From the beginning of the eighth century to the last ages of the Byzantine empire, the sound of controversy was seldom heard: curiosity was exhausted, zeal was fatigued, and, in the decrees of six councils, the articles of the Catholic faith had been irrevocably defined.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

“If one takes a boy of the educated class and of that age and compares them, what a difference!
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

It will be obvious, to every child in Spaceland who has touched the threshold of Geometrical Studies, that, if I can bring my eye so that its glance may bisect an angle (A) of the approaching stranger, my view will lie as it were evenly between his two sides that are next to me (viz. CA and AB), so that I shall contemplate the two impartially, and both will appear of the same size.
— from Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (Illustrated) by Edwin Abbott Abbott

Nevertheless they were forbidden to enter public service and to open retail shops, which had the effect of driving them into foreign trade in which they were soon exercising all but a monopoly because of their European connections.
— from The International Jew : The World's Foremost Problem by Anonymous

In the beginning of the eleventh century, Italy was exposed to the feudal tyranny, alike oppressive to the sovereign and the people.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

He wandered along the bank of the Ekaterininsky Canal for half an hour or more and looked several times at the steps running down to the water, but he could not think of carrying out his plan; either rafts stood at the steps’ edge, and women were washing clothes on them, or boats were moored there, and people were swarming everywhere.
— from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The allies did not follow him there, but retired, apparently in full security, to Southwold Bay, on the east coast of England, some ninety miles north of the mouth of the Thames.
— from The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 by A. T. (Alfred Thayer) Mahan

Here a list of the various classes of sinners contained in the Bolgias of the Eighth Circle may be given:— 1st Bolgia—Seducers, Canto xviii.
— from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri

Jesting decides great things Stronglier, and better oft than earnest can. IBID.
— from The Poetical Works of John Milton by John Milton

At this time the principal settlements of the English were,—on the west coast, Bombay; on the east, Calcutta upon the Ganges, at some distance from the sea, and Madras; while a little south of Madras another town and station, known generally to the English as Fort St. David, though sometimes called Cuddalore, had been established later.
— from The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 by A. T. (Alfred Thayer) Mahan

The Prosperity of the World depends upon its Workers—Veneration for the Ancient—Credulity and Faith of the Middle Ages—Penalty for Reading the Scripture in the Mother Tongue—Unjust, Bloody, and Cruel Laws—The Reformers too were Persecutors—Bigotry of Luther and Knox—Persecution of Castalio—Montaigne against Torture in France—"Witchcraft" (chapter on)—Confessed Wizards—A Case before Sir Matthew Hale—Belief in Lycanthropy—Animals Tried and Executed—Animals received as Witnesses—The Corsned or Morsel of Execution—Kepler an Astrologer—Luther's Encounter with the Devil—Mathematician Stoefflers, Astronomical Prediction of a Flood—Histories Filled with Falsehood—Legend about the Daughter of Pharaoh invading Scotland and giving the Country her name—A Story about Mohammed—A History of the Britains written by Archdeacons—Ingenuous Remark of Eusebius—Progress in the Mechanic Arts—England at the beginning of the Eighteenth Century—Barbarous Punishments—Queen Elizabeth's Order Concerning Clergymen and Servant Girls—Inventions of Watt, Arkwright, and Others—Solomon's Deprivations—Language (chapter on)—Belief that the Hebrew was< the original Tongue—Speculations about the Language of Paradise—Geography (chapter on)—The Works of Cosmas—Printing Invented—Church's Opposition to Books—The Inquisition—The Reformation—"Slavery" (chapter on)—Voltaire's Remark on Slavery as a Contract—White Slaves in Greece, Rome, England, Scotland, and France—Free minds make Free Bodies—Causes of the Abolition of White Slavery in Europe—The French Revolution—The African Slave Trade, its Beginning and End—Liberty Triumphed (chapter head)—Abolition of Chattel Slavery—Conclusion.
— from The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 04 (of 12) Dresden Edition—Lectures by Robert Green Ingersoll

[34] It is unnecessary for our present purpose to examine the beliefs of the earliest Christians as to the resurrection or the second coming of Christ, which they expected to take place within their own time—these beliefs and many others the Apostolic Church derived naturally from their Jewish tradition and from the teachings of Jesus.
— from Pagan Ideas of Immortality During the Early Roman Empire by Clifford Herschel Moore

I can only afford room for a few extracts, which will be illustrations rather than proofs: the proof will be obvious to every competent reader of the work itself.
— from History of Civilization in England, Vol. 1 of 3 by Henry Thomas Buckle

After a fight of skirmishers, Eyre opened a fire of grape which roused up a large body of the enemy concealed behind bushes.
— from The History of the Indian Revolt and of the Expeditions to Persia, China and Japan, 1856-7-8 by George Dodd

He's your boss on the Evening Chronicle , isn't he?"
— from The Love Chase by Felix Grendon

Matthew Tindal, born 1656, died 1733, was, though the son of a clergyman of the Established Church, one of the first amongst the school of Deistical writers who became so prominent in the beginning of the eighteenth century.
— from Theological Essays by Charles Bradlaugh

The mother city of Florence, to which also most of the Fiesolans were believed to have migrated at the beginning of the eleventh century.
— from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri

[54] The position of the thumb, by means of which the higher and highest positions on the fingerboard could alone be fixed and maintained with certainty, could hardly have been known before the beginning of the eighteenth century.
— from The Violoncello and Its History by Wilhelm Joseph von Wasielewski

The islands were divided into provinces coinciding roughly with the boundaries of the existing confederations as he found them.
— from The Fijians: A Study of the Decay of Custom by Basil Thomson