n virtue; because reason alone is sufficient to govern a rational creature; which was, therefore, a character we had no pretence to challenge, even from the account I had given of my own people; although he manifestly perceived, that, in order to favour them, I had concealed many particulars, and often said the thing which was not.
— from Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World by Jonathan Swift

I saw many families with whom they were on visiting terms, whose manners charmed me more than I know how to say, but I never could get over my original prejudice against Mr. Nosnibor for having embezzled the money.
— from Erewhon; Or, Over the Range by Samuel Butler

I have watched, also, generations of my own people, as they passed from childhood to maturity, growing and ripening like green berries in the sunshine.
— from Menotah: A Tale of the Riel Rebellion by John Trevena

His funds, little by little, were increasing, owing to the generosity of many obscure persons, and to the daring exploits of the beggars of the sea.
— from The Rise of the Dutch Republic — Complete (1566-74) by John Lothrop Motley

In front of the temple stands the open-air stage where a group of masked or painted actors, clad in robes resplendent with colour and gleaming with gold embroidery, strive by means of extravagant gestures and high-pitched voices to interpret, for the benefit of a dense crowd of eager sightseers, their conception of some fantastic old-world legend or some tragic episode in the bygone history of China.
— from Lion and Dragon in Northern China by Johnston, Reginald Fleming, Sir

O Lord, how can I thank thee enough for the great gift of my own pure, amiable, fair, and lovely Sarah!
— from Birth of a Reformation; Or, The Life and Labors of Daniel S. Warner by A. L. (Andrew L.) Byers

‘The God of meekness, of patience, and of love is henceforth the one God of my heart.
— from Bunyan Characters (3rd Series) by Alexander Whyte

His son was Mr. Donald Fraser, who died minister of Kilmorack; so that he is the fifth minister or ecclesiastical person in a lineal and uninterrupted succession, which falls out but seldom, and than which, in my judgment, nothing can more entitle a man to be really a gentleman; for that blood which runs in the veins of four or five generations of men of piety and learning and breeding cannot but have influence, and it confirms my opinion that the present Mr. Wm.
— from The Clan Fraser in Canada: Souvenir of the First Annual Gathering by Alexander Fraser

If they had been guilty of maladministration or peculation, as was the case with most of them, they could hope [Pg 111] for pardon only through the complaisance of their female relatives.
— from The History of Prostitution: Its Extent, Causes, and Effects throughout the World by William W. Sanger

I intend to be particular touching my peach orchard, as well for the gratification of my own pride, as an incentive to those who cannot be made to believe Ten Acres Enough.
— from Ten Acres Enough A practical experience, showing how a very small farm may be made to keep a very large family by Edmund Morris