Bloody Mary was renowned for torturing Protestants, and "silver bells" was a nickname for the thumbscrews, while "cockleshells" were believed to be instruments of torture attached to the genitals. ❋ Unknown (2011)
Both queens' husbands supposedly cheated on them, and "cockleshells" may refer to this. ❋ Unknown (2011)
They lie in parallel lines along the beach, laid down by the retreat of successive tides, a jumble of bleached razorshells, ottershells and cockleshells with the occasional rarer find hidden among them. ❋ Unknown (2011)
Keen on the silver bells and cockleshells ... a 17th-century Dutch portrait of Queen Mary I of England, aka 'Bloody Mary'. ❋ Unknown (2011)
The nursery rhyme includes references to several Catholic symbols: the silver bells were the bells rung during mass; cockleshells were worn on the hats of pilgrims on their way to visit holy shrines; and pretty maids all in a row were nuns at prayer. ❋ Unknown (2011)
How did nine little boats (veritable cockleshells, even at 60 feet) splashing across the Seven Seas become such a spectacular draw? ❋ Unknown (2008)
Indeed, instances have been known of concretions in the bladder so shaped as closely to resemble cockleshells. ❋ Unknown (2002)
With silver bells, and cockleshells, And pretty maids all in a row. ❋ Unknown (2002)
Even the green hands knew that one day their lives could depend on the condition of these fragile cockleshells. ❋ Unknown (2000)
"And my heart wasn't in my mouth so much, " Claire Byrne said, 'thinking of all that could go wrong with those cockleshells. ❋ McCaffrey, Anne (1993)
"And my heart wasn't in my mouth so much," Claire Byrne said, "thinking of all that could go wrong with those cockleshells." ❋ McCaffrey, Anne (1993)
"You surely are not going to send us out there in one of these miserable cockleshells?" ❋ Frederic S. Isham (N/A)
Seven French kings have made pilgrimages to St. Michel; and here Louis XI. instituted the order of knighthood, called in honour of the archangel St. Michael, but afterwards styled the order of the Coquille, from the cockleshells that formed the collar of the knights, and the golden cockle-shells that bordered their mantles. ❋ Fanny Bury Palliser (N/A)
"It may be all very well for you; but I can't say I like the idea of scrambling down the side of the vessel into one of these cockleshells and running the risk of getting drowned." ❋ John B. [Illustrator] Greene (N/A)
We have no account of their visit to the King, but I think he would have welcomed them right warmly, and loved to hear how big souls ride in little cockleshells. ❋ Emily Hickey (N/A)
Passengers and mails were put on board from two tenders, and nothing could have given us a better idea of the enormous length and bulk of the Titanic than to stand as far astern as possible and look over the side from the top deck, forwards and downwards to where the tenders rolled at her bows, the merest cockleshells beside the majestic vessel that rose deck after deck above them. ❋ Lawrence Beesley (1922)
The waves which batter the cockleshells change their direction at every instant. ❋ Unknown (1918)
