His own studies were tardy, laborious, and imperfect; if he spoke Latin, and understood Greek, he derived the rudiments of knowledge from conversation, rather than from books; and, in his mature age, the emperor strove to acquire the practice of writing, which every peasant now learns in his infancy.
— 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

So that to condemn us for being the first to break off, because they delay the blow that we dread, instead of ourselves delaying to know for certain whether it will be dealt or not, is to take a false view of the case.
— from The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

Our hearts were broken; we could not keep from crying.
— from The Mysterious Stranger, and Other Stories by Mark Twain

This match was with Julie Karágina, the daughter of excellent and virtuous parents, a girl the Rostóvs had known from childhood, and who had now become a wealthy heiress through the death of the last of her brothers.
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

the other species is precisely the form and about the size of the well known fish called the Hickory Shad or old wife, with the exception of the teeth, a rim of which garnish the outer edge of both the upper and lower jaw; the tonge and pallet are also beset with long sharp teeth bending inwards, the eye of this fish is very large, and the iris of a silvery colour and wide.
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark

From melancholy adust ariseth one kind; from choler another, which is most brutish; another from phlegm, which is dull; and the last from blood, which is best.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

We know from Cicero himself, that it was esteemed a great honor among the Romans to publish an edict, well conceived and well drawn.
— 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

This confirmed D'Orvilliers' suspicions, and as the wind, which certainly favored the English that morning, now hauled back again to the westward, permitting them to lay up for the French rear, he wore his fleet together (B to C), thus bringing the rest to aid the rear, now become the van, and preventing Keppel from concentrating on or penetrating it.
— from The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 by A. T. (Alfred Thayer) Mahan

[608] in which shall be kept engines for quenching of fire, artillery gardens, public walks, theatres, and spacious fields allotted for all gymnastic sports, and honest recreations, hospitals of all kinds, for children, orphans, old folks, sick men, mad men, soldiers, pest-houses, &c. not built precario , or by gouty benefactors, who, when by fraud and rapine they have extorted all their lives, oppressed whole provinces, societies, &c. give something to pious uses, build a satisfactory alms-house, school or bridge, &c. at their last end, or before perhaps, which is no otherwise than to steal a goose, and stick down a feather, rob a thousand to relieve ten; and those hospitals so built and maintained, not by collections, benevolences, donaries, for a set number, (as in ours,) just so many and no more at such a rate, but for all those who stand in need, be they more or less, and that ex publico aerario , and so still maintained, non nobis solum nati sumus , &c. I will have conduits of sweet and good water, aptly disposed in each town, common
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

That they devour their reason and scarce think Their eyes do offices of truth, their words Are natural breath: but, howsoe'er you have Been justled from your senses, know for certain That I am Prospero and that very duke Which was thrust forth of Milan, who most strangely Upon this shore, where you were wreck'd, was landed, To be the lord on't.
— from Shakespeare's Comedy of The Tempest by William Shakespeare

Then we shall know for certain if things are as bad as Hubert made out.
— from Red Money by Fergus Hume

His wife finally took the precaution of taking up her position farther down the river, but keeping fairly close to the herd.
— from Rataplan, a Rogue Elephant; and Other Stories by Ellen Velvin

Ginao, Mt. and Hot Springs. Gindanes of Herodotus. Ginger, Shan-si; Caindu; alleged to grow in Kiangnan; Fuju; Coilum; different qualities and prices of; Ely; Malabar; Guzerat. Giraffes, mediaeval notices of. Girardo, Paul.
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 2 by Rustichello of Pisa

Who that has seen the calm, happy face, and watched the tranquil sleep of the child after the operation, who before was struggling, with distorted features and agonised countenance, to get a breath of air, but would feel as I do, that I would have it done in a child of [Pg 141] mine for the sake of a painless death, even though I knew for certain that it would not prolo
— from The Mother's Manual of Children's Diseases by Charles West

A hundred aircraft might be kept from completion by the lack of a single part.
— from Expediter by Mack Reynolds

Ent himself was a physician of eminence, and received the honour of knighthood from Charles II.
— from The Works of John Dryden, now first collected in Eighteen Volumes, Volume 11 by John Dryden

Up to the present time you've kept fastidiously clear of such entanglements.
— from Athalie by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers