A smell as of unwholesome sheep blending with the smell of must and dust is referable to the nightly (and often daily) consumption of mutton fat in candles and to the fretting of parchment forms and skins in greasy drawers.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Hadst thou beene shallower, and not writ so high, Or left some new way for our pennes, or eye, 15 To shed a funerall teare, perchance thy Tombe Had not beene speechlesse, or our Muses dumbe; But now wee dare not write, but must conceale Thy Epitaph, lest we be thought to steale,
— from The Poems of John Donne, Volume 1 (of 2) Edited from the Old Editions and Numerous Manuscripts by John Donne

There was a place, Now not, though Sin, not Time, first wraught the change, Where Tigris at the foot of Paradise Into a Gulf shot under ground, till part Rose up a Fountain by the Tree of Life; In with the River sunk, and with it rose Satan involv’d in rising Mist, then sought Where to lie hid; Sea he had searcht and Land From Eden over Pontus , and the Poole Maeotis , up beyond the River Ob ; Downward as farr Antartic; and in length West from Orantes to the Ocean barr’d At Darien , thence to the Land where flowes Ganges and Indus: thus the Orb he roam’d With narrow search; and with inspection deep Consider’d every Creature, which of all Most opportune might serve his Wiles, and found The Serpent suttlest Beast of all the Field.
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton

'Are you fond of pictures, dear?' inquired the old lady, seeing that Oliver had fixed his eyes, most intently, on a portrait which hung against the wall; just opposite his chair.
— from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

A feeling of pain came over him as he thought of the desecration that was in store for the fair face on the canvas.
— from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

My friends, or persons calling themselves such, wrote letter after letter exhorting me to come and put myself at their head, assuring me of public separation from the council.
— from The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau — Complete by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

40 The Visayan Islands—the half-dozen islands between Luzon and Mindanao already mentioned, as the only ones worth mentioning for our purposes, together with the various smaller islands, islets, and rocks “visible at high water.”
— from The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912 by James H. (James Henderson) Blount

Who would not laugh at mee, if I should say, I saw a flaske of powder burne a day ?
— from The Poems of John Donne, Volume 1 (of 2) Edited from the Old Editions and Numerous Manuscripts by John Donne

That he was far from excluding the modern principle of utility in politics is sufficiently evident from other passages; in which 'the most beneficial is affirmed to be the most honourable', and also 'the most sacred'.
— from The Republic by Plato

In order to yield satisfaction, the different parts of life must exemplify identity of motive, continuity and orderliness in the fulfillment of purpose, lucidity of relation, yet diversity for stimulation and totality.
— from The Principles of Aesthetics by De Witt H. (De Witt Henry) Parker

I spent two days in the little park at the foot of Piñon Mountain, and saw and heard a great many elk, in bands of three to thirty, but refrained from shooting.
— from American Big-Game Hunting: The Book of the Boone and Crockett Club by Boone and Crockett Club

He regarded it, indeed, as "a matter of but small importance whether the number of representatives from one part of the united empire were greater or less.
— from The Constitutional History of England from 1760 to 1860 by Charles Duke Yonge

It was by virtue of their energy, and decision, and firmness of purpose, that they accomplished what they did, succeeding where other men would have failed.
— from Mental Philosophy: Including the Intellect, Sensibilities, and Will by Joseph Haven

Then Norton looked up at her again, a keen look enough, but so full of pleasure in her that Matilda's doubts were resolved.
— from What She Could by Susan Warner

Presently flames burst forth, now from one part of the village, now from another, until in a short time the whole was in a blaze, while by the ruddy light he could see the dark figures of the inhabitants endeavouring to escape by flight, pursued by their relentless invaders.
— from Ned Garth; Or, Made Prisoner in Africa: A Tale of the Slave Trade by William Henry Giles Kingston

This, broadly sketched, is the natural history of the feelings of pleasure and pain.
— from Degeneration by Max Simon Nordau

[2] But he chose the general formula of [Pg 112] quotation (comp.
— from Christology of the Old Testament: And a Commentary on the Messianic Predictions. Vol. 2 by Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg

There are several varieties of the Poet's Narcissus, one of the best for ordinary purposes being ornatus .
— from Beautiful Bulbous Plants for the Open Air by John Weathers

She was very fond of play, one of the vices of the time, and though she was often successful, at others she lost heavily.
— from A Little Girl in Old Philadelphia by Amanda M. Douglas