"I've done so much as to secretly give orders," replied Mrs. Yu, "to get things ready; but for that thing (the coffin), there's no good timber to be found, so that it will have to be looked after by and by."
— from Hung Lou Meng, or, the Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel, Book I by Xueqin Cao

In the year 1512 the French, retreating before the arms of Maximilian and the Spaniards, were induced to make a declaration that the Milanese had taken no part in their expulsion, and, without being guilty of rebellion, might yield themselves to a new conqueror.
— from The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy by Jacob Burckhardt

The character must not be allowed to get vague, but, with gleams of romance, must yet be kept homely and natural by little touches of his daily life.
— from Sketches and Studies by Nathaniel Hawthorne