In 1750, from 6 to 7,000 men gather in Bearn behind a river to resist the clerks; two companies of the Artois regiment fire on the rebels and kill a dozen of them.
— from The Ancient Regime by Hippolyte Taine

His time was divided, as that of the typical good middle-class Englishman generally is, between business and religion, except when he read his newspaper.
— from Human Intercourse by Philip Gilbert Hamerton

It is then necessary to get into bed backwards, and repeat the following incantation thrice:— “Saint Thomas, Saint Thomas, Le plus court, le plus bas, Fais moi voir en m’endormant Celui qui sera mon amant, Et le pays, et la contrée.
— from Guernsey Folk Lore a collection of popular superstitions, legendary tales, peculiar customs, proverbs, weather sayings, etc., of the people of that island by MacCulloch, Edgar, Sir

The patient and gentle Russian is perishing, and a heartless tribe ferocious with greed is being born, a race of wolves, cruel animals of prey.
— from The Spy: The Story of a Superfluous Man by Maksim Gorky

He was excessively vain of his origin, yet he was the most confirmed drunkard alive, always getting intoxicated before breakfast, and remaining in a soaking state all day long.
— from Travels of Richard and John Lander into the interior of Africa, for the discovery of the course and termination of the Niger From unpublished documents in the possession of the late Capt. John William Barber Fullerton ... with a prefatory analysis of the previous travels of Park, Denham, Clapperton, Adams, Lyon, Ritchie, &c. into the hitherto unexplored countries of Africa by Robert Huish