Even the old mottled glass couldn't help sending back a lovely image, none the less lovely because Hetty's stays were not of white satin—such as I feel sure heroines must generally wear—but of a dark greenish cotton texture.
— from Adam Bede by George Eliot

But a Mason, having been rejected, on his application for affiliation, by a lodge, is not thereby debarred from subsequently making a similar application to any other.
— from The Principles of Masonic Law A Treatise on the Constitutional Laws, Usages and Landmarks of Freemasonry by Albert Gallatin Mackey

“Believing a lie is not the way to invent truth,” she said.
— from Dust: A Novel by Julian Hawthorne

“If that be all, let it not trouble your highness.
— from Under the Flag of France: A Tale of Bertrand du Guesclin by David Ker

The man in the moon was tired, it seems, Of living so long in the land of dreams; 'Twas a beautiful sphere, but nevertheless Its lunar life was passionless; Unchequered by sorrow, undimmed by crime, Untouched by the wizard wand of time; 'Twas all too grand, there was no scope For dread, and of course no room for hope To him the future had no fear, To make the present doubly dear; The day no cast of coming night, To make the borrowed ray more bright; And life itself no thought of death, To sanctify the boon of breath:-- In short, as we world-people say, The man in the moon was ennuyé .
— from Moon Lore by Timothy Harley

The glorious days of old might arise again, and nothing but a Lucullus is needed, to bring this about.
— from The Physiology of Taste; Or, Transcendental Gastronomy by Brillat-Savarin

Mildred was the beauty of the school, and as the love of all that is sweet, and bright, and lovely is natural to girlhood, her companions placed her on a pedestal on that account, and treated her with special marks of favour.
— from A Girl in Spring-Time by Vaizey, George de Horne, Mrs.

On New Year's morning it was his custom to visit all the poor and bereaved and lonely in Noank, taking a great dray full of presents and leaving a little something with his greetings and a pleasant handshake at every door.
— from Twelve Men by Theodore Dreiser