The possibility of what is called spontaneous combustion has been denied since the death of Mr. Krook; and my good friend Mr. Lewes (quite mistaken, as he soon found, in supposing the thing to have been abandoned by all authorities) published some ingenious letters to me at the time when that event was chronicled, arguing that spontaneous combustion could not possibly be.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

They grinned and went into the Neronian washroom, where a line of men bent over the bowls inset along a prodigious slab of marble as in religious prostration before their own images in the massy mirror.
— from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis

Mr. Beebe had lost everyone, and had consumed in solitude the tea-basket which he had brought up as a pleasant surprise.
— from A Room with a View by E. M. (Edward Morgan) Forster

It is better, if you have not time to write again and place such inquiries above your signature, to omit them entirely.
— from The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness A Complete Hand Book for the Use of the Lady in Polite Society by Florence Hartley

It is convenient for the Americans, who could always employ with profit, in the improvement of their lands, a greater stock than they can easily get, to save as much as possible the expense of so costly an instrument of commerce as gold and silver; and rather to employ that part of their surplus produce which would be necessary for purchasing those metals, in purchasing the instruments of trade, the materials of clothing, several parts of household furniture, and the iron work necessary for building and extending their settlements and plantations; in purchasing not dead stock, but active and productive stock.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

In spite of the fact that he was constantly in severe financial straits, he refused to accept any recompense for this work, preferring to regard it as a patriotic service.
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns

[5716] Pliny's cantharides, she will be loathsome, ridiculous, thou wilt not endure her sight: or suppose thou saw'st her, pale, in a consumption, on her death-bed, skin and bones, or now dead, Cujus erat gratissimus amplexus (whose embrace was so agreeable) as Barnard saith, erit horribilis aspectus; Non redolet, sed olet, quae, redolere solet , As a posy she smells sweet, is most fresh and fair one day, but dried up, withered, and stinks another.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

But, of course, it's all nonsense about being 'expelled' as a punishment; she was leaving of her own accord."
— from A True Friend: A Novel by Adeline Sergeant

He was of great courage and magnanimity in action and in dangers, and very sagacious in procuring the peace of the people, and of great virtue at all proper seasons.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus

You must imagine, sir, that all the calamities which have lately befallen this poor young fellow must have thrown him into the lowest dejection of spirits; and now, sir, should we all on a sudden fling him into such a violent fit of joy, as I know your presence will occasion, it may, I am afraid, produce some fatal mischief, especially as his servant, who is without, tells me he is very far from being well.”
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding

Such of these usages as are purely social are retained by our Christian Chinese: The house-cleaning which brings to our several mission houses a thorough renovation; the trimming upon the walls and elsewhere with evergreen wreaths, with bouquets of artificial flowers and other samples of Chinese art; the cultivation of the fragrant Narcissus, and the interchange of calls and cards and mutual good wishes; the treating with candies, fruits, and tiny cups of tea——guiltless of the American concomitants of sugar and cream——all these you will find our Christian Chinese carrying forward with no less zest than their heathen countrymen.
— from The American Missionary — Volume 36, No. 5, May, 1882 by Various

Much older than his companion, short in stature, plump in figure, but with a most defined waist, fair, blooming, with a multiplicity of long light curls, and a perpetual smile playing upon his round countenance, he looked like the Cupid of an opera Olympus.
— from The Young Duke by Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield

These palaces are a perpetual stimulus and provocative to governmental aggression.
— from Napoleon Bonaparte by John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott

Now there cannot be any doubt that, both relatively to the time and place where he taught, and absolutely for all times and all places, Socrates by this step did one of the highest services to human progress.
— from Four Phases of Morals: Socrates, Aristotle, Christianity, Utilitarianism by John Stuart Blackie

The chief house of the order was St. Yon (formerly Hauteville), an ancient manor just outside the gates of Rouen, surrounded by an extensive enclosure, and affording a peaceful solitude where M. de la Salle enjoyed his few brief intervals of repose in this world.
— from The Catholic World, Vol. 21, April, 1875, to September, 1875 A Monthly Magazine of General Literature and Science by Various

They were approaching a precipice, said the Prior; they were entering a labyrinth; and not only was the "sempiternal loss of body and soul impending over them, but their property was to be taken also, and the cat to be thrown against their legs."
— from The Rise of the Dutch Republic — Complete (1574-84) by John Lothrop Motley

She was described by those who knew her there as a pretty, sprightly little girl, much given to independence, and something of a tom boy,—a character there is reason to think she preserved until it was modified by the exigencies of her position.
— from France in the Nineteenth Century by Elizabeth Wormeley Latimer

In another and preferable sense it means to increase in value.
— from Write It Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults by Ambrose Bierce