twou'd

When, "I wish," continued he, "I cou'd maintain a greater figure, as well in habit as attendants, 'twou'd give a better colour to my pretences: By Hercules, I'd throw by the wallet, and soon advance all our fortunes."

The Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter 20-66 Petronius Arbiter

_ On my Soul and so we had: O if you had but seen him when he boarded the _Monsieur_, 'twou'd have made you laugh 'till you had split your Sides.

The City Bride (1696) Or The Merry Cuckold Joseph Harris

Tho _neat_ 'twou'd be, and _decent_ as the _best_.

Epistle to a Friend Concerning Poetry (1700) and the Essay on Heroic Poetry (second edition, 1697) Samuel Wesley

D. upon his admirable and useful _Comment_ on the History of _Tom Thumb_; but my Bookseller told me the Trick was so common, 'twou'd not answer.

Parodies of Ballad Criticism (1711-1787) A Comment Upon the History of Tom Thumb, 1711, by William Wagstaffe; The Knave of Hearts, 1787, by George Canning Gregory Griffin

What a thing 'twou'd be; but, perhaps, he'd no time.

Lover's Vows August von Kotzebue 1790

Nay suppose we cou'd draw an inference, 'twou'd be of no consequence in the present case; since no kind of reasoning can give rise to a new idea, such as this of power is; but wherever we reason, we must antecedently be possest of clear ideas, which may be the objects of our reasoning.

A treatise of human nature 1739

For in that case 'twou'd be possible, by the addition of others, to make two, three, four desires, and these dispos'd and situated in such a manner, as to have a determinate length, breadth and thickness; which is evidently absurd.

A treatise of human nature 1739

This is so evident, that 'twou'd scarce have merited our attention, were it not to obviate certain objections of this kind, which might arise against the following reasonings concerning matter and substance.

A treatise of human nature 1739

But as a little reflection destroys this conclusion, that our perceptions have a continu'd existence, by shewing that they have a dependent one, 'twou'd naturally be expected, that we must altogether reject the opinion, that there is such a thing in nature as a continu'd existence, which is preserv'd even when it no longer appears to the senses.

A treatise of human nature 1739

Page 31 for having been kind to her Subjects and Servants, 'twou'd so ravish her with Content, as to endear her dearest Blood to effect that your Majesty and all the King's honest Subjects most earnestly desire.

The History and Present State of Virginia, in Four Parts 1722