Ste. What do'st thou know me for? Kent. A Knave, aRascall, [...] one that would'st be aBaud in way of good service, and art nothing but thecomposition of aKave,Begger, Coward,Pandar, and theSonne andHeire of aMungrill Bitch, one whom I will beate in toclamours whining, if thou deny'st the leastsillable of thy addition.
1786, “Of Allhallow Eve, Named by the IrishOidhche Shamhna”, inCharles Vallancey, editor,Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis, volume III,Dublin: Luke White,pages444-445:
The firſt day of November was dedicated to the angel preſiding over fruits, ſeeds, &c. and was therefore namedla mas ubhal, that is, the day of the apple fruit, and being pronouncedlamasool, the English have corrupted the name tolambswool, a name they give to acompoſition made on this eve of roaſted apples, ſugar, and ale.
And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to thecomposition thereof: it shall be unto thee holy for the Lord.
Thegeneralmakeup of a thing or person.[from 14th c.]
John of Gaunt. O how that name befits mycomposition! Old Gaunt indeed, andgaunt in being old: Within me grief hath kept a tedious fast; And who abstains from meat that is not gaunt?
That now Sweno, the Norways’ king, cravescomposition: Nor would we deign him burial of his men Till he disbursed at Saint Colme’s inch Ten thousand dollars to our general use.
1630, John Smith,True travels, Kupperman, published1988, page50:
with an incredible courage they advanced to the push of the Pike with the defendants, that with the like courage repulsed[…], that the Turks retired and fled into the Castle, from whence by a flag of truce they desiredcomposition.
1754,David Hume,The History of England[1], volume I, London: T. Cadell, published1773, page 8:
[…] the Britons, by rendering the war thus bloody, seemed determined to cut off all hopes of peace orcomposition with the enemy.
He hath perverted a young gentlewoman here in Florence, of a most chaste renown; and this night he fleshes his will in the spoil of her honour: he hath given her his monumental ring, and thinks himself made in the unchastecomposition.
That all and every person and persons already convicted or prosecuted in order to conviction of recusancy[…] shall be thenceforth exempted and discharged from all the penalties, seizures, forfeitures, judgments, and executions, incurred by force of any of the aforesaid Statutes, without anycomposition, fee, or further charge whatsoever.
1818,Jane Austen, A letter dated 8 September 1818:
[…]and how good Mrs. West could have written such books and collected so many hard words, with all her family cares, is still more a matter of astonishment.Composition seems to me impossible with a head full of joints of mutton and doses of rhubarb.
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