever made me unjust to my promise. "

(1766) Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield I. xvii. 171 "`Name, then, your day...' ..She again renewed her..promise of marrying Mr. Williams..and..that day month was fixed upon for her nuptials. "

(1767) A. Young Farmer's Lett. People 117 "The drilling method likewise promises great advantages. "

(1768) Blackstone Comm. III. ix. 158 "A promise is in the nature of a verbal covenant. "

(1768) Goldsm. Good-n. Man i, "Do you find jest, and I'll find laugh, I promise you. "

(1768) J. Byron Narr. Patagonia (1778) 153 "He promised the fairest for holding out, being a very strong young man. "

(1769) Earl March in Jesse Selwyn &. Contemp. (1843) II. 366, "I wrote you a note with a pencil upon the road, which a *turnpike-man promised to send to you. "

(1769) Robertson Chas. V, III. vii. 1 "The Emperor's disingenuity in violating his repeated promises. "

(1769) Wesley Jrnl. 13 July, "The Under-Sheriff had promised the use of the Town-hall. "

(1770) Foote Lame Lover i. 20, "[I] promised to..match a coach-horse for Brigadier Whip. "

(1770) Junius Lett. xxxviii. 187 "Such..were the blustering promises. "

(1771) Foote Maid of Bath iii. Wks. 1799 II. 238, "I promise you she sha'n't be to seek for the means. "

(1771) Mrs. Griffith Hist. Lady Barton II. 122 "That sweet promiser Hope. "

(1771) Smollett Humph. Cl. 30 Sept., "That..he would come to Bath in the winter, where I promised to give him the meeting. "

(1771) T. Hull Sir W. Harrington (1797) III. 95 "Wording what I declared to be a releasement,..more binding than those promises I pretended to absolve you from."

(1771) Wesley Wks. (1872) VI. 85 "It is hard to speak of..these promise-mongers, as they deserve. "

(1772) Fletcher Logica Genev. 160 "A merciful, gracious promise-keeping God. "

(1772) Priestley Nat. &. Rev. Relig. (1782) II. 34 "That promise must have been cancelled. "

(1773) Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. i. i, "You may be a Darby, but I'll be no Joan, I promise you. "

(1773) Salkeld Cases King's Bench III. 374 "The Jury found, that the Plaintiff was damnified 10l. by the Defendant's Non-performing his Promise."

(1775) Adair Amer. Ind. 319 "Promise..to send the..snake's head, in the time appointed by our sticks hieroglyphically painted. "

(1775) Falck Day's Diving Vess. 50 "A method that promises better success..namely, cradling the object. "

(1775) Johnson Tax. no Tyr. 22 "An idle promiser of kingdoms in the clouds. "

(1775) S. J. Pratt Liberal Opin. lxxxv. (1783) III. 135 "The shrewdness, acuteness,..and all other nesses that promised the man of wealth. "

(1776) Adam Smith W.N. ii. ii. (1869) I. 327 "Inserting into their banknotes..an Optional Clause, by which they [Scotch Banks] promised payment to the bearer, either as soon as the note should be presented, or, in the option of the directors, six months after such presentment, together with the legal interest for the said six months. "

(1776) Adam Smith W.N. ii. ii. (1869) I. 327 "They promised payment..six months after such presentment. "

(1776) H. Gates in Sparks Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853) I. 281 "The militia were promised their mileage and billeting-money. "

(1776) Justamond tr. Raynal's Hist. Ind. I. 33 "The Bramin..promised to pardon him on condition that he should swear never to translate the Bedas, or sacred volumes. "

(1777) Blair Serm. I. v. 141 "With what entire confidence ought we to wait for the fulfilment of all his other promises, in their due time. "

(1777) Dibdin Quaker i. i, "You wont get a lamb out of our fold, I promise you. "

(1777) Sheridan Sch. Scand. iii. i, "He has received nothing but evasive promises of future service. "

(1777) Sheridan Sch. Scandal i. ii, "Though your ill-conduct may disturb my peace of mind, it shall never break my heart, I promise you. "

(1777) Sheridan Sch. Scandal v. ii, "Sir Peter, you are come in good time, I promise you; for we had just given you over. "

(1778) Miss Burney Evelina (1791) II. xxi. 136 "Should I once more remind you of the promise you vouchsafed me yesterday? "

(1778) Miss Burney Evelina x, "They have promised me a compleat suit of linen against the evening. "

(1779) Mirror No. 34 "That sort of promise which a man keeps when the thing suits his inclination. "

(1779) Sylph I. 241 "How long will they remain satisfied with being repeatedly put by with empty promises? "

(1780) Brodhead in Sparks Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853) II. 449 "The remaining Continentals are the cullings of our troops, and I cannot promise anything clever from them. "

(1780) Burke Sp. Bristol. Wks. III. 364 "Promises were made..without any exception or reserve. "

(1781) Cowper Retirement 768 "Judah's promised king..Driven out an exile from the face of Saul."

(1781) Gibbon Decl. &. F. II. xli. 504 "Their valiant promise was faintly supported in the hour of battle. "

(1781) Gibbon Decl. &. F. xx. (1787) II. 217 "But the Christian sanctuary was open to every ambitious candidate, who aspired to its heavenly promises, or temporal possessions."

(1781) J. Hutton Tour to Caves Gloss., "Crinckle, to recede, or fall off from a promise or purpose. "

(1782) Cowper Lett. 18 Nov., "We promise, however, that none shall touch it but such as are miserably poor. "

(1782) J. Brown Nat. &. Revealed Relig. ii. i. 139 "He..doth accomplish those promises..which he had the *strongest-like reasons to shift. "

(1782) J. Brown View Nat. &. Revealed Relig. vi. iii. §.9 (1796) 505 "Vowing is the making a solemn promise to God, in which we bind ourselves to do or forbear somewhat for the promoting his glory. "

(1782) Miss Burney Cecilia ix. v, "To perform her promise with the *Pew Opener. "

(1782) Miss Burney Cecilia v. iv, "The next day Miss Belfield was to tell her everything by a voluntary promise. "

(1782) Miss Burney Cecilia viii. vi, "Now I see the fair promise of his upright youth. "

(1782) Priestley Corrupt. Chr. II. ix. 224 "No promise made to an heretic is binding. "

(1784) Cowper Task v. 548 "That charter sanction'd sure By th' unimpeachable and awful oath And promise of a God! "

(1784) S. Turner Let. 2 Mar. in Acct. of Embassy to Court of Teshoo Lama in Tibet (1800) iii. 366 "He will ratify the promises made to the former Teshoo Lama, the moment the present Lama is capable of renewing the application. "

(1785) Paley Mor. Philos. (1818) I. 141 "A latitude, which might evacuate the force of almost all promises."

(1785) Paley Mor. Philos. iii. i. v, "Promises are not binding, where the performance is unlawful. "

(1785) Paley Mor. Philos. iii. i. v. 107 "The promise is to be performed in that sense in which the promiser apprehended at the time that the promisee received it. "

(1785) Paley Mor. Philos. iii. i. v. 111 "Promises are not binding, where the performance is unlawful. "

(1786) A. Gib Sacr. Contempl. i. 33 "A signified and sealed promise of eternal life."

(1786) Paley Mor. Philos. (ed. 2) III. i. xvi. 164 "God will punish false swearing with more severity than a simple lie, or breach of promise. "

(1786) Wesley Wks. (1872) IV. 345 "The Elders of his Church..would dismiss my promise."

(1786) Francis the Philanthropist III. 152, "I gave him my time for expenceless promises."

(1787) Mad. D'Arblay Diary 13 July, "I found him [Dr. Beattie] pleasant..with a round thick clunch figure, that promises nothing either of his works or his discourse. "

(1788) Gibbon Decl. &. F. l. V. 225 "They redeemed themselves with prayers and promises from their hands. "

(1788) Gibbon Decl. &. F. xlix. V. 136 "His coronation oath represents a promise to maintain the faith. "

(1788) Reid Active Powers v. vi. 667 "It is obvious that the prestation promised must be understood by both parties. "

(1789) Burns Robin shure in Hairst iv, "Robin promised me A' my winter vittle. "

(1789) Mad. D'Arblay Diary Nov., "I gave her my ready promise. "

(1789) W. Buchan Dom. Med. (ed. 11) 483 "Mankind are extremely fond of every thing that promises a sudden or miraculous cure. "

(1789) Triumphs Fortitude I. 101, "I shall take the first opportunity of sending the books I promised. "

(1790) Bruce Trav. IV. viii. x. 523 "If beautiful and symmetrical parts, great size and strength,..can promise anything for a stallion, the Nubian is..the most eligible in the world."

(1790) Burke Fr. Rev. 96 "A bird-eye landscape of a promised land. "

(1790) Cowper Let. to J. Hill 17 Sept., "The sum subscribed..will defray the expense of printing; which is as much as, in these unsubscribing days, I had any reason to promise myself. "

(1790) G. Walker Serm. II. xxiii. 164 "The promises of the Gospel..do clearly and unambiguously confirm the hope. "

(1790) Han. More Relig. Fash. World (ed. 2) 153 "That once credited promise, that `they who have done well shall go into everlasting life'."

(1790) Paley Hor&ae. Paul. xi. §.1 "As he was also under a promise to the church of Philippi to see them. "

(1791-1823) Disraeli Cur. Lit., Dom. Hist. Sir E. Coke, "Bacon..tacked round, and promised Buckingham to promote the match he so much abhorred. "

(1792) S. Rogers Pleas. Mem. i. 59 "The clock..That faithful monitor, 'twas heaven to hear, When soft it spoke a promised pleasure near."

(1792) W. Roberts Looker-On No. 7 (1794) I. 93 "If his taylor continue to disappoint him, I promise to keep no measures with the delinquent. "

(1793) T. Beddoes Math. Evid. 10 "They seem to promise, to speculative minds, a sort of independance upon external things. "

(1793) T. Fremantle in Wynne Diaries (1952) xix. 251 "Find the surgeon to be a mauvais subjet [sic], talk much to him. He crys, and promises to amend. "

(1794) Coleridge Death Chatterton 109 "For oh! big *gall-drops..Have blackened the fair promise of thy spring. "

(1794) Godwin Caleb Williams 314 "Mr. Collins promised, as far as he was able, to have an eye upon my vicissitudes. "

(1794) Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxxiii, "Withdraw to your chamber before I retract my promise. "

(1794) Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxxviii, "Remember I do not promise ever to speak upon them."

(1794) Southey Wat Tyler iii. i, "The King must perform His plighted promise. "

(1796) Mrs. Howell Anzoletta Zadoski I. 152 "He could not so far dissimulate as to promise his concurrence. "

(1796) Mrs. M. Robinson Angelina II. 39, "I should have given him a word of a sort, I promise you. "

(1796) Rev. F. Leighton MS. Let. J. Boucher 10 May, "I am promised some gleanings of Shropshire words. As to Sheriff's man for Goldfinch..the Corbets..were often Sheriffs of the County; their livery was black and yellow, the colour of the goldfinch's penfeathers. "

(1797) Jane Austen Sense &. Sensib. xxx, "When a young man, be he who he will,..promises marriage, he has no business to fly off from his word. "

(1797) Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xvi, "Ellena immediately admitted the sacredness of the promise which she had formerly given. "

(1797) Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xvi, "She considered herself as indissolubly bound by that promise as if it had been given at the altar. "

(1797) S. &. Ht. Lee Canterb. T. (1799) I. 348 "Favourable winds seemed for some time to promise them a speedy navigation. "

(1797) Hist. in Ann. Reg. 178/1 "It is not..the paper that is, in fact, the substitute for money but something still more exile; the promise..stamped upon it."

(1797) in Corr. Pinckney, Marshall &. Gerry (1798) 36 "We have promised Messrs. X. and Y. that their names shall in no event be made public. "

(1798) Coleridge in Biog. Lit. (1872) II. 741 "The landlord..has promised me to Rumfordize the chimneys. "

(1798) W. Hutton Autobiog. 43 "The attorney promised to reimburse the expense, the contenders being poor. "

(1798) W. Taylor in Month. Rev. XXVII. 501 "Its promises are more authentically proclaimed."

(1798) Poet. Anti-Jacobin No. 24. 127 "'Till deadly Atropos with fatal sheers Slits the thin promise of the expected years."

(1799) T. Beddoes Contrib. Phys. &. Med. 217 "The ph&ae.nomena in which light and oxygen are concerned, especially as the actions of life promise to be comprehensible under them."

(1799) Spirit Publ. Jrnls. (1800) III. 395 "John has got over most of her servants..and he has made large promises to others."

(1800) Mrs. Hervey Mourtray Fam. IV. 57 "Well, promise nothing, Mr. Chowles; but do it without. "

(1800) Med. Jrnl. III. 480 "When radical cures have been confidently promised by the causticators."

(1800) Spirit Publ. Jrnls. IV. 115 "Musical rumpus; or more than was promised in the bills. "

(1801) Bentham Mem. &. Corr. Wks. 1843 X. 362 "Mr. Rose promised..to place it with his own secretarial hands..on..the table of Mr. Pitt. "

(1801) Encycl. Brit. Suppl. I. 723/1 "A studied harangue, filled with that sentimental slang of philanthropy, which costs so little, promises so much, and has now corrupted all the languages of Europe."

(1801) tr. Gabrielli's Myst. Husb. III. 104 "[She] only lamented she had not something better to offer them, but promised to make it out at dinner. "

(1802-12) Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827) IV. 418 "Self-partiality draws from each of them such of the facts as promise to operate in favour of his claim. "

(1802) Mar. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. xii. 97 "She would not promise what..she could not perform. "

(1803) Mary Charlton Wife &. Mistress III. 144 "This promised interview was now the only circumstance she looked forward to, ere she quitted this unharmonized society. "

(1803) Wellington in Gurw. Disp. II. 174 "In breach of your promises to me. "

(1803) Lett. Miss Riversdale I. 319 "The Prince took down the notes in pencil..and promised to ink them over for Lady Belfont. "

(1805) Jane Austen Let. 27 Aug. (1952) 166 "She volunteers, moreover, her love to little Marianne, with the promise of bringing her a doll. "

(1805) Southey Madoc in W. viii. Wks. 1838 V. 65 "The glad promise, given To our first parent, that at length his sons..Should form one happy family of love."

(1805) Wordsw. Prelude iii. 482 "That they needs Must keep to all, as fondly all believe, Their highest promise. "

(1806) Bloomfield Wild Flowers 106 "It has generally and almost unexceptionably appeared a subject of little promise."

(1806) Sir W. Scott Let. 11 Aug. (1932) I. 314, "I wish I could promise to add to your convenience by accommodating the boarder, but our grass has been so scanty that we could not do him justice. "

(1806) Balance (Hudson, N.Y.) 11 Nov. 355 (Th.), "Next Friday [the newspaper] promises to make its debut. Friday-that's hanging day-but no matter. "

(1806) Port Folio 17 May 304/1, "I got plenty of promises, Latin, and jaw, And who ever got more from a lawyer? Of the sport I got sick, so threw up the game, For my cash by the sharks had got eaten."

(1807) in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. XI. 370 "They hail a scheme which promises them relief from managerial neglect and popular damnation. "

(1808) J. Barlow Columb. iii. 527 "Grimm'd by the horrors of the dreadful night, The hosts woke fiercer for the promised fight. "

(1808) Scott Fam. Lett. (1894) I. iv. 126, "I care not for rewards..Neither is it easy to gull me with these fair promises. "

(1809) Southey in Q. Rev. II. 58 "Pomarre has..promised the missionaries to abolish infanticide and human sacrifices. "

(1809) Tomlins Law Dict. s.v., "If the party himself instruct a juror, or promise any reward for his appearance, then the party is likewise an embraceor."

(1809) Belfast Monthly Mag. Mar. 164/2, "I promise..method in my handling the theory and practice of song&dubh.writing. "

(1811) C. Mathews Let. 5 Dec. in Mrs. Mathews Mem. C.M. (1838) II. viii. 173 "They may promise a salary, and I am sure they would pay it; but can they promise business? "

(1811) J. Jebb in C. Forster Corr. betw. J. &. Knox (1834) II. 41 "The Archbishop..promises to insure you against caravats, shanavests, and all such marauders. "

(1811) Jane Austen Sense &. S. III. viii. 181 "He reminded me of an old promise about a pointer puppy. "

(1812) Byron Ch. Har., To Ianthe ii, "Ah! may'st thou ever be what now thou art, Nor unbeseem the promise of thy spring. "

(1812) Byron Childe Har. ii. lxxii, "Tambourgi! thy larum gives promise of war. "

(1812) L. Hunt in Examiner 7 Dec. 770/2 "Your promise has remained unredeemed. "

(1812) Examiner 28 Sept. 622/2 "What is a bank note but a promise to pay the bearer a certain quantity of gold? "

(1812) Examiner 9 Nov. 719/2 "The defendant..made a promise to send some rowing lads on the next Sunday."

(1813) Byron Corsair iii. x, "He had brooded lone O'er promised pangs to sentenced guilt fore&dubh.shown. "

(1813) E. Henderson in Life iii. (1859) 116 "Another merchant has promised to get the Greenlandic Testaments forwarded. "

(1813) Jane Austen Let. 16 Sept. (1952) 327 "There was but 2 yd and a qr of the dark slate in the Shop, but the Man promised to match it."

(1813) Scott Rokeby i. xv, "Hast thou kept thy promise plight, To slay thy leader in the fight? "

(1813) Scott Trierm. ii. xx, "As promise-bound, I bid the trump for tourney sound. "

(1813) Sir. R. Wilson Priv. Diary (1862) I. 271 "The promise of the Turkish nibblings being restored to Moldavia. "

(1814) Byron Juan i. xlix, "At six a charming child, and at eleven With all the promise of as fine a face. "

(1814) Cary Dante, Parad. iii. 108, "I..Made promise of the way her sect enjoins."

(1814) Scott Wav. xxvii, "`A rash promise..is not a steel handcuff: it may be shaken off.' "

(1814) Southey Lett. (1856) II. 386 "A good thing, called by the odd name of a postmastership, has been promised him at Merton, which will materially lighten the expense. "

(1814) W. Taylor in Monthly Rev. LXXIV. 308 "He does not luxuriate and replenish, and promise to bloom again."

(1815) Chalmers Let. in Life (1851) II. 12 "A daily..commitment of ourselves to those promises which are in Christ Jesus. "

(1815) J. Cormack Abol. Fem. Infanticide Guzerat viii. 130 "Promises..always clogged with the stipulated condition, that the example should be first set by some nominated chief. "

(1815) Scott Guy M. ix, "He had often promised the child a ride upon his galloway. "

(1815) Scott Guy M. lvi, "They were, you remember, resurrection-women, who had promised to procure a child's body for some young surgeons. "

(1815) Zeluca II. 1 "The envy that always ensued from retrospecting those pleasures that had failed in promised enjoyment. "

(1816) J. Scott Visit Paris (ed. 5) 245 "Undangered and inevitable duration can be promised to nothing in this world."

(1816) J. Wilson City of Plague ii. ii. 15, "I have been kept from home, beyond my promised hour. "

(1816) Scott Antiq. xiii, "This rapparee promised him mountains of wealth. "

(1816) Scott Antiq. xiv, "The knight's a punctilious old fool, but I promise you his daughter is above all nonsensical ceremony and prejudice. "

(1816) Scott Antiq. xvi, "I expect him here one of these days; but I will keep him at staff's end, I promise you."

(1816) Scott Old Mort. vi, "With a promise on Morton's part that he would call the refugee when it was time for him to pursue his journey."

(1816) Scott Old Mort. xxxvi, "Keep your ain breath to cool your ain porridge-ye'll find them scalding hot, I promise you. "

(1816) Monthly Mag. XLI. 527 "Some promise to upclimb the light-house spire. "

(1817) J. Brown Gospel Truth Stated (1831) 141 "There is not a conditional promise in the Bible but what is reductively absolute. "

(1817) Jas. Mill Brit. India II. iv. vi. 230 "He endeavoured to obtain the security of at least a written promise for these terms which had been offered to gain his consent. "

(1817) Jas. Mill Brit. India II. iv. vii. 241 "The Rohillas had amused him with only deceitful promises. "

(1817) W. Selwyn Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 751 "The promise must be expressed in the written memorandum or note."

(1818) Colebrooke Obligations i. 107 "To constitute an alternative obligation, two or more acts or things must be promised disjunctively. "

(1818) Miss Ferrier Marriage iii. (D.), "As you promise our stay shall be short, if I don't die of the horrors, I shall certainly try to make the agreeable. "

(1818) Scott Hrt. Midl. xxii, "She was seduced under promise of marriage. "

(1818) Scott Rob Roy i, "Your greener age and robust constitution promise longer life."

(1818) Shelley Eug. Hills 244 "But Death promised..That he would petition for Her to be made *Vice-Emperor. "

(1819) [A. Balfour] Campbell I. 27, "I hae nae doubt o' his abilities, for he promises fair according to his upcome. "

(1819) Crabbe T. of Hall xii. 356, "I make a promise, and will not revoke."

(1819) J. Wilson Dict. Astrol. s.v., "&354. and &301. are anaretic promittors, and promise to destroy the life of the native when the hyleg is directed to them. &386. and &348. are promittors of good when directions to them are fulfilled."

(1819) Scott Ivanhoe xxxii, "`So help me the promise',..said Isaac,..`as no such sounds ever crossed my lips!'"

(1819) Metropolis (ed. 2) II. 57, "I did not stay very late at the party; and our marvellous promised to give us a list of the company..the ensuing day. [Cf. p. 59 Our military Exquisite.]"

(1820) Leigh Hunt in Examiner No. 616. 66/1 "Royal disappointers and promise-breakers."

(1820) Keats Lamia i. 288 "The amorous promise of her lone complain."

(1820) Scott Monast. ix, "The Sub-Prior..without having any farther interview with Christie the galloper, answered by giving the promise. "

(1820) Scott Monast. xxxvii, "I promise you..that young Bennygask shall be richly wived. "

(1820) Shelley Hymn Merc. xliv, "If you should promise an immense reward, I could not tell more than you now have heard. "

(1820) W. Irving Sketch Bk., Leg. Sleepy Hollow (1865) 438 "Great fields of Indian corn..holding out the promise of cakes and hasty pudding."

(1821) Southey Let. to C. Bedford 29 Apr., "We are promised to succeed him a black Tomling. "

(1821) Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 34 "Some long, long dallied promise to fulfil."

(1821) J. Hodgson in J. Raine Mem. (1857) I. 347 "He has promised to communicate to our Society some very curious and unsunned letters of Lord Dacre's. "

(1822) B. W. Proctor Ludovico Sforza ii, "No ill has happened..to sway Your promise from me? "

(1822) De Quincey Confess. (1853) 67 "Recomforted by this promise.., I returned in a Windsor coach to London. "

(1822) Mrs. E. Nathan Langreath III. 290 "Yet have we the injucundity of witnessing that..their promises are but fabulosities. "

(1823) Bentham Not Paul 42 "Promises, put-offs, evasions- and, after all, no performance. "

(1823) J. Simpson Ricardo the Outlaw I. 241 "She promised that in two years, at longest, she would make them a visit. "

(1823) Scott Quentin D. xii, "For this Louis promised to provide, by spreading a report that the Ladies of Croye had escaped. "

(1823) Scott Quentin D. xix, "The arrogating manner in which the Bohemian had promised to back his suit."

(1823) Scott Quentin D. xxxiii, "Will you make good your promise? "

(1824) L. Murray Eng. Gram. (ed. 5) I. 147 "The word shall..does not mean, to promise..in the third person, but the mere futurition of an event. "

(1824) Miss Ferrier Inher. xxvii, "Promise that you will riddle me right, and tell me why poverty is the greatest misfortune in the world."

(1824) Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 177 "The sky promised a series of deluging showers. "

(1824) Mech. Mag. 90 "Some merchants..will promise to give sixty-eight sacks to a room. "

(1824) New Monthly Mag. XI. 555 "A long-ambitioned and long-promised addition to her summer finery. "

(1824) Trans. Highl. Soc. VI. 174 "The grass-crop on the salted land will not exceed two-thirds of the weight of what is promised on the parts not salted. "

(1825) Coleridge Aids Refl. (1848) I. 148 "Humility is the safest ground of docility and docility the surest promise of docibility."

(1825) Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Superannuated Man, "Where was..the promised rest? Before I had a taste of it, it was banished. "

(1825) Scott Betrothed iii, "The promiser..escapes not the sin of a *word-breaker, because he hath been a drunken braggart. "

(1825) Scott Talism. iii, "A twinkle in the star of thy nativity, which promises for thee something that is good and gracious. "

(1825) Scott Talism. xx, "He hath foully faulted towards me, in failing to send the auxiliary aid he promised. "

(1825) Thirlwall tr. Tieck's Pictures 80 "Well, I promise you, you shall find I do not come again."

(1826) Disraeli V. Grey ii. viii, "Mr. Vivian Grey had promised his Lordship, who was a collector of medals, an unique which had never yet been heard of. "

(1826) Disraeli Viv. Grey i. vi, "Vivian..promised, protested, and finally sat down `to read'. "

(1826) Disraeli Viv. Grey v. xii, "It is a promise, good. "

(1826) M. Wilmot Let. 29 Feb. (1935) 234 "O `wisha' `wisha', shall I ever arrive at the ball I promised you! "

(1826) Scott Woodst. xv, "An extorted promise of silence. "

(1826) Kent's Comm. II. xxxix. 465 "A valuable consideration is one that is either a benefit to the party promising or some trouble or prejudice to the party to whom the promise is made."

