It differs from the serious romance in its fable and action, in this; that as in the one these are grave and solemn, so in the other they are light and ridiculous: it differs in its characters by introducing persons of inferior rank, and consequently, of inferior manners, whereas the grave romance sets the highest before us: lastly, in its sentiments and diction; by preserving the ludicrous instead of the sublime.
— from Joseph Andrews, Vol. 1 by Henry Fielding

Caderousse quickly performed the stranger’s bidding; and after pouring some into a glass, and slowly swallowing its contents, the abbé, resuming his usual placidity of manner, said, as he placed his empty glass on the table: “Where did we leave off?”
— from The Count of Monte Cristo, Illustrated by Alexandre Dumas

Berthine stopped him with a gesture, and said, smilingly: “It's only the wolves.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant

[A2; a12b2] get a stroke, severe illness (thought to be brought about by an evil wind).
— from A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan by John U. Wolff

Hereupon a lamentable cry arose among the spectators, as if the servant had spilled the blood on purpose in that place; and as the king heard that cry, he inquired what was the cause of it; and while nobody durst tell him, he pressed them so much the more to let him know what was the matter; so at length, when he had threatened them, and forced them to speak out, they told; whereupon he burst into tears, and groaned, and said, "So I perceive I am not like to escape the all-seeing eye of God, as to the great crimes I have committed; but the vengeance of the blood of my kinsman pursues me hastily.
— from The Wars of the Jews; Or, The History of the Destruction of Jerusalem by Flavius Josephus

A guest, a stranger, seated in the dust!
— from The Odyssey by Homer

He wished for nothing and hoped for nothing, and deep in his heart experienced a gloomy and stern satisfaction in an uncomplaining endurance of his position.
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

But sure such folks could ne'er beget So sweet a girl as Sally: She is the darling of my heart, And she lives in our alley.
— from Old Ballads by Various

The spectacle is weird and grotesque, and suggests something impish and uncanny.
— from Bird Stories from Burroughs Sketches of Bird Life Taken from the Works of John Burroughs by John Burroughs

But because you are good, and saving souls is your job, and because you think my soul might get wrecked, for those reasons it does mean a little I think.
— from August First by Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews

1. W ILLIAM P ARKES , Gentleman, and sometimes student in Barnard's Inne, author of The Curtaine-drawer of the World , 1612.
— from Notes and Queries, Vol. IV, Number 95, August 23, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Various

He jabbed at the menu with a fork and glowed and shouted, “Say, isn’t it great, that quatrain about ‘Take the cash and let the credit go’?”
— from The Job: An American Novel by Sinclair Lewis

Indeed, you have almost as good as said so in my hearing two or three different times.”
— from Guy Harris, the Runaway by Harry Castlemon

He talks ungrammatically; walks with a strange, awkward gait and stooping shoulders; is altogether unpicturesque, but wins one's confidence by his very lack of grace.
— from Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 15, No. 85, January, 1875 by Various

“He laid his finger on my shoulder, and added still with a gentle and significant smile, 'I am in possession of your secret, and I say so, to take you merely as far as I am concerned, out of a false, and myself out of a somewhat painful position.
— from Valentine M'Clutchy, The Irish Agent The Works of William Carleton, Volume Two by William Carleton