brightliest

Oh, never till then I knew the worth / Of woman’s love, its power to bless; / Which like the star, shines brightliest forth, / In darkest hour of bitterness!

1829 May, Charles M., “Stanzas”, in The Ladies’ Museum […], volume I, London: James Robins and Co. […], page 271

Him I remember while this life endures. / The day lives brightliest in my memory / When from a matin fate he snatched my days.

1835, [Thomas J. F. Kelly], “Act II. Scene I.—Castle of Ingelheim.”, in Henry IV. of Germany; a Tragedy, in Five Acts, New York, N.Y.: […] Osborn & Buckingham, […], page 33

When danger, or the dread of it, encompasses the soul—when timidity fluctuates and excitement roars—who then controls? Not he, whose intellect is most logically practised—whose memory is richest stored—whose tongue is brightliest eloquent: but he whose eye blenches least—whose heart beats the calmest: he, it is, is master of the hour.

1838, [Horace Binney Wallace], chapter VII, in Stanley; or The Recollections of a Man of the World. […], volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lea & Blanchard, […], page 78

But while the sun shone /brightest⟩brightliest/,—(and it shines now—) I said “The cold wind is felt thro’ it all,—she keeps the room!” The wind is unremitting,—savage.

1846 April 27, Robert Browning, “332 (W168): R.B. to E.B.B.”, in Elvan Kintner, editor, The Letters of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Barrett 1845–1846, volume II (March 1846–September 1846), Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, published 1969, →ISBN, pages 657–658

The dawn breaks at the darkest hour; / Stars brightliest shine when midnight skies / Are palled in gloom; […]

1850, James Clarence Mangan, “Bear Up. Ballad.”, in Hercules Ellis, editor, Romances and Ballads of Ireland, Dublin: […] James Duffy, […], stanza II, page 12