But if by reason of currents or the assaults of the open sea the props cannot hold the cofferdam together, then, let a platform of the greatest possible strength be constructed, beginning on the ground itself or on a substructure; and let the platform be constructed with a level surface for less than half its extent, while the rest, which is close to the beach, slopes down and out.
— from The Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius Pollio

This plain produces sesame plentifully, as also panic and millet and barley and wheat; and it is shut in on all sides by a steep and lofty wall of mountains from sea to sea.
— from Anabasis by Xenophon

Hester's strong, calm, steadfastly enduring spirit almost sank, at last, on beholding this dark and grim countenance of an inevitable doom, which—at the moment when a passage seemed to open for the minister and herself out of their labyrinth of misery—showed itself, with an unrelenting smile, right in the midst of their path.
— from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

You'll want to get out on it at sunrise an' live out on it all day like Dickon does."
— from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

If I have wander'd in those paths Of life I ought to shun, As something, loudly, in my breast, Remonstrates I have done; Thou know'st that Thou hast formed me With passions wild and strong; And list'ning to their witching voice Has often led me wrong.
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns

And since, at Ligny, in Barrois, where the Count de Brienne commanded, the emperor having in his own person beleaguered that place, and Bertheville, the said Count’s lieutenant, going out to parley, whilst he was capitulating the town was taken.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

The bar is a large room with a stone floor, and there people stand and smoke, and lounge about, all the evening: dropping in and out as the humour takes them.
— from American Notes by Charles Dickens

Lord Steyne made no doubt but that the Baronet had only commenced his career in public life, and expected rather anxiously to hear him as an orator; as they were neighbours (for Great Gaunt Street leads into Gaunt Square, whereof Gaunt House, as everybody knows, forms one side) my lord hoped that as soon as Lady Steyne arrived in London she would have the honour of making the acquaintance of Lady Crawley.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

The after part of the day Cloudy proceded on passed 10 rapids which wer danjerous the Canoe in which I was Struck a rock and Sprung a leak in the 3rd rapid, we proceeded on 20 miles and Encamped on a Stard point oppost a run.
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark

They just runs about an' shouts an' looks at things."
— from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Therefore, avoid such a locution as “an innumerable number,” as absurd.
— from A Desk-Book of Errors in English Including Notes on Colloquialisms and Slang to be Avoided in Conversation by Frank H. Vizetelly

The Chief of the village came to me, and desired I should give him my people to go and fetch me a bullock: the King's messenger took him aside and spoke a little while to him: he came again and told me he could not give me now the bullock, as his cattle were too far off among the King's herd.
— from The Journal of a Mission to the Interior of Africa, in the Year 1805 Together with Other Documents, Official and Private, Relating to the Same Mission, to Which Is Prefixed an Account of the Life of Mr. Park by Mungo Park

On one was a cross with a tiny vine running from the base; on another a bunch of lilies of the valley; and another showed a little bough of apple blossoms.
— from A Flock of Girls and Boys by Nora Perry

I feel sure he was born there and for a summer at least believed it to be the world.
— from My Robin by Frances Hodgson Burnett

He must wake each morning free of worries, come down to a good breakfast and find his coffee hot, have a pleasant time of it during the day without being bored, and end with a roast and salad and later a good bed.
— from The Triflers by Frederick Orin Bartlett

The belief in the world's end, in the speedy coming of Antichrist and the Messiah, was rife among all sects; and learned men, the disciples of Joachim of Flora, were busy calculating the very year and month.
— from Renaissance Fancies and Studies Being a Sequel to Euphorion by Vernon Lee

A very simple and comfortable form of camp bed-and one which you can easily rig up and use in your home, or at an inn, if a bedstead is not available-is this: Make a "hasty stretcher" with two staves and a sack, and lay the ends of the staves on a couple of logs, stones, or boxes.
— from Young Knights of the Empire : Their Code, and Further Scout Yarns by Baden-Powell of Gilwell, Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, Baron

'How does one get up to the attics?' said Arthur, looking about him with surprise.
— from The Magician by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham

I prayed her to have a posset, or some aqua-vitæ, and to get to bed and sleep a little for her health’s sake, but she answered me she was afraid she might dream.
— from The Duchess of Padua by Oscar Wilde