The Commons to the Lords said, that they knew not what might hereafter be found out which might be called the practice of the Church of England; for there are many things may be said to be the practice of the Church, which were never established by any law, either common, statute, or canon; as singing of psalms, binding up prayers at the end of the Bible, and praying extempore before and after sermon: and though these are things indifferent, yet things for aught they at present know may be started, which may be said to be the practice of the Church which would not be fit to allow.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

We are told that, in the year 1827, as two boys, the one seven and the other five years old, were amusing themselves in a field, in the state of New York, in trying to reap during the time that their parents were at dinner, a large eagle came sailing over them, and with a swoop attempted to seize the eldest, but luckily missed him.
— from Illustrative Anecdotes of the Animal Kingdom by Samuel G. (Samuel Griswold) Goodrich

At last Elizabeth caught sight of him, and—not with any confusion, but only eager to communicate her happiness—exclaimed— "It is my lover—" "Your lover!"
— from The Pilot and his Wife by Jonas Lie

I picked it up, and stepping behind a large easy chair, stood on my guard.
— from True to Himself; Or, Roger Strong's Struggle for Place by Edward Stratemeyer

It were to be wished that a learned entomologist could study on the spot the specific differences of these noxious insects,* which in the torrid zone, in spite of their minute size, act an important point in the economy of nature.
— from Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 2 by Alexander von Humboldt

As for adjectives like enormous, colossal, surpassing, overpowering and nouns like marvel, wonder, grandeur, vastness, they are as common in your copy as commas.
— from The Native Son by Inez Haynes Gillmore

I walked back to the town and went into the church, a large eighteenth century structure of some dignity, with an unornamented tower that looks much older.
— from A Spring Walk in Provence by Archibald Marshall

I did not see the carved sixteenth century doors, which are protected in the same way as those of the cathedral at Aix, but in a niche between them is a lifelike eighteenth century statue of the Virgin and Child—the Mother, tender and matronly, [182] bending forward and holding up her flowing drapery—which is well worth noting.
— from A Spring Walk in Provence by Archibald Marshall