The watchman replied that he had seen two men stop him in the middle of the square, but supposed that they were friends of his, and that, instead of scolding vainly, he had better go to the police on the morrow, so that they might make a search for whoever had stolen the cloak.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

In Cambodia, when an epidemic breaks out, the inhabitants of several villages unite and go with a band of music at their head to look for the man whom the local god is supposed to have chosen for his temporary incarnation.
— from The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by James George Frazer

For the sake of experiment I once spoke very disrespectfully of the Dwarf to John Punch, an old man, and he said to me in a frightened whisper: “Whisht!
— from The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries by W. Y. (Walter Yeeling) Evans-Wentz

After the battle of Pharsalia, when he had sent his army away before him into Asia, and was passing in one single vessel the strait of the Hellespont, he met Lucius Cassius at sea with ten tall men-of-war, when he had the courage not only to stay his coming, but to sail up to him and summon him to yield, which he did.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

'I only said very far from well.
— from North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

The secondary trade is complicated still more by the fact that such big Kula centres as, for instance, Sinaketa, are not efficient in any of the industries of special value to the Dobuans.
— from Argonauts of the Western Pacific An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea by Bronislaw Malinowski

Contenting myself with the certainty that Music, in its various modes of metre, rhythm, and rhyme, is of so vast a moment in Poetry as never to be wisely rejected—is so vitally important an adjunct, that he is simply silly who declines its assistance, I will not now pause to maintain its absolute essentiality.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

In connection with the subject of tin-mining the account contributed 224 in 1885 by Mr. Abraham Hale (then Inspector of Mines in the Kinta district of Perak) to the Journal of the Straits Asiatic Society is of such value as to necessitate its being quoted in extenso .
— from Malay Magic Being an introduction to the folklore and popular religion of the Malay Peninsula by Walter William Skeat

"When I ask you for this plume, which is of some value doubtless, I do not mean to suggest, monsieur, that you should make me a present of it; and I will beg you to accept this purse in exchange, not as the price of what I ask of you, but as a souvenir of me."
— from The Bath Keepers; Or, Paris in Those Days, v.1 (Novels of Paul de Kock Volume VII) by Paul de Kock

When extensive repairs have to be undertaken on iron or steel vessels, the fact that this dock forms part of an extensive shipbuilding plant, and is located right in the yard, enables such repairs to be executed with despatch and economy.
— from The Romance of Modern Mechanism With Interesting Descriptions in Non-technical Language of Wonderful Machinery and Mechanical Devices and Marvellously Delicate Scientific Instruments by Archibald Williams

Its location made it of strategic value as a key between the Mohawk Valley and Lake Ontario.
— from The Greatest Highway in the World Historical, Industrial and Descriptive Information of the Towns, Cities and Country Passed Through Between New York and Chicago Via the New York Central Lines. Based on the Encyclopaedia Britannica. by New York Central Railroad Company

If one should venture out from the furze there, and make for the copse opposite, put on the pace, and you will be speedily alongside.
— from The Hills and the Vale by Richard Jefferies

It may therefore please you to vnderstand, that herein I haue likewise preserued, disposed, and set in order such Voyages, Nauigations, Traffikes, and Discoueries, as our Nation, and especially the worthy inhabitants of this citie of London, haue painefully performed to the South and Southeast parts of the world, without the Streight of Gibraltar, vpon the coasts of Africa, about the Cape of Buona Sperança, to and beyonde the East India.
— from The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation — Volume 06 Madiera, the Canaries, Ancient Asia, Africa, etc. by Richard Hakluyt

He cared not for learned lumber which he could not bring into relation with his intellectual or spiritual vitality, or make use of in his creative work.
— from An Introduction to the Prose and Poetical Works of John Milton Comprising All the Autobiographic Passages in His Works, the More Explicit Presentations of His Ideas of True Liberty. by John Milton

That ecstatic lady, who always wrote more or less under the influence of St Vitus, was in her time an habituée at Vichy.
— from Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 365, March, 1846 by Various

The intellectual or spiritual value of such a presentment must depend upon the auditor's capacity to absorb from a tragedy its lessons of insight into the relations of the human soul to the moral government of the world.
— from Shadows of the Stage by William Winter