I felt sure now that I was in the pensionnat—sure by the beating rain on the casement; sure by the "wuther" of wind amongst trees, denoting a garden outside; sure by the chill, the whiteness, the solitude, amidst which I lay.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë

Our party spent a pleasant day as guests of Sir Harry Lauder at his estate in Scotland.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

When he was ascending the stairs with them, the gardener met him, and said: ‘How can you take the king’s daughter a garland of such common flowers?
— from Grimms' Fairy Tales by Wilhelm Grimm

The beauty and freshness of this calm retreat, in the very dawn and greenness of summer—it was then the beginning of June—were exquisite indeed.
— from American Notes by Charles Dickens

They drank a glass of sack each, and Sir Simon would make me do so too, saying, It will be a reflection, madam, upon all the ladies, if you don't do as they.
— from Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson

M. Damesin, a gentleman of Savoy, at that time equerry, and I believe favorite, of the Princess of Carignan; M. de Boze, Secretary of the Academy of Inscriptions, and keeper of the medals of the king’s cabinet; and Father Castel, a Jesuit, author of the ‘Clavecin oculaire’.—[ocular harpsichord.]
— from The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau — Complete by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

It took us half an hour’s hard labour, after that, before it was properly up, and then we cleared the decks, and got out supper.
— from Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka) Jerome

When he was ascending the stairs with them, the gardener met him, and said, "How canst thou take the King's daughter a garland of such common flowers?
— from Household Tales by Brothers Grimm by Wilhelm Grimm

Out of these causes Rodericus defines it with Areteus, to be angorem animi , a vexation of the mind, a sudden sorrow from a small, light, or no occasion, [2652] with a kind of still dotage and grief of some part or other, head, heart, breasts, sides, back, belly, &c., with much solitariness, weeping, distraction, &c., from which they are sometimes suddenly delivered, because it comes and goes by fits, and is not so permanent as other melancholy.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

[167] In 1472 we have again a most important and in its way complete view of the commerce and trades of this city, [168] some of which may be wholly or partly reckoned among the fine arts—such as those which had to do with damasks and gold or silver embroidery, with woodcarving and ‘intarsia,’ with the sculpture of arabesques in marble and sandstone, with portraits in wax, and with jewellery and work in gold.
— from The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy by Jacob Burckhardt

There's no profit to be had by discounting the temper of these people; they're as desperate a gang of swindlers as ever lived.
— from The Black Bag by Louis Joseph Vance

The Hindu was apparently lost to the surrounding world, and yet he occasionally darted a glance of swift, animal-like inquiry at his host.
— from Jewel Weed by Alice Ames Winter

Then the matter, suspended in the muddy waters, is slowly deposited and goes on sinking till November, when openings are made into canals, and the water is allowed to slowly drain off and make its way back into the river, when the surface of glistening mud that is left is considered ripe for cultivation, and according to the season may measure perhaps four inches in depth.
— from The Khedive's Country by George Manville Fenn

And they are pages written by a Frenchwoman who remembers with just pride that she is the daughter and granddaughter of soldiers.
— from Beyond the Marne: Quincy, Huiry, Voisins before and during the battle by Henriette Cuvru-Magot

Monarchy , Aristocracy , Democracy —these three powers present themselves at the same time to dispute for the direction and government of society.
— from Protestantism and Catholicity compared in their effects on the civilization of Europe by Jaime Luciano Balmes

He stood for a moment to watch the loading of a truck with broken-seats, jig-saw decorations, and the remains of a battered old projector; he looked up, presently to the huge sign over the entrance: “Closed During Alterations, Grand Opening Sunday Afternoon, August 20th.
— from Rope by Holworthy Hall

"Oh, she puts her bucket down and gives old Spot a slap wiv her hand and says, 'stan' over!'—an—d—then she stoops down and—groans—and says, 'Oh—h, my Lord!'—and then—" "Well?"
— from A Modern Madonna by Caroline Abbot Stanley

In a single day's activity we who are citizens of a great metropolis are forced into contact with almost countless other lives, glancing off from one and another after influencing them to some degree, and gaining ourselves some impetus and stimulus from our longer or shorter intercourse with each of them.
— from The Doctrine of Evolution: Its Basis and Its Scope by Henry Edward Crampton

He had not opened his mouth once since he had taken his seat at the table, save to toss down a glass of schnaps.
— from Tales of the Wonder Club, Volume II by M. Y. Halidom