In fact, a room with four or five mirrors arranged at random, is, for all purposes of artistic show, a room of no shape at all.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

Not to be prime ministers or secretaries of state, for they were a shrewd race who knew the length of their tether, and notwithstanding the encouraging example of his grace of Newcastle, they could not resist the persuasion that some knowledge of the interests and resources of nations, some power of expressing opinions with propriety, some degree of respect for the public and for himself, were not altogether indispensable qualifications, even under a Venetian constitution, in an individual who aspired to a post so eminent and responsible.
— from Sybil, Or, The Two Nations by Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield

Advanced methods of dealing with such perplexing problems as insanity, intemperance, poverty, public sanitation, city planning, the conservation of natural resources, the constructive use of governmental agencies for furthering the public good without weakening personal initiative, all illustrate the direct dependence of our important social concerns upon the methods and results of natural science.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey

Their ear-rings are mostly of gold filagree, and fastened, not with a clasp, but in the manner of a rivet or nut screwed to the inner part.”—Marsden, Hist. of Sumatra (ed. 1811), p. 53.
— from Malay Magic Being an introduction to the folklore and popular religion of the Malay Peninsula by Walter William Skeat

735 ).—You begin this by a row of net stitches worked from right to left, or as the engraving shows, by a row of stitches called «seed stitches».
— from Encyclopedia of Needlework by Thérèse de Dillmont

"It is easy to be conceived, that if male children be not in a capacity to form any true notions of religion, those ideas must be greatly above the conception of the females: it is for this very reason, I would begin to speak to them the earlier on this subject; for if we were to wait till they were in a capacity to discuss methodically such profound questions, we should run a risk of never speaking to them on this subject as long as they lived.
— from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects by Mary Wollstonecraft

But this descended from the bless'd abodes, A rill of nectar, streaming from the gods.'
— from The Odyssey by Homer

If a woman has manifested her love or desire, either by signs or by motions of her body, and is afterwards rarely or never seen any where, or if a woman is met for the first time, the man should get a go-between to approach her.
— from The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana Translated From the Sanscrit in Seven Parts With Preface, Introduction and Concluding Remarks by Vatsyayana

At this critical juncture the Dowager Queen of Naples, sister of Jayme II. of Aragon, intervened, and a truce was arranged, Robert of Naples surrendering all he had gained and evacuating Sicily.
— from The Story of Majorca and Minorca by Markham, Clements R. (Clements Robert), Sir

The seventeenth century and a race of native Spanish kings declined and passed away together.
— from The Arts and Crafts of Older Spain, Volume 1 (of 3) by Leonard Williams

Here you shall see pilgrims and persons in religion of every description, processions, prelates, and often princes and princesses, carriages, litters, calêches, equipages, cavalcades accompanied by trumpeters, gay troops of cavaliers, and ladies with plumes in their hats and rich apparel wherewithal to make themselves attractive; and at intervals you shall hear all manner of songs, concerts, and musical instruments, both civil and military, all done with a modest and devout cheerfulness of demeanour, by which I am reminded of nothing so strongly as of the words of the Psalmist in the which he saith ‘Come and see the works of the Lord, for He hath done wonders upon earth.’”
— from Ex Voto: An Account of the Sacro Monte or New Jerusalem at Varallo-Sesia With Some Notice of Tabachetti's Remaining Work at the Sanctuary of Crea by Samuel Butler

He handed Bruce his own letter and a roll of notes, saying with a smile which was uncommonly gracious considering that the money was his own: “I suppose it won’t make any difference to you that your gold-dust has taken on a different form.”
— from The Man from the Bitter Roots by Caroline Lockhart

And while the Hebrews, subjected to their theocratic government, strictly educated and practising ablution, remained of normal stature, the members of the other races, living without either physical or moral discipline, wallowing in dirt and excrement and absorbing nitrogenous salts (just as the earth is enriched and made fertile by excrement), grew to monstrous and gigantic size.
— from The Philosophy of Giambattista Vico by Benedetto Croce

[The Hunter is a river of New South Wales.] 1890.
— from Austral English A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia by Edward Ellis Morris

Fatigue, darkness, and repeated orders nevertheless stopped those whom their moral and physical strength and the efforts of their officers had kept together.
— from History of the Expedition to Russia Undertaken by the Emperor Napoleon in the Year 1812 by Ségur, Philippe-Paul, comte de