A canal crosses the isthmus, so that the peninsula becomes an island.
— from The History of a Crime The Testimony of an Eye-Witness by Victor Hugo

Furthermore there are wines of grapes, old and new, plain or distilled, raw or cooked, pure and diluted, natural or flavored, and the many different drinks made of grape wine with herbs and spices V. NIGRUM, “black wine,” may be muddy wine in need of clarification; there is some slight doubt about this point.
— from Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome by Apicius

And the tradesmen who stared after me from their lonely shops—the trees that drooped helpless in their arid exile of unfinished crescents and squares—the dead house-carcasses that waited in vain for the vivifying human element to animate them with the breath of life—every creature that I saw, every object that I passed, seemed to answer with one accord: The deserts of Arabia are innocent of our civilised desolation—the ruins of Palestine are incapable of our modern gloom!
— from The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Before the creation of the world, matter had in itself a principle of motion, but without end or laws: it is this principle which Plato calls the irrational soul of the world, because, according to his doctrine, every spontaneous and original principle of motion is called soul.
— 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

Now as the right of accession arises from the easy transition of ideas, by which related objects are connected together, it shoued naturally be imagined, that the right of accession must encrease in strength, in proportion as the transition of ideas is performed with greater facility.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume

" So ended my first canvass: from causes that I shall presently mention, I made but one other application in person.
— from Biographia Literaria by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

“If your worship is angry,” replied Sancho, “I will hold my tongue and leave unsaid what as a good squire I am bound to say, and what a good servant should tell his master.” “Say what thou wilt,” returned Don Quixote, “provided thy words be not meant to work upon my fears; for thou, if thou fearest, art behaving like thyself; but I like myself, in not fearing.” “It is nothing of the sort, as I am a sinner before God,” said Sancho, “but that I take it to be sure and certain that this lady, who calls herself queen of the great kingdom of Micomicon, is no more so than my mother; for, if she was what she says, she would not go rubbing noses with one that is here every instant and behind every door.” Dorothea turned red at Sancho’s words, for the truth was that her husband Don Fernando had now and then, when the others were not looking, gathered from her lips some of the reward his love had earned, and Sancho seeing this had considered that such freedom was more like a courtesan than a queen of a great kingdom; she, however, being unable or not caring to answer him, allowed him to proceed, and he continued, “This I say, senor, because, if after we have travelled roads and highways, and passed bad nights and worse days, one who is now enjoying himself in this inn is to reap the fruit of our labours, there is no need for me to be in a hurry to saddle Rocinante, put the pad on the ass, or get ready the palfrey; for it will be better for us to stay quiet, and let every jade mind her spinning, and let us go to dinner.” Good God, what was the indignation of Don Quixote when he heard the audacious words of his squire!
— from The History of Don Quixote, Volume 1, Complete by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

I must confess that, in severe reason, it is impossible entirely to justify the Churchman who holds that all Dissenters are extremely bad; though (so does inveterate prepossession warp the intellect)
— from The Recreations of a Country Parson by Andrew Kennedy Hutchison Boyd

The new profession of electrical engineering called to its service great numbers of able men.
— from The Age of Invention: A Chronicle of Mechanical Conquest by Holland Thompson

And truly that is the wonder, that such repugnant natures, such different parts, and dissentient qualities, do conspire together in such an exact perfect unity and agreement, in which the wisdom of God doth most appear, by making all things in number, weight and measure.
— from The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning by Hugh Binning

“Oh, the little copper teakettle is singing.”
— from Rilla of the Lighthouse by Grace May North

There are foodstuffs—grains and fruits; wines and oil; loaves of bread baked in 79 A. D. and left in the abandoned ovens; and a cheese that is still in a fair state of preservation.
— from Europe Revised by Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury) Cobb

Suppose that I confess that I stole Mrs. Ritchie’s box; will you and Phoebe help me to carry out the deception and take Toby Clark’s place?”
— from Phoebe Daring: A Story for Young Folk by L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum

The friends of our Alaska mission who have so generously contributed to its support will not forget this additional financial necessity coming in this strange and unexpected calamity.
— from The American Missionary — Volume 54, No. 03, July, 1900 by Various

Not that the squire had purposely quarrelled with him; but Dr Thorne himself had chosen that it should be so, since Frank had openly proposed for his niece.
— from Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope

He saw that she was a highly-strung woman, and from the word she had used he guessed that she was in the habit of taking chloral to induce sleep.
— from The Silver Bullet by Fergus Hume

All my arguments to induce me to pluck up my courage, such as the certainty that I should never see these people again nor they me, were of no use.
— from Travels in England in 1782 by Karl Philipp Moritz