That the latter is liable to be assailed by persons of a different rank in life, untainted perhaps in morals, and fair in character, cannot affect my legal right of self-defence.
— from Guy Mannering, Or, the Astrologer — Complete by Walter Scott

Yet from early times we meet within the Christian Church a much less rigorous doctrine, which soon came to exercise a more powerful influence on the practice and feelings of men than did St. Augustine’s uncompromising love of truth.
— from The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas by Edward Westermarck

She was the youngest daughter of Colonel Maddison, and was, "By birth, you know, my dear, far superior to poor Mrs. Mellish, who, in spite of her wealth, is only," &c. &c. &c., as Margaret Lofthouse remarked to her female acquaintance.
— from Aurora Floyd, Vol. 2 Fifth Edition by M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon