If I have, indeed, produced any such effect by my writings, it will be a soothing reflection to me, that for once, in the course of a rather negligent life, I have been useful; that for once, by the casual exercise of a pen which has been in general but too unprofitably employed, I have awakened a cord of sympathy between the land of my fathers and the dear land that gave me birth.
"Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists"
Washington Irving
I don't know that this time was unprofitably spent; but this I know-it never requires more care and watchfulness to be preserved in a seasonable frame of spirit than when the mind is set at ease to enjoy the company of a few intimate friends.
"Memoir and Diary of John Yeardley, Minister of the Gospel"
John Yeardley
In its galleries one may spend many an hour, not unprofitably, in studying the faces of all the men and women who are famous, notorious, or infamous in connection with the history of Hanover.
"A History of the Four Georges, Volume I (of 4)"
Justin McCarthy