Gregory awakened the emperor from a long slumber; exposed the guilt or incapacity of the exarch and his inferior ministers; complained that the veterans were withdrawn from Rome for the defence of Spoleto; encouraged the Italians to guard their cities and altars; and condescended, in the crisis of danger, to name the tribunes, and to direct the operations, of the provincial troops.
— 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

And when many hands are armed, and the peace of a city in disorder, and the foot of the common soldiers sounds an alarm on his stairs, then perhaps such a one (broken in thoughts of his moneys abroad, and cursing the monuments of coin which are in his house) can be content to think of death, and (being hasty of perdition) will perhaps hang himself, lest his throat should be cut; provided that he may do it in his study, surrounded with wealth, to which his eye sends a faint and languishing salute, even upon the turning off; remembering always, that he have time and liberty, by writing, to depute himself as his own heir.
— from Bacon's Essays, and Wisdom of the Ancients by Francis Bacon

She grieves about father, and looks sober except when she is at her little piano.
— from Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Louisa May Alcott

Catherine, by whom this meeting was wholly unexpected, received her brother with the liveliest pleasure; and he, being of a very amiable disposition, and sincerely attached to her, gave every proof on his side of equal satisfaction, which he could have leisure to do, while the bright eyes of Miss Thorpe were incessantly challenging his notice; and to her his devoirs were speedily paid, with a mixture of joy and embarrassment which might have informed Catherine, had she been more expert in the development of other people's feelings, and less simply engrossed by her own, that her brother thought her friend quite as pretty as she could do herself.
— from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

but hed do the same to the next woman that came along I suppose he died of galloping drink ages ago the days like years not a letter from a living soul except the odd few I posted to myself with bits of paper in them so bored sometimes I could fight with my nails listening to that old Arab with the one eye and his heass of an instrument singing his heah
— from Ulysses by James Joyce

We had a slave to wait upon each of us, and before beginning, a little black fellow supplied us with water from a large silver ewer in a silver b
— from Travels in the Interior of Brazil Principally through the northern provinces, and the gold and diamond districts, during the years 1836-1841 by George Gardner

Florestan, thinking he had alarmed his father in speaking to him of his project of suicide, thought it necessary to get up the scene again for a little stage effect.
— from Mysteries of Paris — Volume 02 by Eugène Sue

Besides the planetary parameter of temperature, an even more fundamental necessity for a living state exists—a liquid solvent system.
— from Significant Achievements in Space Bioscience 1958-1964 by United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration

When she had finished, a long silence ensued.
— from The Splendid Folly by Margaret Pedler

The holy volume lay; He raised it from its station there, And smoothed the crumpled leaves with care, Then sadly turned away To gaze upon a portrait near, Whose thoughtful eyes, so calm and clear, And chastened look and lofty mien, And forehead noble and serene, Told of a spirit touched by time Only to soften and sublime; Of woman's earnest faith and love Surmounting earth to soar above.
— from Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII No. 6 June 1848 by Various