THE PEACOCK COMPLAINING TO JUNO.
— from The Fables of La Fontaine Translated into English Verse by Walter Thornbury and Illustrated by Gustave Doré by Jean de La Fontaine

When there, my mother would give the responses and amens in a loud dignified voice that was delightful to hear, and, besides, had a fine loud voice for singing, which art she had perfected in London under a fashionable teacher; and she would exercise her talent in such a way that you would hardly hear any other voice of the little congregation which chose to join in the psalm.
— from Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray

Shortly afterward it chanced that just as Ku was entering the house he observed a young lady come out of his mother’s door.
— from Myths and Legends of China by E. T. C. (Edward Theodore Chalmers) Werner

Hereby yee shall know the Spirit of God; every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God."
— from Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

or do I think that error and false opinion is less powerful to make men transgress, than either choler, being immoderate and excessive, to cause the jaundice; or poison, to cause rage?
— from Meditations by Emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius

Up, and with W. Hewer at my chamber all this morning, going further in my great business for the Duke of York, and so at noon to dinner, and then W. Hewer to write fair what he had writ, and my wife to read to me all the afternoon, till anon Mr. Gibson come, and he and I to perfect it to my full mind, and so to supper and to bed, my mind yet at disquiet that I cannot be informed how poor Deb. stands with her mistress, but I fear she will put her away, and the truth is, though it be much against my mind and to my trouble, yet I think that it will be fit that she should be gone, for my wife’s peace and mine, for she cannot but be offended at the sight of her, my wife having conceived this jealousy of me with reason, and therefore for that, and other reasons of expense, it will be best for me to let her go, but I shall love and pity her.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

A missionary says: “Let’s go out and shoot them all, they are just as bad as Peking, and if they had the same chance they would sell out the whole country to Japan or to anyone else.”
— from Letters from China and Japan by Harriet Alice Chipman Dewey

It was curious that Julius, who was undoubtedly much cleverer than Tommy, did not give her the same feeling of support.
— from The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie

And when Mithridates had gone over all Delta, as the place is called, he came to a pitched battle with the enemy, near the place called the Jewish Camp.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus

The Oldest Dynasty in the World and its Records—The First Emperor of Japan—Some of the Famous Early Rulers—Invasion and Conquest of Corea by the Empress Jingo—How Civilization Came from Corea to Japan—The Rise of the Dual System of Government—Mikado and Shogun—Expulsion of the Hojo Dynasty of Shoguns—The Invasion of the Mongol Tartars—Annihilation of the Armada—Corruption of the Shogun Rule—Growth of the Feudal System—Another Conquest of Corea—Founding of the Last Dynasty of Shoguns—Advance of Japan in the Age of Hideyoshi.
— from The War in the East: Japan, China, and Corea by Trumbull White

Then came to Jurgen a woman who was strangely gifted and perverse.
— from Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice by James Branch Cabell

50 And he, casting away his garment, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
— from A Harmony of the Gospels for Students of the Life of Christ Based on the Broadus Harmony in the Revised Version by A. T. Robertson

lies dead now!’” Outa crooned the Jakhals’ triumph song in a weird monotone, and on the last words his voice quavered out, leaving a momentary silence among the small folk.
— from Outa Karel's Stories: South African Folk-Lore Tales by Sanni Metelerkamp

My friend, the adjutant-general, has procured me a duplicate of the Baron's protection (the original being in Major Melville's possession), which I send to you, as I know that if you can find him you will have pleasure in being the first to communicate the joyful intelligence.
— from Waverley; Or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since by Walter Scott

In planning this lone desert trip Verbeena may be doing something on the brink of the very-very, but,” said the American stoutly, “one has to consider the jolly queer childhood circumstances of the ripping little rotter.”
— from The Shriek: A Satirical Burlesque by Charles Somerville

What can more corrupt the judgment, than the communicating, without measure, and without end, words entirely devoid of meaning?
— from Four Early Pamphlets by William Godwin

Nothing reflects more honor upon the present age than the liberality displayed in the education of females; nor can anything evince more clearly the justness with which female education is appreciated in the South than this exhibition, and the interest manifested by the large and respectable audience during the whole of the exercises.
— from Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, Volume 02 (of 14), 1899 by Mississippi Historical Society

Jack was ready to give full credit to Jethro for his wonderful success in locating every such obstacle; once or twice they did happen to run softly up against a submerged tree-trunk; but the pilot had acute hearing, and sensed the fact that they were approaching such a dangerous snag; for he always reduced their speed, and the collision did no harm whatever.
— from Flying the Coast Skyways; Or, Jack Ralston's Swift Patrol by Ambrose Newcomb

Your virtue is To make him worthy whose offence subdues him, And curse that justice did it.
— from The Tragedy of Coriolanus by William Shakespeare