Careful Words

illustrious (adj.)

Illustrious acts high raptures do infuse,

And every conqueror creates a muse.

Edmund Waller (1605-1687): Panegyric on Cromwell.

  Illustrious predecessors.

Henry Fielding (1707-1754): Covent Garden Journal. Jan. 11, 1752.

  Illustrious predecessor.

Edmund Burke (1729-1797): Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents. Vol. i. p. 456.

There goes the parson, O illustrious spark!

And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk.

William Cowper (1731-1800): On observing some Names of Little Note.