burthen

• “I told her, as to her child, which she called her burthen, it should be no burthen to me; as to the rest she might do as she pleased; it might however do me this favor, that I should have no more lyings-in at the rate of £136 at a time, as I found she intended it should be now.”

  Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 11

• “No man has a right to say unto his Maker, 'My burthen is heavier than I can bear.”

  John Halifax, Gentleman

• “It may be this burthen will be a man child and inherit the Kingship after me; what sayest thou of this, O Shimas?”

  The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night

• “I know not how I shall offend in dedicating my unpolished lines to your lordship, nor how the world will censure me for choosing so strong a prop to support so weak a burthen: only, if your honour seem but pleased, I account myself highly praised, and vow to take advantage of all idle hours, till I have honoured you with some graver labour.”

  Venus and Adonis

• “Labour is there so well rewarded that a numerous family of children, instead of being a burthen is a source of opulence and prosperity to the parents.”

  VIII. Book I. Of the Wages of Labour

• “Their burthen was a door lifted from its hinges, and supported by three slender stakes drawn green from a hedgerow.”

  A Siren

• “Even for him it was no small effort, for his burthen was a sturdy man with the solidity of years, and nearly helpless, save that the warmth of Harold's body did give him just life and instinct to hold on, and let himself be bound to him with the long plaid so as least to impede his movements; but only one possessed of Harold's almost giant strength could have thus clambered the cutting at the nearest point to Arghouse and plodded through the snow.”

  My Young Alcides

• “And he carries to us a prophet's "burthen" of unspeakable import, and in words to which all through the Christian ages the soul has responded as to the words of the Holy Spirit.”

  Messages from the Epistle to the Hebrews

• “The girl did not look at all like a maiden uneasy about her lost lover, but much more like one enjoying for the moment the immunity from a kind of burthen; and, as she smiled, called for Stephen's help in her little arrangements, and treated him in the friendly manner of old times, he could not but wonder at the panic that had overpowered him for a time like a fever of the mind.”

  The Armourer's Prentices

• “Rght Honourable, I know not how I shall offend in dedicating my unpolished lines to your Lordship, nor how the world will censure me for choosing so strong a prop to support so weak a burthen; only if your Honour seem but pleased, I account myself highly praised, and vow to take advantage of all idle hours, till I have honoured you with some graver labour.”

  Shakespeare and the Supremes

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