(1827) Pollok Course of Time vii. (1860) 178 "Silver-tongued Hope Promised another harvest. "

(1827) Pollok Course T. ix. 972 "Nor failed [Satan] to misadvise his..faith, by false unkerneled promises."

(1827) Pollok Course Time ix. (1860) 266 "Nor failed to misadvise his future hope And faith, by false unkerneled promises. "

(1827) Sarah E. Miles Hymn, `Thou who didst stoop below' iii, "To see a Father's love Beam, like a bow of promise, through the cloud. "

(1827) Scott Surg. Dau. v, "None are so scrupulous as I am about making promises. I am as trusty as a Trojan for that. "

(1827) Blackw. Mag. XXI. 729 "Informing her very lengthily,-to borrow an Americanism..that her father has promised her hand. "

(1828-32) Webster s.v., "He promised to pay, but was not able to make out the money or the whole sum. "

(1828) E. Irving Last Days 362 "O ye niggard spiritualizers of God's universal promise! "

(1828) Macaulay Ess., Hallam (1887) 55 "A historical novel of high merit, and of still higher promise. "

(1828) Miss Mitford Village Ser. iii. Introd. 6 "The puppy..is fawn-coloured with a dash of white, and promises to be ticked. Are you sportswoman sufficient to know that ticked means covered all over with white spots about the size of a pea? "

(1828) Scott F.M. Perth xxix, "Catharine's hand is promised-promised to a man whom you may hate. "

(1828) Life Planter Jamaica 79 "To rely upon promises..would end in regret and discomfiture. "

(1828) Trial W. Dyon at York Assizes 11, "I promised him I would not tell: I was like for fear of losing my life. "

(1829) J. Sterling Ess., etc. (1848) I. 124 "Many of..the Spaniards..were willing to truck the independence of their country for the political benefits promised by the invaders."

(1829) Lamb Let. to W. Wilson 15 Nov. (1837) II. 247 "I promise myself, if not immortality, yet diuturnity of being read."

(1829) Lytton Disowned 19 "Which he promised to prepare with the most solicitudinous dispatch. "

(1829) Scott Anne of G. xii, "I promise you the wind blew shrill."

(1829) Scott Rob Roy i. 64 "I dare not promise that I may not abuse the opportunity so temptingly offered me. "

(1830-3) Carleton Traits &. St., Going to Maynooth (Cent.), "Few would rely on the word or oath of any man who had been known to break a *hand-promise. "

(1830) D'Israeli Chas. I, III. Pref. 6 "It would be graceless in me, not to add, that I was honoured by a promise of aid. "

(1830) M. Edgeworth Let. 8 Dec. (1971) 444 "He..promised to do all he can for him... If that should be while I am here-tant mieux. "

(1830) Scott Monast. Introd., "They have no share in the promise made to the sons of Adam."

(1830) W. Phillips Mt. Sinai ii. 615 "He freely promises; no guerdon mean, Indign, or scant. "

(1830) in N. E. Eliason Tarheel Talk (1956) 303 "[She] says she hears you are to be married. She wishes to know..when..as you promised she would be one of the waiters. "

(1831) Greville Mem. (1874) II. 153 "There was..every promise of a stormy session. "

(1831) Loudon Encycl. Agric. §.2704 "Gray's *seed-harrow for wet weather promises to be useful..in a tenacious retentive soil. "

(1831) Mackintosh Hist. Eng. II. 57 "Promises of marriage may have been employed as means of seduction. "

(1831) Scott Jrnl. 5 Mar., "I promised to shake my duds and give them a cast of my calling. "

(1832) Austin Jurispr. (1879) I. vi. 324 "Where the performance of either of the promises is made by either to depend on the performance of the other, the several conventions are cross or implicated."

(1832) Austin Jurispr. (1879) I. vi. 325 "If each of us promise the other to render the other a service, but the render of either of the services is not made to depend on the render of the other."

(1832) Hallam in Life Tennyson (1897) I. 89 "The (printer's) devils are full of promise to set up immediately. "

(1832) Ht. Martineau Demerara iii. 35, "I should be unfaithful if I had ever promised either."

(1832) Ht. Martineau Hill &. Vall. i. 16 "Remarking on the fine promise of fruit. "

(1832) Ht. Martineau Life in Wilds v. 56 "A plan..which promised fair to supply the butcher with employment. "

(1832) Ht. Martineau Life in Wilds viii. 101 "He confided in the captains' parting promise. "

(1832) Irving Alhambra I. 255 "`Behold', cried the astrologer, `my promised reward'. "

(1832) Maginn in Blackw. Mag. XXXII. 426 note, "The promises of ducal and marchesal head-pieces, so copiously and judiciously employed by the present Ministry. "

(1832) in Mrs. A. Mathews Mem. C. Mathews (1839) IV. 106 "No, your honour, not unless you promise me the back-fare."

(1832) tr. Sismondi's Ital. Rep. xiv. 296 "Maximilian forgot, with extreme levity, his promises and alliances. "

(1833) Ht. Martineau Fr. Wines &. Pol. iv. 53 "Being under promise, however, to purchase such and such quantities of wine, he must waive their polite scruples."

(1833) Lamb Last Ess. Elia, Poor Relations 417 "A fine classic, and a youth of promise."

(1833) Marryat P. Simple (1863) 71 "With promises and blarney he got credit for all I wanted. "

(1833) Moore Trav. Irish Gentl. in Search Relig. I. 263 "The Montanists..took it on the word of their founder that he was the very Paraclete promised by the Redeemer. "

(1834) A. Marsh Two Old Men's Tales II. xviii. 224 "`But what can I promise? I who have nothing,' mused she, `and am now penniless.' "

(1834) D. Smith Mem. Rev. John Brown of Whitburn 57 "Only as viewed in promises are they sanctifying and upstirring."

(1834) Disraeli Let. in Monypenny Life (1910) I. 251, "I had promised to join a water party in Sir Frank's yacht. "

(1834) Gilbart Hist. Bank. 38 "In 1751, in order to raise the sum promised to be lent to the Government, the bank established what was called `Bank Circulation.' "

(1834) Macaulay Ess. Pitt (1854) I. 306 "Who had bound himself, by a solemn promise, never to coalesce with Pitt. "

(1834) Medwin Angler in Wales I. 198 "He promised to give us another chapter out of his book, on another occasion. "

(1834) Fraser's Mag. IX. 711 "The tintinnabule..brought to my hand the promised jug of bubbling water."

(1835-40) Haliburton Clockm. (1862) 306 "A native artist of great promise..that is come to take us off. "

(1835) Browning Paracelsus iv. Wks. I. 141 "A cheering promise Of better things to come. "

(1835) Marryat Jac. Faithf. xxi, "Bringing out the bottle and tin pannikins, ready for the promised carouse. "

(1835) Southey Doctor xciii. III. 193 "Which in its *omnisignificance may promise anything, and yet pledges the writer to nothing. "

(1835) Sterling in Carlyle Life ii. ii. (1872) 101 "The restless immaturity of our self-consciousness, and the promise of its long throe-pangs. "

(1835) W. Irving Tour Prairies xxii, "Tonish served up to us his promised regale of buffalo soup and buffalo beef."

(1835) Court Mag. VI. 216/1 "What right had he..to thrall her promise, and waste away her young life?"

(1836) Car. Fox Jrnls. I. 18 "She promised her and Leonora a Cashmere shawl apiece."

(1836) Dickens Pickw. xviii, "Having being instructed by Mrs. Martha Bardell, to commence an action against you for a breach of promise of marriage [etc.]. "

(1836) F. Mahony Rel. Father Prout, Plea Pilgr. (1859) 35 note, "The Irish Pozzo di Borgo..kept protocolising with soft promises and delusive delays. "

(1836) T. Kelly Hymn, `Speed thy Servants' ii, "As their stay thy promise taking. "

(1836) Tennyson in Mem. (1897) I. 158 "You had promised the Marquis I would write for him something... To write for people with prefixes to their names is to milk he-goats; there is neither honour nor profit. "

(1836) Athen&ae.um No. 440. 241 "The season though somewhat backward promises an abundant harvest."

(1837) Campbell Lines on Poland 130 "The Rainbow types Heaven's promise to my sight. "

(1837) Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. iii. iv. 172 "The bad Editors promise to amend, but do not."

(1837) Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. vii. vii, "Six years ago, this Whiff of Grapeshot was promised. "

(1837) Southey Doctor Interch. xiv. IV. 44 "Leaving..Sir William Gell to genealogise, if he pleases, as elaborately as he has topographized,..I proceed with my promised explanation. "

(1837) W. Irving Capt. Bonneville II. 53 "The trapper stands..and gazes upon a promised land which his feet are never to tread."

(1838) Emerson Misc. Papers, Milton Wks. (Bohn) III. 300 "Johnson petulantly taunts Milton with `great promise and small performance'. "

(1838) Gladstone State in Rel. Ch. vii. §.30 (L.) "Prayers..headed with the promise that such and such religious advantages shall be given to all who devoutly recite them. "

(1838) Mrs. Gaskell Let. 17 Aug. (1966) 27 "Wm has promised..to marry you if it comes to a runaway match. "

(1838) Thirlwall Greece xxxiii. IV. 296 "Cyrus had promised them a largess of five minas a-piece. "

(1838) W. Bell Dict. Law Scot., "Promise and Offer... An offerer is not bound until his offer is accepted. A promiser is bound as soon as the promise reaches the party to whom it is made. "

(1838) New Yorker 14 July 260/2, "I promise, 1st. To do the duties of the office to the best of my know-how, and have a stouter man than myself to help me. "

(1839-52) Bailey Festus 317 "Oh, thou wouldst promise me the clock round."

(1839) Hallam Lit. Eur. iii. iv. §.114 III. 412 "It is..reasonable..to restrain the terms of a promise, where they clearly appear to go beyond the design of the promiser, or where supervenient circumstances indicate an exception which he would infallibly have made. "

(1839) J. Morphett in J. Stephens Land of Promise ii. 17 "We passed the range at the point where the shingle-splitters have their settlement. "

(1839) James Gentl. Old Sch. xii, "Pray..put my young friend, Ralph, in mind, that he promised me a visit this afternoon. "

(1839) Lady Lytton Cheveley (ed. 2) III. v. 107 "He was determined religiously to adhere to his promise to Julia, of not premeditatingly putting himself in her way."

(1840) Arnold Let. in Stanley Life (1858) II. 174 "Donaldson, the author of the new Cratylus, and almost the only Englishman who promises, I think, to be a really good philologer. "

(1840) Caroline Fox Jrnls. &. Lett. vi. (1882) 53 "He..promised to tutoyer us as long as we liked, but not to answer to thee. "

(1840) Mrs. Carlyle Lett. (1883) I. 124 "Overcome by her tears and promises and self-upbraidings. "

(1840) R. H. Dana Two Yrs. before Mast xvii. 154 "The captain called him a `soger', and promised to `ride him down'. "

(1840) P. Parley's Ann. I. 116, "I promise never to do so any more, not till the next time. "

(1841) F. E. Paget Tales of Village (1852) 466, "I promise you I'm preciously tired already. "

(1841) Lytton Nt. &. Morn. i. i, "Mr. Jones..promised to read the burial-service over the deceased."

(1841) Macaulay Ess., L. Hunt (1853) III. 38 "He promised..to furnish them with a play every year, if his health would permit. "

(1841) Thackeray Gt. Hoggarty Diamond ii, "I had promised a dozen of them a treat down the river. "

(1841) Blackw. Mag. XLIX. 302 "Expanding into the..ambitious promise of the youthful river; and anon, swelling forth in the stately majesty of full-grown riverhood. "

(1842) Bischoff Woollen Manuf. II. 105 "Lord Wharncliffe..promised to support Lord Harewood when he presented the petition to the House of Lords. "

(1842) Dickens Let. 22 Mar. (1974) III. 146 "You..have set me down, I know, as a neglectful, erratic, promise-breaking and most unworthy person. "

(1842) Dickens Let. 24 Dec. (1974) III. 401, "I am reminded of my promise to see to the Pantomime, and am called out at this unholy hour."

(1842) Gwilt Encycl. Arch. §.2669 "We now return to the subject of the rock-worked rustic, whereof, above, some notice was promised."

(1842) Isenberg &. Krapf Jrnl. 30 Apr. (1843) 521 "The Governor promised this morning that he would send to the next Shoho village for a guide to take us to Arkeeko. "

(1842) Mrs. F. Trollope Visit Italy II. xi. 199 "A walk through the Villa Reale..seemed..to promise advantageous look-outs without end. "

(1842) Tennyson Dora 44 "Dora promised, being meek. "

(1842) Tennyson Locksley Hall 14, "I clung to all the present for the promise that it closed."

(1843) Bethune Sc. Fireside Stor. 11, "I hereby promise to mend the whole in the most scientific manner. "

(1843) Lytton Last Bar. i. ii, "The more sombre Tregetour..promised to cut off and refix the head of a sad-faced little boy."

(1843) Prescott Mexico (1850) I. 284 "Promises, and even gold,..were liberally lavished. "

(1843) Penny Cycl. XXV. 189/1 "The king and the queen-mother promised..that they would accept the decrees of the Council [of Trent]. "

(1843) R. Carlton New Purchase I. xxii. 211 "Nothing surpasses the munificent promises..of a genuine rabble rouser, just before an election. "

(1844) Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) II. App. H. 369 "The sanction or close of the charter in these instruments is almost always the same, at least in substance-a sort of blessing promised to those who observe the grant, and of imprecation against those who break it."

(1844) Spirit of Times 19 Oct. 403/2 "She promises to be a perfect `rasper', and will have some `tall' chronicling in the `Spirit' before all of her yarn is spun. "

(1844) in Whitelaw Bk. Scot. Song (1875) 228, "I promised to rove With the turf-cutter's daughter. "

(1845) C. A. Harris Princ. &. Pract. Dental Surg. (ed. 2) vi. i. 540 "The manufacture of *porcelain teeth, did not for a long time promise to be of much advantage to dentistry. "

(1845) M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 23 "I..promise..to join the other bishops in all that they shall decide in conformity with the canon law. "

(1845) Polson Eng. Law in Encycl. Metrop. 829/1 "In the case of a farm, a promise is implied on the part of a yearly tenant, that he will use it in a husbandlike manner, and cultivate the lands according to the custom of the country. "

(1845) S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. I. 399 "To appear with his troops at Coblentz in the territory of Treves, immediately after the election, in order to earn the pension promised him by the king."

(1845) S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. II. 381 "He promised to renounce all his claims..on the suzerainty of Flanders. "

(1845) S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. III. 299 "The promises..given to the human race, in the psalms or the gospel."

(1845) Stephen Comm. Laws Eng. (1874) II. 55 "There is in strictness a distinction between a promise and a contract; for the latter involves the idea of mutuality which the former does not. "

(1845) Stephen Comm. Laws Eng. (1874) II. 55 "There is..a distinction between a promise and a contract; for the latter involves the idea of mutuality which the former does not. "

(1845) Stephen Laws Eng. II. 55 "There is in strictness a distinction between a promise and a contract; for the latter involves the idea of mutuality, which the former does not."

(1846) Browning Lett. (1899) II. 212 "As naughty children punished by mistake are promised a remission of next offence. "

(1846) Grote Greece i. xx. II. 110 "The tie which binds a man to..any special promisee towards whom he has taken the engagement of an oath. "

(1846) H. Rogers Ess. I. iv. 179 "We are promised a cure of our malady, and we are treated with palliatives. "

(1846) Ruskin Mod. Paint. II. iii. i. v. §.13 "The apparent, though unreachable, nearness and promise of them."

(1847) C. Bronte Jane Eyre xxv, "You promised to wake with me the night before my wedding. "

(1847) C. G. Addison Law of Contracts i. i. (1883) 14 "The mutuality of the obligation is the very essence of all contracts founded upon mutual promises. "

(1847) C. G. Addison Law of Contracts i. i. §.1 (1883) 8 "If the act has been performed pursuant to the previous request of the party making the promise. "

(1847) Grote Greece ii. lii. (1862) IV. 445 "His promise was disjunctive-that they should be either so brought home, or slain. "

(1847) H. Bushnell Chr. Nurt. ii. vii. (1861) 376 "Confessing shortcomings and defeats..enough to ungospel all the gospel promises."

(1847) James Convict viii, "I call upon you to redeem that promise. "

(1847) Marryat Childr. N. Forest iv, "Humphrey, the second, promised well. "

(1847) Marryat Childr. N. Forest xviii, "The tailor has promised the clothes on Saturday without fail."

(1847) W. C. Burns in Life xii. (1870) 318, "I gave him two religious books with an inscribed promise to pray for him."

(1848) Brownson Wks. (1884) V. 256 "The pure Evangelicism promised you has degenerated into pietism, mythism, rationalism. "

(1848) Dickens Dombey v, "Promise me to take a little something warm before you go to bed. "

(1848) Dickens Dombey xviii, "Cook promises a little fry for supper. "

(1848) J. H. Newman Loss &. Gain v. 26 "He..had promised him tickets, for some ladies, lionesses of his, who were coming up to the Commemoration. "

(1848) Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 175 "Even if the king had been desirous to fulfil the promises which he had made to the Presbyterians. "

(1848) Thackeray Bk. Snobs iv. (L.), "Down with the Court Circular-that engine and propagator of Snobbishness. I promise to subscribe for a year to any daily paper that shall come out without the Court Circular. "

(1848) Thackeray Van. Fair lix, "That gentleman would not let the Bengalee rest until he had executed his promise. "

(1848) Thackeray Van. Fair xli, "The Baronet promised to take charge of the lad at school."

(1848) Thackeray Van. Fair xli, "The Baronet promised to take charge of the lad at school."

(1848) Thackeray Van. Fair xliv, "She promised to see her man of business immediately. "

(1848) Thackeray Van. Fair xxxviii, "His grandpapa..promised..not to give the child any cakes, lollipops, or *stall-produce whatever. "

(1848) W. H. Kelly tr. Blanc's Hist. Ten Yrs. I. 473 "M. de Talleyrand..warmly adopted the project, and promised to present a note to the British government in its favour. "

(1848) W. N. Hutchinson Dog Breaking 94 "Excess of punishment has made many a dog of good promise a confirmed blinker."

(1849) C. Brontë. Shirley xxviii, "I..see a fine, perfect rainbow, bright with promise, gloriously spanning the beclouded welkin of life. "

(1849) Grote Greece ii. lvi. (1862) V. 88 "The oligarchical party..promised them a counter-revolutionary movement."

(1849) Lytton Caxtons 46 "In virtue of my growing years, and my promise to abstain from the decanters. "

(1849) Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 14 "If ever he [Kirke] did apostatize, he was bound by a solemn promise..to turn Mussulman."

(1849) Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 518 "They..passed a resolution importing that they relied with entire confidence on His Majesty's gracious promise."

(1849) Macaulay Hist. Eng. ix. II. 400 "He wanted..to have, not vague professions of good will, but distinct invitations and promises of support. "

(1849) Macaulay Hist. Eng. ix. II. 446 "Promises and services which, if discovered, would not have raised his credit at Whitehall. "

(1849) Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 11 "If..he had also turned dissembler and promise-breaker. "

(1849) Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 159 "A popish priest was hired with the promise of the mitre of Waterford to preach at Saint James's against the Act of Settlement."

(1849) Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 17 "Lewis had, like James, repeatedly promised to respect the privileges of his Protestant subjects. "

(1850) Blackie &Ae.schylus I. 81 "The flowery calix, full surcharged With fruity promise. "

(1850) Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. vi. (1857) 84 "His faith appears to have consisted in disbelieving the letter, almost as much as in believing the spirit of the promise."

(1850) S. Dobell Roman viii, "Thoughts that shining through To-morrow's tears shall set in our worst cloud The bow of promise."

(1850) Thackeray Pendennis lxv, "Pen..promised that he would give his election dinner there, when the Baronet should vacate his seat in the young man's favour. "

(1850) Congress. Globe 24 July App. 940 "In Ohio, the master-spirits of the party, while demagoging upon the stump, have promised the people [etc.]. "

(1851) Dixon W. Penn xv. (1872) 131 "To all these exiled sects America was the land of promise. "

(1851) G. H. Kingsley Sp. &. Trav. (1900) 531 "A very nightmarey dream it promises to be. "

(1851) Geo. Eliot Let. 28 Jan. (1954) I. 344 "When am I to have Mr. Bray's promised letter? or to see him in propria persona. "

(1851) Kingsley Yeast xiv. 276 "They promised him something-some prince-bishopric, perhaps."

(1851) Longf. in Life (1891) II. 209 "Scherb has promised to read his lecture on Faust by way of finale."

(1851) Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 378/2 "Should the salesman [i.e. a pedlar] succeed with the mistress, he carries out his promise to the maid by presenting her with a cap ribbon, or a cheap neckerchief. "

(1851) Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. vii. 60 "That I will promise you, with all my heart."

(1851) Ruskin Stones Ven. (1874) I. Pref. p. vi, "Modern Art is now striving to realize the promise of its poet. "

(1852) C. W. H[oskins] Talpa 135, "I shall keep you to your promise, Sir, howsomever. "

(1852) Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxxvi, "He shall beg my pardon, and promise better fashions."

(1852) Thackeray Esmond i. i, "Little Trix was promised to sit to supper that night."

(1853) J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. (1873) II. i. iii. 142 "Alfonso of Portugal promised to join in a Holy War, and retracted."

(1853) Miss Yonge Heir of Redclyffe xii, " She had..tamed down into what gave the promise of a sensible woman."

(1853) W. Stirling Cloister Life Chas. V 237 "Astonished that a commander of so much experience should have put any trust in the Punic promises of a Moor."

(1853) Whewell Grotius II. 43 "If the condition under which the thing may come into the power of the promiser be also potestative (such as he himself can bring about or accelerate)."

(1854) Cdl. Wiseman Fabiola ii. vii, "She promised to prevent the nightly excursions of her necromancer slave."

(1854) J. S. C. Abbott Napoleon (1855) II. xv. 281 "He promised a napoleon to every boat which was ferried across."

(1854) Poultry Chron. I. 61/2 "Witness our weekly swelling list of promised exhibitions."

(1855) Lewes Goethe I. ii. iv. 91 "One of those duped dupers who still clung to the great promises of Alchemy."

(1855) Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 313 "He promised to bear the subject in mind. "

(1855) Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 701 "Harley and Foley..promised, with an air of confidence..but soon went back from their word. "

(1855) Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 94 "The promised deliverer of their race, would come to the rescue."

(1855) Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxii, "Marlborough had promised to carry over the army, Russell to carry over the fleet."

(1855) Milman Lat. Chr. ix. ii. V. 230 "Recanting all his promises and struggling out of his vows."

(1855) Motley Dutch Rep. vi. i. III. 393 "On promise..of a `merced' large enough to satisfy his most avaricious dreams. "

(1855) Prescott Philip II, I. iv. iv. 440 "Holding out delusive promises of succour. "

(1855) Tennyson Maud i. i. xvii, "I play'd with the girl when a child; she promised then to be fair. "

(1856) Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. v. 472 "Promises and persuasions being unavailing, they tried threats. "

(1856) Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) II. vii. 201 "Promises more explicit had been held out to him of forgiveness."

(1856) Froude Hist. Eng. II. 193 "The clergy had promised to abstain..from unlicensed legislation."

(1856) Kane Arct. Expl. II. xxix. 296 "[He] promised to drop us at the Shetland Islands. "

(1856) Kane Arct. Expl. II. xxv. 252 "My promised exorcisation of the demon in his stomach."

(1856) Miss Warner Hills Shatemuc x, "The young ladies' summering in the country had begun with good promise. "

(1856) Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh ix. 100, "I had sooner cut My hand off (though 't were..promised a duke's *troth-ring). "

(1856) Stanley Sinai &. Pal. xii. 403 "Lebanon closes the Land of Promise on the north."

(1856) Vaughan Mystics (1860) II. xi. i. 219 "The hidden word of promise, inspoken into all men. "

(1857) C. Kingsley Two Yrs. Ago III. i. 37 "If any one will ensure me a poor two thousand a year, I will promise to photograph no more."

(1857) S. H. Hammond Wild North. Scenes 266 (Bartlett), "He had promised, to use his own expression, to spread himself in the preparation of this meal. "

(1858) Carlyle in Froude Life in London (1844) II. 197 "The shocking unpoliteness of breaking an express promise. "

(1858) Froude Hist. Eng. IV. xviii. 28 "The final treaty..conceived upon a basis which promised perpetuity."

(1858) G. Macdonald Phantastes v. (1878) 75, "I entered, thirsting for the shade which it promised."

(1858) Gray Lett. (1893) 439, "I cannot promise any special instruction, and shall take no fee. `Dog does not eat dog' is the saying, you know."

(1858) J. Martineau Stud. Chr. 18 "The gratefulness with which he accepted from the government the promise of a grant. "

(1858) Chamb. Jrnl. IX. 75/2 "The Longmans have promised to include the word telegram in their forthcoming dictionary. "

(1859) Reeve Brittany 137 "There was little promise of the gale abating. "

(1859) Sandars Instit. Justinian iii. xv. (ed. 2) 423 "If the promissor attempted to defeat the condition by preventing its being fulfilled, he was treated as if he had promised pure, and the thing could be demanded from him at once. "

(1860) Motley Netherl. (1868) I. iii. 71 "In that case he promised..to guarantee to the Prince the earldoms of Holland and Zeeland. "

(1860) Motley Netherl. (1868) I. vi. 333 " Aldegonde had promised the enemy to bring them to compound. "

(1860) Pusey Min. Proph. 110 "The faithful Fulfiller of His promises."

