Above two thirds of the Roman army were destroyed: and the darkness of the night was esteemed a very favorable circumstance, as it served to conceal the flight of the multitude, and to protect the more orderly retreat of Victor and Richomer, who alone, amidst the general consternation, maintained the advantage of calm courage and regular discipline.
— 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

Salt provisions of the most exciting kind had been my chief, and, indeed, since the loss of the mutton, my only supply of food, with the exception of the sea-biscuit; and these latter were utterly useless to me, as they were too dry and hard to be swallowed in the swollen and parched condition of my throat.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

My sister listened while the doctor and I argued, and at such times her expression was joyfully enthusiastic, full of tenderness and curiosity, and it seemed to me that a new world she had never dreamed of before, and which she was now striving to fathom, was gradually opening before her eyes.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

He began talking to her in that familiar, paternal, slightly contemptuous tone which men of his class adopt in speaking to women like her, calling her “my dear child,” and talking down to her from the height of his exalted social position and stainless reputation.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant

But if an enemy threatened to attack England her sons would fight as valiantly as in the brave days of old, though earthen ramparts have replaced the ancient castles and iron ships the old wooden walls of England.
— from English Villages by P. H. (Peter Hampson) Ditchfield

In the Critique of Pure Reason (when discussing the Postulates of Empirical Thought) he gives, as an instance of a concept inconsistent with the canons of possibility, “a power of being in a community of thought with other men, however distant from us.”] 146 [Cf. supra , p. 229.] 147 I here extend, correctly as it seems to me, the concept of a thing of fact beyond the usual signification of this word.
— from Kant's Critique of Judgement by Immanuel Kant

It so fell out, that Mrs. Squeers’s journey, to some distance, to fetch three new boys, and dun the relations of two old ones for the balance of a small account, was fixed that very afternoon, for the next day but one; and on the next day but one, Mrs. Squeers got up outside the coach, as it stopped to change at Greta Bridge, taking with her a small bundle containing something in a bottle, and some sandwiches, and carrying besides a large white top-coat to wear in the night-time; with which baggage she went her way.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

Original IT is said that many an unlucky urchin is induced to run away from his family and betake himself to a seafaring life from reading the history of Robinson Crusoe; and I suspect that, in like manner, many of those worthy gentlemen who are given to haunt the sides of pastoral streams with angle-rods in hand may trace the origin of their passion to the seductive pages of honest Izaak Walton.
— from The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving

Here, on the newer road, a curious adventure is said to have befallen the poet’s father.
— from Sketch-Book of the North by George Eyre-Todd

The water is held there, it is supposed, by capillary attraction, since the cells are inactive, so that at all times the water in wood keeps the cell walls distended.
— from Wood and Forest by William Noyes

Since so many conferences are interesting sources, they should also be a part of your news gathering strategy.
— from The Online World by Odd De Presno

Charlie and I spent the afternoon in further exploring our surroundings, and on return to camp found our mates busily engaged in plucking some teal and waterhen which they had shot.
— from Spinifex and Sand A Narrative of Five Years' Pioneering and Exploration in Western Ausralia by David Wynford Carnegie

A tankard of the stout brown ale of our college aided us greatly in removing the sense of cold, and in supplying the deficiency of food, so that we turned our chairs towards the fire, and began to brew our negus as cheerfully as if the bounty of the hospitable gods had not been intercepted.
— from Shelley at Oxford by Thomas Jefferson Hogg

The water was ice-cold, of course, and it sapped the good dog's strength.
— from The Dogs of Boytown by Walter A. (Walter Alden) Dyer

It is now about time for a change, and it seems to me that it is now my turn to have good fortune.
— from The Cryptogram: A Novel by James De Mille