Lean forward, rather, and keep thy knees well composed.'
— from Bushido, the Soul of Japan by Inazo Nitobe

Fledgeby knocked and rang, and Fledgeby rang and knocked, but no one came.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

There are in the island 13 schools, 70 temples or pagodas, 13 hotels and taverns, 26 pawnbrokers, 87 spirit-merchants, 144 houses licensed for opium-smoking, and 11 houses for the sale of a peculiar spirit unknown in France, but which is extracted from rice, and known under the name of arrack.
— from Travels in the Central Parts of Indo-China (Siam), Cambodia, and Laos (Vol. 1 of 2) During the Years 1858, 1859, and 1860 by Henri Mouhot

In this place people that be distraight in wits are, by the suit of their friends, received and kept as afore, but not without charges to their bringers in.
— from The Survey of London by John Stow

If we were reasoning, farsighted people, four fifths of us would go straight to the Guardians for relief, and knock the whole social system to pieces with most beneficial reconstructive results.
— from Man and Superman: A Comedy and a Philosophy by Bernard Shaw

It's a dead earnest business proposition that's out for results and keeps out till by hook or crook it gets them.
— from The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle

4th row—drop the overs of the 3 first rows and knit 8 double stitches, that is, knit 1 stitch on the over, slip it on to the left needle and knit it again.
— from Encyclopedia of Needlework by Thérèse de Dillmont

No captain now for conquest burns, But homeward with his host returns; For roads and kings' ambitious dreams Have vanished neath descending streams.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki

In 1877 Capt. W. Gill visited a large nation of Man-tse with 18 tribal divisions, reaching from West Yunnan to the extreme north of Sechuen, a sort of federacy recognising a king, with Chinese habits and dress, but speaking a language resembling Sanskrit (?).
— from Man, Past and Present by A. H. (Augustus Henry) Keane

She came by the wind quickly without shipping a drop of water, but as I was securing the halyards the colonel gave her too much helm, bringing the wind on the other bow, the boom flew round and knocked my feet from under me, and overboard I went.
— from Famous Adventures and Prison Escapes of the Civil War by Basil Wilson Duke

The gypsy of society not always, but yet frequently, retains a keen interest in his wild ancestry.
— from The Gypsies by Charles Godfrey Leland

With a mind more at ease, Waverley could not have failed to admire the mixture of romance and beauty which renders interesting the scene through which he was now passing—the field which had been the scene of the tournaments of old—the rock from which the ladies beheld the contest, while each made vows for the success of some favourite knight—the towers of the Gothic church, where these vows might be paid—and, surmounting all, the fortress itself, at once a castle and palace, where valour received the prize from royalty, and knights and dames closed the evening amid the revelry of the dance, the song, and the feast.
— from Waverley; Or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since by Walter Scott

And that put Patty out for one thing: and then she wouldn't give away the ribbon to the fastest runner—the lads run a hundred yards to the bride, for ribbon and kiss, you know;—wasn't the ribbon she grudged, poor wench; but the fastest runner in Cairnhope town is that Will Gibbon, a nasty, ugly, slobbering chap, that was always after her, and Philip jealous of him; so she did for the best, and Will Gibbon safe to win it.
— from Put Yourself in His Place by Charles Reade

PLANTING A REGULAR GEOMETRICAL FLOWER-GARDEN.—LIST OF PLANTS.—MODE OF LAYING OUT REGULAR FIGURES ON THE GROUND.—RULES FOR ARRANGING COLOURS.—PLANTING SIDE BEDS.—PLANTS WITH FRAGRANT FLOWERS.—CULTURE OF BULBS.—RESERVE GROUND.—CULTURE OF ANNUALS, PERENNIALS, AND BIENNIALS.—HOTBEDS AND FRAMES FOR RAISING AND KEEPING HALF-HARDY FLOWERS.
— from The Lady's Country Companion; Or, How to Enjoy a Country Life Rationally by Mrs. (Jane) Loudon

"The large cast steel valves placed in the embouchement of the casing, it was thought, might act to check the free discharge, and arrangements were provided for raising and keeping them open by a long lever key attached to their axes of revolution, but, to our great surprise, at the first gush from the pumps these valves, weighing nearly 1,500 pounds, were lifted into their recessed chambers, giving an unobstructed opening to the flow, and they floated on its surface unsupported, save by the swiftly flowing water, without a movement, while the pump was in operation.
— from Scientific American Supplement, No. 613, October 1, 1887 by Various

The upper figure represents a kind of occasional variety, with fourteen tail-feathers.
— from Ornithological Biography, Volume 1 (of 5) An Account of the Habits of the Birds of the United States of America by John James Audubon

It took away all the uncomfortableness and we felt mighty good over it, because it would a been a miserable business to have any unfriendliness on the raft; for what you want, above all things, on a raft, is for everybody to be satisfied, and feel right and kind towards the others.
— from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

A small room with apostle-figures serving as caryatids leads to the sanctum sanctorum where the famous relics are kept.
— from Heroic Spain by Elizabeth Boyle O'Reilly