The picture of that frail wooden tenement, the Castle Inn, reduced to a roofless chaos of lath and plaster, vomiting flames from its black mouth, and spitting blazing sparks upward toward the cold night sky.
— from Lady Audley's Secret by M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon

In a tropical mixed forest there are hundreds of species of trees growing together in such profuse variety that the eye can scarce see at one time two individuals of the same species, yet all of them undoubtedly represent tolerable uniformity in the demands they make as regards conditions of life, and in so far they are alike.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. (Ernest Watson) Burgess

A return carriage of Lord Altamont’s having overtaken me on the road, I entered it, and was set down at the little inn at Hallymount, where I remained some days with Mr. Jennings and family, recovering from my bruises, and sighing over the wreck of my fondly anticipated glories as a renowned colonel at the head of my regiment, plundering a pagoda and picking precious stones out of an idol.
— from Personal Sketches of His Own Times, Vol. 3 (of 3) by Barrington, Jonah, Sir

Ambassador David N. GREENLEE embassy: 1776 Avenida Mariscal Lopez, Casilla Postal 402, Asuncion mailing address: Unit 4711, APO AA 34036-0001 telephone: [595] (21) 213-715 FAX: [595] (21) 213-728 Flag description: three equal, horizontal bands of red (top), white, and blue with an emblem centered in the white band; unusual flag in that the emblem is different on each side; the obverse (hoist side at the left) bears the national coat of arms (a yellow five-pointed star within a green wreath capped by the words REPUBLICA DEL PARAGUAY, all within two circles); the reverse (hoist side at the right) bears the seal of the treasury (a yellow lion below a red Cap of Liberty and the words Paz y Justicia (Peace and Justice) capped by the words REPUBLICA DEL PARAGUAY, all within two circles) Paraguay Economy Economy - overview: Paraguay has a market economy marked by a large informal sector.
— from The 2001 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency

To the regulations of the former class belonged the religious inculcation of a due observance of holidays and of a cultivation of the fields and vineyards according to the rules of good husbandry—which we shall have occasion to notice more fully in the sequel—as well as the worship of the heath or of the Lares which was connected with considerations of sanitary police,(13) and above all the practice of burning the bodies of the dead, adopted among the Romans at a singularly early period, far earlier than among the Greeks—a practice implying a rational conception of life and of death, which was foreign to primitive times and is even foreign to ourselves at the present day.
— from The History of Rome (Volumes 1-5) by Theodor Mommsen

As the Orang shelters itself with a rough coverlet of leaves, and the common Chimpanzee, according to that eminently trustworthy observer Dr. Savage, makes a sound like “Whoo-whoo,”—the grounds of the summary repudiation with which M. Du Chaillu’s statements on these matters have been met is not obvious.
— from Man's Place in Nature, and Other Essays by Thomas Henry Huxley

It is of the highest value, discussing the subject topically with great clearness and with a rare combination of learning and common sense.
— from The Life of Jesus of Nazareth: A Study by Rush Rhees

He looked like a smaller but far more costly edition of Mr. Bottler, except that his waistcoat was of crimson taffety, with a rolling collar of lace; and instead of white stockings, he displayed gold-buttoned vamplets of orange velvet.
— from Alice Lorraine: A Tale of the South Downs by R. D. (Richard Doddridge) Blackmore

The advantages of wood over type-metal are indeed so great, both as regards clearness of line and facility of execution, that it seems incredible that any person who had tried both materials should hesitate to give the preference to wood.
— from A Treatise on Wood Engraving, Historical and Practical by Henry G. (Henry George) Bohn

traight into the sky a red beacon made a rigid column of light; a radio sender was crackling a warning and a demand for "clear air.
— from Astounding Stories, August, 1931 by Various

The demand of the people that government should really be carried on by their consent, so easily stifled in the thirteenth century, became in the fifteenth loud and persistent; and riotous confederacies of labourers and artizans added excitement to the political demonstrations in the streets.
— from Town Life in the Fifteenth Century, Volume 2 (of 2) by Alice Stopford Green