Finally Major Lecointre, and what he can gather of the Versailles National Guard; though, it is to be observed, our Colonel, that same sleepless Count d'Estaing, giving neither order nor ammunition, has vanished most improperly; one supposes, into the Oeil-de-Boeuf.
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle

What did he mean by these awful words—what did he mean by this terrible calm, this solemn smile?
— from A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne

About them frisking playd All Beasts of th’ Earth, since wilde, and of all chase In Wood or Wilderness, Forrest or Den; Sporting the Lion rampd, and in his paw Dandl’d the Kid; Bears, Tygers, Ounces, Pards Gambold before them, th’ unwieldy Elephant To make them mirth us’d all his might, & wreathd His Lithe Proboscis; close the Serpent sly Insinuating, wove with Gordian twine His breaded train, and of his fatal guile Gave proof unheeded; others on the grass Coucht, and now fild with pasture gazing sat, Or Bedward ruminating: for the Sun Declin’d was hasting now with prone carreer To th’ Ocean Iles, and in th’ ascending Scale
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton

The conqueror of Italy retired with a sigh, and continued to languish, inglorious and inactive, till Antonina, who had been sent to Constantinople to solicit succors, obtained, after the death of the empress, the permission of his return.
— 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

Human property is high in the market; and is, therefore, well fed, well cleaned, tended, and looked after, that it may come to sale sleek, and strong, and shining.
— from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

In the fresh morning air were now heard, not two or three musket shots at irregular intervals as before, followed by one or two cannon shots, but a roll of volleys of musketry from the slopes of the hill before Pratzen, interrupted by such frequent reports of cannon that sometimes several of them were not separated from one another but merged into a general roar.
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

The night was chosen for their deliverance; and in the first effort of the conspirators, the praefect was slain, and the prisons were forced open: the emissaries of Leontius proclaimed in every street, "Christians, to St. Sophia!" and the seasonable text of the patriarch, "This is the day of the Lord!"
— 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

Indeed, the sensations of pleasure it gives are much more constant as well as much keener, than those which that blind lady bestows; nature having wisely contrived, that some satiety and languor should be annexed to all our real enjoyments, lest we should be so taken up by them, as to be stopt from further pursuits.
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding

Bisset cleft the Saracen's skull to the teeth, and laughed defiantly as he avenged the fall of his comrade-in-arms.
— from The Boy Crusaders: A Story of the Days of Louis IX. by John G. (John George) Edgar

Clear the street!" shouted the officer.
— from Mother by Maksim Gorky

If you ask me who is to decide what is the manifest right, I answer, that in morals, as well as in mathematics, there are certain truths so simple as to be admitted at sight as axioms by every one of common intelligence and honesty.
— from Louis Agassiz: His Life and Correspondence by Louis Agassiz

Owen's pause was the matter of a moment, but during that moment our young couple stood with their eyes holding each other's eyes and their ears catching the suggestion, still through the door, of a murmured conference in the hall.
— from The Spoils of Poynton by Henry James

It belongs to his character to save something.
— from What Social Classes Owe to Each Other by William Graham Sumner

On the wall hung calendars, the signal service system of the port of Halifax, a map of Nova Scotia, and various memoranda relating to the business.
— from The House of Armour by Marshall Saunders

Consequently the still sound parts bordering on the wound are not released from pressure, but, on the contrary, have to advance towards each other over the surface of the wood under still greater pressures, in part due to the tightening of the whole cortex as the dead parts dry and contract, and in part due to the above-mentioned adherence of the latter to the wood.
— from Disease in Plants by H. Marshall (Harry Marshall) Ward

They regarded our second ship,* (* Note 30: Le Naturaliste.) which had been separated from us and compelled to seek shelter at Port Jackson, as a French ship of war.
— from The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders by Scott, Ernest, Sir

There was a ringing clang, two sundered slabs of iron flew to opposite ends of the room, the atrocious blade went on, half an inch deep into solid oak.
— from Tedric by E. E. (Edward Elmer) Smith