It was a pleasant one to live in long ago, and doubtless has advanced, not retrograded, in that respect.
— from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain

The babe clung crying to his nurse's breast, Scared at the dazzling helm, and nodding crest.
— from The Iliad by Homer

Plato is most true to the character of his master when he describes him as 'not of this world.'
— from The Republic by Plato

For sometime already Mr Verloc’s immobility by the side of the arm-chair resembled a state of collapsed coma—a sort of passive insensibility interrupted by slight convulsive starts, such as may be observed in the domestic dog having a nightmare on the hearthrug.
— from The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale by Joseph Conrad

She stopped to listen, and, not hearing any footstep, believed that her fancy had deceived her, and, no longer apprehensive of being observed, proceeded.
— from The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Ward Radcliffe

In this fine age were not thought flattery, Such attribution should the Douglas have, As not a soldier of this season’s stamp Should go so general-current through the world.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

She expressed a reluctance to trouble us with the care of her daughter, saying she was in delicate health, and nervous, but not subject to any kind of seizure--she volunteered that--nor to any illusion; being, in fact, perfectly sane."
— from Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

His enthusiasm will evaporate, his energy will be dissipated, his ambition, not being stimulated by the struggle for self-elevation, will gradually die away.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden

To prevent it in every way possible, the hen-coops were ordered to be knocked up, for the captain never sat down on deck himself, and never permitted an officer to do so.
— from Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana

Diderot had a numerous acquaintance, but Grimm, a stranger and a new-comer, had his to procure, and with the greatest pleasure I procured him all I could.
— from The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau — Complete by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

About 1855, when she was on a visit to England, through the work of Daniel D. Home, a notorious American exponent of spiritualism, Mrs. Browning became interested in the current fad, and gave to it vastly more serious attention than most other initia
— from The Journal of Negro History, Volume 3, 1918 by Various

The forlorn slave-wife stays in the dreary home and nurses her children, battles with her husband's creditors, consoles herself with church going and many prayers, fondly hoping for a future day in which Tom will find out that she is fairer and dearer than any of his false goddesses, and come home repentant to the domestic hearth: while the good husband's idol, sated with legitimate worship, gives herself up all at once to the intoxication of unholy incense, and topples off her shrine.
— from Mount Royal: A Novel. Volume 3 of 3 by M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon

I was obliged to discharge him, and now he’s my enemy.”
— from Harry Heathcote of Gangoil: A Tale of Australian Bush-Life by Anthony Trollope

The original hieroglyphics contained no sound, i.e. , were not formed of phonetic constituents; the object depicted had a name, but there was no clue to it.
— from The Middle Kingdom, Volume 1 (of 2) A Survey of the Geography, Government, Literature, Social Life, Arts, and History of the Chinese Empire and its Inhabitants by S. Wells (Samuel Wells) Williams

I now guessed that he had gone direct home, and not finding our servant in the place where he had been desired to wait, confirmed me still more in this idea.
— from Louis Spohr's Autobiography Translated from the German by Louis Spohr

And, sure enough, he did hear a noise; for down the cellar stairs came Nig, the big black cat.
— from Firebrands by George Moses Davis

"And I do have a nice time at the Symphonies.
— from The Philistines by Arlo Bates

He soon became one of the most constant frequenters of Whites; kept several running horses; distinguished himself at Newmarket, and had the honour of playing deeper, and betting with more spirit, than any other young man of his age.
— from A Description of Millenium Hall And the Country Adjacent Together with the Characters of the Inhabitants and Such Historical Anecdotes and Reflections As May Excite in the Reader Proper Sentiments of Humanity, and Lead the Mind to the Love of Virtue by Sarah Scott

It was in reality like a morning spent in a Cosmopolitan Gallery wherein the work of artists from many lands appeared—here, a Scotchman, there a Dane, here a Norwegian, there a Nova Scotian.
— from Romantic Canada by Victoria Hayward