"Pardon me, Dr. John, I must explain.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë

why, he’s the man”— “——-mandragora Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep Which thou owd’st yesterday!” here roared our Climax just in my ear, and shaking
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

Probus therefore judged it more expedient to defer the execution of so great a design; which was indeed rather of specious than solid utility.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

Lest it should be supposed that this is merely a joke, I must explain that in the old times, whenever a member of the samurai class had committed an act in person or vicariously which might be expected to bring down upon him the wrath of his political superiors, he at once assumed a submissive posture, and as it were delivered himself up, tied hands and feet, to the pleasure of his lord.
— from A Diplomat in Japan The inner history of the critical years in the evolution of Japan when the ports were opened and the monarchy restored, recorded by a diplomatist who took an active part in the events of the time, with an account of his personal experiences during that period by Ernest Mason Satow

O, yes; I'll pawn this jewel in my ear, and you may pawn your silk stockings, and pull up your boots, they will ne'er be mist: it must be done now.
— from Every Man in His Humor by Ben Jonson

So, Friar John, I must exhort you To wait a word that may import you, And to inquire, while here we tarry, If it shall be your luck to marry.
— from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais

The distilled water or juice is much esteemed by French dames to cleanse the skin from any roughness and deformity, or discolouring thereof; being boiled in wine and given to drink, it is a good remedy against the plague, and other pestilential fevers, if the party after taking it be warm in his bed, and sweat for two hours after, and use the same for twice at least.
— from The Complete Herbal To which is now added, upwards of one hundred additional herbs, with a display of their medicinal and occult qualities physically applied to the cure of all disorders incident to mankind: to which are now first annexed, the English physician enlarged, and key to Physic. by Nicholas Culpeper

He had acquired vast wealth in many a journey in magical Eastern lands, and knowledge, so it was said, more valuable than the gold and diamonds, which had almost ceased to have any value for him.
— from The Works of Honoré de Balzac: About Catherine de' Medici, Seraphita, and Other Stories by Honoré de Balzac

Bruno always joined in my enthusiasm when a sail was in sight; in fact, he was generally the first to detect it, and he would bark and drag at me until he had drawn my attention to the new hope.
— from The Adventures of Louis de Rougemont by Louis de Rougemont

'Jumping,' I may explain, for the benefit of those who do not know the term, is the process by which an unprincipled skipper obtains a crew for nothing.
— from The Cruise of the 'Alerte' The narrative of a search for treasure on the desert island of Trinidad by E. F. (Edward Frederick) Knight

John C. Herbert , of Maryland; Robert Ralston , Esq., of Philadelphia; Gen. John Mason , of Georgetown, D. C.; Samuel Bayard , Esq., of New Jersey; Isaac McKim , Esq., of Maryland; Gen. John Hartwell Cocke , of Virginia; Rt. Rev. Bishop White , of Pennsylvania; Hon.
— from History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880. Vol. 2 Negroes as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as Citizens by George Washington Williams

52 “Jump into my ear,” said the Blackbird.
— from The White Elephant, and Other Tales From India by Georgene Faulkner

And your new paragraph, Judy, is most exciting.
— from The Relentless City by E. F. (Edward Frederic) Benson

I am, my dear Mrs. Longstreet with sentiments of highest esteem, Very Sincerely, John Ireland Mrs. E. D. Longstreet 333 * * *
— from Lee and Longstreet at High Tide: Gettysburg in the Light of the Official Records by Helen Dortch Longstreet

St. Augustine, in his City of God, has given the following analysis of this magnificent disquisition: “In the third book of Cicero’s Commonwealth” (says he) “the question of Political Justice is most earnestly discussed.
— from Cicero's Tusculan Disputations Also, Treatises On The Nature Of The Gods, And On The Commonwealth by Marcus Tullius Cicero