The Emperor himself is carried upon four elephants in a fine chamber made of timber, lined inside with plates of beaten gold, and outside with lions' skins [for he always travels in this way on his fowling expeditions, because he is troubled with gout].
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Rustichello of Pisa

the short and steep ravines which we passed concealed us from each other untill we arrived within 30 paces.
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark

Then pray,' said Bella, sternly putting the question to herself in the looking-glass as usual, 'what do you mean by this, you inconsistent little Beast?' The looking-glass preserving a discreet ministerial silence when thus called upon for explanation, Bella went to bed with a weariness upon her spirit which was more than the weariness of want of sleep.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

There's no pleasure i' living, if you're to be corked up for ever, and only dribble your mind out by the sly, like a leaky barrel.
— from Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources Including Phrases, Mottoes, Maxims, Proverbs, Definitions, Aphorisms, and Sayings of Wise Men, in Their Bearing on Life, Literature, Speculation, Science, Art, Religion, and Morals, Especially in the Modern Aspects of Them by Wood, James, Rev.

There's no pleasure i' living if you're to be corked up for ever, and only dribble your mind out by the sly, like a leaky barrel.
— from Adam Bede by George Eliot

The Curate upon further Examination finding the Penitent in the utmost Agonies of Despair, and being himself a Man of Learning, told him, that he hoped his Case was not so desperate as he apprehended, since he found that he was so very sensible of his Fault, and so sincerely repented of it.
— from The Spectator, Volume 1 Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays by Steele, Richard, Sir

gned to accept refreshments from them, and on one occasion could not get up from her knees in church because she was drunk; the doctors took bribes, too, when the recruits came up for examination, and the town doctor and the veterinary surgeon levied a regular tax on the butchers' shops and the restaurants; at the district school they did a trade in certificates, qualifying for partial exemption from military service; the higher clergy took bribes from the humbler priests and from the church elders; at the Municipal, the Artisans', and all the other Boards every petitioner was pursued by a shout: "Don't forget your thanks!"
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

The tenant of the air, it seemed related to the earth but by an egg hatched some time in the crevice of a crag;—or was its native nest made in the angle of a cloud, woven of the rainbow's trimmings and the sunset sky, and lined with some soft midsummer haze caught up from earth?
— from Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

After the first shock of astonishment, however, we resolved, as a matter of course, upon further experiment forthwith.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

Y aquel guiso de huevos tan extraño, Con que toda la isla se alborota, Hubiera estado largo tiempo en uso A no ser porque luego los compuso Un famoso extranjero "a la Hugonota."
— from A First Spanish Reader by Erwin W. (Erwin William) Roessler

Solomon Gowdey wuz a-goin' to have 'em first, which would have left me ample time to cook up for 'em.
— from Samantha among the Brethren — Volume 2 by Marietta Holley

[Pg 200] that, when a man came up for election in their Club, his talent for silence was said to be as important a consideration with them as his talent for art.
— from Nights: Rome, Venice, in the Aesthetic Eighties; London, Paris, in the Fighting Nineties by Elizabeth Robins Pennell

"If you are determined to come up for entrance to this college," he said, "and succeed in passing the necessary test, which, I warn you, will be a harder matter than you imagine, you would find yourself compelled to associate with men of very immature views, Mr. Binney."
— from Peter Binney: A Novel by Archibald Marshall

How the other pen found its way into the bowl instead of the fireplace or waste-paper basket I can't imagine, but there the two were, lying side by side, both encrusted with ink and completely undistinguishable from each other.
— from Notes on My Books by Joseph Conrad

It was also decided that the League could be made very useful during by-elections in the county, if there ever were any, and Mr. Waddington prepared in fancy a great speech which he could use for electioneering purposes.
— from Mr. Waddington of Wyck by May Sinclair

The bright gods come ever, Still as of old; Scarce see I Bacchus, the giver of joy, Than comes up fair Eros, the laugh-loving boy, And Phoebus, the stately, behold!
— from The Poems of Schiller — Third period by Friedrich Schiller

I had been in this state for twenty hours, and in another three hours would have been closed up for ever, when my eldest sister, who was leaning over the head of my coffin crying over me, declared she saw my lips move.
— from Premature Burial and How It May Be Prevented by William Tebb

Cooley, Judge, on balance between state and federal govts., 17 , 18 ; on checks upon federal encroachment, 33 , 34 ; on judicial control of the Executive, 35 ; on the originality of the Constitution, 55 , 56 ; incompleteness of constitutional view of, 56 , 57 .
— from Congressional Government: A Study in American Politics by Woodrow Wilson

So far all is perfectly safe, and if this breath of wind will but carry us far enough out to be able to use our oars without their hearing us, we shall certainly get away."
— from The Lion of Saint Mark: A Story of Venice in the Fourteenth Century by G. A. (George Alfred) Henty