Al oír que rehusó la entrada a un pobre diablo por haber sido demasiado aficionado a los toros, comprendí que ya no había esperanza para mí.
— from A First Spanish Reader by Erwin W. (Erwin William) Roessler

DAME PLIANT, his Sister, a Widow.
— from The Alchemist by Ben Jonson

When he was told he was to be quartered, and his parts scattered in different places, he smiled with great serenity, saying, The loss of a sepulchre is but a trifling consideration.
— from Fox's Book of Martyrs Or A History of the Lives, Sufferings, and Triumphant Deaths of the Primitive Protestant Martyrs by John Foxe

When Heracles presented himself before the king, and offered to cleanse his stables in one day, provided he should receive in return a tenth part of the herds, Augeas, thinking the feat impossible, accepted his offer in the presence of his son Phyleus.
— from Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome by E. M. Berens

De pronto hirieron su oído rumores extraños, como cuchicheo 20 de femeniles labios, y después el chirrido de cortinajes que se corrían, algunas palabras, y por fin el tararear suave de una canción, el ladrido de un falderillo, y otras señales de existencia social que parecían muy singulares en tal sitio.
— from Doña Perfecta by Benito Pérez Galdós

Nagbáid siya sa mananayaw sa hustung panlíhuk, He helped the dancer perfect her steps.
— from A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan by John U. Wolff

'Yes, sir.' 'What did you do?' 'Pounded him, sir.' 'Pounded him?' 'Yes, sir.'
— from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain

At the instant when he arrived, panting, on the Place du Parvis, he shrank back and dared not raise his eyes to the fatal edifice.
— from Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo

One may see towards the bottom of the machine, two or three stinking candles, badly snuffed, which, whilst the great personage dementedly presents himself swinging in his see-saw, fumigate him with an incense worthy of his dignity.
— from History of the Opera from its Origin in Italy to the present Time With Anecdotes of the Most Celebrated Composers and Vocalists of Europe by H. Sutherland (Henry Sutherland) Edwards

In England Elizabeth could with difficulty protect her still tottering throne against the furious storms of faction, and her new church establishment against the insidious arts of the Romanists.
— from History of the Revolt of the Netherlands — Volume 01 by Friedrich Schiller

Slowly, as the dreary autumn dragged its days past her, she accustomed herself to forestall the horrid moments that would leap from some hidden darkness upon her.
— from The Duchess of Wrexe, Her Decline and Death; A Romantic Commentary by Hugh Walpole

But "la robe grise, le chapeau de paille," here surely was a clue—a very confusing one.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë

One day that he was passing near a house well known as the resort of thieves and other disorderly persons, he saw several of the inhabitants assembled round the door, and called out, "See, here you have baggage belonging to the army of Satan, and it is lodged in the house of hell accordingly."
— from The Exemplary Novels of Cervantes by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

XIV Her younger sister, that Speranza hight, Was clad in blew, that her beseemed well; 120 Not all so chearefull seemed she of sight, As was her sister; whether dread did dwell, Or anguish in her hart, is hard to tell: Upon her arme a silver anchor lay, Whereon she leaned ever, as befell: 125 And ever up to heaven, as she did pray, Her stedfast eyes were bent, ne swarved other way.
— from Spenser's The Faerie Queene, Book I by Edmund Spenser

“You will not tame him , dear Duchess,” the old Vidame de Pamiers had said.
— from The Works of Balzac: A linked index to all Project Gutenberg editions by Honoré de Balzac

"I try to learn many different philosophies," he said.
— from Take Me for a Ride: Coming of Age in a Destructive Cult by Mark E. Laxer

The mob was composed of the lowest and most degraded of the foreign population (mainly Irish), raked from the filthy cellars and dens of the city, steeped in crimes of the deepest dye, and ready for any act, no matter how dark and damnable; together with the worst type of onr native criminals, whose long service in the prisons of the country, and whose training in the Democratic party, had so demoralized their natures, that they were ever on the hunt for some deed of robbery or murder.
— from The Negro in the American Rebellion: His Heroism and His Fidelity by William Wells Brown