It was necessary to construct a machine in order to introduce the huge bulk of parchment signed by a million and a half of persons, into the House of Commons, and thus supported, its vast form remained on the floor of the House during the discussion.
— from Sybil, Or, The Two Nations by Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield

Birds of paradise stole off at our approach, and I was in real despair of catching one when Conseil, walking in the lead, stooped suddenly, gave a triumphant shout, and came back to me, carrying a magnificent bird of paradise.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne

A litter, men to bear their lord; A white umbrella bright and fair That with the moon may well compare; Two chouries of the whitest hair; A golden beaker rich and rare; A bull high-humped and fair to view, Girt with gold bands and white of hue; A four-toothed steed with flowing mane, A throne which lions carved sustain; A tiger's skin, the sacred fire, Fresh kindled, which the rites require; The best musicians skilled to play, And dancing-girls in raiment gay; Kine, Bráhmans, teachers fill the court, And bird and beast of purest sort.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki

The private interest of many powerful individuals, the confirmed prejudices of great bodies of people, seem, indeed, at present, to oppose to so great a change, such obstacles as it may be very difficult, perhaps altogether impossible, to surmount.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

ayr , B; ores , pl. , S.—AS.
— from A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580 by A. L. (Anthony Lawson) Mayhew

2 [A2C; b6(1)] play billiards or pool (slang).
— from A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan by John U. Wolff

SYN: Meditate, behold, observe, ponder, study, purpose, design, intend, project.
— from A Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms or, Synonyms and Words of Opposite Meaning by Samuel Fallows

Among the Hellens it stands out more conspicuously, for several reasons—first, because they seem to have pushed the multiplication of autonomous units to an extreme point, seeing that even islands not larger than Peparethos and Amorgos had two or three separate city communities; secondly, because they produced, for the first time in the history of mankind, acute systematic thinkers on matters of government, amongst all of whom the idea of the autonomous city was accepted as the indispensable basis of political speculation; thirdly, because this incurable subdivision proved finally the cause of their ruin, in spite of pronounced intellectual superiority over their conquerors; and lastly, because incapacity of political coalescence did not preclude a powerful and extensive sympathy between the inhabitants of all the separate cities, with a constant tendency to fraternize for numerous purposes, social, religious, recreative, intellectual, and aesthetical.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. (Ernest Watson) Burgess

The progress of all branches of physical science depends upon observation, or on that artificial observation which is termed experiment, of one kind or another; and, the farther we advance, the more practical difficulties surround the investigation of the conditions of the problems offered to us; so that mobile and yet steady hands, guided by clear vision, are more and more in request in the workshops of science.
— from Science & Education: Essays by Thomas Henry Huxley

Indeed, Bud had never seen the Little Lost boys so thoughtful, and this silence struck him all at once as something sinister, like a beast of prey stalking its kill.
— from Cow-Country by B. M. Bower

Downward their course was, swift as flight Of meteor flaring through the night, Steady and dreadful, with no sound Of wheels or hoofs upon the ground, Nor jolt, nor jar; for once past through Earth's portals, steeds and chariot flew On wings invisible and strong And even-oaring, such as throng The nights when birds of passage sweep O'er cities and the folk asleep: Such was their awful flight.
— from Helen Redeemed and Other Poems by Maurice Hewlett

The close of the 2d of July brought brilliant, but only partial, success to the Confederates.
— from A New History of the United States The greater republic, embracing the growth and achievements of our country from the earliest days of discovery and settlement to the present eventful year by Charles Morris

It is now no longer of Iron and subject to Rust, as formerly, but of pure Silver, and includes in it all the King's Subjects, from the Senekas Country eastward, as far as any of the great King's Subjects live, and southward, from New-England to Virginia .
— from The History of the Five Indian Nations of Canada Which are dependent on the Province of New-York, and are a barrier between the English and the French in that part of the world by Cadwallader Colden

At the bottom of the Ægæan Sea, there is accumulating a bed of Pteropod shells, which will eventually, no doubt, become a calcareous rock.
— from Illustrations of Universal Progress: A Series of Discussions by Herbert Spencer

Not a single living creature was in sight, but one poor solitary ground-dove, who sat by the ruined walls and uttered her plaintive notes.
— from Antigua and the Antiguans, Volume 2 (of 2) A full account of the colony and its inhabitants from the time of the Caribs to the present day by Mrs. Lanaghan

Finally my mind was made up to turn my back on professional studies.
— from The Book of Courage by John T. (John Thomson) Faris