Our privy purse has been empty far too long, and I for one would like the handling of a few brisk notes.

Her speech ended on a brisk note.

This came from George Dermott, who took over the questioning on a brisker note.

The dinner bell punctuated the brisk notes of the finale.

Poirot had received a brisk and businesslike note from the lady asking for an appointment, and had replied asking her to call upon him at eleven o'clock the following day.

"And now we have come," Saraidh said, pausing a moment before continuing on a brisker note.

So I offer a thirteenth book . . . and it is turned down with a brisk little note which might as well have been a , printed rejection slip, for it was just as cold and just as informative.

Most of the pages were brief, intra-White House dispatches about small matters of state; or brisk, courteous notes, often with press clippings attached.

McLeish grinned at him and told Catherine to organize Penelope Huntley, hoping he had struck the right brisk note.

LEAD: "Excerpts From Route 142 and Other Excursions," a program of new and recent dances by the Chicago-based choreographer Bob Eisen, opened Dance Theater Workshop's annual Out-of-Towners festival on a brisk, nicely astringent note Thursday night at the Bessie Schonberg Theater.