The interest, as well as the temper of the clergy, was favorable to the peace and union of their distracted country: those salutary lessons might be frequently inculcated in their popular discourses; and the episcopal synods were the only councils that could pretend to the weight and authority of a national assembly.
— 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

You were attached to each other from your earliest infancy; you studied together, and appeared, in dispositions and tastes, entirely suited to one another.
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

And at night Sir W. Pen and I alone to the Dolphin, and there eat some bloat-herrings [To bloat is to dry by smoke, a method chiefly used to cure herrings or bloaters.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

Here I staid and mustered the yard and looked into the storehouses; and so walked all alone to Greenwich, and thence by water to Deptford, and there examined some stores, and did some of my own business in hastening my work there, and so walked to Redriffe, being by this time pretty weary and all in a sweat; took boat there for the Tower, which made me a little fearful, it being a cold, windy morning.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

Ordinary Sanicle sends forth many great round leaves, standing upon long brownish stalks, every one somewhat deeply cut or divided into five or six parts, and some of these also cut in somewhat like the leaf of crow’s-foot, or dove’s-foot, and finely dented about the edges, smooth, and of a dark shining colour, and somewhat reddish about the brims; from among which arise up small, round green stalks, without any joint or leaf thereon, saving at the top, where it branches forth into flowers, having a leaf divided into three or four parts at that joint with the flowers, which are small and white, starting out of small round greenish yellow heads, many standing together in a tuft, in which afterwards are the seeds contained, which are small round burs, somewhat like the leaves of clevers, and stick in the same manner upon any thing that they touch.
— from The Complete Herbal To which is now added, upwards of one hundred additional herbs, with a display of their medicinal and occult qualities physically applied to the cure of all disorders incident to mankind: to which are now first annexed, the English physician enlarged, and key to Physic. by Nicholas Culpeper

But if either a single person or an oligarchy or a democracy has a soul eager after pleasures and desires—wanting to be filled with them, yet retaining none of them, and perpetually afflicted with an endless and insatiable disorder; and this evil spirit, having first trampled the laws under foot, becomes the master either of a state or of an individual,—then, as I was saying, salvation is hopeless.
— from Laws by Plato

presented itself; and he forced himself to work day and night at Masonic labors, hoping to drive away the evil spirit that threatened him.
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

For the present, however, he contented himself with thanking them and expressing his delight at their excellent spirit, and bidding them go early to rest and obey their officers, dismissed them.
— from The Histories of Polybius, Vol. 1 (of 2) by Polybius

Capitall, is the Infliction of Death; and that either simply, or with torment.
— from Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

The Egyptian climate is so fine and dry, and the Egyptians stored the rolls so carefully in the tombs of their kings, that the fragile papyrus—that is, reed-paper—has not rotted away, as would have been the case in any other country.
— from The Bible in its Making: The most Wonderful Book in the World by Noel Hope

Having begun by disarming their subjects, they now proceeded to lay down arms themselves, employing small forces for the protection of their person and the State, engaging more cautiously in foreign strife, and substituting diplomacy, wherever it was possible, for warfare.
— from Renaissance in Italy, Volume 1 (of 7) The Age of the Despots by John Addington Symonds

The children had fits and were afflicted with imps, so Edward Fairfax thought his paternal duty consisted in getting the lives of six supposed witches, the hanging of whom would infallibly cure his children, and drive away the evil spirits possessing them.
— from Witch Stories by E. Lynn (Elizabeth Lynn) Linton

And I remember now how Mary stood and [Pg 331] called to Miss Satchel's window to tell her of this intention, and how I discovered again that exquisite slender grace I knew so well.
— from The Passionate Friends by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

His defence now became more difficult, as the evil spirit continued to attack him in ever changing forms, but Sir Wendelin was no coward, and knew well how to use his arm and sword.
— from The Complete Short Works of Georg Ebers by Georg Ebers

After dinner the Empress descended to her apartments, where she found assembled her ladies and the officers on duty; and the Emperor sometimes accompanied her, but remained only a short while.
— from Recollections of the Private Life of Napoleon — Complete by Louis Constant Wairy

At that distance above the earth she must have looked like some great bird, and the adventurers thought it unlikely that any one in the vicinity of Leadville would observe them.
— from Tom Swift Among the Diamond Makers; Or, The Secret of Phantom Mountain by Victor Appleton

But most of the city was dark and terribly empty save for mobs of all sizes but all raging.
— from The Hate Disease by Murray Leinster