And we have written this epigram on him:— Had I not known Speusippus thus had died, No one would have persuaded me that he Was e’er akin to Plato; who would never Have died desponding for so slight a grief.
— from The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius

But had I not known she had so much excellency of mind and behaviour, as would strike every body in her favour at first sight, I should not have dared to class her with such of my worthy neighbours, as now so kindly congratulate us both.
— from Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson

10), is all but conclusive proof that the hero is not king Solomon, but another sort of bridegroom.
— from Introduction to the Old Testament by John Edgar McFadyen

Had I not known something of the banking peculiarities of the West, I should have believed that they were gambling for enormous sums.
— from The Quadroon: Adventures in the Far West by Mayne Reid

p. 180), "He has been curious, attentive, agreeable; and in every place where he has resided some days, he has left acquaintance who esteem and regret him; I never knew so clear and general an impression."
— from The Works of Lord Byron: Letters and Journals. Vol. 2 by Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron

Fearing you have got the gout in the head, we are here to make an examination; things done in secret have a dark look about them; and we, being the honor-saving committee, have come to make a single suggestion, which is that my lord of foreign affair memory is found wanting in firmness, and gets very crooked when he is not kept straight, which is most unfortunate in a diplomatist who smokes bad cigars all the day long.
— from The Adventures of My Cousin Smooth by Timothy Templeton

But, had I not seen with my own eyes the bloody streak across his forehead as the shot fired by Karamaneh entered his high skull, had I not known, so certainly as it is given to man to know, that the giant intellect was no more, the mighty will impotent, I should have replied: “The message is from Dr. Fu-Manchu!”
— from The Return of Dr. Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer

I would have sold this fan for a few pounds had I not known such a large sum was offered.
— from The Mandarin's Fan by Fergus Hume