But I said no; he might wake and make a disturbance, and then they’d find out I warn’t in.
— from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

52) among the places productive of alum: he reckons Egypt as the first, and for the second the Isle of Melos, whose alum mines are described by Tournefort, (tom. i. lettre iv.,) a traveller and a naturalist.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

These irregularities of judgment, I imagine, are found even in riper minds than Mary Garth's: our impartiality is kept for abstract merit and demerit, which none of us ever saw.
— from Middlemarch by George Eliot

The bean is irregular in form and color, and makes a dull roast.
— from All About Coffee by William H. (William Harrison) Ukers

Though to the death, against such cruelties With inward consolations recompenc’t, And oft supported so as shall amaze Thir proudest persecuters: for the Spirit Powrd first on his Apostles, whom he sends To evangelize the Nations, then on all Baptiz’d, shall them with wondrous gifts endue To speak all Tongues, and do all Miracles, As did thir Lord before them.
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton

Wherefore the discreet lady, being in a manner licensed to do her pleasures, thenceforward no longer caused her lover to come to her by the roof, as go the cats, but e'en brought him in at the door, and dealing advisedly, many a day thereafter gave herself a good time and led a merry life with him."
— from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio

But as soon as the circumstance is mentioned, that touches the memory, the very same ideas now appear in a new light, and have, in a manner, a different feeling from what they had before.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume

Grant me, most sweet and loving Jesus, to rest in Thee above every creature, above all health and beauty, above all glory and honour, above all power and dignity, above all knowledge and skilfulness, above all riches and arts, above all joy and exultation, above all fame and praise, above all sweetness and consolation, above all hope and promise, above all merit and desire, above all gifts and rewards which Thou canst give and pour forth, above all joy and jubilation which the mind is able to receive and feel; in a word, above Angels and Archangels and all the army of heaven, above all things visible and invisible, and above everything which Thou, O my God, art not. 2.
— from The Imitation of Christ by à Kempis Thomas

He only became a sociable being on holidays, on which occasions he would spend his time with his friends in some tavern, coming home at midnight as drunk as a lord and singing verses from Tasso.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

‘Odin could make his enemies in battle blind, or deaf, or terror-struck, and their weapons so blunt that they could no more cut than a willow twig; on the other hand, his men rushed forward without armour, were as mad as dogs or wolves, bit their shields, and were as strong as bears or wild bulls, and killed people at a blow, and neither fire nor iron told upon them.
— from Demonology and Devil-lore by Moncure Daniel Conway

"Send me some one that can speak a word of sense: call Parucci here, and get out of the room every one of you—away!" With abundance of muttering and grumbling, and many an indignant toss of the head, and many a dignified sniff, the old women hobbled from the room; and Henry Ashwoode had hardly been left alone, when the small private door communicating with Parucci's apartment, opened, and the valet peeped in.
— from The Cock and Anchor by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Yes; but for all that, we think wildness in a man as desirable a quality as in a duck or rabbit: a tame man!
— from William Wycherley [Four Plays] by William Wycherley

'Well, whin he was come to himself agin, says Jerry to him quite an' asy: '"Terence," says he, "don't be aggravatin' yourself," says he; "for I have a plan composed that 'ill make him spake out," says he, "an' tell what it is in the world he's wantin'," says he; "an' mind an' don't be comin' in wid your gosther, an' to say agin anything I tell you," says he, "but jist purtind, as soon as the bird is brought back," says he, "how that we're goin' to sind him to-morrow mornin' to market," says he.
— from The Purcell Papers — Volume 3 by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

he articulated, making a desperate effort to raise his eyes and to smile.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

Fortified castles with towers and moats and drawbridges sprang up all over the kingdom for the protection of the rich.
— from A Short History of France by Mary Platt Parmele

The juryman, for all his self-assertion, seemed to respect the reticence of a servant who declined to give his opinion in regard to such a matter, and drawing complacently back, signified with a wave of his hand that he had no more to say.
— from The Leavenworth Case by Anna Katharine Green

To this answer, General Washington gave a manly and dignified reply, which was, he said, "to close their correspondence perhaps forever;" and which concluded with saying, "If your officers, our prisoners, receive from me a treatment different from what I wished to show them, they and you will remember the occasion of it."
— from The Life of George Washington: A Linked Index to the Project Gutenberg Editions by John Marshall

Fogs page 35 p. 35 and mists are disagreeably common; and whole tracts of country are often veiled by an impenetrable mist.
— from The Story of Ida Pfeiffer and Her Travels in Many Lands by Anonymous

The South sees this, and makes another demand.
— from The Trial of Theodore Parker For the "Misdemeanor" of a Speech in Faneuil Hall against Kidnapping, before the Circuit Court of the United States, at Boston, April 3, 1855, with the Defence by Theodore Parker