About this time Cortes also despatched Ordas and Alonso de Mendoza on business to Spain, but for what particular purpose he never told us.
— from The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 1 (of 2) Written by Himself Containing a True and Full Account of the Discovery and Conquest of Mexico and New Spain. by Bernal Díaz del Castillo

The necessary effect of deficient circulation in the skin,' remarks Dr. Combe, 'is to throw a disproportionate mass of blood inwards; and when this condition exists, insufficient clothing perpetuates the evil, until internal disease is generated, and health is irrecoverably lost.'
— 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

Brandy Smash , one of the 365 American drinks, made of brandy and crushed ice.
— from The Slang Dictionary: Etymological, Historical and Andecdotal by John Camden Hotten

chupe , m. ( Sp. A. ), a dish made of boiled potatoes and green corn.
— from Heath's Modern Language Series: The Spanish American Reader by Ernesto Nelson

They keep awake by shouting aloud, singing in a dull monotone, or beating a drum.
— from Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 7 of 7 by Edgar Thurston

For several years the site was annually flooded; but the people have persevered in building the levees, and afterward in raising all the streets, so that Sacramento is now a fine city, the capital of the State, and stands where, in 1848, was nothing but a dense mass of bushes, vines, and submerged land.
— from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. (William Tecumseh) Sherman

[1] The soon-forgotten petition of Julian's youth for a "bodily sickness" does not seem to have had any connection in her mind with special Revelation: it was desired neither as in any way a sign of invisible things nor as a direct means of beholding them.
— from Revelations of Divine Love by of Norwich Julian

The meaning of a determinative may often be best expressed by two words.
— from A Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges by George Martin Lane

So after doing my own business in my office, writing letters, &c., home to supper, and to bed, being weary and vexed that I do not find other people so willing to do business as myself, when I have taken pains to find out what in the yards is wanting and fitting to be done. 20th.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

By the subtle transmission of thought, of feeling which is characteristic at dramatic moments of bodies of people, she knew that he had already contrived to stir them to the quick.
— from The Inside of the Cup — Complete by Winston Churchill

I thought at first his purpose was to tease me and draw me out, but I soon came to believe it was all a part of the horrid nature of the man himself.
— from Border Ghost Stories by Howard Pease

[101] Huge explosive shells which send up a dense mass of black smoke.
— from The Childrens' Story of the War, Volume 2 (of 10) From the Battle of Mons to the Fall of Antwerp. by Edward Parrott

And, amidst the fine dust, everything finished by getting mixed, it became impossible to recognise the divisions of the different departments; the haberdashery department over yonder seemed submerged; further on, in the linen department, a ray of sunshine, entering by a window facing the Rue Neuve-Saint-Augustin, looked like a golden dart in a mass of snow; while, among the gloves and woollens, a dense mass of bonnets and chignons hid the background of the shop from view.
— from The Ladies' Paradise by Émile Zola

But because we were not made for our selves, nor can by any means so effectually glorify GOD and do good to our own Souls, as by doing Offices of Charity and Beneficence to others; and to the intent that every Vertue, and the highest degrees of every Vertue may be exercis’d and promoted the most that may be; your Retreat shall be so manag’d as not to exclude the good Works of an Active , from the pleasure and serenity of a Contemplative Life, but by a due mixture of both retain all the advantages and avoid the inconveniencies that attend either.
— from A serious proposal to the Ladies, for the advancement of their true and greatest interest (In Two Parts) by Mary Astell

About eight o’clock we reached Alto do Morro, our baggage arriving about an hour after.
— from Travels in the interior of Brazil with notices on its climate, agriculture, commerce, population, mines, manners, and customs: and a particular account of the gold and diamond districts. by John Mawe

I like nothing more than to spend the whole day in writing the notes down, and I often come so late to dinner that the children come to my room to fetch me, and drag me out by main force."
— from The History of Mendelssohn's Oratorio 'Elijah' by F. G. (Frederick George) Edwards

The sheaf of wild hyacinth was lying in a disordered mass of blue at her feet.
— from A Sheaf of Bluebells by Orczy, Emmuska Orczy, Baroness