But then my servant, whom I had intended to take down with me, deceived me; and being frighted at the increase of the distemper, and not knowing when I should go, he took other measures, and left me, so I was put off for that time; and, one way or other, I always found that to appoint to go away was always crossed by some accident or other, so as to disappoint and put it off again; and this brings in a story which otherwise might be thought a needless digression, viz., about these disappointments being from Heaven.
— from A Journal of the Plague Year Written by a Citizen Who Continued All the While in London by Daniel Defoe

The explanation was feeble, and the representatives found no difficulty in obtaining from the ministers their consent to pay whatever war indemnity might be due from Chôshiû, or else to throw open to trade a port in the inland sea.
— from A Diplomat in Japan The inner history of the critical years in the evolution of Japan when the ports were opened and the monarchy restored, recorded by a diplomatist who took an active part in the events of the time, with an account of his personal experiences during that period by Ernest Mason Satow

The invalid only replied by groaning aloud, and rolling his head on a pillow in a paroxysm of impatience.
— from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

The Royal demesnes, or private patrimony of the prince, supplied seventeen thousand pounds of gold; forty-seven thousand pounds of gold, and seven hundred thousand of silver, were levied and paid into the treasury by the Prætorian præfects.
— 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

For, although the afternoon tea is always put in the dining-room footmen or maids carry varieties of food out on large trays to the lawn, and the guests hold plates on their knees and stand glasses on tables nearby.
— from Etiquette by Emily Post

e curly head against his breast, and patted it tenderly.
— from The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain

Wherefore it is a marvel why he is no more renowned in his own country, save only it accordeth to the Word of God, which saith that no man is accepted for a prophet in his own country.
— from Le Morte d'Arthur: Volume 1 by Malory, Thomas, Sir

He then drew the pin from his cravat and placed it on the paper.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo, Illustrated by Alexandre Dumas

“What a pity it is that you did not arrive by daylight.
— from Bliss, and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield

The Baron wondered to see so costly a pipe in the old soldier's possession, and wishing to purchase it from him, said, 'My friend!
— from The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 14, No. 402, Supplementary Number (1829) by Various

"We were scarce settled in our new lodgings," continued Mrs. Bennet, "when my husband began to complain of a pain in his inside.
— from Amelia — Volume 2 by Henry Fielding

[1250] from Utkiavwĭñ) is a peculiar implement, the only one of the kind that we saw.
— from Ethnological results of the Point Barrow expedition Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1887-1888, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1892, pages 3-442 by John Murdoch

However, the demand is for an extremely varied assortment of iron and steel products; and to start an industry, making only a few of the cruder products such as pig iron and semi-finished forms, would not meet this demand.
— from The Economic Aspect of Geology by C. K. (Charles Kenneth) Leith

One of the most delightful books of the season will be The Autobiography of LEIGH HUNT , which is being reprinted by Harper & Brothers, and will very soon be given to the American public in an edition of suitable elegance.
— from International Weekly Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science — Volume 1, No. 2, July 8, 1850 by Various

’—‘Why?’ he said.—‘Because,’ I replied, ‘your house always sounds to me as if it had got a pain in its cellar!’
— from Lady Maude's Mania by George Manville Fenn

[Pg 163] are placed in the reloading tool, which seats the bullet and crimps the shell.
— from Pistol and Revolver Shooting by A. L. A. (Abraham Lincoln Artman) Himmelwright

A philosopher—and a poem is versified philosophy—should express himself as simply and directly as possible.
— from English Literature and Society in the Eighteenth Century by Leslie Stephen