Besides, those of thy tribe give nothing for nothing; something there must be paid for their use.”
— from Ivanhoe: A Romance by Walter Scott

If the credibility of the relation of these incidents going to prove an astonishing coincidence in the sacred histories of the Hindoo and Christian Saviors, and demonstrating the doctrine of the crucifixion as having been practically realized, and preached to the world long anterior to the offering of a God "once for all" on Mount Calvary; if its credibility rested on mere ex parte testimony, mere pagan tradition, or even upon the best digested and most authentic annals of the past that have escaped the ravages of time, there might still be a forlorn hope for the stickler for the Christian faith now struggling in the agonies of a credal skepticism, that the whole thing has been plagiarized from the Christian Gospels.
— from The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors; Or, Christianity Before Christ by Kersey Graves

But here the awful judgment of an ever-righteous God, "who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity," fell upon this stone-hearted and perfidious woman; for no sooner was the injured husband captured by her wicked contriving, than she also was suddenly seized with madness, and exhibited an awful and awakening instance of God's power to punish the evil doer.
— from Fox's Book of Martyrs Or A History of the Lives, Sufferings, and Triumphant Deaths of the Primitive Protestant Martyrs by John Foxe

"I find nothing special the matter," he said, addressing the mother as he went out of the bedroom.
— from The Lady with the Dog and Other Stories by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

No frost nor snow, nor winde, I trowe, Can hurte mee, if I wolde, I am so wrapt and throwly lapt Of joly good ale and olde.
— from The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving

It is said that as he was journeying to his new home an eagle swooped down and snatched the cap which he had on his head, and after soaring aloft and screaming for some time placed it again exactly upon his head: wherefore he was inspired to hope for no small advancement and eagerly took up his residence in Rome.
— from Dio's Rome, Volume 1 (of 6) An Historical Narrative Originally Composed in Greek during the Reigns of Septimius Severus, Geta and Caracalla, Macrinus, Elagabalus and Alexander Severus: and Now Presented in English Form by Cassius Dio Cocceianus

Thus we find, that though every one, but especially women, are apt to contract a kindness for criminals, who go to the scaffold, and readily imagine them to be uncommonly handsome and wellshaped; yet one, who is present at the cruel execution of the rack, feels no such tender emotions; but is in a manner overcome with horror, and has no leisure to temper this uneasy sensation by any opposite sympathy.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume

The lightning flies not swifter than the fall, Nor thunder louder than the ruin’d wall: Down goes the top at once; the Greeks beneath Are piecemeal torn, or pounded into death.
— from The Aeneid by Virgil

To-day we say louvoyer for to beat to windward, they said leauvoyer ; for naviguer , sail, they said naviger ; for virer vent devant , to tack, donner vent devant ; for aller de l'avant , to make headway, tailler de l'avant ; for tirez d'accord , haul together, halez d'accord ; for dérapez , to weigh anchor, deplantez ; for embraquez , to haul tight, abraquez ; for taquets , cleats, bittons ; for burins , toggles, tappes ; for balancine , fore-lift, main-lift, etc., valancine ; for tribord , starboard, stribord ; for les hommes de quart à bâbord , men of the larboard watch, les basbourdis .
— from Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo

Henry, did you get that Irish whiskey I sent for?" "No, sir," replied the child, "I was so frightened when I saw Mr. Brooks strike Margaret, that I ran back." "Oh, well, I don't wonder!
— from Home Lights and Shadows by T. S. (Timothy Shay) Arthur

The first mention of “The Queen’s Elm ,” occurs in 1687, ninety-nine years after her Majesty had sheltered beneath the tree around which “an arbour was built,” when the surveyors of the highway were amerced in the sum of five pounds, “for not sufficiently mending the highway from the Queen Elm to the bridge, and from the Elm to Church Lane.”
— from A Walk from London to Fulham by Thomas Crofton Croker

Then in the little whitewashed refectory, before the simple table on which the fathers, now sadly reduced in numbers, took their repasts, Rollo told his story.
— from The Firebrand by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett

They came to Kauai; the lizard sniffed about the coast, found nothing; sniffed inland; there they were, living at Honopuwaiakua, and Kihanuilulumoku threw forth Kahalaomapuana.
— from The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai by S. N. Haleole

His friends cherished the hope, that he would hear nothing more from the captain, when another note—a challenge of course—and another of those accursed melon seeds arrived, with the captain’s apology, on the score of ill-health, for not sending it before.
— from Dealings with the Dead, Volume 2 (of 2) by Lucius M. (Lucius Manlius) Sargent

Here my master's appearance produced great effect; for no sooner was it known that he was arrived, than all sorts of people flocked to consult him.
— from The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan by James Justinian Morier

The ancient, broad-leaved chestnut tree which grew quite close above a neighbouring wall and threw deep shadows on the lawn beneath, gave forth no sign.
— from The Black Box: A Tale of Monmouth's Rebellion by W. Bourne Cooke

But, although she found no slightest thing offensive in the young man's veiled, approving surveillance, Anna felt almost as if she were in flight from peril—some brand-new, delightful peril—as, now, she hurried out of range of it and sought her father where, by the after-hatch, he perched upon a great coiled cable staring, staring, staring out across the sea toward Germany, the land to which, a few days since, although his actual departure had been from English shores, his heart had said a passionate farewell.
— from The Old Flute-Player: A Romance of To-day by Charles Turner Dazey

And a strange kindling happiness in her soul—a sense of triumph over her former Nihilistic self.
— from Futurist Stories by Margery Verner Reed