" A very dim and shadowy lady, vague of outline, and faint of coloring, with eyes, hair, complexion and dress all melting into such pale and uncertain shades that, in the obscure light of the foggy November morning a superstitious stranger might have mistaken the bride for the ghost of some other bride, dead and buried in the vault below the church.
— from Lady Audley's Secret by M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon

To hate and despise a microbe is stupid, but to look upon everybody one meets without distinction as one’s neighbour, whatever happens—thanks very much, that is equivalent to giving up criticism, renouncing a straightforward attitude to people, washing one’s hands of responsibility, in fact!
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

He uttered a suppressed exclamation of consternation and dismay, and muttering, ‘I shall catch it now!’
— from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

I was still upheld by that fund of infinite faith, although dimly about me I saw the shadow of disaster.
— from Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil by W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) Du Bois

To these again are nearly related such others as attribute strange virtues to the shrines and images of saints and martyrs, and so would make their credulous proselytes believe, that if they pay their devotion to St. Christopher in the morning, they shall be guarded and secured the day following from all dangers and misfortunes: if soldiers, when they first take arms, shall come and mumble over such a set prayer before the picture of St. Barbara, they shall return safe from all engagements: or if any pray to Erasmus on such particular holidays, with the ceremony of wax candles, and other fopperies, he shall in a short time be rewarded with a plentiful increase of wealth and riches.
— from In Praise of Folly Illustrated with Many Curious Cuts by Desiderius Erasmus

The medium he named a dielectric , and measured its specific inductive capacity by taking that of common air as unity.
— from The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Deposition to Eberswalde Volume 4, Part 1 by Various

Thank you, Mr Chester; you have performed a difficult and most important service with equal skill and courage, and I shall have great pleasure in representing as much to the admiral.”
— from Under the Meteor Flag: Log of a Midshipman during the French Revolutionary War by Harry Collingwood

Then rub a saucer over with fresh butter, put it in the center of a dish, and make it secure from moving.
— from The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined by John Mollard

In accordance with this system, the Babylonians divided the Zodiac into twelve equal parts or "signs"; divided the year into nearly equal months, that corresponded approximately to the length of a lunar month; divided a day and a night into twelve equal 32 parts or hours; divided an hour in sixty (12 x 5) equal parts or minutes, and divided a minute into sixty (12 x 5) equal parts or seconds.
— from Invention: The Master-key to Progress by Bradley A. (Bradley Allen) Fiske

It is, finally, sincerity or good faith; which is to say, that frankness, that openness of heart, tempered by self-reliance, which excludes all feints and all disguising, as much in speech as in action."
— from Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry by Albert Pike

I suppose you can shut a door?" "A man is sometimes compelled by circumstances to think whether he can or not.
— from Mr. Scarborough's Family by Anthony Trollope

These he would naturally retain at any cost, in the hope of making Double Bézique; but should his adversary declare a marriage in spades, showing that he holds the remaining queen of that suit, all hope of Double Bézique is clearly at an end.
— from Hoyle's Games Modernized by Professor Hoffmann

Hysteria is a disease as much in some cases beyond the control of the patient as inflammation of the brain or any other disease.
— from Fasting Girls: Their Physiology and Pathology by William A. (William Alexander) Hammond