I had never called on him, as he was not a ‘persona grata’ to the king or his relations.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

My objection is, first, that in any sense this rule is applicable only to certain classes of poetry; secondly, that even to these classes it is not applicable, except in such a sense, as hath never by any one (as far as I know or have read,) been denied or doubted; and lastly, that as far as, and in that degree in which it is practicable, it is yet as a rule useless, if not injurious, and therefore either need not, or ought not to be practised.
— from Biographia Literaria by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

It was to Malory rather than to Layamon or to the early French writers that Shakespeare and his contemporaries turned for their material; and in our own age he has supplied Tennyson and Matthew Arnold and Swinburne and Morris with the inspiration for the "Idylls of the King" and the "Death of Tristram" and the other exquisite poems which center about Arthur and the knights of his Round Table.
— from English Literature Its History and Its Significance for the Life of the English-Speaking World by William J. (William Joseph) Long

Newman answered the summons, and Ralph raised his eyes stealthily to his face, as if he almost feared to read there, a knowledge of his recent thoughts.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

Then Ráma, when his wondering eyes Beheld the monarch of the skies, [pg 234] To Lakshmaṇ quickly called, and showed The car wherein Lord Indra rode: “See, brother, see that air-borne car, Whose wondrous glory shines afar: Wherefrom so bright a lustre streams That like a falling sun it seems: These are the steeds whose fame we know, Of heavenly race through heaven they go: These are the steeds who bear the yoke Of Śakra, 412 Him whom all invoke.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki

Goaded by shame and dishonour he fled with his children into a remote corner of Wales, changing his very name that his friends might never know of his retreat; and here, no great while afterwards, he was found dead in his bed.
— from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Fanny, now at liberty to speak openly, felt more than justified in adding to his knowledge of her real character, by some hint of what share his brother's state of health might be supposed to have in her wish for a complete reconciliation.
— from Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

SPORTS AND PASTIMES OF OLD TIME USED IN THIS CITY “Let us now,” saith Fitzstephen, “come to the sports and pastimes, seeing it is fit that a city should not only be commodious and serious, but also merry and sportful; whereupon in the seals of the popes, until the time of Pope Leo, on the one side was St. Peter fishing, with a key over him, reached as it were by the hand of God out of heaven, and about it this verse: ‘Tu pro me navem liquisti, suscipe clavem.’
— from The Survey of London by John Stow

Noirtier uttered a kind of hoarse, rattling sound; the old man’s eyes sparkled, and the good doctor understood that he wished to behold his child.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo, Illustrated by Alexandre Dumas

And also from my husband’s friend Bolkónski, Prince Andrew Bolkónski,” she went on with special emphasis, implying that she knew of his relation to Natásha.
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

"None that I know of," he replied.
— from Miss Stuart's Legacy by Flora Annie Webster Steel

The African Rhinoceros is the king of his race.
— from The Desert World by Arthur Mangin

For she did not marry him without some knowledge of his reversionary interest in the land of which they have just been speaking, and at which they are still looking.
— from Gwen Wynn: A Romance of the Wye by Mayne Reid

“And she’d kill any mon who tried to rob ta bonnie young Chief Kenneth of her rights!”
— from Three Boys; Or, The Chiefs of the Clan Mackhai by George Manville Fenn

Have you the key of her room?"
— from A Royal Prisoner by Pierre Souvestre

Therefore it seems that any kind of human reasoning in support of matters of faith, diminishes the merit of believing.
— from Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province by Thomas, Aquinas, Saint

She rejoiced that Lily was dead, and that the shameful stigma of suicide lay upon her memory; though she was the daily witness of the bereaved family's sorrow, though she saw that Lancelot Darling was aged as if ten years had passed over his head in the past few weeks, still she felt no grief for her sin, and kept on her resolute way, swearing in her secret soul to win the young man whom she passionately adored, and whose wealth and position made him the most eligible parti in the whole city.
— from The Bride of the Tomb, and Queenie's Terrible Secret by Miller, Alex. McVeigh, Mrs.

They could not surrender one half of the command without depriving one of their kings of his rightful power.
— from Xerxes Makers of History by Jacob Abbott