We lived, at first, rather a busy life at Bleak House, for we had to become acquainted with many residents in and out of the neighbourhood who knew Mr. Jarndyce.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

" Ulysses answered, "Madam, I have foresworn rugs and blankets from the day that I left the snowy ranges of Crete to go on shipboard.
— from The Odyssey Rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original by Homer

Yet I do my part to save him still: I give him to understand that drinking makes his eyes dull, and his face red and bloated; and that it tends to render him imbecile in body and mind; and if Annabella were to see him as often as I do, she would speedily be disenchanted; and that she certainly will withdraw her favour from him, if he continues such courses.
— from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

"What do you think of that for a fine bit of antithesis?" said the German, searching in his friend's face for responding admiration, but going on volubly without waiting for any other answer.
— from Middlemarch by George Eliot

“And the big fellow whose face resembles a bare belly?” resumed Gervaise.
— from Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo

Amidst a mass of other points upon which directions are given, we notice the following: the necessity of keeping secret the matters in course of deliberation; the prohibition to councillors from receiving, either directly or indirectly, anything in the shape of a douceur from the parties in any suit; and the forbidding all attorneys from receiving any bribe or claiming more than the actual expenses of a journey and other just charges.
— from Manners, Customs, and Dress During the Middle Ages and During the Renaissance Period by P. L. Jacob

It has three compartments, two big shallow iron pots for roasting and boiling and a deep one in the middle for keeping the hot water for tea.
— from Letters from China and Japan by Harriet Alice Chipman Dewey

And scholars gradually acquired the habit of saying that they owed their success to the Spirit of Tzŭ T’ung, which they falsely represented as being an incarnation of the star Wên Ch’ang.
— from Myths and Legends of China by E. T. C. (Edward Theodore Chalmers) Werner

[87] The visible part of the apparatus connected with the invisible girl was thus constructed: first a mahogany frame resembling a bedstead, having at the corners four upright posts about five feet high, was united by a cross-rail near the top, and two or more cross-rails near the bottom, to strengthen the frame, which was about four feet square.
— from The Century of Inventions of the Marquis of Worcester from the Original MS., with Historical and Explanatory Notes and a Biographical Memoir by Worcester, Edward Somerset, Marquis of

When she raised her eyelids she saw him, and through those lids passed a tender glance, full of passionate love, free from reproach and bitterness,—a look which fell like a flame of fire upon the heart of that husband, nobly absolved and forever loved by the being whom he had killed.
— from The Thirteen by Honoré de Balzac

Thinking it right as they do, they are not to blame for desiring its full recognition, as being right; but, thinking it wrong, as we do, can we yield to them?
— from The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln — Volume 5: 1858-1862 by Abraham Lincoln

While he hesitated he saw a figure rising and beckoning from a table on the lawn.
— from The Truth About Tristrem Varick: A Novel by Edgar Saltus

When the Separation Act was before the British Parliament, the public mind in England was to some not altogether inconsiderable extent contaminated by the spurious liberty-feeling of the French Revolution, and by the consequences of the American strike for independence.
— from The Rise of Canada, from Barbarism to Wealth and Civilisation Volume 1 by Charles Roger

I cannot too forcibly deprecate the common practice of burthening young folks with a variety of useless apparel, &c.; the greater part of which becomes the perquisite of servants, or, being found rather a burthen than a convenience, is generally thrown about in the most negligent manner.
— from The East India Vade-Mecum, Volume 1 (of 2) or, complete guide to gentlemen intended for the civil, military, or naval service of the East India Company. by Thomas Williamson

But the plan was never favorably regarded, apparently, by the New Hampshire Legislature.
— from The History of Dartmouth College by Baxter Perry Smith

I do not know what the process is: all that concerns me and you is that the Frenchman requires a beautiful woman to serve as a pattern for his experiments."
— from The Mysteries of London, v. 1/4 by George W. M. (George William MacArthur) Reynolds

The details of the Boers' line of battle would have been difficult to discover even by the fullest reconnaissance and by the best trained Intelligence department.
— from History of the War in South Africa 1899-1902 v. 1 (of 4) Compiled by Direction of His Majesty's Government by Great Britain. War Office

Dr. G. M. Dawson informs me that, while travelling along various Indian trails and routes in British Columbia, west of Fraser river, and between lats.
— from The Lost Atlantis and Other Ethnographic Studies by Wilson, Daniel, Sir