My natal gods bring the echo clear Of songs that in past times they bore; Wide seas I cross’d to foreign shore, With hope of change and other fate; My folly was made clear too late, For in the place of good I sought The seas reveal’d unto me naught, But made death’s specter on me wait.
— from Lineage, Life and Labors of José Rizal, Philippine Patriot by Austin Craig

The people probably of Galata or Galaria; on the site of which the modern village of Galata is supposed to stand.
— from The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 1 (of 6) by the Elder Pliny

The original has very extensive margin notes, which are used to show where he introduces the definitions of words and concepts, to give in short the subject that a paragraph or section is dealing with, and to give references to his quotations, largely but not exclusively biblical.
— from Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

And now, by aid of history, Louis le Grand I seem to see Philip the Fourth advance to meet Upon the isle of conference.
— from The Fables of La Fontaine Translated into English Verse by Walter Thornbury and Illustrated by Gustave Doré by Jean de La Fontaine

There is a water-clock in the palace which shows the hours; and at the end of every hour a very large Chinese gong is struck, the sound of which is so loud that it is not only heard all over the palace, but over most part of the city; and the peculiarity of the gong, as of every Chinese gong, was that nearly one minute must elapse after the first stroke before the second stroke could be made, to allow the gong to give out the whole of its sound.
— from Folk-Tales of Bengal by Lal Behari Day

`Eek drede fond first goddes, I suppose, Thus shal I seyn, and that his cowarde herte Made him amis the goddes text to glose, 1410 Whan he for ferde out of his Delphos sterte.
— from Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer

When asked what was the object of so many murders and scandals and dastardly outrages, he answered with feverish haste that “it was with the idea of systematically undermining the foundations, systematically destroying society and all principles; with the idea of nonplussing every one and making hay of everything, and then, when society was tottering, sick and out of joint, cynical and sceptical though filled with an intense eagerness for self-preservation and for some guiding idea, suddenly to seize it in their hands, raising the standard of revolt and relying on a complete network of quintets, which were actively, meanwhile, gathering recruits and seeking out the weak spots which could be attacked.”
— from The Possessed (The Devils) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Badger's winter stores, which indeed were visible everywhere, took up half the room—piles of apples, turnips, and potatoes, baskets full of nuts, and jars of honey; but the two little white beds on the remainder of the floor looked soft and inviting, and the linen on them, though coarse, was clean and smelt beautifully of lavender; and the Mole and the Water Rat, shaking off their garments in some thirty seconds, tumbled in between the sheets in great joy and contentment.
— from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

As a flash of lightning in the night shows up in an instant every detail of a wild landscape, so at one glance I seemed to see every possible result of such an action—the detection, the capture, the honoured career ending in irreparable failure and disgrace, my friend himself lying at the mercy of the odious Milverton.
— from The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

Here in my sanctum, high above the pave, ma'am, I can't help doing all the things I do, Not e'en my great immortal soul to save, ma'am.
— from Peeps at People Being Certain Papers from the Writings of Anne Warrington Witherup by John Kendrick Bangs

"There's outward and visible signs of the inward and spiritual grace I see, too," said Mr. Moses.
— from The Virgin in Judgment by Eden Phillpotts

He was of the house of Hesse, and had gone into Spain to seek employment; he was a relative of the Queen of Spain, and, being a very well-made man, had not, it was said, displeased her.
— from Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency — Volume 02 by Saint-Simon, Louis de Rouvroy, duc de

As to the casuistic question—The best of the marks and measures of goodness is the capacity to bring happiness, but in seeking for an universal principle we find that the essence of good is simply to satisfy demand .
— from The Monist, Vol. 1, 1890-1891 by Various

It is just like the ill compliment you paid him on his gallantry in saving the Syren and all her crew—absolutely would not believe that your brother Edward and the young hero of my tale were one and the same person."
— from The Mother's Recompense, Volume 1 A Sequel to Home Influence by Grace Aguilar

In the Sadong, on the Rajah's recommendation, a Malay chief named Abang Kasim had been appointed governor by the Bruni Government in succession to Sherip Sahap, with the title of Datu Bandar; [130] he was a man weak in character, but with brains enough to be mischievous and get himself into trouble; and the Land-Dayaks there were again being so oppressed by the Malays that the Rajah found it necessary to warn the latter that they would be punished and turned out of the river if they did not desist.
— from A History of Sarawak under Its Two White Rajahs 1839-1908 by C. A. Bampfylde

I stood a few minutes to contemplate its marvellous outline, and was just going to close my window when, lowering my gaze, I saw the statue on a pedestal about forty yards from the house.
— from Abbé Aubain and Mosaics by Prosper Mérimée

The work is not so attractive to Miss Garston, I should think,' she said, in a tone so suggestive that the blood rushed to my face.
— from Uncle Max by Rosa Nouchette Carey

As these damp winds blow over snow-covered surfaces they become foggy and the ground is said to “smoke”; the heavy rain rapidly melts the snow; slush and mud make bad walking; rivers and brooks rise rapidly, perhaps overflowing their banks; low-lying places become filled with standing water.
— from Practical Exercises in Elementary Meteorology by Robert DeCourcy Ward