They did give their reasons: viz., that it had no precedent; that the King ought not to be informed of anything passing in the Houses till it comes to a Bill; that it will wholly break off all correspondence between the two Houses, and in the issue wholly infringe the very use and being of Parliaments.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

I read up all about bishops in our anarchist pamphlets, in Superstition the Vampire and Priests of Prey.
— from The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton

They were hard to convince that Wilson might be innocent of all participation in the robbery.
— from Secret Service; or, Recollections of a City Detective by Andrew Forrester

Whereupon Mr. Rapp goes and rings the house-bell, that the domestics may return his property; but not receiving an answer, and being assured of the absence of a policeman, he pulls the handle out as far as it will come, breaks it off, and puts it in his pocket.
— from Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, November 27, 1841 by Various

| by Christ, not to one Elder, but to the united company of Elders: and for one Minister alone to assume this power unto himself, it is to make himself the Church; it is to make himself a Congregational Pope; it is a bringing in of a Power into the Church, that would have some resemblance (as was objected) to auricular confession.
— from A Vindication of the Presbyteriall-Government and Ministry by Ministers and Elders of the London Provinciall Assembly

The writer now owns a farm in Maine, or at least holds a deed of it, given him, for a consideration, by another man who in turn had bought it of a previous incumbent who had seized it from the Indians, wood-chucks, hares, foxes and other original proprietors, without, as I hear, making them any return whatever; who, in fact, ejected them without ceremony.
— from When Life Was Young At the Old Farm in Maine by C. A. (Charles Asbury) Stephens

When the death or bodily injury of any person is caused by the explosion of any article named in the four sections last preceding, while the same is being placed upon any vessel or vehicle to be transported in violation thereof, or while the same is being so transported, or while the same is being removed from such vessel or vehicle, the {70} person knowingly placing, or aiding or permitting the placing, of such articles upon any such vessel or vehicle, to be so transported, shall be imprisoned not more than ten years.
— from The Men on Deck: Master, Mates and Crew, Their Duties and Responsibilities by Felix Riesenberg

They were sent to Cambridge to pursue a so-called scientific career, which was crowned by the usual ægrotat in botany instead of a pass in history.
— from Masques & Phases by Robert Baldwin Ross

Then they were interested in people who went out and found their friends waiting for them, or else did not find them, and wandered disconsolately up and down before the country stations, carpet-bag in hand; in women who came aboard, and were awkwardly shaken hands with or sheepishly kissed by those who hastily got seats for them, and placed their bags or their babies in their laps, and turned for a nod at the door; in young ladies who were seen to places by young men the latter seemed not to care if the train did go off with them, and then threw up their windows and talked with girl-friends, on the platform without, till the train began to move, and at last turned with gleaming eyes and moist red lips, and panted hard in the excitement of thinking about it, and could not calm themselves to the dull level of the travel around them; in the conductor, coldly and inaccessibly vigilant, as he went his rounds, reaching blindly for the tickets with one hand while he bent his head from time, to time, and listened with a faint, sarcastic smile to the questions of passengers who supposed they were going to get some information out of him; in the trainboy, who passed through on his many errands with prize candies, gum-drops, pop-corn, papers and magazines, and distributed books and the police journals with a blind impartiality, or a prodigious ignorance, or a supernatural perception of character in those who received them.
— from Their Wedding Journey by William Dean Howells

Republics abound in young civilians, who believe that the laws make the city, that grave modifications of the policy and modes of living and employments of the population, that commerce, education, and religion, may be voted in or out; and that any measure, though it were absurd, may be imposed on a people if only you can get sufficient voices to make it a law.
— from Essays — Second Series by Ralph Waldo Emerson

If a player on either side can break over the fort and capture one of the flags without being touched, he may bring it off and place it on his own ramparts as a trophy, and the party from whom the flag is captured must not replace it; but if in this act he is touched, he becomes a prisoner, and must make snow-balls for his adversaries.
— from The Book of Sports: Containing Out-door Sports, Amusements and Recreations, Including Gymnastics, Gardening & Carpentering by William Martin