Fain

Examples

• I would fain think your case over, and take it with me to my oratory. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
• These, and a thousand looks and smiles, and turns of thought and speech--I would fain recall them every one. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
• Not stumbling on the means after all, I was fain to go out to the adjacent Lodge and get the watchman there to come with his lantern. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
• She was fain to take up the note again, and to substitute the much smaller sum he had named. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
• Fain would I run into the crowd for shelter and warmth; but cannot prevail with myself to mix with such deformity. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
• His message perplexed his mind to that degree that he was fain, several times, to take off his hat to scratch his head. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
• It was less of her I would speak, said he, than of Prince John; and I would fain know somewhat of a faithful squire, and why he now attends me not? Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
• He had been able to make no more of it and no less of it, and in this unsatisfactory condition he was fain to leave it. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
• I ought to be grateful, since I know that half the women in London would fain tempt him to forget me. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
• They are ever content to build their lives on any incidental position that offers itself; whilst men would fain make a globe to suit them. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
• She took her hand out of Margaret's with a little impatient movement, as if she would fain be left alone with the recollection of her son. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
• But of the child of the good who is likest him, I would fain speak, if I could be sure that you wished to hear--otherwise, not. Plato. The Republic.
• My Spring is gone, however, but it has left me that French floweret on my hands, which, in some moods, I would fain be rid of. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
• I would fain at the moment have become bee or lizard, that I might have found fitting nutriment, permanent shelter here. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
• It was his monomania; on all ordinary subjects he was sensible enough, and fain was she to engage him in ordinary topics. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
• I would fain have it set at rest on the point I last spoke of, Dorothea. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
• It was a characteristic feature in this repentance, that I was fain to ask what these two men had done, to be there at all. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
• I fear not, though I fain would hope so-- Ah--h! Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
• However, he can't marry just yet, even if his Rosebud were willing; so he is fain to make the best of it. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
• Lady Jane looked up to her husband as if she would fain follow and soothe her mamma, but Pitt forbade his wife to move. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
• I would fain go with 'ee, said the old man doubtfully. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
• I perceive, Rebecca, said Bois-Guilbert, that thou dost continue to burden me with the charge of distresses, which most fain would I have prevented. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
• In short, while I loved all the world and would fain have done them all good, I most respected Lady Ponsonby. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
• The men spoke together, and then one of them came up to Higgins, who would have fain shrunk back into his house. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
• Mr Boffin, after eyeing him with a comical look of discomfited curiosity, was fain to begin afresh. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
• I would fain linger yet with a few of those among whom I have so long moved, and share their happiness by endeavouring to depict it. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
• Maurice, with sculptor-like enthusiasm, would fain have lingered before this masterpiece of Greek art, but Justinian hurried him impatiently away. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
• This answer nonplussed Helena, and for once she was fain to hold her peace. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
• I would fain tell you something in the shape of news, but really, I scarcely ever leave the house. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.

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