Fraud may as well lead to the making of a contract by a statement outside the contract as by one contained in it.
— from The Common Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes

In the reign of Commodus a band of conspirators thought to take advantage of the masquerade by dressing in the uniform of the Imperial Guard, and so, mingling with the crowd of merrymakers, to get within stabbing distance of the emperor.
— from The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by James George Frazer

after dinner we Continued our rout to fish Creek a branch of Collin's creek where we had lain the 15th 18th 19th & 20th inst.
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark

Then, by allowing to an infantry corps a brigade of cavalry and six batteries of field-artillery, we would have an efficient corps d'armee of thirty thousand men, whose organization would be simple and most efficient, and whose strength should never be allowed to fall below twenty-five thousand men.
— from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. (William Tecumseh) Sherman

Colleges and books only copy the language which the field and the work-yard made.
— from Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wiley cast a bag of coin on the table, and said with mocking gentleness— 'Five thousand dollars better, my friend from the rural districts—what do you say now ?' 'I call you!' said Backus, heaving his golden shot-bag on the pile.
— from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain

duel, duello[It]; single combat, monomachy[obs3], satisfaction, passage d'armes[Fr], passage of arms, affair of honor; triangular duel; hostile meeting, digladiation[obs3]; deeds of arms, feats of arms; appeal to arms &c. (warfare) 722. pugnacity; combativeness &c. adj.; bone of contention &c. 713.
— from Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget

There was a queer opera-bag of Chinese needlework, with handles of jade, a Damascus bowl of pierced brass, a tea-caddy in quaint Dutch repoussé ; there was a silver-embroidered altar-cloth for a cushion, a bit of Copenhagen faience, all the sophisticated artistry which is sent to those who have no need for the commonplace.
— from The Gay Cockade by Temple Bailey

Because every substance, being as apt, by the powers we observe in it, to change some sensible qualities in other subjects, as it is to produce in us those simple ideas which we receive immediately from it, does, by those new sensible qualities introduced into other subjects, discover to us those powers which do thereby mediately affect our senses, as regularly as its sensible qualities do it immediately: v. g. we immediately by our senses perceive in fire its heat and colour; which are, if rightly considered, nothing but powers in it to produce those ideas in US: we also by our senses perceive the colour and brittleness of charcoal, whereby we come by the knowledge of another power in fire, which it has to change the colour and consistency of WOOD.
— from An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume 1 MDCXC, Based on the 2nd Edition, Books 1 and 2 by John Locke

So home and to dinner, and thence by coach to the Old Exchange, and there cheapened some laces for my wife, and then to Mr.——-the great laceman in Cheapside, and bought one cost me L4.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

Ah, he knew what it was, and springing back to a shelf he seized and added to his collection a box of chocolates.
— from Mrs. Vanderstein's jewels by Bryce, Charles, Mrs.

This cavalier, a bachelor, of course, like all of his stamp, had lodgings opposite the house of La Leona , whose daughters were not long in becoming acquainted with his attendants.
— from The Catholic World, Vol. 14, October 1871-March 1872 A Monthly Magazine of General Literature and Science by Various

Thus we see that the moulding, modifying, changing, and building of Character is largely a matter of the establishing of Habits.
— from A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga by William Walker Atkinson

When you copy inscriptions, cut a bit of chalk into a pencil, and trace the letters.
— from Some Specimens of the Poetry of the Ancient Welsh Bards by Evan Evans

Many of the points touched upon in the last two chapters are brought out clearly in a recent letter addressed to the Press by my friend and colleague Mr. A.W. Haycock.
— from Peace Theories and the Balkan War by Norman Angell

Nay, but I ought not to say lonesome, for how could he feel lonesome with his sweetheart Flora walking by his side, or darting off every now and then to chase a butterfly, or cull some rare and beautiful flower.
— from Courage, True Hearts: Sailing in Search of Fortune by Gordon Stables

On his right arm he carried a bundle of clothes.
— from The Secret Service Submarine: A Story of the Present War by Guy Thorne

With all haste possible we transferred to the mate's cabin a bag of charts, a couple of sextants, a chronometer, and other matters of a like sort, and then with sickened hearts closed the door upon that tragic interior of the Captain's berth.
— from My Danish Sweetheart: A Novel. Volume 3 of 3 by William Clark Russell

But the scene was soon changed; a bank of clouds rose up from the eastward with a rapidity that to the seamen’s eyes was unnatural, and it soon covered the whole firmament; the sun was obscured, and all was one deep and unnatural gloom; the wind subsided, and the ocean was hushed.
— from The Phantom Ship by Frederick Marryat

There were crocks and boxes of cakes, a whole ice-chest just for cream and milk, another for cheeses and olives and pickles and salad-dressings.
— from Saturday's Child by Kathleen Thompson Norris