True honor lies in fulfilling Heaven's decree and no death incurred in so doing is ignominious, whereas death to avoid what Heaven has in store is cowardly indeed!
— from Bushido, the Soul of Japan by Inazo Nitobe

and then I discover a new dimple in him.
— from Rilla of Ingleside by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

He supposes that Gordian was led away, and died a natural death in prison.
— 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

Then, too, I thought, since I had endured much in this line on Lloyd’s plantation, I could endure as much elsewhere, and especially at Baltimore; for I had something of the feeling about that city which is expressed in the saying, that being “hanged in England, is better than dying a natural death in Ireland.”
— from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass

If he died a natural death it would go for the good of his soul; if it’s a suicide it’s a sin.”
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

Now dogs are not divided into hes and shes—we do not take the masculine gender out to hunt and leave the females at home to look after their puppies.
— from The Republic by Plato

Having already had more than a taste of them in the house of my old master, and having endured them there, I very naturally inferred my ability to endure them elsewhere, and especially at Baltimore; for I had something of the feeling about Baltimore that is expressed in the proverb, that "being hanged in England is preferable to dying a natural death in Ireland."
— from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass

The young princess, however, either becoming sea-sick, and leaning over the bulwarks of the vessel, fell overboard and was drowned, or died a natural death in the passage of the Hellespont, to which she gave its name from that circumstance.
— from The Metamorphoses of Ovid, Books I-VII by Ovid

[85] Had my father died a natural death, I should have been content to leave them to their own punishment—bitterer than any enemy could have made it for them.
— from Great Porter Square: A Mystery. v. 3 by B. L. (Benjamin Leopold) Farjeon

But then they fell to the business of tickets, and I did give them the best answer I could, but had not scope to do it in the methodical manner which I had prepared myself for, but they did ask a great many broken rude questions about it, and were mightily hot whether my Lord Bruncker had any order to discharge whole ships by ticket, and because my answer was with distinction, and not direct, I did perceive they were not so fully satisfied therewith as I could wish they were.
— from Diary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 58: October 1667 by Samuel Pepys

He died a natural death in 1540, leaving an infant son, who succeeded him in the government of Transylvania, but who struggled in vain to establish himself in that of Hungary.
— from The Sieges of Vienna by the Turks by Karl August Schimmer

I am, however, not acquainted with their reasons for doing it when they did, and not doing it before, and I really have no decided opinion about it.
— from The Greville Memoirs, Part 2 (of 3), Volume 2 (of 3) A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1852 by Charles Greville

The societies all died a natural death in a little while; but of course, the school society being compulsory could not die, and so far as I know is still going on.
— from A Woman's Impression of the Philippines by Mary H. (Mary Helen) Fee

She said he had spent a good part of his time, both day and night, down in the heart of London, visiting the theaters and other places of amusement.
— from Dave Porter in the Far North; Or, The Pluck of an American Schoolboy by Edward Stratemeyer

To-day you start with an equal chance, but from to-morrow your fortunes will begin to alter, and for certain not one of you will for ever forget this day; and no doubt in after years you will look back on to-day often, and as you recall to your mind how your time has been employed, wish you had it over again, that you might act more wisely or become better."
— from Missing Friends Being the Adventures of a Danish Emigrant in Queensland (1871-1880) by Thorvald Peter Ludwig Weitemeyer

Place in each division a note different in figure or position. Fig.
— from Endless Amusement A Collection of Nearly 400 Entertaining Experiments in Various Branches of Science; Including Acoustics, Electricity, Magnetism, Arithmetic, Hydraulics, Mechanics, Chemistry, Hydrostatics, Optics; Wonders of the Air-Pump; All the Popular Tricks and Changes of the Cards, &c., &c. to Which is Added, a Complete System of Pyrotechny; Or, the Art of Making Fire-works. by Unknown