(1860) Pusey Min. Proph. 291 "This book, Micah, has remarkable symmetry. Each of its three divisions is a whole, beginning with upbraiding for sin, threatening Gods judgments, and ending with promises of future mercy. "

(1860) Pusey Min. Proph. 90 "God, in answer, promises to heal..their fickleness and unsteadfastness."

(1860) W. White All round the Wrekin xx. 207 "We only gives the cheap ones a lick and a promise. "

(1860) Woolsey Introd. Internat. Law §.105 (1875) 127 "Treaties of guaranty..are especially accessory stipulations, sometimes incorporated in the main instrument, and sometimes appended to it, in which a third power promises to give aid to one of the treaty-making powers, in case certain specific rights-all or a part of those conveyed to him in the instrument-are violated by the other party. "

(1860) Wraxall Life in Sea ii. 33 "He listened to the brilliant promises of a whaling captain. "

(1861) C. Reade Cloister &. H. lvii. (1896) 174 "A Tuscan noble promised ten pounds of wax lights to our lady of Ravenna. "

(1861) Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. i, "According to promise, I write to tell you how I get on up here. "

(1861) Ld. Brougham Brit. Const. xiv. 211 "The Queen sent a message to promise a general revocation of all such grants."

(1861) Queen Victoria Let. 13 Feb. in R. Fulford Dearest Child (1964) 307 "You must promise to be with us for our silver wedding D.V. which will be in four years."

(1861) Reade Cloister &. H. vi, "They sealed the promise with a long loving kiss, and Gerard went home on wings."

(1861) Trench Ep. 7 Churches Asia 125 "This promise..is misunderstood, or at any rate is scanted of its full meaning, unless [etc.]. "

(1861) Let. 14 Oct. in Cape Monthly Mag. (1870) Oct. 225 "Mrs M...has even promised to show me how to brew liqueurs, and distil `vanrhum',-the latter a most aromatic and powerful elixir vit&ae.. "

(1861) London Rev. 20 Apr. 433/2 "The finances of England are in the hands of a rhetorician, who, in place of acts, seeks to dazzle the people with fine promises. "

(1861) Sat. Rev. 23 Nov. 524 "To see whether the promised reduction of the naval and military forces of France is to be a reality or a sham. "

(1862) Bp. C. Wordsworth Hymn, `O day of rest and gladness' iii, "From thee, like Pisgah's mountain, We view our Promised Land. "

(1862) D. Wilson Preh. Man i. (1865) 4 "Here then are materials full of promise for the ethnical student. "

(1862) Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) VIII. lxiv. 80 "A genteel mob assembled on the day of each promised performance. "

(1862) Mrs. H. Wood Channings I. xi. 156 "It is a shame if Pye has promised the seniorship to Yorke over my head."

(1862) Stanley Jew. Ch. (1863) I. vi. 136 "The wilderness, as it intervenes between Egypt and the Land of Promise..is, as Coleridge would have said, not allegorical, but tautegorical, of the events which..we designate by those figures."

(1862) Thackeray Round. Papers, Peal of Bells, "Magnificent dandies, I promise you, some of us were."

(1862) Amer. Jrnl. Sci. Nov. 404 "There are few branches of science which promise more magnificent results than the *spectral analysis. "

(1862) Temple Bar V. 452 "He promised to get my master off on payment of a fine. "

(1863-5) J. Thomson Sunday at Hampstead iv. i, "Eight of us promised to meet here And tea together at five. "

(1863) Dicey Federal St. II. 210 "[An astrologer promises to] give to the public a fore-knowledge of all the general affairs through life."

(1863) Mary Howitt F. Bremer's Greece I. i. 16, "I was promised an early presentation to Her Majesty. "

(1863) Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 168 "They pressed me to come to them..and I promised indefinitely that I would."

(1863) Mrs. Gaskell Dark Night's Work iv. 46 "He had some discussion with himself as to whether he should speak to her, and so secure her promise. "

(1863) Ouida Held in Bondage (1870) 31 "She could not..chicane me into admitting the promise of marriage."

(1863) Sat. Rev. 16 May 631 "He promised to give an option of repurchase at a future time. "

(1864) Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. ix. (1875) 145 "Full of bright promise never fulfilled. "

(1864) Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xv. iii. IV. 32 "The Expedition does not improve in promise;..the march one of the most untowardly."

(1864) D. W. Thompson Day Dreams Schoolm. (ed. 2) 231 "Then will we promise to be good; we will throw tiny arms half round papa's neck..O the bliss of making up! "

(1864) Ld. Chancellor (in Times 8 June), "Supposing this promise to be given in England in writing: `When we go back to Edinburgh I will marry you;' and, on the faith of this, copula follows in Scotland."

(1864) Pusey Lect. Daniel v. 257 "Then followed the Guardian-promise to the house of Jehu. "

(1864) Sala Quite Alone vii, "Yes, I will promise you I will keep my head cool, and won't touch ivory tonight. "

(1864) Sala in Daily Tel. 6 Apr., "Our ladies faithfully promised to `draw it as mild' as possible; but when they made their appearance in most splendid array, I felt rather uncertain as to what the consequences might have been if they had drawn it strong."

(1864) Skeat Uhland's Poems 16 "What morning's dreams had promised, proved Reality when eve drew near. "

(1864) Tennyson Aylmer's Field 417 "Him..she promised that no force, Persuasion, no, nor death could alter her."

(1864) Tennyson En. Ard. 455 "He stood once more before her face, Claiming her promise."

(1864) Tennyson En. Ard. 835 "Awed and promise-bounden she forbore."

(1864) Trollope Small Ho. at Allington xv, "She struggled to line up to the spirit of her promises and she succeeded. "

(1864) Athen&ae.um 559/1 "`A bad egg',..a fellow who had not proved to be as good as his promise. "

(1864) Reader 9 Apr. 447/1 "Prophesying the ousting of the Philistines from the promised land. "

(1864) Realm 22 June 5 "We hope, when the Lord Chancellor's Bill has slept its chrysalid winter, it will come out winged with a better promise of reform."

(1864) Realm 6 Apr. 2 "We may always distrust the universal promiser."

(1865) Alex. Smith Summ. Skye II. 138 "He had seen the boatmen, and fully implemented his promise. "

(1865) Dickens Mut. Fr. i. vii, "You needn't be afraid of my disposing of you. I'll hold you over. That's a promise. "

(1865) Grote Plato I. xvi. 472 "We get only a Pisgah view of our promised adviser."

(1865) J. H. Ingraham Pillar of Fire (1872) 570 "Their land of heaven is our land of promise also."

(1865) J. M. Ludlow Pop. Epics II. 201 "Aragon promises the standard-bearership of his kingdom to whosoever will take William."

(1865) Kingsley Herew. ix, "His father..promised him the succession-which indeed he had worthily deserved."

(1865) R. Hunt Pop. Rom. W. Eng. Ser. i. (1871) 105 "She was promised no end of good luck..and Jan the best luck in tribute-pitches. "

(1865) R. W. Dale Jew. Temp. xii. (1877) 131 "A promise the final developement and fulness of which we are still waiting for. "

(1865) R. W. Dale Jew. Temp. xxi. (1877) 237 "Aye, and we take the promises in their fullest and broadest meaning."

(1865) Trollope Belton Est. iii, "With something of the promised roughness of the farmer. "

(1865) Cornh. Mag. May 554 "Being in want of a horse at the time-it was in my salad days, reader-I looked through the advertisements in The Times, and noticed one which at any rate promised well. "

(1865) Reader 11 Feb. 157 "Profuse promises have augured in its birth."

(1865) Reader 9 Sept. 283/1 "The title is appetising; the book has..outward promise."

(1866) G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. xi. (1878) 214, "I have already inadvertently broken my promise."

(1866) J. G. Murphy Comm. Exod. xxxiii. 19 "The Keeper of covenant, the Performer of promise."

(1866) J. Martineau Ess. I. 256 "The promise is for the present illusory. "

(1866) Liddon Bampt. Lect. iv. (1875) 190 "The Jews secularized the Messianic promises. "

(1866) Meredith Vittoria viii. (1889) 62, "I promised my Rosellina, my poppy-headed sipper, a red-wine evening. "

(1866) Reade Griffith Gaunt xvii. II. 56 "Mrs. Gaunt..gave her the promised petticoat, and the old Peau de soie gown. "

(1866) Trollope Belton Est. III. iii. 57 "This was fair enough, and she..promised him that she would do her best. "

(1866) Sci. Rev. July 62/3 "The Stomatoscope..promises to be very useful in dental surgery,..It consists of a spiral wire of platinum..enclosed in a box-wood cup, and..brought to a red heat by the current..from a small galvanic battery; and a small mirror which reflects the light."

(1867) Augusta Wilson Vashti xvi, "Promises, which shatter like crystal under the hammer of the first temptation. "

(1867) Ht. Parr Stone Edge vii. in Cornh. Mag. XV. 737, "I were a fool to promise thretty shillin' a year for't,-the Meresmen said as how it werna much above three acre. "

(1867) J. F. Meline Two Thousand Miles on Horseback 22 "The term Pilgrims for emigrants first came into use at the period of the heavy Mormon travel-the Mormons styling themselves `Pilgrims to the promised land of Utah'. "

(1867) Lady Herbert Cradle L. v. 149 "Whence Moses contemplated the Promised Land."

(1867) O. W. Holmes Guard. Angel II. v. 95 "Not one promised to make such a mark in society if she found an opening. "

(1867) J. Lillywhite's Cricketer's Compan. 107 "[He] promises very well as a wicket-keep."

(1867) Ouida Under Two Flags I. iii. 47 "In front of that Stand was an artificial bullfinch which promised to treat most of the field to a `purler'. "

(1868) A. J. Menken Infelicia 3 "That far off, echoless promise."

(1868) Browning Ring &. Bk. iii. 55 "Her palsied limb 'gan prick and promise life At touch o' the bedclothes merely."

(1868) F. Whymper Trav. Alaska xxv. 282 "If a speculation promises well, they may answer, `It prospects well'. "

(1868) Geo. Eliot Sp. Gypsy iv. 327 "A shout of promise, sharpening into cries That seemed to plead despairingly with Death."

(1868) Holme Lee B. Godfrey li. 292 "She had not won his promise to vote blue. "

(1868) Holme Lee B. Godfrey xlvii. 262 "There's the jagger's bell-Ralph promised to buy me a comb. "

(1869) Blackmore Lorna D. (1889) 265 "Beholding..faintest decimal of promise. "

(1869) Freeman Norm. Conq. (1875) III. xii. 253 "No one will argue that he would have mended matters had he fulfilled his promise."

(1869) Tennyson Pelleas &. Ettarre 15 "There were those who knew him near the King And promised for him: and Arthur made him knight."

(1869) Bradshaw's Railway Manual XXI. 358 "A promise that the whole of the Moldo-Wallachian network should be under one supervision. "

(1869) Bradshaw's Railway Manual XXI. 367 "Advances are made by the Italian Government, to be made good afterwards out of the mileage subventions promised... The Italian and Pontifical Governments have given mileage guarantees. "

(1869) Champaign Co. (Illinois) Gaz. 26 May 1/2 "Defer the payments we may have promised to Cross-roads politicians. "

(1869) Hazlitt's Eng. Prov. 320 "Promises are like pie-crust, made to be broken."

(1869) Mark Twain Innoc. Abr. xii, "We..promised ourselves that we would call around some time.., and finish the game."

(1870) Creasy Hist. Eng. II. 336 "But he soon unbeseemed that promise."

(1870) Dickens E. Drood viii, "If you will set me that example, I promise to follow it."

(1870) Disraeli Lothair vii, "Lothair had promised to extricate his friend from his overwhelming difficulties."

(1870) Daily News 11 Feb., "His promised Bill for affording facilities for the acquisition of glebes and glebe-houses by the different religious denominations in Ireland."

(1871) C. M. Yonge Pioneers &. Founders iii. 61 "The Mysoreans complained that the English promises had not been kept. "

(1871) Loyson tr. Hyacinthe's Cath. Reform 205 "The nations are more than consolidated, they are concorporeal because they are partakers of `one promise' and of `one divine life'."

(1871) Markby Elem. Law §.236 "A warranty, properly speaking, is in form an undertaking that certain events will happen, or will not happen; have happened, or have not happened; but it is in reality a promise to make compensation for the loss occasioned by their happening or not happening."

(1871) Poste Gaius 311 "The dumb cannot stipulate or promise, nor can the deaf, for the promisee in stipulation must hear the answer, and the promisor must hear the question. "

(1871) R. Ellis Catullus lxiv. 146 "They..Fear no covetous oath, all false free promises heed not."

(1871) R. Ellis Catullus lxiv. 148 "Lo they fear not promise, of oath or perjury reck not."

(1871) Mark Twain Screamers 143 "The..`agent'..promised to divorce everybody who wished his services, and to send them new wives-C.O.D. "

(1872) Bushnell Serm. Living Subj. 281 "To be unsphered here and *reinsphered in a promised life. "

(1872) Freeman Gen. Sketch xvi. §.5. 335 "All the princes promised free constitutions to their people."

(1872) P. Bayne Days of Jezebel i. i. 3 "Promise-words..should be like to those Left perdurably graven in the rock By Sidon's cunning workmen."

(1872) Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. lxvi. 14 "God in answer to his vow removed the distress, and now the votary desires to make good his promise."

(1872) Daily News 13 Aug., "A promise that the five years' `reclusion' shall be changed to five years' simple imprisonment. "

(1872) Newton Kansan 5 Sept. 4/1 "At a certain *church-fair, a set of Cooper's works was promised to the individual who should answer a set of conundrums. "

(1873) A. J. Munby Diary 11 Sept. in D. Hudson Munby (1972) 343 "Ellen herself came out of the kitchen; and she was in her *pit clothes, as she had promised. "

(1873) Browning Red Cott. Nt.-cap i. 403 "By reassurance of that promise old."

(1873) Burton Hist. Scot. V. lvi. 125 "He has fallen away from all his fair promises. "

(1873) Swaledale Gloss., "Crinkle, to recede from an avowed resolution or the performance of a promise."

(1874) A. Bathgate Colonial Experiences viii. 95 "Quartz crushing for gold..gives abundant promise for the future, notwithstanding that the interest of the speculating public has been somewhat shaken in `reefing'. "

(1874) A. Bathgate Colonial Experiences xi. 147 "It promised well from the quantity of black sand visible in the dish. "

(1874) B. F. Taylor World on Wheels 28 "Promise him a `scale'-scale, skilling, shilling. "

(1874) Green Short Hist. iii. §.3. 127 "By the treaty of Lambeth, Lewis promised to withdraw from England."

(1874) Green Short Hist. iii. §.7. 148 "The King hotly retorted that he was bound by no promise to a false traitor. "

(1874) Kingsley Lett. (1877) II. 426 "We are promised free passes..to California. "

(1874) Lisle Carr Jud. Gwynne I. iii. 73 "It promises to afford a slight pungency of flavour to my tasteless life in this saltless wilderness. "

(1874) Sidgwick Meth. Ethics iii. xi. §.6. 333 "The promise which the Common Sense of mankind recognises as binding."

(1874) Tyndall Belfast Address 55, "I..discern in that Matter..the promise and potency of all terrestrial life."

(1875) McClellan New Test. 424 "[St. Luke] promises to write `according to nextness' in order, or consecutively. "

(1875) McLaren Serm. Ser. ii. ii. 30 "The prayer that prevails is a reflected promise."

(1875) E. White Life in Christ ii. x. (1878) 105 "There is a wide difference between a veiled promise and a veiled threatening. "

(1875) Helps Soc. Press. xviii. 246 "The favourable after-dinner moment, when most men are most ready to promise that they will give liberally."

(1875) Jowett Plato (ed. 2) II. 49, "I must beg to be absolved from the promise."

(1875) Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 12 "The promise of an equestrian torch-race in the evening. "

(1875) Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 239, "I cannot promise you that the task will be a light one."

(1875) Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 225 "The expectation of his death recalls the promise of his youth."

(1875) Poste Gaius ii. Comm. 203 "The payee, promisee, or creditor, is..defined by the class term `bearer' or `holder'."

(1875) Poste Gaius iii. §.100 "A stipulation to convey on the day before the death of the promisee or promisor is invalid."

(1875) Poste Gaius iii. Comm. (ed. 2) 362 "The several proffered and accepted promises are called a Bilateral or Synallagmatic Convention. "

(1876) Bancroft Hist. U.S. III. ix. 405 "He promised its reduction to three shillings in the pound, an easement to the landed interest of five hundred thousand pounds."

(1876) Bancroft Hist. U.S. IV. l. 275 "Meantime, the owner and master of the ship were convented, and forced to promise not to land the tea."

(1876) Black Madcap Violet xv. 138 "The sweetheart is impatient of these mystifications, and wishes her to promise to marry him."

(1876) C. M. Davies Unorth. Lond. (ed. 2) 179 "He had promised..that he would refrain from manipulating contagious cases."

(1876) C. M. Yonge 3 Brides I. vii. 110 "The Vicar..read the list of subscriptions already promised.. invited ladies to take collecting cards. "

(1876) Digby Real Prop. vi. 293 "A bargain and sale was where the legal owner entered into an agreement with a purchaser for the sale to him of his interest, and the purchaser paid, or promised to pay, the money for the land."

(1876) Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. iii. xxiv, "That calm which Gwendolen had promised herself to maintain had changed into sick motivelessness. "

(1876) Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. v. xxxviii, "A store of magical articulation with which he..promised himself to frighten any incidental Christian of his own years."

(1876) Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. x, "The belief in both naturally grew stronger as the shooting went on, for she promised to achieve one of the best scores. "

(1876) Morris Sigurd i. 2 "His dawning of fair promise, and his noontide of the strife."

(1876) Mrs. Whitney Sights &. Ins. vi. 70 "And once-that sweet word which brings all to the blessed focus and point of promise-once, we shall find them together."

(1876) Smiles Sc. Natur. vi. 101 "The weather..gave promise of an abundant `take' of moths. "

(1877) Black Green Past. xxi, "Before proffering him this promised help."

(1877) Froude Short Stud. (1883) IV. i. v. 52 "Becket had broken his promise to submit to the Constitutions."

(1877) Froude Short Studies (1883) IV. i. ix. 106 "He had been promised restitution of his property, but it had been given back to him in ruins."

(1877) Tyndall in Daily News 2 Oct. 2/5 "That promise is a dream dissolved by the experience of eighteen centuries."

(1877) W. Bruce Comm. Revelation 87 "Tell him that his natural Enemies are not designed in the promise."

(1877) Scribner's Mag. XV. 65/1 "He had even promised to take her out on the ice. "

(1878) C. &. M. C. Clarke Recoll. Writers 179 "Miss Lamb promised to..hear her read poetry with the due musically-rhythmical intonation."

(1878) E. C. G. Murray Round about France 298 "You promised me one, answered the cattleman. "

(1878) Gladstone Prim. Homer v. 61 "The Islands of the Blest, to which Menelaos has a promise of translation on his death."

(1878) H. H. Gibbs Ombre 25 "If his own hand be such as not to promise him at least two or even three tricks. "

(1878) Lecky Eng. in 18th C. II. viii. 494 "For this expense he promised a parliamentary reimbursement."

(1878) P. Bayne Purit. Rev. ix. 361 "Auroral splendours of promise..which accompany all revolutions in their earlier stages. "

(1878) T. Brown Annals Disrupt. iii. (1884) 23 "They would give no promise to refrain from the intrusion of Mr. Edwards, and..the Church was resolved to protect the people from such intrusion."

(1878) Congress. Rec. 29 Jan. 638/2 "[Silver] is not like our fractional notes, a promise to pay. It is payment. "

(1878) Congress. Rec. App. 13 June 478/2, "I will promise to meet him on the northern border of `the shoe-string district'. "

(1879) B. Taylor Germ. Lit. 275 "The promise of loftier development was not left unfulfilled."

(1879) Farrar St. Paul (1883) 66 "The fulfilment of Christ's promise in the effusion of His Spirit."

(1879) G. Meredith Egoist xix, "The fellow may well be a faithful soldier and stick to his post, if he receives promise of such a solde."

(1879) Tourgee Fool's Err. xx. (1880) 113 "The obligor, in his indefinite promise to pay, had vanished."

(1879) W. J. Barry Up &. Down xii. 112 "She bailed me up, and asked me if I was going to keep my promise and marry her? "

(1879) Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 251/2 "A promise of succeeding on the first vacancy to the physicianship in ordinary. "

(1879) Yachtman's Holidays 20 "Next morning promised a poor sailing day. "

(1880) Bon. Price in Fraser's Mag. May 669 "What is real paper money? The answer is, banknotes. They are written promises by a bank or Government to pay a certain quantity of coin to the bearer on demand."

(1880) J. Skelton Crookit Meg iv. 48, "I promised to get a tarrock's wing for Eppie."

(1880) Muirhead Gaius 105 "The stipulant must hear the words of the promiser."

(1880) Muirhead Gaius Digest 496 "An heir..fraudulently giving a secret promise to denude in favour of one to whom trust-gift was prohibited rendered himself liable to penalties. "

(1880) Muirhead Gaius iii. 100 "If the obligation be made coincident with the last breath of the stipulant or promiser. "

(1880) Muirhead Gaius iii. 105 "That mutes can neither stipulate nor promise is quite plain."

(1881) Besant &. Rice Chapl. of Fleet ii. xx, "He has promised his pot-companions to bring home a wife."

(1881) Duffield Don Quixote II. 402 "To rail on the lightness of women,..their unminted promises."

(1881) Lady Herbert Edith 140 "Edith was Lord St. Aubyn's promised bride."

(1881) N. T. (Revised) Eph. ii. 12 "Alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenant of the promise."

(1881) W. R. Smith Old Test. Jew. Ch. 232 "The place where Jehovah has promised to hold tryst with His people."

(1881) N.Y. Nation 184 "The hard weather has called into use a word which promises to become a national Americanism, namely `blizzard'. It designates a storm (of snow and wind) which men cannot resist away from shelter. "

(1881) Times 6 Jan. 4/6 "We are promised very shortly similar volumes..on the Pycnogonids or nobody-crabs, on the seaweeds, and on certain groups of worms. "

(1882) A. B. Hope Brandreths III. l. 280 "The Lord Chancellor read a Queen's Speech jubilant with more boneless promises of gigantic reform. "

(1882) B. Harte Flip iv, "Don't go back on your promise. "

(1882) B. Harte Flip iv, "I promised you I'd let up on him. "

(1882) B. Harte Flip, iv, "Don't go back on your promise about lettin' up on the tramps and being a little more high-toned. "

(1882) C. Elton Orig. Eng. Hist. xi. 308 "The factions of the Blues and Greens were promised as many chariot&dubh.races as could be run between morning and night."

(1882) J. A. Hewitt Summer Songs 3 "The promiseless calm of the present Was dull with the dusk of night."

(1882) Tennyson Promise of May i. 507 "Why then the crowd May wreak my wrongs upon my wrongers. "

(1882) Tennyson Promise of May i. Poems (1889) 781/2, "I reckons they'll hev' a fine cider-crop to-year. "

(1882) Tennyson Promise of May ii, "And you an' your Sally was forkin' the haä.y."

(1882) Tennyson Promise of May ii. 119 "If man be only A willy-nilly current of sensations."

(1882) Tennyson Promise of May ii. Wks. (1889) 793/1 "I'd like to leather 'im black and blue."

(1882) Tennyson Promise of May iii. i, "Mr. Steer still continues too unwell to attend to you."

(1882) Tennyson Promise of May iii. Wks. (1894) 300/1 "What is it Has put you out of heart? "

(1882) Tennyson Promise of May iii. Wks. (1894) 798/2, "I hadn't the heart or face to do it."

(1882) Tennyson Promise of May iii. Wks. (1894) 799/1 "Steer. Hes the cow cawved? Dora. No, Father."

(1882) The Garden 11 Mar. 169/3 "Little red-tipped female blossoms give promise of a good crop."

(1882) Mark Twain Let. 17 May (1917) I. 419, "I have promised Osgood, and must stick it out. "

(1883) Froude in Contemp. Rev. XLIV. 13 "A safe-conduct had not saved Huss, and Popes could dispense with promises."

(1883) G. M. Fenn Middy &. Ensign xxxi, "I'll keep him to his promise. "

(1883) J. Greenwood Odd People in Odd Places 244 "In hope that he might spring a few shillings more than he had promised. "

(1883) Reade in Harper's Mag. Jan. 258/1 "Vladimir got the promise of a *police mastership. "

(1883) S. C. Hall Retrospect II. 39 "His genius was yet in the bud-with the promise of glorious fruitage."

(1883) Stevenson Treasure Isl. i. i, "He promised me a silver four-penny on the first of every month."

(1883) Chicago Advance 25 Jan., "From the Rocky Mountain Districts, never more promiseful, comes the unchanged cry. "

(1883) Manch. Guard. 22 Oct. 5/5 "Lord Dufferin obtains..polite promises, but is not in a position to get anything more."

