rihtnes (e) f. ‘ rightness ,’ rectitude, equity , Ps : perpendicularity, straightness , WW : reckoning, account , MtL (e): (+) correction .
— from A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary For the Use of Students by J. R. Clark (John R. Clark) Hall

He was a good-natured fellow, not without information or literature; but a most egregious coxcomb.
— from Biographia Literaria by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

‘He does seem indeed, upon my word, a most excellent creature, Kate,’ said Mrs. Nickleby; ‘most excellent.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

God Himself inclines them to believe, and thus they are most effectively convinced.
— from Pascal's Pensées by Blaise Pascal

Swallow, then dragged him to the sledge, and with a common blunt cleaver, hacked off the head: in a manner equally clumsy and cruel, he opened his body and tore out the heart.
— from Fox's Book of Martyrs Or A History of the Lives, Sufferings, and Triumphant Deaths of the Primitive Protestant Martyrs by John Foxe

Her daughter Esther, who afterwards married the worthy son of the Walloon pastor, our intimate friend and brother, Monsieur J. Chevalier, after a most edifying course of devotedness to her Lord and Saviour, died in her confinement in June, 1840.
— from Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ by Aaron Bernstein

Nor do we deny that some moral evils are better turned out to the light, because, like diseases, when exposed, they are more easily cured.
— from Laws by Plato

It is in just such stupid things clever people are most easily caught.
— from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The manner in which it is cut short not only lights up the characters of the Squire and the Franklin in a manner eminently characteristic of Chaucer, but also gently satirises the long-windedness and absurdity of the romance-writers; and that Chaucer was keenly alive to their faults is shown by the rollicking burlesque of Sir Thopas .
— from Chaucer and His Times by Grace E. (Grace Eleanor) Hadow

The carpenter was a man of quiet and gentle spirit, and he bore a most excellent character among his neighbors.
— from Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. XXIII.—April, 1852.—Vol. IV. None by Various

All so-called chirurgeons and apothecaries, as well as herbalists, of either sex, were enjoined from visiting patients, performing operations, or prescribing any medicines except certain confections in common use, unless in the presence and under the direction of a physician, the penalties being excommunication, imprisonment, and fine.
— from Primitive Psycho-Therapy and Quackery by Robert Means Lawrence

“No, but you know ME all the same,” said a voice from the doorway as a man entered, coolly took the Chinese servant by the elbows and thrust him into the passage, closing the door upon him.
— from The Three Partners by Bret Harte

Regnault, and more especially Cannizzaro, used this method to distinguish univalent from bivalent metals.
— from The Principles of Chemistry, Volume I by Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleyev

Among strangers and in general conversation General Grant was the most reticent of men, but among those whom he knew a most entertaining conversationalist.
— from My Memories of Eighty Years by Chauncey M. (Chauncey Mitchell) Depew

The word exile, or banishment, sounds harshly on the ear, and must ever convey to the heart the most acute feeling of anguish.
— from Two Voyages to New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land by Thomas Reid

The old man started, and with a mighty effort commanding himself, said, “Now may God help me!”
— from The Man from Glengarry: A Tale of the Ottawa by Ralph Connor