Every one looks for his handsel.
"Edinburgh Picturesque Notes" by Robert Louis Stevenson
I've brought you the handsel of my innocence!
"Nana, The Miller's Daughter, Captain Burle, Death of Olivier Becaille" by Emile Zola
But the devil a sou the devils took; far from taking handsel, they were flouted and jeered by the country louts.
"Gargantua and Pantagruel, Complete." by Francois Rabelais
And, as I trow, said Sir Sagramore, ye shall have the same handsel that he had.
"Le Morte D'Arthur, Volume I (of II)" by Thomas Malory
They can scarcely be so base as to do murder having handselled peace to us.
"Eric Brighteyes" by H. Rider Haggard
So now he gave forth the handselling grandly with open mouth, and this is the beginning thereof.
"The Story of Grettir The Strong" by Translated by Eirikr Magnusson and William Morris
Our present tears here, not our present laughter, Are but the handsells of our joys hereafter.
"Handy Dictionary of Poetical Quotations" by Various
You got no handsel to-day, Cannie?
"The Tithe-Proctor The Works of William Carleton, Volume Two" by William Carleton
For the first time Borrowdean found himself near Mrs. Handsell.
"A Lost Leader" by E. Phillips Oppenheim
It is still a custom if a child has anything new to wear, to handsell it.
"Weather and Folk Lore of Peterborough and District" by Charles Dack
***
Violets and anemones
The surrendered hours
Pour, as handsels, round the knees
Of the Spring, who to the breeze
Flings her myriad flowers.
"One Day And Another: A Lyrical Eclogue – Part I" by Madison Julius Cawein
And handsell'd from the Mower's scythe,
And bound with memory's living withe—
You and I and Burd so blithe—
Three maidens on a mound:
"Of Three Children" by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch
Bob, here's Barnabas! Job, that's you?
Up stumps Solomon—-bustling too?
Shame, man! greedy beyond your years
To handsel the bishop's shaving-shears?
Fair play's a jewel! Leave friends in the lurch?
Stand on a line ere you start for the church!
"Holy-Cross Day" by Robert Browning