The author is aware that, partly from a habit of thought and expression, partly from the exigencies of brevity in his narratives, and partly from the habit of addressing an audience familar with the local scenery, he often assumes, as premises already granted by the reader, the existence of a peculiar and romantic state of civilization, the like of which few English readers are inclined to accept without corroborative facts and figures.
— from The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales With Condensed Novels, Spanish and American Legends, and Earlier Papers by Bret Harte

Yet Julian enjoyed the satisfaction of embracing a philosopher and a friend, whose religious firmness had withstood the pressing and repeated solicitations of Constantius and Gallus, as often as those princes lodged at his house, in their passage through Hierapolis.
— 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

A similar line of argument holds good with fruits; that a ripe strawberry or cherry is as pleasing to the eye as to the palate—that the gaily-coloured fruit of the spindle-wood tree and the scarlet berries of the holly are beautiful objects—will be admitted by everyone.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, 6th Edition by Charles Darwin

For yesterday he had a rich suit of clothes brought home, which they call a birth-day suit; for he intends to go to London against next birth-day, to see the court; and our folks will have it he is to be made a lord.—I wish they may make him an honest man, as he was always thought; but I have not found it so, alas for me!
— from Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson

It is, however, in this earliest and rudest state of civil government only, that profit has ever made the principal part of the public revenue of a monarchical state.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

Strange, it is, yet true that hither, as to a recognized source of certain aid in identification and decipherment, are duly transmitted, by cast, rubbing and photograph, the "finds" that from time to time create such excitement and delight among epigraphists, and ethnologists, and other minute historical investigators in the British Islands and elsewhere.
— from Toronto of Old Collections and recollections illustrative of the early settlement and social life of the capital of Ontario by Henry Scadding

They had had a great many dealings together, and he may have gone on some of those, or to patch up his client’s affairs, which were in a ruinous state; of course he went for profit.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

A regular subordination of civil honors gradually ascended from the procurators of the streets and quarters of the city, to the tribunal of the supreme magistrate, who, with the title of proconsul, represented the state and dignity of a consul of ancient Rome.
— 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

They tell us too of the old monks who knew so much about agriculture; and occasionally the plough turns up a rusty sword or cannon ball, which reveals the story of battles and civil wars which we trust have passed away from our land for ever.
— from English Villages by P. H. (Peter Hampson) Ditchfield

The shock and mêlée were all over in less time than it takes to tell of it, and having thus performed their dare-devil and death-dealing ride through the shattered ranks of Gourko’s infantry, the gallant squadrons put spurs to their jaded steeds, and with another rousing cheer came galloping across to our lines, through which they passed amid ringing salvoes of cheers, retiring into the hollow ground beyond to rally and re-form—though very much thinned in numbers, it must be admitted.
— from The Great War of 189-: A Forecast by Frank Scudamore

The feel of the levers brought to him a renewed sense of confidence and responsibility.
— from Creatures of Vibration by Harl Vincent

But these primitive reactions of anger and fear enter into the ecstatic moods, become associated with or induce æsthetic and religious states of consciousness, gain moral justification or religious exploitation, become aspects of directive and dynamic moods and so give force and efficiency to morale and strategy.
— from The Psychology of Nations A Contribution to the Philosophy of History by G. E. (George Everett) Partridge

The inn presented a rare scene of confusion: people were hurrying in and out, the messenger sent for the doctor had just returned, breathless, to say he was not to be found; the fat landlady, in a state of the greatest excitement, was trotting about making impracticable suggestions, to which no one paid the slightest attention, while Coleman, still insensible, lay wrapped in blankets before a blazing fire in the parlour, with the pretty barmaid on her knees beside him sobbing piteously, as she chafed his temples with some strong essence.
— from Frank Fairlegh: Scenes from the Life of a Private Pupil by Frank E. (Frank Edward) Smedley

Then get out of the rut and keep up the long list of illusions, of which a rapid succession of changes and moods and styles and ideas is the secret.
— from Guide to Hotel Housekeeping by Mary E. (Mary Elizabeth) Palmer

Not long before my time, we reckoned Asia, Europa, and Africa, for a full and perfect diuision of the whole earth, which are parcels onelie of that huge Iland that lieth east of the Atlantike sea, and whereof the first is diuided from the second by Tanais (which riseth in the rocks of Caucasus, and hideth it selfe in the Meotine moores) and the Ocean sea; and the last from them both by the Mediterrane and red sea, otherwise called Mare Erythræum.
— from Holinshed Chronicles: England, Scotland, and Ireland. Volume 1, Complete by William Harrison

On a dairy farm, there is the water needed to wash cans and bottles and in some cases to furnish a running stream of cold water for the aerator.
— from Rural Hygiene by Henry N. (Henry Neely) Ogden

The Hamburger authorities in this, and some other cases, set up a sort of excise officer, and grant permits for this frivolity, and that vice, at a regular scale of charges.
— from A Tramp's Wallet stored by an English goldsmith during his wanderings in Germany and France by William Duthie

Such a rapid shower of cut, thrust, back, forward, and circular strokes is rarely seen.
— from The Catholic World, Vol. 10, October, 1869 to March, 1870 by Various