Never again can I behold such men as Pirithous and Dryas shepherd of his people, or as Caeneus, Exadius, godlike Polyphemus, and Theseus son of Aegeus, peer of the immortals.
— from The Iliad by Homer

As criticisms they are often misleading, giving praise to artificial poets, like Cowley and Pope, and doing scant justice or abundant injustice to nobler poets like Gray and Milton; and they are not to be compared with those found in Thomas Warton's History of English Poetry , which was published in the same generation.
— from English Literature Its History and Its Significance for the Life of the English-Speaking World by William J. (William Joseph) Long

Sent to the huts and purchased a dog & Some wood.
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark

A pencil and dry slate (she used to say) were the proper arena for such combatants.
— from The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 2 Elia and The Last Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb

So the wise girl retired for the time, but, of course, a good deal of the smell of hot cabbage remained behind, as it will do, and Toad, between his sobs, sniffed and reflected, and gradually began to think new and inspiring thoughts: of chivalry, and poetry, and deeds still to be done; of broad meadows, and cattle browsing in them, raked by sun and wind; of kitchen-gardens, and straight herb-borders, and warm snap-dragon beset by bees; and of the comforting clink of dishes set down on the table at Toad Hall, and the scrape of chair-legs on the floor as every one pulled himself close up to his work.
— from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

If he means to say that mythical fictions are mingled with real events, Forsan in alcun vero suo arco percuote, as Dante says, and I fully concede the point.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki

These words made them settle themselves in their places and preserve a deep silence, and he seeing them waiting on his words in mute expectation, began thus in a pleasant quiet voice.
— from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Burton gives us some curious traditions of these devilish amours, and quotes Philostratus’s account of one Menippus Lycius, a young man twenty-five years of age, who going between Cenchreas and Corinth, met a phantom in the shape of a fair gentlewoman, which, taking him by the hand, carried him to her house in the suburbs of Corinth; and told him she was a Phœnician by birth, and, if he would tarry with her he should hear her sing and play, and drink such wine as never was drunk, and no man should molest him, but
— from Curiosities of Medical Experience by J. G. (John Gideon) Millingen

The beasts, horses and oxen, are strewn about, dead and putrid, and deserters say that the stench from their rotting carcasses is unbearable.
— from With Rimington by L. March (Lisle March) Phillipps

Unlike the early Saxon and later English, his poetry is but a plainer and directer speech than other men's prose.
— from Journal 01, 1837-1846 The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, Volume 07 (of 20) by Henry David Thoreau

With an air of assumed politeness and dignity, she asks me if I have been to Washington.
— from American Scenes, and Christian Slavery A Recent Tour of Four Thousand Miles in the United States by Ebenezer Davies

This body, though tar-like in appearance, and with a peculiar and disagreeable smell of its own, does not resemble any known wood or coal tar in its chemical and physical properties.
— from Scientific American Supplement, No. 384, May 12, 1883 by Various

Dan was from New York, and pretended a deep scorn for the Windy City.
— from Four in Camp: A Story of Summer Adventures in the New Hampshire Woods by Ralph Henry Barbour

In front of these three young women are placed a dozen strong kerosene lamps provided with reflectors.
— from Secrets of Wise Men, Chemists and Great Physicians by William K. (William King) David

Still it was a painful and degrading situation!
— from Anna St. Ives by Thomas Holcroft

“I’m not standing at present,” and Denis smiled.
— from Wide Awake Magazine, Volume 4, Number 3, January 10, 1916 by Various