And first, to speak to your question as it concerns a minister himself: Suppose a minister, a worthy man, possessed but of a very small benefice, and has in his eye a greater, more fat, and plump by far; he has also now an opportunity of getting of it, yet so as by being more studious, by preaching more frequently and zealously, and, because the temper of the people requires it, by altering of some of his principles; for my part, I see no reason but a man may do this, (provided he has a call), ay, and more a great deal besides, and yet be an honest man.
— from The Pilgrim's Progress from this world to that which is to come Delivered under the similitude of a dream, by John Bunyan by John Bunyan

They do not suspend between them, at the point of coming contact, any merely hard substance, like iron or wood.
— from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville

Then Argus bade his brothers remain there to learn the maiden's mind and plans, but himself turned back and went to the ship. (ll. 828-890) Now soon as ever the maiden saw the light of dawn, with her hands she gathered up her golden tresses which were floating round her shoulders in careless disarray, and bathed her tear-stained cheeks, and made her skin shine with ointment sweet as nectar; and she donned a beautiful robe, fitted with well-bent clasps, and above on her head, divinely fair, she threw a veil gleaming like silver.
— from The Argonautica by Rhodius Apollonius

"Not so!" observed Chiu Wen; "she had been a winner, but dame Li came in quite casually and muddled her so that she lost; and angry at this she rushed off to sleep."
— from Hung Lou Meng, or, the Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel, Book I by Xueqin Cao

A foolish thought came, and moved him strangely.
— from Adam Bede by George Eliot

Raud exclaimed with all his might against the proposal, saying he would never believe in Christ, and making his scoff of God.
— from Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway by Snorri Sturluson

By his command a mighty host Seeks Ráma's queen from coast to coast.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki

The civilisation of Europe is not the civilisation of Egypt, of Greece, or of Rome, nor a continuation thereof, but a new development, and though each of these in its turn attained a high degree of civilisation and may have separately developed a heraldic symbolism much akin to armory, as a natural consequence of its own development, as the armory we know is a development of its own consequent upon the rise of our own civilisation, nevertheless it is unjustifiable to attempt to establish continuity between the ordered symbolism of earlier but distinct civilisations, and our own present system of armory.
— from A Complete Guide to Heraldry by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies

[ 10 ] Indeed, a holy Cistercian abbot once interviewed the poor little devil himself and heard about his alarming industry; this is the story as it is told in The Myroure of Oure Ladye , written for the delectation of the nuns of Syon in the fifteenth century: 'We read of a holy Abbot of the order of Citeaux that while he stood in the choir at matins he saw a fiend that had a long and great poke hanging about his neck and went about the choir from one to another and waited busily after all letters and syllables and words and failings that any made; and them he gathered diligently and put them in his poke.
— from Medieval People by Eileen Power

What John Winthrop's work was like, whether in private diary or letter, or in more formal composition, we have already seen, but there is one speech of his in 1645, which was of profoundest interest to the whole Colony, and must have stirred Anne Bradstreet to the very depths.
— from Anne Bradstreet and Her Time by Helen Campbell

Mrs. Helm was taken to Detroit, where she was exchanged, together with Captain and Mrs. Heald, some time after.
— from Female Warriors, Vol. 2 (of 2) Memorials of Female Valour and Heroism, from the Mythological Ages to the Present Era. by Ellen C. (Ellen Creathorne) Clayton

I went straight away to Molly Calvert, and made her send out for a bottle of gin.
— from The Mysteries of London, v. 4/4 by George W. M. (George William MacArthur) Reynolds

Hiram took her hand timidly in his with an air of gentle command, and made her sit down again once more for a minute upon the seat in the arbour.
— from Babylon, Volume 3 by Grant Allen

It was the union, in Mr. Lincoln, of the capacity clearly to see the truth, and an innate love of truth, and justice, and right in his heart, that constituted his character and made him so great.
— from Sketch of the life of Abraham Lincoln by Isaac N. Arnold

Within the little valley of Brand Death was rife in many and awful shapes that no eye might see, for the many watch-fires were scattered and trampled out; but up from that pit of doom rose shrieks and cries and many hateful sounds—sounds to pierce the brain and ring there everlastingly.
— from Beltane the Smith by Jeffery Farnol

After the officer had chosen and mixed his spirits and water, he began: "Now, you know what's brought me here, don't you?"
— from The Tinted Venus: A Farcical Romance by F. Anstey