He then advances to the first entrance of the bridge, and being easily distinguished among those who showed their backs in retreating from the fight, facing about to engage the foe hand to hand, by his surprising bravery he terrified the enemy.
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy

Beadle goes into various shops and parlours, examining the inhabitants, always shutting the door first, and by exclusion, delay, and general idiotcy exasperating the public.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

However, in other respects the manner in which this has been accomplished by Euclid deserves all the praise which has been bestowed on him through so many centuries, and which has been carried so far that his method of treating mathematics has been set up as the pattern of all scientific exposition.
— from The World as Will and Idea (Vol. 1 of 3) by Arthur Schopenhauer

Something talks with them, they spit fire and brimstone, they cannot but blaspheme, they cannot repent, believe or think a good thought, so far carried; ut cogantur ad impia cogitandum etiam contra voluntatem , said [6744] Felix Plater, ad blasphemiam erga deum, ad multa horrenda perpetranda, ad manus violentas sibi inferendas , &c., and in their distracted fits and desperate humours, to offer violence to others, their familiar and dear friends sometimes, or to mere strangers, upon very small or no occasion; for he that cares not for his own, is master of another man's life.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

2. For common gifts, necessity makes pertinences and beauty every day, and one is glad when an imperative leaves him no option, since if the man at the door have no shoes, you have not to consider whether you could procure him a paint-box.
— from Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson

When he is playing at Backgammon, he calls for a full Glass of Wine and Water; 'tis his turn to throw, he has the Box in one Hand and his Glass in the other, and being extremely dry, and unwilling to lose Time, he swallows down both the Dice, and at the same time throws his Wine into the Tables.
— from The Spectator, Volume 1 Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays by Steele, Richard, Sir

Napoleon said something to Alexander, and both Emperors dismounted and took each other’s hands.
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

Mr. Brooke sent a bulletin every day, and as the head of the family, Meg insisted on reading the dispatches, which grew more cheerful as the week passed.
— from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

It would not be a pleasant arrangement, that a man who was to be carried across the straits from England to France should be fixed on a board so weighted that his mouth and nostrils should be at the level of the water, thus that he should be struggling for life, and barely escaping drowning all the way.
— from The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 07, No. 43, May, 1861 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics by Various

Written with a flourish on the upper line, presumably to serve as a caption, were the words: “The Murderer, Henri Mentone,” and beneath: “Evades direct answers. Hardened type—knows his way about.
— from The Sin That Was His by Frank L. (Frank Lucius) Packard

He had always been extremely dainty and fastidious in his habits and tastes, and he especially shrank from contact with any of the numerous lepers who, since the return of the Crusaders, had become a plague along the high-roads of Europe.
— from Pictures in Umbria by Katharine S. (Katharine Sarah) Macquoid

to make you endure such pain; to make your life a burden; each day a fresh pang!
— from A Country Sweetheart by Dora Russell

The weather is warm all the year round, and becomes exceedingly damp and oppressive in the spring and autumn, while in the summer the monsoon winds bring a rainfall of nearly 300 inches in three months.
— from General Gatacre The Story of the Life and Services of Sir William Forbes Gatacre, K.C.B., D.S.O., 1843-1906 by Gatacre, Beatrix Wickens Davey, Lady

Having ceased to be a way, it was now all but entirely deserted, and there was eeriness in the vanishing vista that showed nothing beyond.
— from Donal Grant by George MacDonald

Take it up, drain it, and put it on a dish before the fire to dry: do not handle it much with a spoon, but shake it about a little with two forks, that it may all be equally dried, and strew over a little salt.
— from The Book of Household Management by Mrs. (Isabella Mary) Beeton