(1883) Pall Mall G. 8 Nov., "It is a pity that the publishers induce so many young authors of promise to over&dubh.write themselves. "

(1883) Q. Rev. July 82 "The long promised but never perfected diaphanoscope. "

(1883) Sunday Mercury (N.Y.) 23 Sept. 6/4 "`I want to sue a man for breach of promise,' said a maiden of the vintage of 1842, coming into a lawyer's office. "

(1883) Wallenstein in Drama in Westm. Rev., "The combination of saturnine and jovialistic influences promises greatness, but predicts danger."

(1884) A. R. Pennington Wiclif ix. 298 "They declared that neither faith nor promise was to be observed to the detriment of the Catholic Church."

(1884) Child Ballads ii. xli. 363/1 "He promises red gold and chestfuls of pence. "

(1884) Tennyson Becket 143 "He fenced his royal promise with an if."

(1884) W. C. Smith Kildrostan 78 "When he won my hand, which brought much wealth, He promised ne'er to gamble while he lived."

(1884) Century Mag. Nov. 58/2 "She..listened welcomingly to Juan's glad promises of the joy that was to be."

(1884) Harper's Mag. Jan. 302/2 "A walker who gives promise of great things if he doesn't walk his short legs off within the next two or three years. "

(1884) Law Rep. 9 App. Cases 411 "A promise to pay slidage for the use and occupation of such works..could not be enforced."

(1885-94) R. Bridges Eros &. Psyche May xxviii, "And yet..no sooner was alone, Than she for loneliness her promise rued."

(1885) Bancroft Hist. U.S. III. 61 "The promise..stimulated their irregular vivacity to enforce laws which had become obsolete."

(1885) Miss Gatty Jul. H. Ewing i. 3, "I have promised the children to write something for them about their favourite story-teller, Juliana Horatia Ewing."

(1885) Rider Haggard King Solomon's Mines xv. 249 "Ignosi..reaffirmed the promises..that witch-hunting should cease. "

(1885) S. Cox Expos. Ser. i. vii. 83 "What promise could be more welcome or more inspiring?"

(1885) W. W. Story Fiammetta 195 "You promised you would make me a visit in the autumn."

(1885) W. Westall Larry Lohengrin iii. (Farmer), "He..promised the steward a handsome tip if nobody were doubled up with him, i.e. if no other person were put into the same cabin. "

(1885) Catholic Dict. s.v., "A religious or regular profession is `a promise freely made and lawfully accepted, whereby a person of the full age required, after the completion of a year of probation, binds him- (or her-) self to a particular religious institute approved by the Church'."

(1885) L'pool Daily Post 1 June 5/4 "The University match promises to illustrate to the full the delightful uncertainty of cricket."

(1885) L. Malet Col. Enderby's Wife iii. ix, "What a windy, stomach&dubh.achy sort of reward it promises to be!"

(1885) Mrs. Alexander At Bay viii, "There must be nothing about possibility... Give me an unconditional promise, or I shall not leave you!"

(1886) E. G. White Hist. Sk. Foreign Missions Seventh-Day Adventists 281/2 "They should be ready to counsel and instruct those who have newly come to the faith, and who give promise of possessing ability to work for the Master. "

(1886) F. C. Philips Jack &. Three Jills I. vii. 96 "We arrived at the lake to find it was caught over, scantily, but with promise of skating to come."

(1886) Symonds Renaiss. It., Cath. React. II. xi. 307 "Perhaps it may be argued that the fulsome promises on which those miserable vassals found their hopes, are make-weights for such miseries."

(1886) T. Hardy Mayor Casterbr. I. xxii. 279, "I ought to endeavour to disperse the shade which my &eacu.tourderie flung over my name, by asking you to carry out your promise to me. "

(1886) Tennyson Promise of May iii. "A gentleman?.. That he is, from head to foot."

(1886) Tennyson Promise of May iii. "Farmer Dobson, were I to marry him, has promised to keep our heads above water."

(1886) Advance 9 Dec. (Farmer), "We..promise not to play marbles for keeps, nor bet nor gamble in any way. "

(1886) Expositor Dec. 448 "The co-regnancy with the Lord that is promised to the suffering believer."

(1886) Pall Mall G. 19 May 6/1 "The new industry of *tea-farming..promises to become a new source of wealth to Ceylon. "

(1887) Browning Parleyings, B. de Mandeville v. 37 "If, at first stealing-forth of life in stalk And leaflet-promise, quick His spud should baulk Evil from budding foliage, bearing fruit."

(1887) Dk. Argyll Scotl. as it Was II. 6 "Plundering Caterans always ready to flock to those who promised booty."

(1887) Gissing Thyrza I. ii. 29 "It promises for another fine day to-morrow."

(1887) Moloney Forestry W. Afr. xi. 157 "West Africa is not without its promise of a development of the *grape industry. "

(1887) Brit. Med. Jrnl. 11 June 1280/2 "Neurectomy promises to be of greater value in the painful affections of the head and face."

(1887) Century Mag. Dec. 197/2, "I promised to bring you both to lunch, safe and sound."

(1887) Daily News 16 May 3/4 "Mr. C. Clark's son of Outfit, who gives promise of shaping into a grand weight-carrier. "

(1887) Dyer &. Calico Printer VII. 101/1 "A new series of colours..are just now being brought out by Brooke, Simpson, &. Spiller (Limited). These colours, the discovery of Mr. A. G. Green, promise to compete successfully with the direct cotton colours at present in the market. The basis of the series is a compound, to which the name of primuline has been given. "

(1887) Lippincott's Mag. Nov. 741 "If as a result of several such interviews he is approved, he is asked to `pledge', that is, to promise to join the society. "

(1887) North Star 28 Oct., "[He] had promised..that he would have a stop put to the hushing process."

(1887) Referee 21 Aug. 1/3 (Farmer), "A double cross was brought off. Teemer promised to sell the match, and finished by selling those who calculated on his losing. "

(1887) Voice (N.Y.) (1888) 5 Jan. 2 "[God] has promised that this world shall be gardenized and all evil extirpated. "

(1888) Burgon Lives 12 Good Men I. Pref. p. xiv, "He was snatched away while affording..fresh promise of a truly brilliant Professorial career."

(1888) F. Barrett Lady Biddy Fane III. liv. 104 "They had given their promise to do so, and would not go from their word."

(1888) F. Hume Mad. Midas i. Prol., "`So', he said rapidly in French, `we are in the land of promise'."

(1888) R. A. King Leal Lass II iv. 79 "If Gower went back of his promise."

(1888) Athen&ae.um 7 Apr. 436/1, "I..thank him in advance for the roasting that he promises me in his coming preface."

(1888) Charlestown Enterprise (Farmer), "The young, unmarried girl, in sport, Is called a bud of promise. "

(1888) Pall Mall Gaz. 20 Jan. 14/1 "University tutoresses promise to be numerous within the next few years."

(1889) A. Lang Prince Prigio xviii. 139 "He refused to keep his royal promise..! Kings are like that. "

(1889) Daily Tel. 3 Dec. 5/5 "He had the promises of 300 to come out `in sympathy' when the time came for quitting work."

(1889) Pall Mall G. 2 Dec. 6/2 "Exertion money, that is, the girls are set to work against one another by the promise that those who work hardest shall be paid..extra."

(1889) Pall Mall G. 3 July 2/2 "The Government promised last night to abolish tests in the case of the `lay chairs' in the Scotch universities. "

(1889) Temple Bar LXXXV. 26 "The lode ran under Orleigh gardens and promised freely to `bunch' under the mansion."

(1890) G. Meredith Let. 14 Apr. (1970) II. 997, "I am promised a steam-yacht to take me up at Oban. "

(1890) Scot. Leader 2 Sept. 4 "The herring fishing..gives promise of better results..Fraserburgh..holds the field with a total crannage of 180,000 up to the present date."

(1891) F. Paget Spirit of Discipline 164 "Things promised a rough time for the Church at Ephesus."

(1891) J. Winsor Columbus ix. 209 "He promised a silken jacket, beside the income of ten thousand maravedis."

(1891) Blackw. Mag. May 741 "Year after year passed and these promises failed to materialise. "

(1891) Eng. Illustr. Mag. Oct. 65 "The weather was hardening into what promised to be half a gale. "

(1891) Law Times XC. 459/2 "An atmosphere of public discussion which promises future storms."

(1892) C. M. Yonge That Stick I. xiii. 139 "Whatever promise there may have been..must have been nipped upon the top of a high stool. "

(1892) F. T. Piggott Garden of Japan 43 "The golden clusters of tiny flowers of Diospyros kaki give promise of a rich harvest of luscious fruit in the autumn-the Kaki loved of the Japanese. "

(1892) Daily News 25 May 2/3 "An arrangement which gives only an unbacked promise of half interest."

(1892) National Observer 17 Dec. 100/1 "It promises help..to keep him in funds when he is out on strike."

(1892) Sat. Rev. 2 Jan. 8/2 "He did not venture to stand to the promise he had given."

(1893) Capt. King Foes in Ambush 39 "He could put up with an occasional drunk in a man who promised to make as good a trooper."

(1893) Stevenson Catriona xiii. 145 "Prestongrange promised me my life; if he's to be mansworn, here I'll have to die."

(1893) Field 4 Mar. 334/1 "Having promised to restitute expenses to professionals if they did not win. "

(1893) Rep. Third Nat. Christian Endeavour Convention 41 "Wherever she went she met as many of the Endeavourers as she could, and all gave her one promise..`We mean to try and do all we can for Jesus'. "

(1893) Times 28 Apr. 9/4 "Mr. Goschen's speech was a scathing exposure of the contrast between promise and performance."

(1893) Westm. Gaz. 18 Aug. 2/2 "The Chronicle's suicide `silly-seasoner' promises well. "

(1893) O. Thanet Stories Western Town 213 "You don't suppose it would be any use to offer Esther a cool hundred thousand to promise to bounce this young fellow?"

(1894) Du Maurier Trilby (1895) 333 "A prandial function which did not promise to be very amusing."

(1894) G. Meredith Let. 30 Nov. (1970) III. 1178 "Henry Parkman promised she would refresh me with an account of her last visit to you. Not a sign of her since. She comes to-day and she shall be grilled. "

(1894) Mrs. Hope 1st Divorce Hen. VIII 121 "They were to try to get a `policitation', or promise, from the Pope that he would not remove the cause to Rome."

(1894) Sala London up to Date 329 "The case, he incidentally adds, promises to be a `nutty' one."

(1894) Athen&ae.um 3 Mar. 288/1 "`Fashionable Intelligence', an original duologue..is promised at the Court Theatre."

(1894) Daily News 14 May 5/1 "He promised the modification and virtually the abolition of the silence rule. "

(1895) G. B. Shaw Shaw on Theatre (1958) 61 "Trial by Jury is..unintelligible except as a satire on..the breach-of-promise suit. "

(1895) G. B. Shaw in Sat. Rev. 16 Feb. 217/1 "*Stage shows with nothing to redeem their obvious silliness but a promise of as much lewdness as the audience will stand. "

(1895) Westm. Gaz. 24 Aug. 2/2 "The Government..continues to pile up work for the Recess and next Session. The recessional work promised by the Home Secretary [etc.]."

(1895) Westm. Gaz. 7 Feb. 8/1 "`Disengagement' is a pleasing euphemism for a gentle form of `breach of promise'."

(1896) E. Turner Little Larrikin xxiii. 274 "Trying to induce the driver of the motor, for whom he had a friendship, to promise at the end of the journey to `nick away and come too'. "

(1896) Harper's Mag. Apr. 656/2 "He would violate his promises, and that would so situate her that she would not be able to keep hers."

(1896) Midland Herald 4 June (E.D.D.), "Forward crops [of wheat] are in full spindle and give promise of being in full ear by the 14th inst."

(1896) Westm. Gaz. 30 Jan. 5/3 "Other witnesses deposed to as to the promise of a marquise ring. "

(1897) Flandrau Harvard Episodes 164 "The fellows who had promised to vote for Wolcott..were beginning now to `root' for him vigorously."

(1897) K. S. Ranjitsinhji Jubilee Bk. Cricket iii. 118 "A young player of much promise-essentially a stylist, with brilliant strokes all round the wicket when set. "

(1897) L. Keith Bonnie Lady ix. 95 "The lave of them are bonnie bargains, and their promises but lip deep."

(1897) Mary Kingsley W. Africa 305, "I have promised the Fans to pay off in whatever they choose, and I know for sure they want powder."

(1897) Rhoscomyl White Rose Arno 144, "I mind you promised us a Welsh army by the time we reached this place."

(1897) Forest &. Stream 6 Mar. 194/2 "The next size, the `raceabout', or the fin de siè.cle perversion of the knockabout, promises to be more popular and numerous. "

(1897) Westm. Gaz. 19 Aug. 6/3 "To make the launchers of schemes responsible for their promises. "

(1898) J. Bell In Shadow of Bush xxx. 198 "The season promised to be a good one for *bush-burning. "

(1898) Rider Haggard in Longm. Mag. Dec. 127 "Hood promises to set up some mawkins to fright them."

(1898) Times 17 Oct., "In his early years of promise in the tennis court L-- relied mainly on his wonderful return, his accuracy for the openings, and his activity."

(1898) Voice (N.Y.) 3 Feb. 6/5 "An instrument called the Dight thermal inspirator, which promises to overcome the effects of cold, and make it possible to withstand the most frigid climates."

(1898) Westm. Gaz. 16 May 3/1 "Maybe Mr. Chamberlain was remembering his pre-election promises."

(1898) Westm. Gaz. 17 Dec. 8/2 "They..concluded that there was more promise in that plucked student than in many a passed man."

(1899) E. F. Heddle Marget at Manse 43 "That lassie gi'es a lick and a promise when I tell her to sweep! "

(1899) F. V. Kirby Sport E.C. Africa xxiii. 259 "A heavy mist..gave promise of a hot day, and it turned out a `scorcher'."

(1899) McClure's Mag. XII. 397 (heading) "*Liquid air. A new substance that promises to do the work of coal and ice and gunpowder, at next to no cost. "

(1899) Westm. Gaz. 21 Aug. 6/1 "Gulping down any scheme of vain promise."

(1899) Westm. Gaz. 8 May 7/2 "The lake has been enlarged, and a switchback railway and a *water chute promise rounds of delight. "

(1900) H. Lawson Over Shiprails 152, "I promised to go 'possuming with Johnny Nowlett. "

(1900) W. Watt Aberdeen &. Banff xi. 267 "The only important outstanders from the subscription to the promise of canonical obedience."

(1900) Westm. Gaz. 22 Jan. 2/3 "He won mainly on his promise that he would reform the city barber into charging two dollars fifty cents for a hair-cut. "

(1901) M. Franklin My Brilliant Career iii. 16 "Only I promised to stick to the missus a while I'd scoot tomorrer. "

(1901) M. Franklin My Brilliant Career iii. 16 "Only I promised to stick to the missus a while, I'd scoot tomorrer. "

(1901) W. R. H. Trowbridge Lett. her Mother to Eliz. xxii. 105 "Connie Metcalfe is suing for breach of promise,-ten thousand pounds damages."

(1901) Essex Weekly News 29 Mar. 5/1 "The first gentleman who was tapped for a subscription generously promised &pstlg.30. "

(1901) Westm. Gaz. 20 Nov. 7/3 "Mr. Hawke promises to bring very telling testimony..before the Select Committee..particularly with regard to starting-price betting. "

(1901) J. Flynt World of Graft 11 "The City Hall gang went into office on the promise that the town was to be open, an' they've kept it open. "

(1902) Crockett Dark o' Moon xxxix, "Saunders Lennox's tow rape will break mony a promise on Monday mornin' by nine o' Kirkcudbright clock. "

(1902) Eliz. Banks Autobiogr. Newsp. Girl ii. 9 "You might try it on the city editor; but, mind you, I can't promise that he'll print it. "

(1902) Lorimer Lett. Merchant 134 "The boss of the canning-room [will be] called up on the carpet and made to promise that it will never happen again. "

(1902) Daily Chron. 18 Jan. 6/1 "The full title of Mr. Long's promised measure is `A Bill for establishing a Water Board to manage the supply of water within London and certain adjoining districts'."

(1902) Daily Chron. 22 Apr. 3/1 "Of what avail is it to promise `entirely new scenery' for `Die Meistersinger', if the part of Hans Sachs is to be practically eliminated from the performance? And yet this `Hamlet-without-the-Prince' method is consistently pursued season after season at Covent Garden. "

(1902) Delineator Dec. 614/1 "The Victorine and collarette are again promised favour."

(1902) Encycl. Brit. XXV. 629/1 "Considerable promise attends..the experiments upon canaigre as a source of tannin. "

(1902) Strand Mag. Jan. 69/2 "We are promised to-day a Strawberry Shortcake."

(1903) G. B. Shaw Man &. Superman iv. 167 "Promise me that you wont. Violet (very decidedly) I should think not indeed. "

(1903) H. L. Roth Great Benin xi. 118 "The Obba kindly promised to send a messenger round with orders. "

(1903) T. M. Tarbell in McClure's Mag. Jan. 254/2 "The acquiescence of the `railroad kings'..was followed by an unwilling promise to break the contracts with the company. "

(1903) Med. Rec. (N.Y.) 31 Jan. 168/2 "Extravagant promises will discredit the new and delicate field of Rö.ntgenotherapy. "

(1904) L. T. Meade Love Triumphant ii. ix. 192 "If anything could induce me to promise myself to a man..it would be to Cedric Vershoyle. "

(1904) R. Small Hist. U.P. Congregat. I. 125 "A moderation was applied for, &pstlg.100 of stipend being promised."

(1904) W. H. Smith Promoters i. 20 "They'll bite on anything that promises water west of either of those places. "

(1904) Daily Chron. 9 June 4/6 "The Hon. C. A. Parsons..has recently amused himself by devising a little valve called the auxetophone which promises..to advance the phonograph. "

(1904) Dialect Notes II. 389 "Show, v., to promise oil. "

(1905) E. Wharton House of Mirth ii. viii. 417 "Carry promised to find somebody who wants a kind of social secretary-you know she makes a speciality of the helpless rich. "

(1905) R. Broughton Waif's Progr. xxiii. 260 "You promised to marry me... You cannot, and shall not chuck me. "

(1905) Westm. Gaz. 29 Aug. 10/2 "The quarrel between the Big-Endians and the Little-Endians promises to be a merry one. "

(1906) D. Coke Bending of Twig viii. 122 "But mind, you've promised to sap out the 'strues, and 'strue them to me. "

(1906) E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands xii. 151 "He promised to show Feathers a `boshter knack for passing out gazobs'! "

(1906) E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands xii. 151 "He promised to show Feathers a `boshter knack for passing out gazobs'."

(1906) Kipling Puck of Pook's Hill 238 "Did he promise me a set of iron cramps or ties for the roof? They never came to hand, or else they were spaulty or cracked."

(1906) Westm. Gaz. 15 May 4/2 "The long-promised six-cylinder `gearless' Napier car. "

(1906) Westm. Gaz. 6 Jan. 15/3, "I will tell you my idea of a false friend and back-stabber-to sweat the workman for personal profit and fawn on him for political profit; to promise old-age pensions for votes and, having got the votes, to refuse them. "

(1906) Mark Twain Autobiogr. (1924) II. 288, "I don't know what Dick got, but it was probably only *un-cashable promises. "

(1907) Kipling Sons of Martha, "They sit at the Feet, and they hear The Word-they see how truly the Promise runs. "

(1907) Daily Chron. 27 July 9/3 " It would be a good thing if all junior races could be rowed on fixed seats. Many novices who promised well have lost all style and cultivated wrong methods by having rowed races on sliding seats before knowing how to work on a fixed seat. "

(1907) Daily Chron. 8 Aug. 3/1 "Where we find a pullulant world of new ambitions and brilliant promises."

(1908) J. B. Mayor in Expositor July 19 "She sets more store by her own vow than by the promise of the Messiah."

(1908) K. Grahame Wind in Willows vi. 128, "I faithfully promise that the very first motor-car I see, poop-poop! off I go in it! "

(1908) Daily Chron. 9 June 3/2 "Our rivers are promiseful enough of sport."

(1908) Westm. Gaz. 29 July 3/2 "The forces of Free Trade may be confidently reckoned on to squash the half-believed-in promises of Tariff Reform. "

(1909) Chambers's Jrnl. 27 Mar. 268/1 "A remarkable new development..promises to revolutionise the art of printing in photogravure. The process is three-colour; and..the results..are far in advance of anything that has yet been attempted in tricolour printing. "

(1909) Daily Chron. 13 Aug. 4/3 "Mr. Lloyd George is understood..to have promised favourable consideration to the plea of the London Members for some alteration in the `rateable-value' basis. "

(1909) Westm. Gaz. 28 Aug. 16/4 "The Thames is in good condition, and general-fish anglers are promised a continuance of sport. "

(1909) Westm. Gaz. 28 Sept. 5/1 "The majority celebration of the pneumatic tyre promises to be the biggest trade function on record. "

(1909) Westm. Gaz. 9 Mar. 2/1 "The promise of high duties against other countries deceives nobody: it is only political window-dressing. "

(1910) Kennel Christmas No. 464/1 "Cairn terriers promise to rank high in the near future, and already they are being bred to a fairly uniform standard. "

(1910) Richmond (Virginia) Weekly Times-Dispatch 17 Aug. 10 "Representative Slemp was looked upon as the dispenser of the patronage in Virginia because of the promise of the President that he would allow the pie to be handed out by the men who did the fighting. "

(1911) G. B. Shaw Lett. to Granville Barker (1956) 178 "If the attempt proves a throw away, it is only a throw&dubh.away of the chance I promised him, not of the play. "

(1911) Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 63/2 "My Californian friends might well possess their disappointed souls in patience if there were any promise of such compensation..for the loss of the tuna. "

(1912) Ade Knocking Neighbors 108 "She extracted a promise from Cousin and several other Desperate Characters that they would come out into the wilderness and give the Rummies a Touch of High Life. "

(1912) Lady Burghclere Life Dk. Ormonde I. x. 317 "He could not afford to leave unassayed any issue that promised escape."

(1913) C. Mackenzie Sinister Street iii. i. 516 "Michael forgave him immediately and promised to come to coffee. "

(1913) E. Phillpotts Widecombe Fair xxx. 236 "This evening..promised good opportunity to pay off old scores. "

(1913) J. Vaizey College Girl xviii. 250 "Her thoughts flew off to Ralph Percival..recalling with pleasure his promise to `see her through'. "

(1913) 19th Cent. Aug. 320 "He had promised the children a twelfth-day cake."

(1914) A. H. Sidgwick Promenade Ticket 30 "`Those who are called so [sc. happy]' (i.e. by Froebel, Wordsworth, and *teknolaters generally) `are simply congratulated on account of their promise.' "

(1914) G. B. Shaw Fanny's First Play Induction, "I told him Trotter would feel lonely without him; so he promised like a bird."

(1915) National Rev. Mar. 21 "Easter passed without the promised bonne-bouche for the Bosches. "

(1915) Political Q. May 180 "The Road Board..has restricted the grants to completing advances promised before the war. "

(1915) Times 12 June 5/3 "The Venizelist Press, in discussing the Government electoral programme, observes that the promised reforms are almost the same as those brought forward by M. Venizelos. "

(1916) E. Wallace Clue Twisted Candle (1918) xvii. 197, "I'm not going to blow on it, if it's going to get me into trouble, but if you'll promise me that it won't, I'll tell you the whole story. "

(1916) J. Murdoch Microsc. Determination Opaque Minerals p. iii, "This new method [sc. using the reflecting microscope]..opens an entire new field of geologic science that promises to do for the ores what petrography has done for the rocks; for this the name of `Mineralography' is proposed. "

(1917) C. H. Browning et al. in Brit. Med. Jrnl. 20 Jan. 75/2 "On account of its trypanocidal action the compound was called trypaflavine, but, as its range of use promises to be much wider, we shall refer to it simply as flavine. "

(1917) Strand Mag. Dec. 538/1 "If you'll have one dress rehearsal, I'll promise to leave you in peace for the duration of the war. "

(1918) E. Pound in Lett. J. Joyce (1966) II. 424, "I will fork up the remaining &pstlg.20 of the fifty promised. "

(1918) Galsworthy Five Tales 122 "He's promised to take mother and me to the theatre and supper afterwards. Won't it be scrummy! "

(1918) Times 9 Apr., "Germany promised..to supply the Whites [of Finland] with arms and food."

(1919) T. S. Eliot Poems, "Grishkin is nice..her friendly bust Gives promise of pneumatic bliss. "

(1919) T. S. Eliot Whispers of Immortality in Poems, "Grishkin is nice... Uncorseted, her friendly bust Gives promise of pneumatic bliss. "

(1919) Quill Apr. 8 "Gil Boag promises the Jazziest dance of the season. "

(1920) Mulford J. Nelson xxvi. 267 "The bed ground was well chosen and the night promised to be a good one. "

(1920) R. Macaulay Potterism vi. iv. 239 "A weekly, and it promised to sell better than any other weekly on the market, but far better. "

(1920) W. Hard Raymond Robins' Own Story iii. 136 "Lenin and Trotzky never gave me any blue-sky talk. They never promised unless they had the will and the power to deliver. "

(1920) Wodehouse Jill the Reckless (1922) x. 142 "The rank and file of the profession were greeted, like Moses on Pisgah, with a fleeting glimpse of the promised land, consisting of a large desk [etc.]. "

(1920) Chambers's Jrnl. 8 May 363/2 "[He] promised to reach the doubtful altitude of best-sellership without difficulty. "

(1920) Edin. Rev. July 135 "Mendelism promises to furnish the stock-breeder with better and more certain means of increasing the economic value of his stock. "

(1920) Glasgow Herald 17 Nov. 11 "The Southern Hemisphere promises for 1921 a shippable surplus of 40,000,000 qr. "

(1921) J. Law Curate's Promise xv. 133 "He saw..two officers..go into a large Salvation Army Hostel for women. "

(1922) A. Bennett Lilian i. vi. 57 "The dirty kitchenmaid was giving the stone floor of the porch a lick and a promise. "

(1922) Joyce Ulysses 280 "Chorusgirl's romance. Letters read out for breach of promise. "

(1922) Joyce Ulysses 746 "And I promised him yes faithfully Id let him block me."

