And this suggests the chief characteristic of recent poetry; namely, that it aims to be true to life as it is here and now rather than to life as it was romantically supposed to be in classic or medieval times.
— from Outlines of English and American Literature An Introduction to the Chief Writers of England and America, to the Books They Wrote, and to the Times in Which They Lived by William J. (William Joseph) Long

There was never a period in the early history of the Dutch revolt when the Provinces would not have returned to their obedience, could they have been assured of enjoying liberty of conscience or religious peace; nor was there ever a single moment in Philip II.'s life in which he wavered in his fixed determination never to listen to such a claim.
— from History of the United Netherlands from the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce — Complete (1584-1609) by John Lothrop Motley

While in the hind portion of the cup or retina proper no deposit of black pigment takes place in the layer formed out of the inner or anterior wall of the vesicle; in the front portion forming the region of the iris, pigment is largely deposited throughout both layers, though first of all in the outer one, so that eventually this portion seems to become nothing more than a forward prolongation of the pigment epithelium of the choroid.
— from The Works of Francis Maitland Balfour, Volume 3 (of 4) A Treatise on Comparative Embryology: Vertebrata by Francis M. (Francis Maitland) Balfour

The 'Nsasak bird is very small, having a shining breast of green and red; he also has blue and yellow feathers and red round the neck, and his chief food consists of ripe palm nuts.
— from Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, West Africa by Elphinstone Dayrell

Elsewhere I have said how undesirable it seems to impose this condition; and to what respectful treatment and fair and equal terms, in case of reunion, Protestant Nonconformity is, in my opinion, entitled.
— from St. Paul and Protestantism, with an Essay on Puritanism and the Church of England by Matthew Arnold

It is said, and truly, that the Church of Rome possessed no great mind in the whole period of persecution.
— from Apologia pro Vita Sua by John Henry Newman

At each turn the bridegroom seizes the bride’s right toe and with it upsets one of seven little cups of rice placed near the marriage-post.
— from The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 2 by R. V. (Robert Vane) Russell