The Messinese, however, sallying out with Demoteles and some Locrians who had been left to garrison the city after the disaster, suddenly attacked and routed most of the Leontine army, killing a great number; upon seeing which the Athenians landed from their ships, and falling on the Messinese in disorder chased them back into the town, and setting up a trophy retired to Rhegium.
— from The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

And if at any time he was freed from those that were above him, which happened frequently, from their being drunk and tired, he sallied out with a great number upon Simon and his party; and this he did always in such parts of the city as he could come at, till he set on fire those houses that were full of corn, and of all other provisions.
— from The Wars of the Jews; Or, The History of the Destruction of Jerusalem by Flavius Josephus

A MAD SHEPHERD T HE world is at once saner and yet more given to lunacy than it used to be, for the people outside asylums are saner than their grandfathers were, yet there are greater numbers under some sort of treatment, or at least under lock and key, for madness.
— from Papers from Lilliput by J. B. (John Boynton) Priestley

By the clash of these tones he created a general, nondescript, unexpected, strange perfume in which reappeared, like an obstinate refrain, the decorative phrase of the beginning, the odor of the meadows fanned by the lilacs and lindens.
— from Against the Grain by J.-K. (Joris-Karl) Huysmans

He was 14 honest, temperate, and a good neighbor until something carried him off his balance; then he became as cruel as a panther and as savage as a grisly.
— from Other Main-Travelled Roads by Hamlin Garland

He watched Sylvia, with an ease and grace nearly unbelievable, somersault across the hedge and out of sight in the meadow beyond.
— from The Guarded Heights by Wadsworth Camp

And here, in a grassy nook, under some trees, they sat for some time watching the Falls, Flora declaring that it reminded her of some of their finest Scottish waterfalls and also of one or two she had seen in Switzerland.
— from Down the River to the Sea by Agnes Maule Machar

A game not unlike Shadow Buff is that known by the peculiar title of Hot Cockles.
— from Cassell's Book of In-door Amusements, Card Games, and Fireside Fun by Various

Philip was a Guinea negro, uncommonly stupid and indolent, although his office was no sinecure, as the other slaves stole all the fowls and pigs they could lay their hands on.
— from The Young Deliverers of Pleasant Cove The Pleasant Cove Series by Elijah Kellogg