His religion was of a more ambiguous cast; and his hair-cloth, his fasts, his pious idiom, and his wish to retire from the business of the world, were a convenient mask for his dark and dangerous ambition.
— 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

We left our heroes and our heroines In that fair clime which don't depend on climate, Quite independent of the Zodiac's signs, Though certainly more difficult to rhyme at, Because the sun, and stars, and aught that shines, Mountains, and all we can be most sublime at, Are there oft dull and dreary as a dun— Whether a sky's or tradesman's is all one.
— from Don Juan by Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron

The old housekeeper answered the summons with all dispatch; and dropping a curtsey at the door, waited for orders.
— from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

What a drug and a steady stare could do, a drug and a steady stare, or some similar treatment, could surely undo.
— from The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

Wherewith for all this I am very well contented, and so parted and to the Exchequer, but Mr. Burgess was not in his office; so alone to the Swan, and thither come Mr. Kinaston to me, and he and I into a room and there drank and discoursed, and I am mightily pleased with him for a most diligent and methodical man in all his business.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

In California, men who profess to be journalists, and so obtain free dinners and drinks, are called “literary BUMMERS .”
— from The Slang Dictionary: Etymological, Historical and Andecdotal by John Camden Hotten

We did also discourse about our Privateer, and hope well of that also, without much hazard, as, if God blesses us, I hope we shall do pretty well toward getting a penny.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

If the election be not consummated in three days, the luxury of their table is contracted to a single dish at dinner and supper; and after the eighth day, they are reduced to a scanty allowance of bread, water, and wine.
— 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

Love , that in happier days wouldst meet me here Along these meads that nursed our kindred strains; And that old debt to clear which still remains, Sweet converse with the stream and me wouldst share: Ye flowers, leaves, grass, woods, grots, rills, gentle air, Low valleys, lofty hills, and sunny plains: The harbour where I stored my love-sick pains, And all my various chance, my racking care: Ye playful inmates of the greenwood shade; Ye nymphs, and ye that in the waves pursue That life its cool and grassy bottom lends:— My days were once so fair; now dark and dread As death that makes them so.
— from The Sonnets, Triumphs, and Other Poems of Petrarch by Francesco Petrarca

"Whereat—Euripides, oh, not thyself— Augustlier than the need!—thy century Of subjects dreamed and dared and done, before 'Banqueters' gave dark earth enlightenment, Or 'Babylonians' played Prometheus here,— These let me summon to defend thy cause!
— from The Complete Poetic and Dramatic Works of Robert Browning Cambridge Edition by Robert Browning

For Home, the Sailor now began to sigh;— “The Dogs are dead and I’ll return and die; “When all I have, my Gains, in Years of Care, “The younger Cuffs with kinder Souls shall share; {127} — “Yet hold!
— from Poems by George Crabbe

Daniel, in the reign of James I. Mrs. Elizabeth Cooper was the wife of an auctioneer, who had been a chum of Oldys’s in the Fleet Prison, where he died a debtor; and it was to aid his widow that Oldys edited this book.
— from Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 3 by Isaac Disraeli

I did as desired; and the men pulling noiselessly, the boat glided towards the rock,
— from A Yacht Voyage to Norway, Denmark, and Sweden 2nd edition by William A. Ross

An' dey was mo' gwines-on, an' de Ku Kluxes come a projickin' aroun' nights, like de grave-yahds done been resu'rected, Marse Daniel, an' den arter
— from Danny's Own Story by Don Marquis

Lastly, horses exhibit pride in a marked degree, as do also mules.
— from Animal Intelligence The International Scientific Series, Vol. XLIV. by George John Romanes

In Truth Blindfolded (plate facing page 258 ), Mr. Byram Shaw has drawn the central figure as Cabanel might have done a decade ago, while every other figure in the group might have been done by some hand dead these four hundred years.
— from The Tapestry Book by Helen Churchill Candee

Oh, philosophers may sing Of the troubles of a King; Yet the duties are delightful, and the privileges great; But the privilege and pleasure That we treasure beyond measure Is to run on little errands for the Ministers of State!
— from Bab Ballads and Savoy Songs by W. S. (William Schwenck) Gilbert