A similar superstition was once
prevalent, as I have heard, in ancient Greece and Rome; not applying, however (as in India), to a diamond devoted to the service of a god, but to a semi-transparent stone of the inferior order of gems, supposed to be affected by the lunar influences--the moon, in this latter case also, giving the name by which the stone is still known to collectors in our own time.
Straight lines are too
prevalent - too uninterruptedly continued - or clumsily interrupted at right angles.
Of course I reformed my prose style, which had been carefully modelled upon that of Goldsmith and Irving, and began to write in the manner of Macaulay, in short, quick sentences, and with the
prevalent use of brief Anglo-Saxon words, which he prescribed, but did not practise.
But, independent of these inducements to war, which are more
prevalent in absolute monarchies, but which well deserve our attention, there are others which affect nations as often as kings; and some of them will on examination be found to grow out of our relative situation and circumstances.
It shows that at last a reasonable and steady view of the matter is becoming
prevalent among us."
This peculiar felicity of situation has, in a great degree, contributed to preserve the liberty which that country to this day enjoys, in spite of the
prevalent venality and corruption.
Hence, in every family of position and consideration, "back motion" is as
prevalent as time itself; and the husbands and sons in these households enjoy immunity at least from invisible attacks.
In other respects, she was in perfect harmony with the
prevalent feeling.
Despite my two disastrous experiences, here was John Barleycorn,
prevalent and accessible everywhere in the community, luring and drawing me.
The oldest inhabitants recollected no period at which measles had been so
prevalent, or so fatal to infant existence; and many were the mournful processions which little Oliver headed, in a hat-band reaching down to his knees, to the indescribable admiration and emotion of all the mothers in the town.
They echoed the
prevalent sentiment of the moment; and they gave the solo-talker time to fetch his breath.
For as in this world, head winds are far more
prevalent than winds from astern (that is, if you never violate the Pythagorean maxim), so for the most part the Commodore on the quarter-deck gets his atmosphere at second hand from the sailors on the forecastle.