entertainments

Sir, if the audience will be contented with a battle or two, instead of all the raree-fine shows exhibited to them in what they call entertainments ----

The Works of Henry Fielding Edited by George Saintsbury in 12 Volumes $p Volume 12 Henry Fielding 1730

Nothing makes me sadder than to see the life that such people live, -- to see for instance how pathetic are the things they call their entertainments; and when one knows himself that life is a magic potion, to be drank with rapture and awe, -- that every instance of it ought to be a hymn of rejoicing, and the whole of it rich and full of power, like some majestic symphony.

King Midas: a Romance Upton Sinclair 1923

Doctor Terhune and I claimed the privilege of convalescent and custodian, in declining to accept invitations to evening functions, thus securing opportunity for what we loved far better than the gayest of "entertainments" - long, quiet hours spent in our sitting-room "under the evening lamp,"

Marion Harland's autobiography : the story of a long life, 1910

It will be remembered that during the Puritan, joyless reign of dunderheadedness the playhouses were closed; but Cromwell, who loved music and gave State concerts, licensed Davenant to give "entertainments" -- plays in which plot, acting, and everything else were neglected in favour of songs, dances, and such spectacles as the genius and machinery of the stage managers enabled them to devise.

Purcell John F. Runciman 1891

On a more sedate note, John Stenton led the clerks of the Windsor College in the singing of ballads before Mary and her household on Christmas Day. 56 For the next year, 1523, the scale of Christmas entertainments is suggested by the bloated entry for foodstuffs and table linen for the month of December in the accounts, for example, the household consumed six pounds of pepper in December as compared to the more usual £1 per month.

From Heads of Household to Heads of State: The Preaccession Households of Mary and Elizabeth Tudor, 1516-1558 2008

Our so-called entertainments are what stand in for our current events (quotes left out for obviousness).

Richard Laermer: Today's Question: How'd it All Get So Mediocre? 2008

Or was it the truth that he feared being dragged into the vortex? ... of learning to care, he, too, whether or no his name topped subscription-lists; whether his entertainments were the most sumptuous, his wife the best-dressed woman in her set?

Australia Felix 2003

I'm sorry, madam, that it is not more in our power to divert you; I could wish, indeed, that our entertainments were a little more polite, or your taste a little less refined.

The Beaux-Stratagem George Farquhar

Carefully introduce wherever you can the direct teachings of the Gospel, and then your entertainments will be the power of God unto salvation.

Russell H. Conwell Agnes Rush Burr

It was a matter of common fame that his entertainments were the cause of more envy and heartburning in the fashionable sisterhood than any other events of the season.

The Master of Silence Irving Bacheller 1904