This is exactly what ought to be and can be.
— from Essays of Schopenhauer by Arthur Schopenhauer

After all, if natives could furnish us with correct, explicit and consistent accounts of their tribal organisation, customs and ideas, there would be no difficulty in ethnographic work.
— from Argonauts of the Western Pacific An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea by Bronislaw Malinowski

The city of Westminster for civil government is divided into twelve several wards; for the which the dean of the collegiate church of Westminster, or the high-steward, do elect twelve burgesses, and as many assistants; that is, one burgess, and one assistant, for every ward; out of the which twelve burgesses two are nominated yearly, upon Thursday in Easter week, for [422] chief burgesses to continue for one year next following, who have authority given them by the act of parliament, 27th Elizabeth, to hear, examine, determine, and punish, according to the laws of the realm, and lawful customs of the city of London, matters of incontinency, common scolds, inmates, and common annoyances; and likewise, to commit such persons as shall offend against the peace, and thereof to give knowledge within four-and-twenty hours to some justice of peace, in the county of Middlesex.
— from The Survey of London by John Stow

For all this I eat with a very good stomach, and as much as I use to do, and so I did this noon, and staid at home discoursing and doing things in my chamber, altering chairs in my chamber, and set them above in the red room, they being Turkey work, and so put their green covers upon those that were above, not so handsome.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

Hence numerous detached, feeble, and unprogressive settlements, came into existence, where the new settlers had to struggle for years with the most disheartening difficulties.
— from Roughing It in the Bush by Susanna Moodie

He that would examine the vestiges of the original settlement, out of which the actual town has grown, must betake himself, in the first instance, to localities now deserted by fashion, and be content to contemplate objects that, to the indifferent eye, will seem commonplace and insignificant.
— from Toronto of Old Collections and recollections illustrative of the early settlement and social life of the capital of Ontario by Henry Scadding

Although her Indian empire was not yet begun, the vast superiority of her navy would enable her to control the communications of other nations with those rich and distant regions, and to assert her will in any disputes arising among the trading-stations of the different nationalities.
— from The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 by A. T. (Alfred Thayer) Mahan

CHAPTER IX — PHOEBE R——, AND OUR SECOND MOVING “She died in early womanhood, Sweet scion of a stem so rude; A child of Nature, free from art, With candid brow and open heart; The flowers she loved now gently wave Above her low and nameless grave.”
— from Roughing It in the Bush by Susanna Moodie

But will not this also be possessed in sufficient degree by a very few intelligent men, diffusively elected within the State? Divide the largest State into ten or twelve districts, and it will be found that there will be no peculiar local interests in either, which will not be within the knowledge of the representative of the district.
— from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton

Therefore was every man moved liberally to grant, what they would impart towards the preparing and furnishing of such hospitals, and also what they would contribute weekly towards their maintenance for a time, which they said should not be past one year, or twain, until they were better furnished of endowment: to make short, every man granted liberally, according to his ability; books were drawn of the relief in every ward of the city, towards the new hospitals, and were delivered by the mayor to the king’s commissioners, on the 17th of February, and order was taken therein; so as the 26th of July in the year 1552, the repairing of the Gray Fryers’ house, for poor fatherless children, was taken in hand; and also in the latter end of the same month, began the repairing of this hospital of St. Bartilmew, and was of new endowed, and furnished at the charges of the citizens.
— from The Survey of London by John Stow

From amongst all the spectacles, that of the curtains of seven colours (the scenes) is exceedingly wonderful, for every instant a new painting is exhibited.
— from The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 10, No. 265, July 21, 1827 by Various

"Very superior in every way.
— from Historic Boys: Their Endeavours, Their Achievements, and Their Times by Elbridge S. (Elbridge Streeter) Brooks

The ladies, therefore, resolved to hold the school on Tuesday and Friday mornings in each week, from ten to twelve o'clock.
— from The Catholic World, Vol. 11, April, 1870 to September, 1870 by Various

All these people have agreed to approve our treaties with Belgium, in spite of which twenty speakers scold each other with the greatest vehemence, as if each wished to make an end of the other; they are not agreed about the motives which make them unanimous, hence, alas!
— from Bismarck and the Foundation of the German Empire by James Wycliffe Headlam

I turned from them in contempt, and, gazing upward at the earth so lately left, and left perhaps for ever, beheld it like a huge, dull, copper shield, about two degrees in diameter, fixed immovably in the heavens overhead, and tipped on one of its edges with a crescent border of the most brilliant gold.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

It gave its name to all the other caves, but its own floor was twenty feet below any of them, and the secret of its existence was still jealously guarded by the few who knew of it.
— from Chatterbox, 1906 by Various

She looked grateful for this, and was pulling down her veil when she perceived two or three men on the other side of the room, watching her in evident wonder.
— from The House of the Whispering Pines by Anna Katharine Green

Miss Lottie Haxall, the younger sister of Miss Mary, was a thoroughly high-bred girl in every way, and noble in every phase of her character.
— from Reminiscences of Confederate Service, 1861-1865 by Francis Warrington Dawson

But perhaps the best known of his inhuman eccentricities was his treatment of the inhabitants of the great city of Delhi.
— from A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India by Nunes, Fernão, active 16th century