I was exceedingly surprised on receiving so rude an answer from a stranger, and I was also disconcerted on perceiving the frowning and angry countenances of his companions.
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

FRIXUS, roast, fried, also dried or parched, term which causes some confusion in the several editions Frontispice,
— from Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome by Apicius

And if any man by the ingenuity of his owne nature, had attained to any degree of perfection therein, hee was commonly thought a Magician, and his Art Diabolicall.
— from Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

Their haste took away all attention to the regulating the course of the streets, whilst, setting aside all distinction of property, they build on any part that was vacant.
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy

Thus its own dignity and continued existence depend on its learning to express momentous facts, facts important for action and happiness; and there is nothing which so quickly discredits itself as empty rhetoric and dialectic, or poetry that wanders in dim and private worlds.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana

There are stalwart Bedouins of the desert here, and stately Moors proud of a history that goes back to the night of time; and Jews whose fathers fled hither centuries upon centuries ago; and swarthy Riffians from the mountains—born cut-throats—and original, genuine Negroes as black as Moses; and howling dervishes and a hundred breeds of Arabs—all sorts and descriptions of people that are foreign and curious to look upon.
— from The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain

"But I shall put you under a discipline of pleasure that will make you lose that bad habit," said Lucy, sticking the black butterfly absently in her own collar, while her eyes met Maggie's affectionately.
— from The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

But from the high or low money price of some sorts of goods in proportion to that of others, we can infer, with a degree of probability that approaches almost to certainty, that it was rich or poor, that the greater part of its lands were improved or unimproved, and that it was either in a more or less barbarous state, or in a more or less civilized one.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

“I said that yesterday at dinner on purpose to tease you
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

But the intemperance which gratified their appetites, retarded their progress; and before the Goths could receive any certain intelligence of the defeat and death of Procopius, they perceived, by the hostile state of the country, that the civil and military powers were resumed by his successful rival.
— from History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 2 by Edward Gibbon

Let us look at the broad difference between the two measures, and see whether there is not something that looks as though there was deception, of the deepest dye, about to be practiced upon those who are desirous of preserving the territories free from the blighting curse of slavery.
— from The Crisis of Eighteen Hundred and Sixty-One in the Government of the United States. Its Cause, and How It Should Be Met by Abel D. Streight

Travel was comparatively safe and easy, and despite occasional persecution the earliest missionaries usually enjoyed the protection of Roman law.
— from A Brief Bible History: A Survey of the Old and New Testaments by James Oscar Boyd

Emmeline, who was at that time fourteen years of age, and desirous of playing the grand lady, imagined that she could not do better than imitate the manners of her cousin, whom she saw almost every day, because Madame de Serres, when in Paris, resided in the same street as Madame d'Altier, and in the country occupied a neighbouring château.
— from Moral Tales by Madame (Elisabeth Charlotte Pauline) Guizot

The sister showed us some of their instruments of discipline; corporal austerities, however, by all that we could learn, are not common, nor are they generally allowed by confessors, partly that the health of few will allow of them; partly, there is a danger of pride thence arising.
— from Journal in France in 1845 and 1848 with Letters from Italy in 1847 Of Things and Persons Concerning the Church and Education by T. W. (Thomas William) Allies

The first object of the British commander was to gain a position between the enemy and the open country, and thus leave them no alternative but to surrender at discretion, or precipitate themselves over a high cliff; but they had established themselves so strongly to protect their right that this failed.
— from The History of the First West India Regiment by A. B. (Alfred Burdon) Ellis

The Origin and Development of Prostitution: —The Definition of Prostitution—Prostitution Among Savages—The Conditions Under Which Professional Prostitution Arises—Sacred Prostitution—The Rite of Mylitta—The Practice of Prostitution to Obtain a Marriage Portion—The Rise of Secular Prostitution in Greece—Prostitution in the East—India, China, Japan, etc.—Prostitution in Rome—The Influence of Christianity on Prostitution—The Effort to Combat Prostitution—The Mediæval Brothel—The Appearance of the Courtesan—Tullia D'Aragona—Veronica Franco—Ninon de Lenclos—Later Attempts to Eradicate Prostitution—The Regulation of Prostitution—Its Futility Becoming Recognized.
— from Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 6 Sex in Relation to Society by Havelock Ellis

Perhaps it struck both of us, simultaneously, that Dudley had heard Macartney coming before we did and disappeared on purpose, thinking Macartney
— from The La Chance Mine Mystery by Susan Morrow Jones

A very surly-looking girl, quite obviously un-English (a daughter of Pedro, the butler, I learned later), opened the gates, and we entered upon a winding drive literally tunnelled through the trees.
— from Bat Wing by Sax Rohmer

And that principle, of a greedy desire to be uncontrolled in their lusts, which induceth men to a denial of Providence, that thereby they might stifle those seeds of fear which infect and embitter their sinful pleasures, may as well lead them to deny that there is any such being as a God.
— from The Existence and Attributes of God, Volumes 1 and 2 by Stephen Charnock