Master Simon, who seemed to be a kind of connecting link between the old times and the new, and to be withal a little antiquated in the taste of his accomplishments, evidently piqued himself on his dancing, and was endeavoring to gain credit by the heel and toe, rigadoon, and other graces of the ancient school; but he had unluckily assorted himself with a little romping girl from boarding-school, who by her wild vivacity kept him continually on the stretch and defeated all his sober attempts at elegance: such are the ill-sorted matches to which antique gentlemen are unfortunately prone.
— from The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving

The scene and all its belongings, how they seize and affect me, The sad sharp-chinn'd old man with worn clothes and broad shoulder-band of leather, Myself effusing and fluid, a phantom curiously floating, now here absorb'd and arrested, The group, (an unminded point set in a vast surrounding,) The attentive, quiet children, the loud, proud, restive base of the streets, The low hoarse purr of the whirling stone, the light-press'd blade, Diffusing, dropping, sideways-darting, in tiny showers of gold, Sparkles from the wheel.
— from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

His frank, agreeable personality induced me to try and meet his wishes as far as I could; and I am convinced that I soon made such a great and unexpectedly powerful impression on him that from that moment he determined not to bother me further with the score of his opera.
— from My Life — Volume 1 by Richard Wagner

Everyone gazed at us politely, kindly, and with eager interest.
— from Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

“Ghosts are usually pale, Jane.”
— from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë

We said, for instance, just now, that there ought to be no great and unmixed powers; and this was under the idea that a state ought to be free and wise and harmonious, and that a legislator ought to legislate with a view to this end.
— from Laws by Plato

Perfect calms at sea are always suspected by the experienced mariner to be the forerunners of a storm, and I know some persons, who, without being generally the devotees of superstition, are apt to apprehend that great and unusual peace or tranquillity will be attended with its opposite.
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding

It was at least something short of positive despair, that to-day she might sit shivering alone, and not suffer continually a new grief, and unreasonable pang of remorse, at every fitful sigh of her fellow sufferer.
— from The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne

As soon as he was gone, I recurr'd to my two friends; and because I would not give an unkind preference to either, I took half of what each had offered and I wanted of one, and half of the other; paid off the company's debts, and went on with the business in my own name, advertising that the partnership was dissolved.
— from Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

A general and uninterrupted plot of their clergy, ever since the Reformation, I suppose all Protestants believe; for it is not reasonable to think but that so many of their orders, as were outed from their fat possessions, would endeavour a re-entrance against those whom they account heretics.
— from The Poetical Works of John Dryden, Volume 1 With Life, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes by John Dryden

I was quite ready then to applaud his unselfish generosity, for in that gloomy and unclean place I first saw the full radiance of God's truth that it is infinitely more blessed to give than to receive.
— from The Master of Silence: A Romance by Irving Bacheller

In the execution of this undertaking, geography, as usual, played a significant part in the disposition of forces.
— from History of the United States by Mary Ritter Beard

Any one above or below the prescribed ages who takes part in the public hymeneals shall be said to have done an unholy and unrighteous thing; the child of which he is the father, if it steals into life, will have been conceived under auspices very unlike the sacrifices and prayers, which at each hymeneal priestesses and priest and the whole city will offer, that the new generation may be better and more useful than their good and useful parents, whereas his child will be the offspring of darkness and strange lust.
— from The Republic by Plato

Five or six pounds of gunpowder are usually put into twelve-inch shells; from three to five, in ten-inch shells; from one to one and a quarter, into eight-inch shells; from three-quarters to one pound, into howitzes; and grenades of all sorts are half filled.
— from A System of Pyrotechny Comprehending the theory and practice, with the application of chemistry; designed for exhibition and for war. by James Cutbush

As we look down once more on this valley garden land, with its little silver lakes, and shining streams, beautiful groves and undulating prairies, and try to peer into its future, we are completely overwhelmed with emotion, as we notice it is just beginning to be checkered up, by marks of intelligent human occupancy, as well as by the Indian tepee and wigwam.
— from Found at Last: the Veritable Garden of Eden Or a place that answers the Bible description of the notable spot better than anything yet discovered by D. O. (David Oyer) Van Slyke

The multitude rushed about the streets, without knowing whither to go, and uttering piercing cries.
— from The History of the Crusades (vol. 3 of 3) by J. Fr. (Joseph Fr.) Michaud

Ahaz chose the help of Assyria rather than the help of Jehovah, and with the help of that great and unscrupulous power he had to take its domination and destructiveness (2 Chron. xxviii.
— from The Preacher's Complete Homiletic Commentary on the Books of the Bible, Volume 15 (of 32) The Preacher's Complete Homiletic Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, Volume I by Alfred Tucker

Though it is true that each eye, even when educated, retains its own special appreciation of the colours that gratify its seeing nerve, yet there are certain standards which give almost universal pleasure.
— from Needlework As Art by Alford, Marianne Margaret Compton Cust, Viscountess