(1922) Wodehouse Girl on Boat xvii. 282 "Webster had promised to come and knock an all-clear signal on the door. "

(1922) Daily News 9 Nov. 9 "So far as the movement against Prohibition is concerned, the victory of Mr. Edwards, Governor of New Jersey, is only a gesture. As Governor he promised to make the State as wet as the Atlantic. "

(1922) Encycl. Brit. XXX. 487/2 "The Scout Promise, to carry out, on his honour, as far as in him lies, the Scout Law, is the binding disciplinary force. "

(1922) K. Mansfield Garden Party 24 "`Promise not to tell.' They promised. `Say, cross my heart straight dinkum.' "

(1923) Westm. Gaz. 3 Aug., "The Premier promised to lay all the correspondence, if M. Poincar&eacu. consents. "

(1924) E. O'Neill Welded i. 97 "We're not `starting something' now, are we-after our promise? "

(1924) H. T. Gibson That Gibbie Galoot v. 16 "He promised..to show me a few more points in bachelorising."

(1924) R. M. Ogden tr. Koffka's Growth of Mind ii. §.4. 49 "Infant-prodigies who fail to live up to their early promise. "

(1924) Nature 14 June 866/2 "Excluding benzol..alternative fuels of greatest promise include `tetralin' (tetrahydronaphthalene), which, mixed with benzol and alcohol, was used considerably by the Germans during the war. "

(1925) N. Coward Vortex 11. 55 "`Have you only one set, Florence?'.. `Yes, isn't it maddening? Clara promised to bring hers down but forgot.' "

(1925) Dialect Notes V. 344 "Threaten, v.i., promise; as, he threatened to give me money. "

(1925) Lit. Digest (N.Y.) 27 June 27/2 "Here is a Vashti leading the opprest columnist into the promised land of intellectual liberty. "

(1926) D. H. Lawrence David xii. 89 "They have passed, letting fall promises as the goat droppeth pills. "

(1926) F. M. Ford A Man could stand Up i. i. 17 "She didn't obviously offer-what was it the fellow called it?-promise of pneumatic bliss to the gentlemen. "

(1926) F. M. Ford Man could Stand Up ii. iii. 138 "He had lately promised [them] tickets for Drury Lane... The Lane was the locus classicus of the race. "

(1926) Flynn's 16 Jan. 640/2 "After I coughed up an' promised to quit the queer he give me th' gate. "

(1926) Glasgow Herald 14 Aug. 4/2 "The Pseudosuchians have long since passed, but they fulfilled their promise and gave us birds. "

(1926) Times 6 May 3/1 "On the railways skeleton services were run on main and suburban lines, and more trains are promised to-day. "

(1926) Times 6 May 3/1 "Skeleton services were run on main and suburban lines, and more trains are promised to-day. "

(1927) E. Glyn `It' 240 "She had promised to sit for him just for a lightning sketch. "

(1927) F. B. Young Portrait of Clare vi. x. 744 "He's promised to look in this evening, just to have a `dekko' as he calls it, and see that you're all right. "

(1927) M. Terry Through Land of Promise 104 "We found the others clustered round a bauhinia tree... `We've got a sugar bag.' "

(1927) M. Terry Through Land of Promise 44 "Although principally protectors of aboriginals, stock inspection, mining wardens' responsibilities and a host of other offices make them a collection of veritable `Poo-Bahs'. "

(1927) M. Terry Through Land of Promise 85 "We had been looking at the `jump-up' marking the extremity of the Barkly Tableland. "

(1927) M. Terry Through Land of Promise ix. 123 "I'll bet you what you like there are Joe Blakes in this camp. "

(1927) M. Terry Through Land of Promise xii. 154 "He found two gnamma holes (or rock holes) each holding about 40 gallons of water. "

(1927) M. Terry Through Land of Promise xiii. 161 "The manager's house..had been a small humpie consisting of four stone walls capped by a tin roof. "

(1927) Daily Tel. 25 Oct. 2/7 "The results, taken in conjunction with the pay ground passed through the haulage, gives promise of..an important shoot. "

(1927) Ladies' Home Jrnl. Dec. 34/3 "A waxed surface that..you can dust up jiffy-quick promises spick-and-span floors with but little trouble."

(1927) Observer 17 Apr. 10/2 "The wider range of control promised by such types as the `autogyro'. "

(1927) Observer 29 May 14/5 "[His] first recital showed promise... Mozart does not suit his style: it needs better finger-work and not so much arm and body and pedal. "

(1927) Sunday Express 7 Aug. 3/6 "Bogus mannequin schools.., of which there are several in London, promise to train girls to become expert mannequins. "

(1927) Vanity Fair XXIX. 132/4 "`The run-around' is stalling or failing to keep a promise. "

(1927) in M. Terry Through Land of Promise vi. 90 "In places there are small `vugs' containing quartz crystals. "

(1928) H. W. Schneider Making Fascist State i. 11 "Salandra's policy of `*sacred egoism', of bargaining with both sides to see who would promise Italy the most for her neutrality, is both disgraceful and useless. "

(1928) Amer. Speech III. 220 "Put out one's pin, v. phr., to become engaged, to promise marriage. `Scoop didn't have his pin on Dorothy very long, did he?' "

(1928) Britain's Industr. Future (Liberal Ind. Inquiry) iii. xvi. 195 "`Collective piece-work', whereby a group of workers..are guaranteed their regular time-rates but are promised, over and above these, an agreed share of the costs they may save. "

(1928) Observer 1 July 30/5 "It sometimes happens that an agenda promises sensations. "

(1928) Observer 29 Jan. 17/2 "That `brighter cricket' which Lord Hawke, on behalf of Yorkshire, promises for the coming season. This taking of godfatherly vows for a county team is a picturesque departure, which, we may hope, will have no anti-climax. "

(1928) Radio Times 12 Oct. 79/3 "The B.B.C. can never promise to comply with requests, for..suitable opportunities may not arise for weeks or even months. "

(1929) C. F. Coe Hooch vi. 130 "He slips him &dollar.300 an' promises him &dollar.700 more if they'll spring him... Baldy..promises to come right to me for the seven yards that make the grand. "

(1929) H. Crane Let. 26 Feb. (1965) 339 "They've promised to publish The Bridge-on sheets as large as a *piano score. "

(1929) Science Wonder Stories June 89 "The editor of this publication [sc. H. Gernsback] addressed a number of letters to science fiction lovers. The editor promised to pay &dollar.50.00 for the best letter each month on the subject of `What Science Fiction Means to Me.' "

(1929) Times 16 Aug. 11/3 "Mr. Moore, the Leader of the Opposition, appealed to the people of this Socialist-ridden State on a promise to substitute for Socialism `private effort and enterprise'. "

(1930) E. Pound XXX Cantos viii. 29 "And I shd. like to be party to it, as was promised me. "

(1930) Biol. Abstr. IV. 2568/2 " Injection of a medicinal iodine compound (`Iodipin') into the uterine cavity promises to yield clinical diagnostic results of some value by outlining the uterine cavity and the Fallopian tubes. "

(1930) Economist 5 July 19/2 "The wheat harvest has begun in the south-west... The out-turn promises to be about as large as last year. "

(1930) Engineering 7 Feb. 186/1 "Theoretically, the Otto cycle..promised higher efficiencies than the constant-pressure Diesel cycle. "

(1930) John o' London's 25 Jan. 656/1 "The plaintiff..complained that her lover had promised to marry her but failed to `finalize' matters. "

(1931) F. L. Allen Only Yesterday v. 101 "The vendors of another picture promised `neckers, petters, white kisses, red kisses, pleasure-mad daughters, sensation-craving mothers'. "

(1931) G. B. Sansom Japan ii. viii. 168 "Any who could produce from the new fields one thousand koku of rice were promised lifelong immunity to tax. "

(1931) W. Faulkner Sanctuary xvi. 112 "`If you'll just promise to get the kid a good newspaper grift when he's big enough to make change,' he said. "

(1931) W. Faulkner Sanctuary xxvii. 327 "Promise to get the kid a newspaper grift when he's old enough to make change. "

(1931) W. L. Stoddard Financial Racketeering i. 4 "*Front Money, money advanced to a salesman before commissions are earned. Money paid by companies for the purpose of securing finances, such money being paid to so-called `financial engineers' on their promise to secure finances, which promises are seldom carried out. "

(1931) Flight XXIII. 278/1 "The trials proceeding in America with a radio-sounder have been successful and appear to promise good results. "

(1931) N. &. Q. 21 Nov. 372/2 "At Hinton St. George, and in the neighbouring village of Lopen, mangolds, scooped out and fitted with candle ends to form lanterns, are known as `punkies'. During the parade of punkies, the following lines are sung: 'Tis Punkie night to-night, 'Tis Punkie night to-night. Adam and Eve, they won't believe 'Tis Punkie night to-night. This is said to be a century&dubh.old custom..based upon the fact that a party of men from Hinton and Lopen visited Chiselborough Fair..and did not return to their homes so early as promised. Their wives went in search of them, and the attractions of the fair..were so great that by the time they commenced the journey home, their lamps were innocent of oil, and improvised lanterns, made from mangold-wurzels..were utilised. `Punkie Night' has been once more revived at Hinton St. George. "

(1932) Time 15 Feb. 4/2 "Time is grateful for support and criticism of its policy, and repeats its promise to cause the minimum of offense in respect to newsworthy oaths. "

(1934) A. Huxley Beyond Mexique Bay 180 "Germany is to be made as remote from Europe as New Guinea... The result promises to be extremely gemü.tlich. "

(1934) A. Huxley Beyond Mexique Bay 2 "The blurb-writers promise to take you into the very heart of all these variegated delights. "

(1934) F. Scott Fitzgerald Tender is Night ii. viii. 196 "`I'll drop in after dinner,' Dick promised. `First I must get acclimated.' "

(1934) L. A. G. Strong Corporal Tune iii. ii. 230 "The room, instead of its usual vigorous cleaning, got what Nelly would have called a lick and a promise. "

(1934) P. A. Taylor Sandbar Sinister vi. 92 "`Just you hang on for a couple minutes more,' Asey promised her. "

(1934) Ann. Reg. 1933 ii. 63 "The development, in horse and baboon serum, of *anti-viral properties promises a means of immunising populations to yellow fever. "

(1934) Bulletin (Sydney) 21 Mar. 40/3, "I promised myself that if ever I met the crawler I'd flay him alive. "

(1935) Ann. Reg. 1934 53 "The conversion by Ruzicka of cholesterol into the male sex hormone..gave promise that the three sex hormones (androsterone, progestin, and oestrin) will be available for clinical use in chemically pure crystalline form. "

(1935) Economist 29 June 1474/1 "A Social Credit scheme for Alberta under which he promised to guarantee every adult inhabitant of the Province &dollar.25 per week. "

(1936) A. Epstein Insecurity (rev. ed.) p. vi, "The Act bars the realization of the relief promised by social insurance even though the law is presented under the glittering title of `Social Security'. "

(1936) C. H. Dodd Apostolic Preaching &. its Devel. iii. 156 "This promise of a second coming is realized in the presence of the Paraclete..in the life of the Church... The evangelist, therefore, is deliberately subordinating the `futurist' element in the eschatology of the early Church to the `realized eschatology' which..was from the first the distinctive and controlling factor in the kerygma. "

(1936) R. Hyde Check to your King 146 "Maori rangatira..promise that in future jury trial shall be observed. "

(1937) John o' London's 5 Feb. 762/2 "[A girl] promised to wait for me. She didn't, though. Too impatient. Married a *horse&dubh.knacker. "

(1938) C. Connolly Enemies of Promise ix. 93 "The deflationary activities of the Cambridge critics..have replaced the inflationism of Bloomsbury. "

(1938) C. Connolly Enemies of Promise xvi. 173 "The article has a future, especially in the form of the critical essay..and the skilled `reportage'. "

(1938) C. E. Sutcliffe et al. Story of Football League iii. 19 "The player claimed from the club a sum of &pstlg.250 which..had been promised him..on re-signing in June. "

(1938) F. D. Sharpe S. of Flying Squad iv. 43 "She went back to live with her mother and promised not to come up again near the bright lights. "

(1938) M. K. Rawlings Yearling vii. 61 "`You got to promise..not to beat the very puddin' outen me after you've hunted him.' `Shake.' A hairy paw closed over Penny's hand. "

(1938) Wodehouse Summer Moonshine x. 126 "This Miss Prudence Whittaker is suing this T. P. Vanringham for breach of promise and heart balm. "

(1938) Ann. Reg. 1937 352 "The egg membrane technique was further developed, the chorio-allantoic membrane giving promise of replacing the experimental animal in the study of many viruses. "

(1938) Variety 28 Dec. 30/4 "Jim Britt, WBEN sportcaster, promised a copy of a set of health rules to any listeners who would write in. "

(1938) G. Orwell Homage to Catalonia i. 12 "A promise that there should be machine-gun instruction man&tilde.ana. Needless to say man&tilde.ana never came. "

(1939) C. R. Cooper Designs in Scarlet i. 21 "The `rolling' or robbing of a man with whom they had been in company, on their alleged promise of sexual intercourse. "

(1939) Joyce Finnegans Wake (1964) iii. 443 "Pretty knocks, I promise him with plenty burkes for his shins. "

(1939) New Statesman 3 June 878/2 "Armament firms will boom more conspicuously, but the promised Government limitation of earnings or special taxations of `whitewar' profits must deprive the armament or semi-armament equities of their usual attraction. "

(1939) Sun (Baltimore) 26 Sept. 10/3 "In some respects it promises to preview the World Series. "

(1939) War Illustr. 4 Nov. p. iii/1 "A scheme by which German artisans paid in advance by weekly instalments for their long-promised `people's car' would appear to have fallen through, for the great works at Fallersleben, the supposed factory for these cars, are now stated to be turning out munitions. "

(1940) G. Crowther Outl. Money i. 25 "Every Bank of England note..bears the legend, `I Promise to pay the Bearer on Demand the sum of One Pound'..signed, `For the Govt. and Compa. of the Bank of England' by the Chief Cashier."

(1940) O. Nash Face is Familiar 87 "Affection..leads to breach of promise If you go round lavishing it on red-hot momise. "

(1940) Mind XLIX. 231 "Utilitarians have tended rather to over-estimate the disastrous consequences of promise-breaking. "

(1940) Nation 6 Apr. 448/1 "Unless production [of television programmes] is slap-happy, the costs promise to compare with those of Broadway shows. "

(1940) R.A.F. in Action 16 "On the 20th May, 1940, the Reichsmarshal..was forced to promise that more guns would be provided immediately. "

(1941) B. Appel in C. Grayson New Stories for Men 32 "Red would snag a dollar or two out of me with a promise that I should take it out of his wages. "

(1941) Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 29 "Fizz out on, to let down, fail in a promise."

(1941) Koestler Scum of Earth 19 "The classical form for non-aggression treaties had been so far to promise neutrality. "

(1941) Sun (Baltimore) 2 Aug. 7/1 "They are hoping to receive soon a long-promised consignment of three `*puddle-jumping' Vultee 049 planes in which they will be able to hop up and down from even the smallest corn field. "

(1941) Sun (Baltimore) 3 Nov. 15/2 "Rulman also promised a free marriage to women who catch a man in the Sadie Hawkins footrace. "

(1941) World-Telegram (N.Y.) 8 Jan. 23/2 "We had trouble with the Muscovites before and..made them promise..to leave off revolutioneering in our midst."

(1942) Berrey &. Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §.825/34 "Pledge, pledgee,..a prospective fraternity member who has promised to join."

(1942) C. Morley Thorofare xl. 355 "You ought to be writing the Adventures of a Crustacean. You've only done a lick and a promise. There's six more inches to fill. "

(1942) C. Morley Thorofare xxiii. 98 "I've promised to read a paper on my trip abroad to our literary sorosis."

(1942) D. Powell Time to be Born i. 37 "The red *snow suit her mother had promised. "

(1942) Wyndham Lewis Let. 15 July (1963) 334 "There are omens of promise-in much that Mr. Roosevelt has done, or in the splendid massive jujitzu of the Russians. "

(1942) Lancet 26 Dec. 759/2 "In what he calls by the rather cumbersome name of a *phono-electrocardioscope, G. E. Donovan has introduced an instrument which holds out high promise of useful service to the clinician. "

(1942) Sun (Baltimore) 21 Feb. 2/8 "The Nazi in command of the U-boat fleet, had promised to use `*pack tactics' on the Eastern Atlantic and save the largest submarines and best crews for attacks off American shores, to cripple Allied tanker strength. "

(1943) P. Brennan et al. Spitfires over Malta i. 31 "The mass raids promised to be a piece of cake, and we anticipated taking heavy toll of the raiders. "

(1943) Listener 16 Sept. 321/2 "A quite new drug, sulphaguanidine, shows promise for the treatment of bacillary dysentery; it succeeds here..because much of it is not absorbed, and it therefore remains to act in the intestine. "

(1943) Sun (Baltimore) 19 May 7 "Promised `roll backs' on cabbage and lettuce will still leave prices of these foods, at the farm, three times as high as they were a year ago. "

(1945) E. Waugh Brideshead Revisited i. v. 123 "Men..in all the full flood of academic and athletic success, of popularity and the promise of great rewards ahead. "

(1945) Over-All Report (U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey, Europ. War) 30 Sept. 104/1 "Germany promised its people `bombproof' shelters for all, and planned the construction of extensive above-ground concrete structures known as `bunkers'. "

(1945) Times 15 Oct. 3/2 "The committee's report said..that `knowledge of electronics promises the ability to detonate atomic bombs at great distances by radio'. "

(1946) J. Cary Moonlight 242 "The young man..made Ella promise to play [the piano] with him every afternoon when he could escape from what he called his cram-shop."

(1946) K. Tennant Lost Haven (1947) xiii. 201 "`I promised her a salmon.' He felt a fool lumping the great thing about."

(1946) R. A. Knox Epistles &. Gospels 223 "A salvific law, promising life to Israel only, might have seemed to contravene them [sc. the promises of God]; not a purely damnific Law like that of Sinai. "

(1946) B.B.C. Year-bk. 51 "The Director-General promised that within ninety days of the end of hostilities in the West, the BBC would provide its listeners in the United Kingdom with two full-scale alternative programmes. "

(1946) Sun (Baltimore) 5 July 11/3 "Experimental planting of fish with airplanes gives promise for the `back in there' pothole lakes and spring holes. "

(1946) Time 21 Oct. 99/1 "The picture begins to renege on its early promise. "

(1947) Auden Age of Anxiety (1948) vi. 121 "Peace was promised by the public *hepatoscopists. "

(1947) K. Tennant Lost Haven i. 23 "He left with my schnapper boat that he promised to pay for and never paid a damn cent. "

(1947) W. S. Maugham Creatures of Circumstance 111 "Ivy's promised me that when I hand in my checks she'll come back here."

(1948) M. McCarthy in Partisan Rev. May-June 325 "The Dublin Gate players..had a slapdash style of acting that suggested an Irish house&dubh.maid flailing about with a dust-cloth-they gave their roles a lick and a promise and trusted to the audience's good-nature to take the will for the deed. "

(1948) Call-Bulletin (San Francisco) 12 Apr. 3/6 "Diasone and two companion drugs, promin and promizole, have shown promise against both tuberculosis and leprosy but they have some disadvantages. "

(1948) Hansard CDXLVIII. 1054 "Many had lived in camp according to the promised scale of pay, with the result that they lived beyond their means. To use an Army expression, `They were properly carted'."

(1948) La Meri Spanish Dancing i. 4 "Hermetic Spain is that promised land to which we go to find..the greatest..*Spanish dancing in the world. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. iii. 236 "Communications..are rather precarious, depending as they do on the vagaries of the American consul's radio teletype. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulf. 188 "The Jews accepted the Security Council's call for a cease-fire, the Arabs rejected it. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulf. i. xiv. 162 "The strange experiment of de-salinating the soil of the barren area. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulf. ii. 18 "The Administration played a curious cat-and-mouse game with the Jewish self-defence organization. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulf. ii. ii. 209 "The blond, good-looking young man with his neutral, `de-salinated' features. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulf. ii. v. 274 "More crank visitors. Among them a German who cures diseases by soul-waves and mana. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulf. ii. v. 275 "Owing to the closed-shop system of political coteries, most of the diplomatic jobs go to little yes-men. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulf. ii. v. 279 "His attitude is the result of that deep-rooted complex-cultural claustrophilia. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulf. ii. v. 285 "Diplomatic notes with accusations and counter-accusations that read like the Fish&dubh.wives' Morning Gazette. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulf. iii. i. 298 "An Arab-Jewish binational state in which the `toiling masses' of the two races were to unite against the Arab effendis and the Jewish capitalists... The idealists of the Zionist left..dropped all binationalist pretences."

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulf. iii. i. 299 "The battle-hardened workers of the Soviet Union. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulf. iii. i. 310 "The so-called `General Zionists' and the `Progressive Party', a break-away group of the former. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulf. iii. iv. 324 "The bustling bee-hive activity of the whole country."

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulf. vii. 70 "Conditioned during the course of a whole generation to bypass the law. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulf. xii. 132 "A scheme of Cantonization prepared by the Colonial Office."

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulf. xvi. 176 "This commonwealth of immigrants would have become a beachhead of European tradition and democracy in the Levant. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment 222 "He is a sabra, with a pleasant open face and good physique. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment 262 "At the bottom of their hearts they know quite well what the *M.V.D. has in store for them. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment 292 "It is a kind of aseptic social operation, and as wages are pegged to the cost-of-living index, there is no occasion even for local strikes. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment 334 "With the exception of the `race-theorists' nearly all modern authorities hold that Jewish characteristics are a product of sustained environmental pressure. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment 60 "The majority..were Zionists..who at the eve of the war had been waiting for their turn on the immigration quota. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment 96 "Specially picked anti-terrorist Haganah squads. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment i. 10 "It would have necessitated a team of men with Byronic idealism and Lawrentian imagination. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment i. ii. 13 "`Somehow we like the Arabs'..confessed a sincere and *pro-Zionist Englishman. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment i. ii. 14 "The Jews had..only a homogeneous lower-middle-class of Eastern European small-town origin. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment i. iii. 29 "We are always apt to forget that nationalism is a product of a relatively recent, *post-feudal European development. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment i. iii. 31 "The striking percentual increases in the statistics quoted."

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment i. v. 54 "To put the callous policy of the Mandatory Power on a par with the barbarity of Hitlerism, as the Jewish terrorists did in their slogan of the `Nazi-British', is..unjust and stupid. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment i. vii. 69 "Many of these young men had been members of the Jewish self-defence organizations in the pogrom-threatened small towns of Russia. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment i. vii. 69 "The Jewish Defence organization became another white negro, which changed its colour according to the political situation. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment i. vii. 76 "When, in 1941, British troops invaded Vichy-held Syria, they needed a vanguard of Commandos. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment i. vii. 87 "The Administration resorted to the eccentric and rather un-British expedient of staging several show-trials. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment i. viii. 90 "Haganah had a kind of *semi-legal status which varied according to the political constellation. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment i. viii. 91 "It was the first anti-British terror act of the Irgun and it displayed already all the features of rocambolesque etiquette. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment i. viii. 92 "The Sternists were believers in unrestricted and indiscriminate terror. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment i. x. 114 "The year..ended with the first encounters in the sub-war between the British Foreign Office and the future State of Israel. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment i. xi. 125 "The controversy about Zionism would have become as `polarized' between pro- and anti-Russians as, say, the controversy about Poland. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment i. xii. 130 "Let the Yishuv, the Diaspora and the whole world know what Bevin, Attlee and their henchmen are preparing for us. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment i. xii. 131 "Apart from some rough-housing..the troops found no occasion for any martial activity. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment i. xii. 131 "The soldiers were confronted with the grotesque task of dragging the passive resistants..into barbed-wire cages for interrogation. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment i. xii. 133 "Experts of the Foreign Office..tried to set up a puppet Jewish Agency as a kind of *satellite Government. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment i. xii. 136 "The boarding party finally gained control of the vessel by using tear-smoke grenades..against them. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment i. xiii. 146 "It was Jewry's V-day-the first since the time of the Maccabeans. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment i. xiii. 149 "[He]..refused to testify..on the grounds that his testimony would be *self-incriminatory. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment i. xv. 165 "Arab infiltrators from neighbouring countries were exercising `considerable administrative control' in Samaria. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment i. xv. 169 "On March 1 the Vaad Leumi met in Tel Aviv. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. 17 "What both Jews and Arabs believed to be a `diabolic policy' was in fact the traditional muddling-along policy. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. 259 "A Revisionist doctor makes his living on Revisionist patients, goes to Revisionist caf&eacu.s and frequents only Revisionist circles. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. i. 194 "That eery odour of otherliness, of vagrancy and jugglery which surrounds Mr. Abramowitz. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. i. 217 "The Arab troops in this region were..reinforced by..Croat Ustachis. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. ii. 205 "Finally, the tiny area of Israel..gave them no opportunity for defence in depth."

