Burns's Brother Gilbert, a man of much sense and worth, has told me that Robert, in his young days, in spite of their hardship, was usually the gayest of speech; a fellow of infinite frolic, laughter, sense and heart; far pleasanter to hear there, stript cutting peats in the bog, or such like, than he ever afterwards knew him.
— from On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle

The last cruise disabled five large ships and two more lately; several of them must be docked."
— from The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 by A. T. (Alfred Thayer) Mahan

CHAPTER III How four queens found Launcelot sleeping, and how by enchantment he was taken and led into a castle.
— from Le Morte d'Arthur: Volume 1 by Malory, Thomas, Sir

-bye he stood clearing his throat for a minute and looking searchingly at his Reverence’s back, still with the same expression of vague expectation in his whole figure; his face was working with shame, timidity, and a pitiful forced laugh such as one sees in people who do not respect themselves.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

Janetta felt as if she must ask another question or two, especially when she saw that her friend's white eyelids had been lowered, and that a delicate flush was mantling the whiteness of her cheek; but she paused, scarcely knowing how to begin; and in the pause, the gong for luncheon sounded, and she was (somewhat hastily, she fancied) led downstairs.
— from A True Friend: A Novel by Adeline Sergeant

His stern face looked sad and mocking, as though he were a disappointed man.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

frenzied Lear Should at thy bidding wander on the heath With the shrill fool to mock him, Romeo For thee should lure his love, and desperate fear Pluck Richard’s recreant dagger from its sheath—
— from Poems, with The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde

She was surprised, therefore, when he and Archdeacon Foljambe arrived in the drawing-room that evening after dinner, to perceive her uncle making straight for herself, exactly like a water wagtail with his funny little strut and funny little way of putting his hands behind his coat and flirting his tail.
— from Rich Relatives by Compton MacKenzie

The fickle goddess, continuing her part of mystifier, had opened to his enraptured sight a magic window through which she had shown him a charming vision of possible happiness; but while he was still gazing, she had closed it abruptly in his face, laughing scornfully at his discomfiture.
— from A Woodland Queen ('Reine des Bois') — Volume 3 by André Theuriet

With Marriage wherefore was he mockt to be exil'd, and throwne From Leonati Seate, and cast from her, his deerest one: Sweete Imogen? Sic.
— from Cymbeline by William Shakespeare

Focas la seca arena lamen.
— from History of Spanish and Portuguese Literature (Vol 1 of 2) by Friedrich Bouterwek

They have the strongest claim against both their parents for love, shelter and upbringing, and the legislator and statesman, concerned as he is chiefly with the future of the community, has the strongest reasons for seeing that they get these things, even at the price of considerable vexation, boredom or indignity to
— from An Englishman Looks at the World Being a Series of Unrestrained Remarks upon Contemporary Matters by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

"Shall we give them another, just for luck, sir?" asked Sergeant O'Rafferty.
— from The Secret Battleplane by Percy F. (Percy Francis) Westerman

Mrs. Hearn was very friendly: less shy and quiet than most Japanese [248] women, she was yet distinctly Japanese in her shyness and quietness.
— from A Journal from Japan: A Daily Record of Life as Seen by a Scientist by Marie Carmichael Stopes