They have, for the first stages, two men to ride and lead their spare horses—four in all, so as not to excite curiosity.
— from Dracula by Bram Stoker

ASSEMBLIES, Primary and Secondary. ASSEMBLY, National, Third Estate becomes, to be extruded, stands grouped in the rain, occupies Tennis-Court, scene there, joined by clergy, doings on King's speech, ratified by King, cannon pointed at, regrets Necker, after Bastille. ASSEMBLY, Constituent, National, becomes, pedantic, Irregular Verbs, what it can do, Night of Pentecost, Left and Right side, raises money, on the Veto, Fifth October, women, in Paris Riding-Hall, on deficit, assignats, on clergy, and riot, prepares for Louis's visit, on Federation, Anacharsis Clootz, eldest of men, on Franklin's death, on state of army, thanks Bouille, on Nanci affair, on Emigrants, on death of Mirabeau, on escape of King, after capture of King, completes Constitution, dissolves itself, what it has done.
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle

Then did they put themselves in a close order, and stood as near to (each) other as they could, and Pantagruel drew out his tongue only half-way and covered them all, as a hen doth her chickens.
— from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais

When the girl was brought to him he led her into a room full of straw, gave her a spinning-wheel and spindle, and said: “Now set to work and spin all night till early dawn, and if by that time you haven’t spun the straw into gold you shall die.”
— from The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

The condition of Germany was a scandal and nuisance to every earnest German, all whose energies were turned to reforming it from top to bottom; and Adams walked into a great public school to get educated, at precisely the time when the Germans wanted most to get rid of the education they were forced to follow.
— from The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams

After many conjectures respecting the cause, when we were near another ship almost as dull as ours, which, however, gain'd upon us, the captain ordered all hands to come aft, and stand as near the ensign staff as possible.
— from Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

26 C H A P. IX ——N OW this is the most puzzled skein of all——for in this last chapter, as far at least as it has help’d me through Auxerre, I have been getting forwards in two different journies together, and with the same dash of the pen—for I have got entirely out of Auxerre in this journey which I am writing now, and I am got half way out of Auxerre in that which I shall write hereafter——There is but a certain degree of perfection in every thing; and by pushing at something beyond that, I have brought myself into such a situation, as no traveller ever stood before me; for I am this moment walking across the market-place of Auxerre with my father and my uncle Toby, in our way back to dinner——and I am this moment also entering Lyons with my post-chaise broke into a thousand pieces—and I am moreover this moment in a handsome pavil- 27 lion built by Pringello , upon the banks of the Garonne, which Mons.
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

—Now this is the most puzzled skein of all—for in this last chapter, as far at least as it has help'd me through Auxerre, I have been getting forwards in two different journies together, and with the same dash of the pen—for I have got entirely out of Auxerre in this journey which I am writing now, and I am got half way out of Auxerre in that which I shall write hereafter—There is but a certain degree of perfection in every thing; and by pushing at something beyond that, I have brought myself into such a situation, as no traveller ever stood before me; for I am this moment walking across the market-place of Auxerre with my father and my uncle Toby, in our way back to dinner—and I am this moment also entering Lyons with my post-chaise broke into a thousand pieces—and I am moreover this moment in a handsome pavillion built by Pringello
— from The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne

How Uncle Joe's family could have allowed such a nuisance to exist astonished me; to sleep with these creatures continually running over us was impossible; and they were not the only evils in the shape of vermin we had to contend with.
— from Roughing It in the Bush by Susanna Moodie

Having looked into my face and said, “Art not thou Evliya Chelebí, who at the mosque of Aya Sofia recited in the night Kadr, the Korán in eight hours?
— from Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. II by Evliya Çelebi

138 , and allow each person to rotate the pencil and strike a number, the eyes being shut during the performance.
— from Everybody's Book of Luck by Anonymous

I was no longer "Juan," but "doctor" and "señor," and, near the end, "Doctor Robinson."
— from A Volunteer with Pike The True Narrative of One Dr. John Robinson and of His Love for the Fair Señorita Vallois by Robert Ames Bennet

Dyke Darrel went at once to the depot, and soon after nine that evening he was speeding northward at the rate of forty miles an hour.
— from Dyke Darrel the Railroad Detective; Or, The Crime of the Midnight Express by A. Frank Pinkerton

In that case you are strongly advised not to eat a dish of asparagus in his company.
— from Home Life in Germany by Sidgwick, Alfred, Mrs.

And soon afterward, Napoleonder, the evil one, sends him an envoy with a paper saying, "Submit, Alexander Blagoslovenni, and I will show you favor above all others."
— from Folk-Tales of Napoleon Napoleonder from the Russian; The Napoleon of the People from the French of Honoré De Balzac by Honoré de Balzac

The natives paddled us most skilfully from the stern, and we lay at full length basking in the warm afternoon sun, and noting the embryo terraces that have formed along its ti-covered banks.
— from Forty Thousand Miles Over Land and Water The Journal of a Tour Through the British Empire and America by Ethel Gwendoline Vincent

What you hear, madam, is the voice of my country, which now takes a sweet and noble tone even in the harsh mouth of high officialism.
— from Augustus Does His Bit: A True-to-Life Farce by Bernard Shaw