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. ii. 218 "Each of them means a cherished near-escape story to some member of the commune. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. ii. 221 "We..had the treat of an hour's moonlight journey across the Sea of Galilee, with kibbutzniks from Ein Geb sprawling all over the deck and singing Hebrew songs. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. ii. 222 "His English is good with a specific Israeli-sabra accent. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. ii. 232 "To the distant reader of the tabloid Press..it looked as if history had at last met Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's most ambitious dream. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. iii. 234 "Just after Glubb's panzers had begun the shelling of the Jewish quarter. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. iv. 251 "The victory of the new type of Israelis grown on Palestine soil over the obstinate fanaticism of ghetto-bred politicians. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. iv. 253 "This difference..was demonstrated by Irgun's voluntary self-liquidation..as opposed to the Stern Group's persistence in terrorism. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. iv. 253 "This difference..was demonstrated by Irgun's..*self-transformation into a bona fide democratic party. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. v. 260 "A woman of sixty-five, who escorted her grandson, an Irgunist wanted by the police, across Tel Aviv to a safe hiding place. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. v. 263 "Most Tel Avivians agree that the black-out is logically unwarranted. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. v. 265 "The Egyptians having officially been branded as truce&dubh.breakers. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. v. 269 "The war research which they are doing..is still on the secret list. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. v. 274 "He has a mana-circle in Tel Aviv."

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. v. 274 "It was a disappointing speech-emotional rhetorics without a constructive programme. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. v. 275 "As he does not belong to the inner circle of Mapai,..he can't get a job. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. v. 279 "Fierce-looking Yemenite gun-molls, Sephardi beauties. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. v. 279 "Then a Sternist girl came in who once made international news. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. v. 280 "There is..no conceivable justification..for Sten-gunning the representative of an international body. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. v. 281 "The marxian dictum that man is a product of his environment. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. v. 281, "I wonder whether an American don is the right match for the propaganda and infiltration experts of the Soviet Union. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. v. 282 "One delegation would immediately settle down to silent termite work. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment ii. v. 296 "The one-time pioneers have, as so often happens, developed into a somewhat nepotistic coterie of the ancients. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment iii. 302 "The conflict between Revisionism and official Zionism was mainly one of character and temperament. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment iii. i. 289 "The trend of social migrations is a `horizontal' drift from village and agriculture to town and industry, and a `vertical' drift from working-class to middle-class occupations. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment iii. i. 294 "The same ghetto-heritage of suspicion. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment iii. i. 296 "A people living underground must be single-minded..; but these qualities when carried over into open-air politics, become a grave handicap. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment iii. i. 298 "The military cadres of the extreme Left, Palmach, became the best and most ferocious shock troops. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment iii. i. 301 "Middle-class families in the Tel Aviv caf&eacu.s applauded..the Russian marches played by salon orchestras in the Viennese style. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment iii. i. 302 "Millions of war-worn, strife-weary people longing to find peace."

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment iii. i. 305 "The political record of the only strong *non-Socialist opposition Party in Israel is one of frustration and sterility. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment iii. i. 391 "Transport cooperatives which have..a near-monopoly of cross-country bus services. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment iii. iii. 317 "Kosherness..is only one of the relatively minor rabbinical plagues in the young state. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment iii. iii. 317 "The Cabinet has capitulated to the rabbis and no *non-kosher meat will be imported into Israel. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment iii. iv. 325 "Others, like Naharia, are German Kurorts grafted on by plastic landscape surgery."

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment iii. iv. 328 "A large number of the immigrants of recent years are psychological problem cases. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment iii. iv. 330 "What kind of a civilization will Israel's be? Will it be..the superficial veneer of Levantinism? "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment iv. 246 "The very term `dissidents' had originated through Irgun's refusal to accept the authority of the Jewish Agency. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment iv. 40 "It is conceivable that they could have achieved sufficient pressure at least to mitigate the immigration bar of 1939. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment v. 270 "The good, clean academic atmosphere acted like a disinfectant on our politics-infested minds. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment v. 284 "This is the first coeducational-or rather cohabitational-prison in the world. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment vi. 56 "Except the small number of those who already held pre-war immigration certificates. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment vi. 57 "This same argument..has served the Soviet Government as a constant pretext for refusing to admit..International Brigaders..into Soviet territory. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment vi. 58 "At that time the death trains had started rattling through Eastern Europe. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment vi. 59 "The hunting down of `illegal immigrants' became gradually an obsession with the Palestine authorities. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment vii. 69 "The next transformation came after the First World War when *mass immigration started in earnest. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment vii. 88 "The famous order of the day of the G.O.C. Palestine..which..imposed a ban on fraternization with the Jews. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment viii. 95 "Specially picked *anti-terrorist Haganah squads. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment xii. 132 "The other after-effects of the misfired operation were in the same strain. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment xiii. 143 "The somewhat jerky behaviour displayed by the Central American banana republics. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment xiii. 149 "His brother was killed by a letter-bomb sent by the Stern Group. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment xiv. 159 "This phase of fluid guerilla fighting ended on April 2. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment xv. 166 "On February 22, 1948, Palestine was at short notice expulsed from the Sterling Block. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment xv. 168 "A tiny two-seater training plane..which performed perilous hops from an improvised dirt-track runway in Jerusalem to Tel Aviv and back. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment xv. 170 "The Gö.tterdä.mmerung of British rule in the Holy Land was not in the Wagnerian, but rather in the Dostoievskian style. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment xv. 170 "The Gö.tterdä.mmerung of British rule in the Holy Land was not in the Wagnerian, but rather in the Dostoievskian style. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfilment xvi. 177 "Transjordan was and is as interested in a solution on these lines as the Jews, in view of the age&dubh.old rivalry between the Hashimite and Saudite dynasties. "

(1949) Koestler Promise &. Fulfulment iii. i. 295 "Israel's first Prime Minister..and many of the other political leaders, started their education in the Yeshivot, the religious schools of Russian Jewry. "

(1949) M. Mead Male &. Female xv. 299 "Breach-of-promise cases are a silly excrescence in a world in which women do half the proposing."

(1949) Amer. Speech XXIV. 39 "In recent years method, explanation, and the how..promise to force modus operandi into the archives."

(1949) Mind LVIII. 359 "To make a promise is to perform an act in which language is involved as an integral part... Mr. J. L. Austin distinguishes this as the `performatory' use of language. I am indebted to him for this point. "

(1949) J. Nelson Backwoods Teacher vi. 57 "We spoke of lightning and `thunderbolts'. Of these latter, Fritz Baily said his uncle used to `gather them up-and we still get lots kickin' 'round the barn.'.. He promised to bring me one. (Next morning he did-a meteorite the size of his fist.)"

(1950) A. Lomax Mr. Jelly Roll 220 "The gangsters..had promised to rub him out if he didn't stop trying to hire away their star New Orleans side-men. "

(1950) Amer. Documentation I. 141/2 "A new reading machine just announced..holds much promise. This reader giving a clear, sharp image..is relatively inexpensive. "

(1950) Economist 14 Jan. 57/2 "The apocalyptic promises of Communism can be met by the sober reality of rising standards of living. "

(1950) tr. Rep. Comm. New Guinea (Irian) iii. iv. 96 "The Netherlands promise that it is prepared to listen to the voice of the original Irian people. "

(1951) E. H. Erikson Childhood &. Society iii. vii. 228 "The sense of ego identity, then, is the accrued confidence that the inner sameness and continuity are matched by the sameness and continuity of one's meaning for others, as evidenced in the tangible promise of a `career'. "

(1951) Manch. Guardian Weekly 15 Mar. 10/4 "The Tampa Tribune in Florida..prominently reported,..the Government's promise to roll back meat prices. "

(1951) Sci. News Let. 24 Nov. 333 "A cobalt 60 `bomb' which promises life-saving treatment for more cancer patients was officially installed at the clinic of the Ontario Cancer Foundation, London, Ont. The cobalt bomb is a small portion of radioactive cobalt 60 enclosed in a heavy lead case. "

(1951) Sport 16-22 Mar. 13/3 "In 20-year-old Brian Siddall..Stoke appear to have found a right-winger of unbounded promise. "

(1951) Sport 30 Mar.-5 Apr. 9/1 "Staggering offers have been made for Twentyman, a half-back of immense promise. "

(1952) M. McCarthy Groves of Academe (1953) x. 197 "One of Furness's long-tressed Ritas was promised a movie-test. "

(1952) Final Rep. Construction &. Operation of Numerically Controlled Milling Machine (Mass. Inst. Technol. Servomechanisms Lab.) 30 July 1 (AD 22241). "Summary 1 A new technique of automatic machine-tool control..promises to simplify some of the manufacturing problems of medium and small run production often encountered in the aircraft industry. Called numerical control, this technique has been applied by M.I.T...to a milling machine controlled by a numerical code punched on paper tape. "

(1953) A. Huxley Let. 25 Sept. (1969) 684 "The mesozoic reptiles of the Ford Foundation are being as mesozoic as ever... Hutchins has recently flown to New York and has promised to do what he can with the saurians. "

(1953) Jessen's Weekly 19 Feb. 5/2. "The trapping of Beaver and muskrat in the Huslia area does not show much promise as the ice is from three to six feet thick in the rivers and lakes... Many of the rats have been frozen in."

(1953) Jrnl. Brit. Interplan. Soc. XII. 266 "The development of metal/ceramic mixtures (ceramals or ceramets) promises an improvement in these essential properties."

(1954) Amer. Speech XXIX. 229 "The word moviethon is merely the most recent in what promises to be a long list of words created arbitrarily by means of the -thon suffix. "

(1955) Brown &. Dey India's Mineral Wealth (ed. 3) x. 391 "Some of the more stable silicone esters, the aryl and higher alkyl silicates, are said to show promise as liquid media for heat-exchange and hydraulic systems. "

(1955) T. H. Pear English Social Diff. xi. 260 "Boys of outstanding promise [at cricket] can receive coaching if they take jobs on a club ground-staff. "

(1955) Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. XLVI. 54 "Measures of *speech-breathing activity promised to be more immediately relevant to the changing states of tension and affect during interview. "

(1955) Jrnl. Hort. Sci. XXX. 181 "Isodrin and endrin are newer insecticides, but show great promise in their versatility of action; control of such completely different insects as aphids and cut-worms has been obtained by their use. "

(1955) Life 18 Apr. 63/1 "The mushrooming political strength of Poujadism last month forced Premier Edgar Faure's government to promise sweeping exemptions to the small shopkeepers. "

(1955) Sci. News Let. 19 Feb. 121/3 "Batyl alcohol promises to become a prized material for possible protection against atomic radiation."

(1955) Sci. News Let. 24 Sept. 204/3 "Splitting sounds so that one ear hears it first is known as `monaural delay'. Its use by the Air Force and airlines promises better and clearer communications in the air. "

(1955) Sci. News Let. 26 Feb. 141/1 "Nature's yellow dyestuff and related chemicals..promise to help fight certain artery troubles and other ailments of man. The chemicals are now called bioflavonoids. "

(1955) Times 26 May 11/6 "Labour's promise to do away with the 11 plus examination for selective secondary education was another scheme that suffered a diminuendo. "

(1955) Times 3 Aug. 12/2 "The Swiss authorities would be the first to admit that the sterilization of deposits..cannot be held to promise a solution of the problem posed by the existence of too much money and lack of sufficient opportunities for investing it. "

(1956) A. H. Compton Atomic Quest ii. 107 "Ernest Lawrence..urged that this process be de-emphasized so that greater effort could be applied to the methods that gave greater promise of immediate production. "

(1956) Beaver Summer 44 "The Indians had respected the promises of the Great White Queen-or as she was known-`King George's Klootchman'-and they relied upon the word of the Hudson's Bay Company. "

(1956) Gramophone Dec. 265/1 "None of the tracks lives up to the promise of the star-studded personnel. "

(1957) W. H. Whyte Organization Man iii. 23 "Scientism,..the promise that with the same techniques that have worked in the physical sciences we can eventually create an exact science of man. "

(1957) Economist 28 Sept. 1003/1 "The process..would close when the promised elections set up an all-Korean government-perhaps with a degree of regional autonomy, and with shock-absorber clauses written into the constitution to cushion the losers. "

(1957) Eng. Lang. Teaching (Brit. Council) XII. no. 1. Oct.-Dec. 7 "It has long been recognized..that the grasp that the Comics can exert and maintain upon their readers' attention could offer a promise as well as a threat to education. "

(1957) Times 11 Sept. 6/2 "Mass cultures of a minute aquatic plant-chlorella-promised to be a means of achieving high efficiencies [for photosynthesis] on a large scale. "

(1958) D. Reeman Prayer for Ship viii. 202 "He gave me a terrific line about the hold-up. Said it was his partner's fault. But he promises definitely it'll be here tomorrow evening. "

(1958) J. Townsend Young Devils xv. 143 "`My bruvver will get you,' he promised. "

(1958) L. Durrell Mountolive viii. 179 "Tiens! I forgot. Here is the thousand I promised you. "

(1958) Coast to Coast 1957-1958 137 "When the farm was free of its `poultice', her father had promised to hand over to Sam."

(1958) Manch. Guardian 21 Jan. 6/3 "The use of radar speedmeters to enforce the law on the roads promises to be more successful than most efforts to reduce..road accidents. "

(1958) Punch 19 Nov. 669/2 "A good unit trust group..provides the best way of combining the safety of numbers with the promise of participating in the economic growth that lies before us and of providing a hedge against inflation. "

(1958) Times Lit. Suppl. 17 Jan. 29/2 "The promise not to use `technical jargon or the special esperanto of cin&eacu.-club experts'. "

(1958) Times 16 June 12/4 "He..promised her a flip in his five-metre yacht. "

(1958) Times 19 Apr. 7/3 "Already tape recording is hard on the heels of the long-play record and stereophonic reproduction promises to invade both. "

(1958) Times 29 Sept. 2/7 "The promise of antibiotics as a means of controlling certain plant diseases has been brought a step nearer fulfilment by a recent Order which permits the use of streptomycin and oxytetracycline. "

(1958) Times 3 Nov. 11/7 "When Montgomery, promised extra logistic support, fixed the date for Arnhem, Patton decided to get his forces so involved beyond the Moselle that Supreme Headquarters would find it impossible to find that extra support at his expense. "

(1959) D. Hewett Bobbin Up 170 "Already the sky was pale and smoky with the promise of `another stinker'. "

(1959) I. &. P. Opie Lore &. Lang. Schoolch. xviii. 377 "In `Truth, Dare, and Promise' each player has to agree either to tell the truth, accept a dare, or promise to do as he is told. "

(1959) Ann. Reg. 1958 152 "At a special pledging conference in October 35 governments promised &dollar.2712 million for the Agency's work. "

(1959) Daily Tel. 6 July 6/2 "His [sc. Mr. Gaitskell's] promise to try to form a non-nuclear club under British leadership. "

(1959) Daily Tel. 9 June 17/4 "The word `pensioneering'..has recently been added to the political vocabulary... `Pensioner, you can't trust the Labour Party. They are simply pensioneering, trying to buy your votes on a promise of 10s.' "

(1959) Encounter Jan. 20/1 "In the West, where thought tends to be either Marxist-materialistic or Christian-supernatural..it is difficult to envisage a religion not based on transcendental hopes and promises. "

(1959) Sunday Express 30 Aug. 12/7 "With the election moving remorselessly nearer, pie-in-the-sky days are here again. Everything our hearts could desire is promised us by politicians. "

(1959) Times Lit. Suppl. 2 Oct. 564/2 "It is not her fault that the publishers, in big letters on the jacket, promise `as smashing a last sentence as we can recall!' That promise is not fulfilled. The final twist is surprisingly unsurprising. "

(1959) Washington Post 2 Oct. B 8/1 "The `Murphy game' is..a confidence game... The victim or `pigeon' is lured by promises of a woman and then given..paper cut to bill size, in an envelope exchanged for the victim's cash. "

(1960) B. Kops Dream of Peter Mann iii. 66 "We couldn't have our Superstore just yet and we were palmed off with promises."

(1960) J. F. Kennedy in N.Y. Times 16 July 1/8 "The New Frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises-it is a set of challenges. "

(1960) Koestler Lotus &. Robot i. iii. 111 "The eight siddhis are promised..in remuneration for the more difficult mudras. "

(1960) Koestler Lotus &. Robot ii. xi. 257 "Zazen meditation, unlike Yoga, holds no promise of supernatural rewards. "

(1960) L. Durrell Clea i. i. 20 "The promised farewell dinner of lamb on the spit and gold rezina wine. "

(1960) M. E. Florey Clin. Appl. Antibiotics IV. iii. 77 "Isolated from the fermentation liquor of an unidentified actinomycete called by the authors Nocardia lurida and obtained from soil at Colorado Springs, ristocetin gives promise of being of value in the treatment of staphylococcal and other infections. "

(1960) Wentworth &. Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang 346/1 "Mousetrap, v.t. 1. In sports, to feint an opponent out of position. 2. To fool or mislead by false promises; to entice; to cajole. "

(1960) Daily Tel. 31 Mar. 15/1 "What promises to be the most important experiment in traffic control starts next Monday, when car parking over the whole of Mayfair becomes subject to meters. "

(1960) News Chron. 13 Jan. 5/6 "Margaret Barber, 21, blind since she was six, was promised a guide dog. "

(1961) A. Fleur Hume's Philos. of Belief 209 "The ultimate warrant for accepting these new scientific ideas lies in their implicit open general challenge to falsification and in their implicit open general promise of repeatability. "

(1961) B. Fergusson Watery Maze x. 251 "Some of the Mediterranean landing-craft had already been promised to India, to help the British mount amphibious hooks down the coast of Arakan. "

(1961) Sherif &. Hovland Social Judgment v. 118 (heading 126 )"If future investigations bear out the promise of our results, it may prove feasible to order the stands of individuals on a controversial social issue through their placement of relevant items within their `own' categories. "

(1961) Daily Tel. 21 July 24/5 "A new synthetic penicillin, Penbritin, promises to be more active against some strains of bacteria so far immune to previous penicillins and to be of increased potency against others. "

(1961) Engineering 15 Sept. 353/1 "Fig. 2 shows the simo-charts produced by a member of a recent course; they promise particularly high savings and provide a very good example of simo-charting. "

(1961) Mod. Romances Nov. 77 (Brown corpus) "Ken got coy and wouldn't make any promises. "

(1961) Times 21 Nov. 13/2 "Barbara Holt, making her stage debut, displayed the promise of an uncommon warbler. "

(1962) K. Orvis Damned &. Destroyed i. 9 "A man who takes pleasure in being called crime-buster promises without delay to put vice on ice in Montreal. "

(1962) L. Deighton Ipcress File xxxii. 209 "The E.M.P...promised to action it for me if I let his A.D.C. have details in writing. "

(1962) Simpson &. Richards Junction Transistors viii. 188 "These devices show promise as solid state `thyratrons'... They have the advantage over grid-controlled gas-tube rectifiers that they can be turned off more readily. "

(1962) V. Packard Pyramid Climbers (1963) xiii. 156 "Most executives of promise have a built-in go-go-go. "

(1962) Times 4 Apr. 15/1 "There is every promise that the Sizewell nuclear power station..will be the first atomic installation to produce electricity as cheaply as the most modern conventional power station."

(1963) J. Kennaway Bells of Shoreditch i. i. 12 "He said, `I promise you, you're looking very well.' "

(1963) W. Blunt Of Flowers &. Village 89 "R[osa] Andersonii. Like a phlox-pink wild rose. Peace. For Mrs. Benham, who has promised to plant it where it can't be seen from the house. "

(1963) Economist 12 Jan. 136/3 "He has promised to continue the work of `reprivatisation' (denationalisation). "

(1963) Guardian 19 Apr. 12/2 "The National Aeronautics and Space Administration had promised to allow some broadcasts direct from the capsule as well as the rebroadcast of television tapes. "

(1963) Times 16 Jan. 6/5 "Mr. Richard Daley, the last of the big city political bosses, has promised him a rough ride in a `swinging, zinging, campaign, the roughest, toughest ever seen in Chicago'. "

(1963) Times 23 Apr. 13/2 "Fortunately the recent exchanges promise slightly less stiff-necked attitudes on both sides."

(1963) Times 31 Dec. 12/7 "Aloha.., a word that survives from old Hawaii..means both farewell and greeting, friendship and love, hope and promise. So, as the English church bells ring out, I shall be thinking `Plenty Aloha, 1964'. "

(1964) Gould &. Kolb Dict. Social Sci. 484/1 "A party platform is a general statement of principles, policies, and issues, and a programme of promises which the party pledges to enact into legislation. "

(1964) R. Blum (title xiv. 292 )"The movement promises much-a return to paradise, a Utopia of the inner life-and so LSD-25 becomes, if one may be allowed a neologism, a `Utopiate'. "

(1964) Guardian 29 May 2/4 "The Fire Brigades' Union executive today promised to examine firewomen's conditions of service. "

(1964) E. McBain Ax x. 191 "I'd like to buy a rhyming dictionary... I promised somebody I'd find a rhyme. "

(1965) C. Brown Manchild in Promised Land (1966) vi. 163 "Since her mother was laying so many cats, why shouldn't she be tricking. "

(1965) C. Brown Manchild in Promised Land i. 15 "They thought that I was one of the guys who had pulled a train on their sister in the park the summer before. "

(1965) C. Brown Manchild in Promised Land iii. 80 "For the next two weeks, K. B. was Claiborne's yardbird. He had to go everywhere Claiborne went from morning till night. He even had to ask Claiborne when he wanted to go to the bathroom."

(1965) C. Brown Manchild in Promised Land iv. 112 "If you gon pull a bitch, you can'[t] get excited and let her know that you want that pussy so bad you about to go crazy. "

(1965) C. Brown Manchild in Promised Land viii. 221 "I'd go up to the gym and work out for a little while, and I wasn't tired any more. "

(1965) C. Brown Manchild in Promised Land xiii. 314 "Them damn junkies take care of theirselves twice as good as you can."

(1965) C. Brown Manchild in Promised Land xiv. 332 "All the Muslims now felt as though 125th Street was theirs. It used to belong to the hustlers and the slicksters. "

(1965) H. M. Hoenigswald in W. Winter Evidence for Laryngeals 93 "Such extra-Indoiranian etymologies as have been advanced with any promise mostly involve root-final position for the voiceless aspirates. "

(1965) W. Soyinka Road 54 "Perhaps..if you promised not to look in his face..so that you could not recognise him at an identification parade. "

(1965) Amer. N. &. Q. Apr. 128/2 "Nearly 100 songs tell about travel around the Horn and across the Plains to the promised land, life in California..and the great joy of going home. "

(1965) Papers Regional Sci. Assoc. XV. 162 "The individual will tend to locate himself at a place whose characteristics possess or promise a relatively higher level of utility than in other places which are conspicuous to him. "

(1966) A. A. Hill Promises &. Limitations Newest Type Gram. Anal. 11 "Post-Bloomfieldian structuralists produced rather remarkably few grammars. "

(1966) A. A. Hill Promises &. Limitations Newest Type Gram. Analysis 6 "Tragerians always began the description of language with phonemes, and ended it..with syntax. "

(1966) D. G. Brandon Mod. Techniques Metallogr. 155 "Such needle counters hold great promise in the field of `non-dispersive' analysis. "

(1966) N. Freeling King of Rainy Country 33 "The War Office in London..promised to get him off a night letter. "

(1966) Economist 22 Oct. 350/2 "Like other near-nuclear nations, they are unwilling to promise to stay out of the club unless its members will promise to halt what Canada's foreign minister has called their `vertical proliferation'; that is, promise to stop testing, producing and piling up nuclear arms. "

(1966) Listener 15 Sept. 397/2 "We were promised a discussion about the programme on BBC-2's Late Night Line-Up; we wuz robbed, the discussion hardly mentioned the programme at all. "

(1966) New Statesman 21 Jan. 73/2 "The kind of libertarian, communitarian society he often promises."

(1966) New Statesman 8 Apr. 500/3 "The plans are already drawn, 120 million lekë. (nearly &pstlg.500,000) promised by the state. "

(1966) H. MacDiarmid Company I've Kept v. 148 "Gaeldom, but for the English, gave good promise many centuries ago of evolving an ideal `people's state'. "

(1966) J. Hackston Father clears Out 37 "As if to buck us up after our recent loss, he promised us poultry on the table."

(1967) C. Potok Chosen xii. 200 "My father promised my sister to the son of one of his followers when she was two years old."

