The door is shut, and the chains rattle; there is a grinding of the key in the lock; I can hear the key withdraw: then another door opens and shuts; I hear the creaking of lock and bolt.
— from Dracula by Bram Stoker

HALBERD, combination of lance and battle-axe. HALL, "a—!"
— from Volpone; Or, The Fox by Ben Jonson

All hands were busy looking at it—the captain and mates from the quarter-deck, the cook from his galley, and the sailors from the forecastle; and even Mr. N., the passenger, who had kept in his shell for nearly a month, and hardly been seen by anybody, and who we had almost forgotten was on board, came out like a butterfly, and was hopping round as bright as a bird.
— from Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana

No, sir, I should have come out long ago, but I stay here from compassion for you.
— from Short Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Convince a man never so much, that plenty has its advantages over poverty; make him see and own, that the handsome conveniences of life are better than nasty penury: yet, as long as he is content with the latter, and finds no uneasiness in it, he moves not; his will never is determined to any action that shall bring him out of it.
— from An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume 1 MDCXC, Based on the 2nd Edition, Books 1 and 2 by John Locke

HALBERD, combination of lance and battle-axe.
— from Epicoene; Or, The Silent Woman by Ben Jonson

Lastly, all the most serious cases of litigation are brought before the Supreme Court, which holds a solemn session once a year, at which all the judges of the Circuit Courts must attend.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 1 by Alexis de Tocqueville

The principles of the Primitive Freemasonry of the early priesthood were corrupted or lost at Babel by the defection of a portion of mankind from Noah, the conservator of those principles.
— from The Symbolism of Freemasonry Illustrating and Explaining Its Science and Philosophy, Its Legends, Myths and Symbols by Albert Gallatin Mackey

For he might, on the other hand, imagine that, being at home and amongst his friends, he could not fail of plenty of all manner of conveniences; the rivers and passes he had at his devotion would bring him in both provisions and money in all security, and without the trouble of convoy; that he should find his subjects by so much the more affectionate to him, by how much their danger was more near and pressing; that having so many cities and barriers to secure him, it would be in his power to give the law of battle at his own opportunity and advantage; and that, if it pleased him to delay the time, under cover and at his ease he might see his enemy founder and defeat himself with the difficulties he was certain to encounter, being engaged in a hostile country, where before, behind, and on every side war would be made upon him; no means to refresh himself or to enlarge his quarters, should diseases infest them, or to lodge his wounded men in safety; no money, no victuals, but at the point of the lance; no leisure to repose and take breath; no knowledge of the ways or country to secure him from ambushes and surprises; and in case of losing a battle, no possible means of saving the remains.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

“And it ISN'T all coming out like a book?”
— from Pollyanna by Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman) Porter

—Broad; on medial surface of thigh immediately posterior to femur; bounded posteriorly by M. flexor cruris medialis (medial to anteroproximal corner of latter), anteriorly by M. femoritibialis internus (anterior edge overlapped by latter), and laterally by Mm. adductor superficialis and femorocruralis; proximal end tendinous (except anterior edge), fused to proximal fleshy end of M. adductor superficialis.
— from Variation in the Muscles and Nerves of the Leg in Two Genera of Grouse (Tympanuchus and Pedioecetes) by E. Bruce Holmes

Yet the son Isaac persisted, and did little else through a long life, save to prosecute inquiries about the struggles of authors and the lives of authors and the work of authors—all ending in that agglomeration which we know as the Curiosities of Literature —a book which sixty years since used to be reckoned a necessary part of all well-equipped [182] libraries; but which—to tell truth—has very little value; being without any method, without fulness, and without much accuracy.
— from English Lands, Letters and Kings, vol. 4: The Later Georges to Victoria by Donald Grant Mitchell

It is when first you have a chance of looking a bird in the face on the wing that you know what the marvel of flight is.
— from The Seaboard Parish Volume 1 by George MacDonald

There is a passage of great enthusiasm for the Corsicans in a letter to Johnson: 4 'Shall they not rise in the great cause of liberty, and break the galling [pg 78] yoke?
— from Boswell the Biographer by George Mallory

These notes have long been recognized by Orientalists as the most complete picture in existence of Arabian society—or rather of those Arab, Persian, or Greek, but still Mohammadan, conditions of life and boundaries of the mental horizon which are generally distinguished by [viii] the name of Arabian.
— from Arabian Society in the Middle Ages: Studies From The Thousand and One Nights by Edward William Lane

On the contrary, bad as they are, the general conditions of labor are better in Chicago than in most other large cities, and the power of the unions is more developed there than in any other American city except San Francisco.
— from Selected Works of Voltairine de Cleyre by Voltairine De Cleyre

Q. In London there is usually a difference between the rates charged on loans and bills in favor of bills, is there not?
— from Readings in Money and Banking Selected and Adapted by Chester Arthur Phillips

The triskelion “first appears on the coins of Lycia, about B.C. 480; and then on those of Sicily, where it was adopted by Agathocles, B.C. 317-307, but not as a symbol of the morning, mid-day, and afternoon sun (‘the Three Steps of Vishnu’), but of the ‘three-sided’ or rather ‘three-ended’ or ‘three-pointed’ (triquetrous) land of Trin-akria, i.e. , ‘Three-Capes,’ the ancient name of Sicily; and finally, from the seventeenth century, on the coins of the Isle of Man;”
— from Evolution in Art: As Illustrated by the Life-histories of Designs by Alfred C. (Alfred Cort) Haddon

I will not so offend again; but there are moments when our dearest feelings break through the convenances of life and betray themselves, in spite of our sober judgment.
— from East Lynne by Wood, Henry, Mrs.