(1967) Coulthard &. Smith in Wills &. Yearsley Handbk. Managem. Technol. 207 "A new movement, variously described as `management by objectives', `improving management performance' or `performance planning', now promises to sweep away some of the `sacred cows' of management development. "

(1967) DeVelis &. Reynolds Theory &. Applic. Holography i. 6 "Holographic interferometry shows promise in the areas of vibration and stress analysis and turbulence studies. "

(1967) E. Coxhead Thankless Muse ix. 200 "Now your promise cher maî.tre... The merest glimpse? "

(1967) M. Kenyon Whole Hog xxv. 253 "A contest which had promised..to be short and cruel, had become slapstick. "

(1967) V. Lincoln Private Disgrace (1968) xi. 91 "She had only a basin of water and a rag with which to give the insides of the windows a lick and a promise. "

(1967) Canadian Ann. Rev. 1966 6 "It met strong resistance from those who supported the traditional formula of a grab-bag of promises. "

(1967) Economist 14 Oct. 133/3 "The one piece of regional pork-barrelling at last week's Labour party conference was the Prime Minister's promise that two aluminium smelters, using subsidised electricity, would be built, probably in development areas. "

(1967) Economist 18 Mar. 1008/2 "Both Scotland and Wales could in time do well. But the start of their national lives would be bleak... One cannot take seriously the present Nats who advocate freedom and promise prosperity in one breath. "

(1967) Economist 3 June 998/2 "The ITA's problem is to decide which applicants give most promise of maintaining an improvement over six years... This is largely a wing and a prayer decision. "

(1967) Economist 6 May 558/3 "Herr Kiesinger..promised that the government would not pursue its Ostpolitik `behind the backs of the expellees'. "

(1967) Freedomways VII. 104 "A few years ago..it seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor-both black and white-through the *Poverty Program. "

(1967) Guardian 15 Feb. 6/2 "Hawkishness in Bonn could undo the promise of everything that has so far been achieved. "

(1967) National Observer, (U.S.) 27 Nov. 1/4 "Snick leaders consider elections a white man's device to deceive Negroes with false promises. "

(1967) Observer 14 May 28/3 "Vin compris in Camden. `Free wine tasting,' promised the notice. "

(1967) Spectator 7 July 32/3 "Promises that in future they will live in accordance with the principles of love demanded by the hippies. "

(1967) F. Clifford All Men are Lonely Now i. ii. 30 "`I've had another word with the Minister.' `Will he play?' `He's promised to do everything he can.' "

(1968) M. Richler in R. Weaver Canad. Short Stories 2nd Ser. 186 "`My mother made me promise that one day I would make a picture in Israel.' `Did she specify a sexy thriller?' "

(1968) Daily Tel. 13 Dec. 1/2 "The Minister is equally annoyed that the National Federation of Building Trade Operatives appears to have reneged on its earlier promise to accept a 1d-an-hour wage cut. "

(1968) Economist 18 May 77/2 "Last March Ottawa promised to make sure that its banks and other financial intermediaries here would not permit American investors to use Canada as a pass-through for funds destined for the Euro-dollar market."

(1968) Internat. Times 5 Jan. 5/1 "The castrated version of Olympia Press which was for a time published in England has gone..sadly..for even that watered down stuff, all promise and no balls..was better than..third rate mimeographed merde. "

(1968) New Scientist 17 Oct. 13/2 "One might also single out for their promise the intriguing `helicon waves' which result from the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and a `gas' of electrons within a solid."

(1968) New Scientist 26 Dec. 703/3 "Pure poly-electrolytes also promise to be valuable additives in many foodstuffs and beverages. "

(1968) Punch 4 Sept. 337/1, "I ended up spending the night with my friend.., after signing numerous, apparently unfulfillable bonds and promises for the Customs officer. "

(1969) C. Burke God is Beautiful, Man (1970) 52 "It's better to say yes or no and mean it-than to give a lot of snow job promises anyway. "

(1969) C. Fremlin Possession i. 9, "I know his mother, and she's frightful! She really is, Clare, I promise you: she's ghastly!"

(1969) D. Clark Death after Evensong vi. 142 "A pale sun gave Rooksby a lick and a promise of better things to come. "

(1969) D. Daube Roman Law i. 26 "The surety's promise is so striking that he is the promiser kat' exochen. "

(1969) I. &. P. Opie Children's Games ix. 265 "In Kidderminster the game is occasionally called `Truth, Dare, Promise, or Kiss'; in Peterborough and Swansea, `Do, Dare, Kiss, or Promise'; in Gloucester, `Truth, Dare, Warning, Love, Kiss, or Marriage'; ..in Aberdeen, `Truth, Dare, Force, or Promise'... At Spennymoor,..the game is called `Truth, Dare, Will, Force, and Command'. "

(1969) R. Blackburn in Cockburn &. Blackburn Student Power 195 "Condemned to a trapped existence in anonymous private or public bureaucracies, `industrial' man is promised the domestic joys of a `privatized' existence. "

(1969) W. Glen-Doepel tr. Metz's Theol. of World 114 "It is impossible to privatize the eschatological promises of biblical tradition: liberty, peace, justice, reconciliation. Again and again they force us to assume our responsibilities towards society. "

(1969) Computers &. Humanities IV. 53 "No doubt we are partly the victims of oversell by our ibm salesmen and computer directors, who promised us the computer would do things it is quite unsuited for. "

(1969) Guardian 17 Jan. 9/2 "Under the new Urban Aid Scheme &pstlg.3 million are promised for more nursery education. "

(1969) Landfall XXIII. 99 "What was an award for merit promises now to become a lolly-scramble. "

(1969) Nature 1 Feb. 468/2 "Cyclophosphamide shows promise as a method of removing the wool from sheep chemically. "

(1969) New Scientist 20 Feb. 382/1 "A final element in oceanological development..is the promised White Paper. "

(1969) New Scientist 3 Apr. 18 "Microcapsules-tiny bags made of synthetic membrane containing enzymes or other active materials-show promise as a means of treating kidney failure. "

(1969) Sunday Standard (Bombay) 3 Aug. 1/8 "The promised equal opportunities to Buddhists and Muslims in Ladakh had not materialised so far. "

(1969) Women, Jrnl. of Liberation Fall 55/1 "Women's Day-the first of what promises to be many positive, consciousness-raising occasions. "

(1970) E. David Spices, Salt &. Aromatics in Eng. Kitchen 231 "Salted almonds, whatever the promises held out by the words vacuum-sealed or oven-fresh on tins and jars are not to be bought. "

(1970) J. Blackburn Land of Promise i. 11 "He..had become `well fixed', as the family colloquialism expressed moderate wealth."

(1970) J. Blackburn Land of Promise ii. 32 "The witcher came to a place where the stem of the willow could no longer be held upright. "

(1970) J. Blackburn Land of Promise v. 74, "I had not bought Unzicker's small gasoline engine and pump jack at the sale. "

(1970) J. Blackburn Land of Promise viii. 119 "He was on his way to see a renter on one of his farms south of town."

(1970) J. Blackburn Land of Promise xv. 191 "It was a landslide for the Socreds, the name soon applied to members of the Social Credit Party. "

(1970) J. Blackburn Land of Promise xvii. 222 "Betty brought university friends home for many good sing-songs and games in the rumpus room which we fixed up in the basement. "

(1970) K. Platt Pushbutton Butterfly (1971) ix. 102, "I promised my mother I would only marry a *street fighter. "

(1970) M. Greener Penguin Dict. Commerce 108 "Certain contracts are not binding unless made by deed. These are: (1) gratuitous promises, (2) transfers of shares in statutory companies [etc.]. "

(1970) Brewer's Dict. Phr. &. Fable 336/2 "Two more and up goes the donkey, an old cry at fairs, the showman having promised his credulous hearers that as soon as enough pennies are collected his donkey will balance himself on the top of a pole or ladder."

(1970) Melody Maker 20 June 27/4 "We are promised jazz releases from A. &. M. Records commencing shortly with a jazz sampler. "

(1970) New Yorker 12 Dec. 182/2 "These two cuts, along with..`Little Sadie', showed promise of saying something interesting."

(1970) New Yorker 6 June 33/1 "He promised me a room, food, and a small salary in Polish marks. The zloty wasn't yet established as a currency. "

(1970) Times (Canada Suppl.) p. iv/3 "Only a few weeks ago Imperial Oil of Canada said cautiously they had found a gusher with considerable promise, the first oil strike in the Canadian North-West Territories."

(1970) Times 8 July 2/7 "On one occasion she said, Carole Hanson..stripped to her panties during a game of `truth, dare and promise'. "

(1971) A. Sampson New Anatomy of Britain 278 "It is at the meetings with Treasury men that so many political ideals have been defeated, so many bold promises gone sour. "

(1971) H. Wilson Labour Government xxxvi. 744 "*Vote-orientated promises to increase most individual spending programmes. "

(1971) M. Russell Deadline xiii. 157 "This promises to be the non-story of the month. "

(1971) Daily Tel. 17 June 3/3 "To police he showed `promise' of becoming a sophisticated criminal."

(1971) Daily Tel. 17 June 3/3 "To the police he showed `promise' of becoming a sophisticated criminal."

(1971) Guardian 15 Jan. 12/1 "The Government has had its honeymoon, free from captious criticism, as Mr Wilson promised."

(1971) Guardian 26 Aug. 10/1 "Tonight promises to be an adventurous evening for Prom-goers. "

(1971) Guardian 5 Nov. 21/3 "If the mainlanders do not deliver on the current promises, the Taiwanese will be further disillusioned."

(1971) Maclean's Mag. Oct. 65/3 "However he discharges his other campaign promises from abolishing deterrent fees for users of Medicare to renegotiating the pulp-mill deal, [etc.]. "

(1971) New Scientist 18 Feb. 344/3 "The radioactive counts from the mercury source showed the most promise for a superheavy. "

(1971) New Scientist 25 Mar. 676/1 "This work promises a screening method which should help eliminate the danger of serum hepatitis developing after blood transfusions. "

(1971) News-Advocate (Barbados) 20 Mar. 8/1 "Now this promises to be a super duper weekend. "

(1971) Radiation Bot. XI. 119 (heading, ) "Pollen, which has advantages for radiogenetical studies, seems to hold little promise for mutation breeding purposes. "

(1971) Times 8 Sept. 3 "Sir Bernard, who plays Iago, promised that the official photocall next week would reveal all of Miss Stevenson, and a very lyrical and beautiful sight it would be. "

(1972) D. Dakin Unification of Greece 268 "Just when the promised land seemed to be within their grasp, the Greeks..suffered ignominious defeat. "

(1972) F. Fitzgerald Fire in Lake iii. 76 "Their tactics were promises and `black propaganda', or the falsification of enemy reports. "

(1972) J. Burmeister Running Scared iii. 51 "The isolation ward..was given a lick and a promise once a month by an unsupervised maid."

(1972) J. Wambaugh Blue Knight (1973) i. 19, "I promised to come back Friday for the De luxe Businessman's Plate. "

(1972) Observer 13 Aug. 1/6 "Remotely Piloted Vehicles (RPVs) that promise a bizarre kind of `bloodless' warfare. "

(1972) Oxford Times 27 Oct. 19/1 "A young doctor is promised a job..if he can discover which of four horrifically insane patients is really the head of the asylum."

(1972) Physics Bull. May 298/1 "At the 1971 Physics Exhibition Panax showed a unique rapid imaging system which promised to shorten the time to locate the radioactive regions on thin layer radiochromatograms. "

(1972) Times 19 Aug. 10/1 "White rum promises to be the spirit of the 1970s. "

(1973) E. Taylor Serpent under It (1974) v. 73 "Comforted by two cups of coffee, six popovers, and the promise of veal paprika for dinner. "

(1973) J. Leasor Host of Extras i. 24 "`I'll give you five thousand cash, the pair.' I must know someone who could advance this on the promise of a fifty per cent split down the middle of the selling price?"

(1973) W. M. Duncan Big Timer i. 14 "The met men promise a hard winter. "

(1973) Black Panther 17 Mar. a/3 "Even the facade of Revenue Sharing as the promise of a `new lease on life' for American cities is fast becoming a sad joke. "

(1973) Daily Tel. 28 Sept. 7/1 "Mrs Thatcher last night promised to rethink methods of awarding grants to married women students. "

(1973) Nature 12 Jan. 92/3 "Improved cut-off frequency..and noise performance result in useful performance up to 4 GHz with promise of extending this to at least 8 GHz by reverting to an improved version of the old `mesa' design."

(1973) Sunday Times (Johannesburg) 9 Dec., "Many Coloureds..trekked to..the Cape Flats, but unlike other trekkers before them there was no promised land."

(1973) Sydney Morning Herald 30 Aug. 6/4 "We are promised largesse in the form of harbour&dubh.side parks in the same breath as the white-anting of a remote scenic gorge is sanctioned."

(1973) Times 2 Mar. 18/6 "This promise has been described as a `bankable assurance'. "

(1974) D. D. McCracken Simplified Guide to Fortran Programming vi. 110 "This makes it possible to write the program without a go to... This..is one aspect of structured programming, which holds great promise of converting programming from a hit-or-miss craft into an engineering science. "

(1974) G. F. Newman Price vii. 238 "Buy into Nu-Schoenberg... They're sure-fire, I promise you. "

(1974) I. E. McCarthy Nuclear Reactions i. i. 6 "The invention of accelerating machines promised new probes, for example protons, deuterons, and even heavier ions. "

(1974) L. Lamb Man in Mist ii. 16, "I don't have to run round to them with my tongue hanging out the moment I am promised something."

(1974) Financial Times 15 Aug. 17/6 "We do need the `roll back' which ex-President Nixon promised but (predictably) did not deliver. "

(1974) Globe &. Mail (Toronto) 22 Oct. 7/1 "In 1972, former President Richard Nixon..promised that NASA would launch all foreign payloads intended for peaceful purposes under basically the same conditions that apply in the United States."

(1974) Guardian 30 Apr. 1/4 "A statement from Mr Short, Leader of the House, on the registration of interests is promised later this week, but there are deep differences between the parties over whether the register should be compulsory or voluntary. "

(1974) Guardian, 30 Apr. 1/4 "A promised personal statement by Mr Short, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the House of Commons, was delayed by several hours last night."

(1974) Sat. Rev. World (U.S.) 2 Nov. 9/3 "Kyrenia..gave promise..of a picture&dubh.book port. "

(1974) State (Columbia, S. Carolina) 3 &. 4 Mar. g2/1 "Sterling promises to grow both more valuable, and more beautiful, with time. Its luminous beauty..is destined to take on the soft, lustrous patina..prized by so many collectors of antique silver. "

(1974) Times Lit. Suppl. 14 June 630/2 "The book promises to become a midwife's guide to the birth of a new discipline, which one expects will be inelegantly dubbed `psychogeography', rather than `geopsychology'. "

(1974) Times 7 Feb. 14/8 "If the Government wants to welsh on its promise, it will have to scupper Mr Money's Bill. "

(1974) G. Black Golden Cockatrice i. 17 "It was another case of oversell, like that soap powder campaign..which drove irritated women to buy the brands which didn't promise..a ten per cent whiter wash."

(1975) J. Cleary Safe House vi. 250 "The farmers..had headed west to the Promised Land of California."

(1975) Daily Tel. 4 Jan. 16 "This figure is quite impressive until it is compared with the 1974-75 budget of &pstlg.1,325 million, which means that it is only a 112 per cent. mini-reduction in what promises to be a maxi-budget."

(1975) Listener 9 Jan. 39/1 "The closed circuit at the University of Kent at Canterbury was used recently to televise a meeting whose potential participants promised to be too numerous for any of the available halls... There were two `teams' moderated by the chaplain."

(1975) Times 18 Apr. 6/7 "Nine safeguard New Zealand dairy products... The European Commission promises a new price review for New Zealand butter and cheese. "

(1975) Today's Education Sept./Oct. 54 "Some of the woofin' has been precipitated by Whites trying to hustle Blacks out of goods and materials which have been promised or which are rightfully theirs. "

(1976) E. Maclaren Nature of Belief iv. 34 "The point is obvious when the argument for belief is as crude as some traditional pie-in-the-sky promises. "

(1976) I. B. Singer in D. Villiers Next Year in Jerusalem 62 "The leftist Yiddishists tried to identify Yiddish with the social revolution... Russia had promised its Jews a Yiddishist cultural autonomy. "

(1976) R. B. Parker Promised Land (1977) vii. 35, "I..said goodby with smily pleasant overtones in my voice."

(1976) R. B. Parker Promised Land (1977) xi. 60, "I..hugged her. `Ow,' she said. I eased up a little on the hug."

(1976) R. B. Parker Promised Land (1977) xii. 65 "Don't smart-mouth me, man. You wising off at me? "

(1976) R. B. Parker Promised Land (1977) xvi. 97 "There was an old steeple clock with brass works on the mantle. "

(1976) R. B. Parker Promised Land (1977) xx. 122 "Powers was quiet. We all were. It was like a stop frame in instant replay. "

(1976) R. B. Parker Promised Land ii. 5, "I was ready to settle for Ugi's steak and onion subs."

(1976) R. B. Parker Promised Land vii. 37, "I wondered if anyone had ever whizzed on Allan Pinkerton's shoe."

(1976) R. B. Parker Promised Land xix. 110 "When the sisters call you... Talk to them of obligation and sororal affiliation. "

(1976) R. B. Parker Promised Land xix. 115 "Don't smart-ass with me, Johnny, or you'll be looking very close at the floor. "

(1976) R. B. Parker Promised Land xvii. 102 "`Were you aiming at an exclusive Jewish clientele?' `Huh? Jewish? Why Jewish? Anybody was welcome. I mean we wouldn't be thrilled if the Shvartzes moved in, but we didn't care about religion.' "

(1976) R. B. Parker Promised Land xx. 121, "I got a buyer with about a hundred thousand dollars..a hundred thousand skins."

(1976) R. B. Parker Promised Land xxiv. 152 "She's not a fool, but she's misled, maybe unadult. "

(1976) Carn Feb. 9/1 "This unwarranted delay in fulfilling one of the main election promises of the Labour Party to the Welsh electorate at the last election drew strong protests from Plaid Cymru."

(1976) Globe &. Mail (Toronto) 23 Nov. 11/1 "The new Parti Quebecois Government will either have to raise taxes.., or put most of Rene Levesque's election promises on a back burner for the time being. "

(1976) Gramophone Apr. 1575/3 "I'm doing it on May 9th with Rostropovich in the last concert before I take off a sabbatical year, promised to my wife when I reached sixty."

(1976) New Yorker 16 Feb. 54/3 "The thriller of the afternoon occurred when Redundancy came up in the last stride to beat Summertime Promise by a nose in the Columbiana Handicap."

(1976) Sci. Amer. Sept. 160/3 "Mrs. Gandhi could not deliver on her promises. "

(1976) Survey Summer-Autumn 71 "The miracle in agrobiology promised in the very near future by the magician Lysenko. "

(1976) Times 20 Dec. (Istanbul Suppl.) p. iv/3 "Although international trunk-dialling is promised..it can take anything up to 15 minutes to get a dialling tone..in Istanbul. "

(1977) J. Porter Who the Heck is Sylvia? xvi. 151 "`One should never break promises to children.' `Sez who?'"

(1977) M. Mazzawi in Times 13 June 14/1 "This promise, coupled with 30 years' occupation of the country by Britain, and compounded by a decision of the United Nations in 1947, has resulted in the Palestinian people (who now number three million) being either in refugee camps, in exile, or under alien military rule."

(1977) Belfast Tel. 17 Jan. 2/8 (Advt.), "Full Gospel Bible College at Millmount, Randalstown... We can promise you dynamic spirit-filled Ministry with David Hathaway. "

(1977) D&ae.dalus Fall 105 "The best way to illustrate the complex and self-reflexive progress of a semiotic enterprise is to consider what semiotics has done and promised to do for the study of the most complex of sign systems, literature. "

(1977) Hongkong Standard 14 Apr. 9/6 "Other processes, notably reverse osmosis (whereby pure water is forced through membranes under pressure, leaving salts behind) show great longterm promise, but at present are suitable only for small plants or for purifying brackish water rather than sea-water."

(1977) N.Y. Rev. Bks. 23 June 16/4 "Erlich has also promised an amnesty for those who reveal their black money and pay a tax on it. "

(1977) Time 13 June 21/2 "An American track-meet promoter, anxious to lure a top dash man to his indoor meet to increase the gate, called a speedster and promised him &dollar.800 plus expenses for joining the field."

(1977) Time 3 Jan. 13/3 "Having promised to read every bill brought up before the state senate, he ran into 2,300 of them. So he took a speed-reading course and read them all. "

(1977) Time 7 Nov. 21/3 "His effort to pay off a campaign promise to maritime unions by fixing the percentage of imported oil that must be carried in U.S. ships was scuttled."

(1977) Vole No. 4. 41/2 "The cult of Rastafarianism, involving the deification of Haile Selassie, the promise of Ethiopia as their spiritual home, and above all, the rejection of..white society."

(1978) T. Willis Buckingham Palace Connection v. 96 "The British Vice-Consul..had promised to get her the necessary travel permit. "

(1978) Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVI. 197/2 "What a moral price has been paid in the name of fashion-unhealthy tight corsets, leopard-killing skin coats, the broken promise of false bosoms and the pierced faces of the punk-rockers."

(1978) Listener 30 Mar. 396/3 "When I say, `I promise', or `I bet' or `I apologise' or `Thanks'..these he called `performatives'."

(1978) McGraw-Hill Yearbk. Sci. &. Technol. 356/1 "Gauge supersymmetry treats all fundamental particles..on the same basis, accomplishes a fusion of spacetime symmetries and internal symmetries.., and promises new types of renormalizable field theories as possible models for unified interactions, perhaps even including gravitation. "

(1978) N.Y. Times 30 Mar. b1/2 "His anti-government attitude and promise to veto any sales tax or income tax the Legislature may pass has won him many followers. "

(1978) Nature 16 Feb. 599/1 "If the future facing space science 20 years ago lay full of hope and promise, the symposium indicated how confused and uncertain the picture is today. "

(1979) A. Morice Murder in Outline iii. 26, "I had promised to take a jugful of dry martini with him and Vera..as soon as the sun went over the yardarm."

(1979) D. Hurd End to Promises i. 15 "To avert violence these rallies were to be for ticket-holders only. "

(1979) D. Hurd End to Promises ii. 26 "My strongest feeling was satisfaction that the experts, the know-alls, and the trend-setters had been confounded."

(1979) M. Russell Touchdown ii. 90 "`Don't give up.'.. `Have no fear... I shan't throw in the towel, I promise you.'"

(1979) R. Jeffries Murder begets Murder xv. 91 "Sun from dawn to dusk just like the travel posters had promised. "

(1979) Globe &. Mail 24 May 7/5 "Mr. Clark intends to proceed with his promise to `privatize' Petro Canada."

(1979) A. Hailey Overload iv. ii. 299 "This evening she had promised to go to two parties, one a `drop in', early."

(1980) Time 1 Dec. 60/2 "Visionaries like Jules Verne were suggesting a better way. A bullet-shaped vehicle..could be propelled far faster by using powerful electromagnetic fields. Now, as a result of lab work in the U.S. and abroad, the Vernean scheme shows promise of becoming a practical reality."

(1981) F. Inglis Promise of Happiness i. 3 "We try to say what some of the best books are like, so that we can hand them on... This expression of the gift relationship..gives spine and structure to this study."

(1981) F. Inglis Promise of Happiness i. ii. 37 "Many arts and crafts..offer an occasion for self-forgetful joy and peace."

(1981) F. Inglis Promise of Happiness ii. 47, "I changed loyalties..from cornflakes to Weetabix."

(1981) F. Inglis Promise of Happiness ii. 65, "I read them for..the unrufflable, wholly impossible calm of big boys. "

(1981) F. Inglis Promise of Happiness iii. 85 "The nineteenth-century novelists were the symbol-makers for a new order. "

(1981) F. Inglis Promise of Happiness iii. 86 "If, with Marx, we are to speak of Verfremdung, estrangement or alienation, as the most destructive and wounding experience of labour under capitalism."

(1981) F. Inglis Promise of Happiness iii. 93 "We most of us know when we are lying. My wayside pulpit-point is that we no longer care very much."

(1981) F. Inglis Promise of Happiness v. 144 "Ideal parents..so un-Victorian but also so excellently authoritative. "

(1981) F. Inglis Promise of Happiness viii. 202 "That is a lapse into avuncularity... In the novel..it is not un&dubh.endearing. "

(1981) Guardian Weekly 13 Dec. 2/4 "Malcontents were largely lured by the consumeristic promises of Voice of America."

(1982) P. Quennell Customs &. Characters ii. 33 "The French Ambassadress..had promised she would visit a nearby war-hospital. "

(1982) Economist 25 Dec. 83/1 "The virus quickly spread. First Canada extracted a promise of restraint from Japan. Then West Germany's mercurial economics minister..hastened to Tokyo."

(1982) Sunday Times 7 Feb. 54/1 "Robert Fleming..promised to take the question of unitising seriously."

(1982) Times 22 Jan. 13/5 "The Council for the Securities Industry moved yesterday to ban `shut out' takeover bids. It has become popular for one company to take control of another by buying or obtaining promises which give it 50 per cent control before anyone else can make counter proposals."

(1983) Listener 6 Jan. 34/1 "Beyond all this talk of cable's boundless promise only two solid reasons for cabling..emerge. "

(1983) N.Y. Times 28 Jan. 18/2 "I.R.S. operators will still do the talking, but the computers will catalogue and display on video terminals all the taxpayers' facts, figures and prior promises."

(1984) Miami Herald 6 Apr. 22a/3 "When the governor crawfishes out of his ill-advised unitary tax (his great tax-reform promise), the greedy ones might try to increase property taxes again."

(A. 1300) Cursor M. 18535 "&Th.is hight [i.e. promise] &th.at was sa scene [v. rr. shene, schene], Suld tid &th.am thoru a maiden clene. "

(A. 1500) H. Brereton Song, Lady Bessy (Way Promp. Parv.), "You promised..To him to be both true and just, And now you stand in a disweare."

(A. 1542) Wyatt in Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 63 "Fortune semed at the last, That to her promise she said nay. "

(A. 1548) Hall Chron., Edw. IV (1550) 39 b, "But when they aproched the toune, the artillarie beganne to shote... This welcome semed very straung to kyng Edward, ponderynge together yestardayes promise, and this dayes doynge. "

(A. 1548) Hall Chron., Edw. IV 225 "Geuyng them faire wordes, and makyng large promises. "

(A. 1548) Hall Chron., Edw. IV 228 "The Constable had promised to the kyng and the duke, to render vp to them the towne of sainct Quintynes. "

(A. 1548) Hall Chron., Edw. IV, 228 b, "All the Constables promises were but fayre sunne shynyng, swetely spoken, and sowerly performed. "

(A. 1548) Hall Chron., Edw. IV, 39 b, "All the Constables promises were..swetely spoken, and sowerly performed. "

(A. 1548) Hall Chron., Edward IV, 18 "These reasons..so sancke in the Dukes stomacke, that he promised [etc.]. "

(A. 1548) Hall Chron., Hen. IV 31 "Havyng also approved experience that the Duke of Burgoine wolde kepe no longer promise then he him selfe listed. "

(A. 1548) Hall Chron., Hen. V, 78 b, "Ye..ought to haue kept your faith and promise, whiche you haue vntruly and vnhonestly broken."

(A. 1548) Hall Chron., Hen. VI 133 b, "He, whiche is a promise breaker, escapeth not alwaie free. "

(A. 1548) Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 255 b, "Thei promised the kyng, to doo all that in theim laie with their frendes. "

(A. 1548) Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 90 b, "Euer the Frenche Ambassadours promised restitucion of euery thyng, but none was restored. "

(A. 1548) Hall Chron., Rich. III 50 "Partely onerate and vanquesshed with the faire glosynge promises. "

(A. 1553) Udall Royster D. iii. ii. (Arb.) 42 "Haue you he will (he sayth) and haue you he must. C. Custance. I am promised duryng my lyfe, that is iust. "

(A. 1553) Udall Royster D. v. ii. (Arb.) 80 "Certaine men with you haue wrangled About the promise of mariage by you to them made. "

(A. 1555) Ridley Wks. (1843) 305 "Promises so openly made, and so duly debt. "

(A. 1564) Becon Demands Holy Script. Pref., "Such professors, or rather perversers of the gospel, are like to that son whych promised his father to work.., and wrought nothyng at al."

(A. 1569) Kingesmyll Man's Est. ix. (1580) 51 "The promise of the hoped and performed Saviour. [Cf. 6 b above.]"

(A. 1572) Knox Hist. Ref. (1587) 192 "With promise that they should be rechlie rewarded for their good seruice. "

(A. 1578) Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) II. 47 "Thairfor he spak the mair scharplie in his cause and requyrit the cardinall quhy he keipit nocht promise into him. "

(A. 1585) Montgomerie Flyting w. Polwart 98, "I promise thee heere to thy chafts ill cheir, Except thou goe leir to licke at the lowder. "

(A. 1586) Sidney Arcadia i. xi. (1590) 44 "Palladius..besought her for her promise sake, to put silence so longe vnto her moning. "

(A. 1586) Sidney Arcadia ii. (1633) 169 "The more he gat, the more still he shewed that he (as it were) gave away to his new mistresse, when he betrayed his promises to the former. "

(A. 1586) Sidney Arcadia ii. xv, "The old man..folowed his suite with all meanes of vnhonest seruants, large promises [etc.]. "

(A. 1587) Mary Q. of Scots in Froude Hist. Eng. (1881) VII. xliii. 189 "Is that conform to her promise to use me as a sister or daughter? "

(A. 1589) Palfreyman Baldwin's Mor. Philos. (1600) 70 "Hee is..deceiptfull, of his promise vnsure. "

(A. 1590) Marr. Wit &. Wisd. (Shaks. Soc.) 8, "I promise the, before these folke, Thoust neuer cost me grote. "

(A. 1591) H. Smith Serm. (1637) 790 "Marke whensoever thou art motioned to evill, if it doe not promise thee some goodesse to come of it."

(A. 1593) H. Smith Serm. (1637) 376 "Before thou hast blessed it with prayer, thou hast no promise it shall prosper. "

(A. 1600) Hooker Serm. Jude 17-21 §.19 "Look upon Israel,..to whom..the promises of Christ were made impropriate. "

(A. 1603) Eliz. Grymeston Misc. (1604) F 4 b, "Thou pardon promisest, where hearts true ruth is showne. "

(A. 1617) P. Baynes Christian Lett. (1620) sig. C5, "O Lord..thou has promised that thou wilt circumcise our selfe-confident hearts, so that we shal haue no trust in the flesh, but haue all our reioycing in thee. "

(A. 1618) Sylvester Cup of Consolation 22 "Smiling Hope..*False-promiseth long Peace and plenty too."

(A. 1618) Sylvester Job ii. 175 "How shall that Hap appear, Which you yer-while did so re-promise, hear? "

(A. 1619) Beaum. &. Fl. Wit at Sev. Weapons iv. i, "Now you talk of fobbing, I wonder the Lady sends not for me according to promise?"

(A. 1625) Fletcher Noble Gent. iv. iv, "I have a constant promise she's my own."

(A. 1626) Bp. Andrewes Opuscula (1629) 79 (L.) "Thus then to recidivate, and to go against her own act and promise [etc.]. "

(A. 1626) W. Sclater Serm. Exper. (1638) 109 "It signifies the Discrutatour, or Disputer, against the promise."

(A. 1628) Preston New Cov. (1630) 477 "To milke consolation out of the promises. "

(A. 1628) Preston New Cov. (1634) 410 "Defer not, make not dainty of applying the promises. "

(A. 1628) Preston New Covt. (1630) 386 "The Jewes..could not see Christ himselfe, the inward promises, but stucke in the out&dubh.ward barke and rinde of Ceremonies. "

(A. 1628) Preston New Covt. (1630) 477 "The promises are full of comfort as a dugge is full of milke. "

(A. 1628) Preston New Covt. (1634) 361 "That upon which all the promises hang initially, is nothing but beleeving. "

(A. 1628) Preston New Covt. (1634) 413, "I have applyed these promises, but upon what warrant, upon what ground have I done it? "

(A. 1631) Donne Serm. Wks. 1839 IV. 154 "Thou canst never promise thyself to sin..thriftly..and stall the fine; for thy soul, that is the price, is indivisible, and perishes entirely; and eternally at one payment."

(A. 1631) Donne in Select. (1840) 98 "God is not an illusible God, to be carried with promises, or purposes only."

(A. 1634) ? Chapman Rev. Honour ii. i, "Gentle Abrahen, I am grieved my power cannot comply my promise."

(A. 1638) Mede Wks. i. xliv. 250 "When the inwrapped Promises were unfolded and revealed. "

(A. 1639) Spottiswood Hist. Ch. Scotl. ii. (1677) 50 "The Pope..did..dimit the Scottish Commissioners..with great promises of favour."

(A. 1639) W. Whateley Prototypes ii. xxvi. (1640) 48 "A thankfull receiving of Gods promises..proveth faith to the promise-maker. "

(A. 1639) W. Whateley Prototypes ii. xxxiv. (1640) 158 "Betrothing is nothing but a serious promise of future marriage. "

(A. 1641) Bedell Erasm. in Fuller's Abel Rediv. (1651) 61 "Promise of a yeerly pension..and many other good&dubh.morrows, which..he never performed. "

(A. 1641) Bp. Mountagu Acts &. Mon. (1642) 204 "He promiseth forgivenesse of sins by washings, and in this sort, as yet he sacreth men to Wittnes, where he signeth his soldiers in the forehead."

(A. 1641) Bp. Mountagu Acts &. Mon. (1642) 82 "Iudah transgressed, and the Promise failed, as not to be verified but upon Supposition of *non-transgression. "

(A. 1641) Bp. Mountagu Acts &. Mon. 83 "A false surmise, that Prophecies and Promises be of like assise. "

(A. 1641) Bp. Mountagu Acts &. Mon. i. (1642) 21 "They entred upon, and took possession of the Land of Promise. "

(A. 1641) Bp. Mountagu Acts. &. Mon. (1642) 26 "For us men,..according to Promise, Prediction, Pre-designation, God to Man, in the fulnesse of time, came downe from heaven. "

(A. 1642) Quarles Samson in Farr's S.P. (1848) 126 "The sweetness of the season does invite Your steps to visit Timnah, and acquite Your last night's promise. "

(A. 1649) Winthrop New Eng. (1825) I. 381 "It were good he..paid his sister her &pstlg.100 which he promised when I put over his land to him."

(A. 1653) Jer. Taylor Serm. I. i. 8 "Thy falshod to God and startings from thy holy promises..shall be laid open before all the world. "

(A. 1656) Bp. Hall Revelat. Unrevealed §.4 "Reverend and holy Dionysius bent his style in two Books of the Promises of God. "

(A. 1656) Bp. Hall Specialties in his life (1660) 27 "It was fore-promised to one of my fellow Chaplains. "

(A. 1656) Ussher Ann. (1658) 421 "He had promised them to be an interceder with the Senate. "

(A. 1656) Ussher Ann. vii. (1658) 802 "Whereupon one in a familiar banquet..promised Caius, that [etc.]. "

(A. 1657) R. Loveday Lett. (1663) 51, "I remember your frequent sollicites gained a promise from me to compose you a prayer."

(A. 1657) R. Loveday Lett. (1663) 83 "Honest J. is ready to beat his wife that she forces his promise to so slothful a performance. "

(A. 1659) Bp. Brownrig Serm. (1674) I. i. 16 "Fear had made him..slack the performance of what he had promised. "

(A. 1659) Bp. Brownrig Serm. (1674) II. ii. 22 "The Promises..are..not simply free, but pactional and f&oe.deral. "

(A. 1660) Hammond Serm. 2 Cor. vii. 1 Wks. 1684 IV. 503 "We are the special Favorites to whom those Promises are unconditionally consign'd. "

(A. 1660) Hammond Serm. Prov. i. 22 (1664) 42 "The Saviour, that hath promises of long life annexed to some specials of his service."

(A. 1660) Hammond Wks. I. 485 (R.) "He is all the while convinced that all the promises..belong to him absolutely and irrespectively. "

(A. 1660) Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Arch&ae.ol. Soc.) I. 169 "The Frenche Agent..promised to joine with the Generall for a publicke redresse from those perfidious whaspes. "

(A. 1660) Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Arch&ae.ol. Soc.) II. 133 "By word of mouth [he] made faire promises mingled with many treates."

(A. 1661) Fuller (Webster), "King James had by promise *foredisposed the place on the Bishop of Meath. "

(A. 1661) Fuller Worthies, Gen. xxv. (1662) 74, "I have passed my promise..to my former Stationer, that I will write nothing for the future, which was in my former Books, so considerable, as may make them Inter-fere one with another to his Prejudice. "

(A. 1661) Fuller Worthies, Sussex (1662) 167 "Performing Life to those to whom he promised it."

(A. 1665) J. Goodwin Being filled with the Spirit (1867) 125 "The things promised..are so above measure desirable and *super-transcendently glorious."

(A. 1667) Jer. Taylor (J.), "Break not your promise, unless it be unlawful or impossible; either out of your natural, or out of your civil power. "

(A. 1670) [S. Collins] Pres. St. Russia (1671) 41 "But as the story goes, she fail'd of her promise. "

(A. 1670) Hacket Abp. Williams i. (1692) 202 "[They] presaged that after he had chafed at their mis-usance, they might promise to themselves a good cast of his office."

(A. 1674) Clarendon Hist. Reb. xi. §.143 "Those gaudy promises which the Cardinal had made. "

(A. 1674) Clarendon (J.), "They promised the good people ease in the matter of protections, by which the debts from parliament men and their followers were not recoverable. "

(A. 1674) Clarendon Hist. Reb. III. xiii. 322 "The poor Man had nothing for him to eat, but promised him good Butter-milk. "

(A. 1674) Clarendon Hist. Reb. xi. §.98 "Linked together by many promises and professions, and by an entire conjunction in guilt. "

(A. 1674) Milton Hist. Moscovia iv. Wks. 1851 VIII. 491 "Upon promise of the Duke to become Romish. "

(A. 1677) Barrow Pope's Suprem. (L.) "Our Lord did intend to bestow upon all pastors, that he did anticipately promise to Peter. "

(A. 1677) Barrow Pope's Suprem. i. (1687) 59 "That under two metaphors the principate of the whole Church was promised. "

(A. 1677) Barrow Serm. (1687) I. viii. 100 "He..hath by settled rules and indispensable promises obliged himself to requite them. "

(A. 1677) Barrow Serm. (1810) I. 131 "The promises of pardon to our sins, and restoral into God's favour."

(A. 1677) Barrow Serm. (1810) I. 168 "Constantine..chose Christianity as the only religion, that promised impunity and pardon for his enormous practices. "

(A. 1677) Barrow Serm. Wks. 1686 III. xli. 471 "Whoever of those rebels willingly should come in..and promise future loyalty, or obedience to his laws..should..obtain rewards from him. "

(A. 1677) T. Manton Serm. Ps. cxix. (1681) 290 "The word of God was appointed..to increase our reverence of God; Not that we may play the wantons with Promises, and feed our Lusts with them. "

(A. 1679) Gurnall in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. cxix. 132 "This is no more than family fare, what thou promisest to do for all that love thee. "

(A. 1679) T. Goodwin Wks. (1864) VIII. 445 "The promises..in the Old Testament..were in their prime, in their auge."

(A. 1679) T. Goodwin Wks. IV. i. 88 "The credibility and believableness, as I call it, of those promises. "

(A. 1680) Charnock Attrib. God (1834) I. 367 "The promise of eternal life is as ancient as God himself..as it hath an ante-eternity, so it hath a post&dubh.eternity. "

(A. 1680) Corbet Non-conf. Plea (1683) 19 "The said promise must be understood either unlimitedly, or with limitation. "

(A. 1693) Urquhart Rabelais iii. xix. 156 "A Promise juramentally confirmed."

(A. 1697) South Serm. III. 306 "Very large in Pretence and Promise, but short in Performance. "

(A. 1699) T. Beaumont Psyche iii. cxc, "How Shall I unsnarle my Promise, and contrive That..the Saint may live! "

(A. 1700) Dryden (J.), "I pr'y thee, let me hedge one moment more Into thy promise. "

(A. 1700) Dryden Veni, Creator Spiritus 8 "O source of uncreated light, The Father's promised Paraclete! "

(A. 1701) Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1721) 122 "No place in the World can promise the Beholder at a distance greater voluptuousness. "

(A. 1703) Burkitt On N.T., Luke ii. 28 "Though God stays long before he fulfils his promises, he certainly comes at last with a double reward for our expectation. "

(A. 1708) Beveridge Priv. Th. i. (1730) 52 "God..having digested the Conditions to be performed by us, into Promises to be fulfilled by Himself."

(A. 1708) Beveridge Thes. Theol. (1710) I. 61 "Your Baptismal vow and promise, and your many reiterations of it. "

(A. 1710) Bp. Bull Serm. I. i. (R.), "The words, though they are delivered imperatively, yet are a plain promise. "

(A. 1711) Ken Hymnotheo Poet. Wks. 1721 III. 119, "I in my Breast would lodge a double Mind, One to the World, and one to Heav'n inclin'd; And by this Com-promise strove to adjust The Rights of Conscience, and the Claims of Lust. "

(A. 1714) Burnet Own Time I. iii. 415 "The person he had sent to Mitchell gave a full evidence of the promises he had made him: but Sharp denied them all. "

(A. 1715) Burnet Own Time (1823) II. 300 "They promised these witnesses a large share of the confiscated estates, if they went through in the business. "

(A. 1715) Burnet Own Time an. 1674 (1823) II. 57 "When duke Lauderdale was hotly pushed at, he then promised..that he would avoid all former errors. "

(A. 1715) Burnet Own Time i. (1724) I. 88 "He kept a register of all the King's promises. "

(A. 1715) Burnet Own Time ii. (1724) I. 200 "He promised to all the Earl of Midletouns friends that he would stick firm to him. "

(A. 1715) Burnet Own Time II. 16 "Lady Bellasis gained so much on the duke, that he gave her a promise under his hand to marry her. "

(A. 1715) Burnet Own Time iii. (1823) II. 300 "Depositions were prepared for them: and they promised to swear them. "

(A. 1716) South Serm. (1744) IX. 125 "That so it might appear, that the assistance of the spirit promised to the church was not a vain thing, or a mere verb."

(A. 1732) Boston Crook in Lot (1805) 164 "They were only so [over-rash] in applying the time to the promise; a snapper that saints in all ages have made. "

(A. 1734) North Exam. ii. iv. §.146 (1740) 310, "I promise hereafter to be a Reformado, or no Writer at all. "

(A. 1735) Ld. Lansdowne Poems, Beauty &. Law 35 "Was't a vain promise and a gownman's lie? "

(A. 1739) Jarvis Quix. i. i. i, "He commended in his author the concluding his book with a promise of that unfinishable adventure. "

(A. 1740) Waterland Doctr. Justification iv, "God..has made no promise or covenant to justify any one without the use of Baptism. "

(A. 1762) Lady M. W. Montague Lett. xciv. 155, "I am promised a cargo of lampoons from Bath. "

(A. 1770) Jortin Serm. (1771) VII. xi. 213 "Liberal in promises, and stingy in performances. "

(A. 1776) Hume On Morals (1777) App. iv., "These great virtues were balanced by great vices; inhuman cruelty; perfidy more than punic: no truth, no faith, no regard to oaths, promises or religion. "

(A. 1784) T. Adam Poor Man's Guide (1788) 13 "Your case is as much unhelped as if there was not one promise there. "

(A. 1797) H. Walpole Mem. Geo. II (1847) II. i. 23 "Malone made him great promises..of even acquiescing to the litigated clause of the King's consent. "

(A. 1797) H. Walpole Mem. Geo. III (1845) I. x. 147 "The father would accept no money from the various visitants, for which he was promised an adequate recompense by the chiefs of his sect. "

(A. 1802) Bp. S. Horsley Serm. (1816) III. xlii. 266 "Hence, we may understand..with what equity and reason salvation is promised in Scripture to faith, without the express stipulation of any other condition. "

(A. 1806) C. J. Fox Reign Jas. II (1808) 232 "To promise, therefore, the continuance of a monarchial establishment, and to designate the future monarch, seemed to be necessary. "

(A. 1806) Horsley Serm. (1816) II. xxvi. 304 "A sameness of the terms..would be an argument for assigning one and the same meaning to the promises. "

(A. 1806) K. White Time 121 "There's not a wind that blows but bears with it Some rainbow promise. "

(A. 1810) Tannahill Poems (1846) 101 "I'm fear'd that I may tyne The love that ye hae promised me."

(A. 1814) Forgery iii. ii. in New Brit. Theatre I. 474 "The joyful promise of an off&dubh.spring from thee. "

(A. 1817) Jane Austen Northanger Abbey (1818) II. ix. 180 "`Isabella promised so faithfully to write directly.' `Promised so faithfully!-A faithful promise!-That puzzles me.-I have heard of a faithful performance. But a faithful promise-the fidelity of promising!'"

(A. 1832) Mackintosh Revol. of 1688, Wks. 1846 II. 40 "There are probably few instances where, with so much premeditation and effrontery, the spoils of an accused man were promised..to the judge, who might have tried him. "

(A. 1834) Coleridge The Pang More Sharp 3 Poems 1912 I. 457 "He too..Has flitted from me, like the warmthless flame, That makes false promise of a place of rest. "

(A. 1845) Hood Public Dinner i, "The Duke's a regretter, A promise to break it. "

(A. 1845) Southey Inscriptions xlv. Wks. III. 177 "The promise on the Mount vouchsafed, Nor abrogate by any later law."

(A. 1849) Mar. Edgeworth White Pigeon, "You promised to make me a compliment of it last *Seraph-tide was twelvemonth. "

(A. 1859) Austin Jurispr. (1879) I. 324 "The promise..is, in the language of the jurists, a convention unilateral. "

(A. 1859) in Bartlett Dict. Amer. 358, "I promised the overseer..a demijohn of red-eye if all went straight."

(A. 1861) T. Winthrop Life in Open Air (1863) 147 "`Boys,' said he,..`when I accepted the office of Orator of the Day at our primary and promised to bring forward our resolutions in honor of Mr. Wade.' "

(A. 1894) Mod. "He promised faithfully to send the book the next day."

(A. 1909) Mod. "This scholarship is given for promise, rather than for attainment. "

(A. 1974) R. Crossman Diaries (1975) I. 249 "From the point of view of the electorate this technical promise-keeping is quite unimportant."

(C. 1325) Metr. Hom. 53 "It was a man..That til sain Jamis hit [= hight, promised] the way. "

(C. 1477) Caxton Jason 12 b, "Peleus promised to Jason that he sholde accomplisshe..al that he had required of him. "

(C. 1535) Sir T. More Debellacion of Salem &. Byzance Wks. (1557) 1019/1 "He neither seeth nor assigneth so much as any assembly about them, or promise or abetment to procure and pursue them. "

(C. 1540) tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. 294 "His promise..made to the duke concerninge the hereditee of the kingdom."

(C. 1550) J. Cheke Let. in Athen&ae.um (1909) 28 Aug. 237/2 "As a man often..deceived with your promises, I will stay my good opinion. "

(C. 1555) Harpsfield Divorce Hen. VIII (Camden) 182 "His promise and pollicitation passed upon the same. "

(C. 1555) Harpsfield Divorce Hen. VIII (Camden) 45 "If the parties make but a naked and bare promise of affiance. "

(C. 1555) Harpsfield Divorce of Hen. VIII (Camden) 248 "The very true, perfect, and full marriage is the same company..and living together which is consecrate by the league or bond of spousage or promise that one doth make to the other. "

(C. 1586) C'tess Pembroke Ps. cxix. G. i, "Grave deeply in remembring mind My trust, thy promise true. "

(C. 1586) C'tess Pembroke Ps. xcviii. ii, "[God's promise] ev'ry margine of this earthy spheare Now sees performed."

(C. 1590) Marlowe Faust. v. 95 "Faustus I swear..To effect all promises between us made. "

(C. 1595) Capt. Wyatt R. Dudley's Voy. W. Ind. (Hakl. Soc.) 39 "The commaunder of that place, returninge our messingers the next daie.., promised..to com. "

(C. 1610) Sir J. Melvil Mem. (1735) 286, "I had indited a long Letter..as a Remembrancer of his former Promises. "

(C. 1610) Sir J. Melvil Mem. (1735) 297 "Some of the Lords whose Particulars he promised to set forward. "

(C. 1610) Women Saints 145 "Treasures..which he hath promised me..if I will remayne sure to him. "

(C. 1610) Women Saints 67 "King Ecgfride promised him greate summes..if he could persuade the Queene to vse matrimoniall companie with him. "

(C. 1614) Fletcher Wit at Sev. Weapons iii. i, "Sir Gr. I promise you, not a house-Rabbit, Sir. Old K. No sucker on 'em all. "

(C. 1618) Moryson Itin. iv. iv. i. (1903) 340 "In theire Potts [they] will promise any thinge, and make all bargaynes."

(C. 1620) Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) 72 "That by her promises..she gull not my simplenesse. "

(C. 1642) Twyne in Wood's Life (O.H.S.) I. 64 "They were promised 5s. by the moneth for every man as a reward besides his daily paye. "

(C. 1645) Howell Lett. (1650) III. ix. 17 "You promised a further expression of your self by way of a Discoursive Letter what you thought of Copernicus opinion. "

(C. 1650) 2nd Narr. late Parl. in Select. Harl. Misc. (1793) 416 "Appearing and standing..for right and freedom, against the bondages, which, contrary to engagements, covenants and promises, were put upon the good people of this land."

(C. 1680) Beveridge Serm. (1729) I. 374 "This first and grand promise was absolutely made to all mankind. "

(C. 1765) Flloyd Tartarian T. 45/1 "The sequins the cutler-woman promised me."

(C. 1804) C. K. Sharpe Corr. (1888) I. 210, "I promise, by Gosh (which is the most elegant and classical oath imaginable). "

(C. 1850) Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.) 470 "Being seconded by his slaves, who all promised to be faithful, he attacked the negro. "

(C. 1857) in Lower Norfolk Co. (Va.) Antiquare I. 110 "John Savage..promised to do something clever for them. "

Koestler (1949) Promise &. Fulf. iii. ii. 315 "Generations of Jews, huddled together..developed that peculiar feature of Jewish communities which one might be tempted to name `claustrophilia'. "

Ibid., Stat. Alex. II, 18 "And gif he may not giue wades..he sall remaine as wade: aye and quhill he enter the pledges, quhilkis he promised. "

Mod. "The damages in a breach-of-promise case."

Mod. "The honourable gentleman concluded his speech by moving for papers. The Prime Minister promised that papers should be laid on the table of the House."

Mod. "The house was humble; but it was our own home. It is a promise, and it must be kept."

A. (1884)Mod. "He promised at first to go with us, but he has since begged off."