Assyria and Babylon had literature, art, and science; but with a language written in seven or eight hundred cuneiform signs, some of them having fifty different meanings, what wonder is it that for more than two thousand years the language and literature of these nations was lost, buried, and forgotten?
— from A Greek-English Lexicon to the New Testament by William Greenfield

On being addressed by one of the party, he drew nearer, and said, rubbing his chin (which scraped under his horny hand like fresh gravel beneath a nailed shoe), that he was from Delaware, and had lately bought a farm ‘down there,’ pointing into one of the marshes where the stunted trees were thickest.
— from American Notes by Charles Dickens

Lavoisier begged a fortnight more of life, to finish some experiments: but "the Republic does not need such;" the axe must do its work.
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle

Yet when it was launched by a firm and skilful hand, there was not any cavalry that durst venture within its reach, nor any shield or corselet that could sustain the impetuosity of its weight.
— 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

I can last but a few moments more.
— from A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

508 Then Ráma cried in mournful tone, His spirit by his woe o'erthrown; “The wood is searched from side to side, No distant spot remains untried, No lilied pool, no streamlet where The lotus buds are fresh and fair.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki

Conspicuous among the spectators was the man who had been carried out on a litter but a few minutes before.
— from Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete by Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson) Grant

They had seen us first of all, far down in the lake below, and flashed the tidings across the land even before our first exploring flight.
— from Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

To the above she then added: “Besides this, you can make the whole field of rice break into waves by standing up, clapping the hands, and then pushing each hand right up the sleeve of the opposite arm (I am not quite sure if I rightly understood this last, but am fairly certain that it is correct—my notes have only ‘run the hands up the arms’), saying as you do so:— “Al-salam ʿaleikum, Waman wamat, Paku amat, Wathohar.”
— from Malay Magic Being an introduction to the folklore and popular religion of the Malay Peninsula by Walter William Skeat

The man called his school to order, however, took off his coat, hung it up behind the door, ran his two hands through his hair, time and again, but failing to pacify himself by this means, called out a little boy, and flogged him soundly.
— from First Fam'lies of the Sierras by Joaquin Miller

The natural jealousy with which every claim to exclusive privilege is viewed, was heightened to the point of hatred during the struggle for constitutional government, by the fact that trading monopolies which were granted to courtiers, not only enhanced unreasonably the price of many of the necessities of life, but also furnished the means, which enabled the king to pursue his illegal and arbitrary courses in defiance of parliament.
— from The History of the Post Office in British North America by William Smith

It now lacked but a few minutes of sunset.
— from Tonio, Son of the Sierras: A Story of the Apache War by Charles King

The tree combines two working cosmical forces, it partly remains the same and still continually changes and varies; it is now covered only with leaves, by degrees with leaves and blossoms, and at last with leaves and fruits; then its vitality apparently dying away, leaves, blossoms, and fruits vanish, to be renewed again with the same regularity and abundance.
— from A Manual of the Historical Development of Art Pre-Historic—Ancient—Classic—Early Christian; with Special Reference to Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, and Ornamentation by G. G. (Gustavus George) Zerffi

On their father's death they fled to Sweden, to Denmark, and were busy stirring up troubles in those countries against Olaf Tryggveson; till at length, by a favorable combination, under their auspices chiefly, they got his brief and noble reign put an end to.
— from Early Kings of Norway by Thomas Carlyle

She not only had lost a lover, but a friend.
— from Dulcibel: A Tale of Old Salem by Henry Peterson

B has three lines broken at forehead , warres , enough .
— from Bussy D'Ambois and The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois by George Chapman

"These," says Scot, "deale with no inferiour causes: these fetch divels out of hell, and angels out of heaven; these raise up what bodies they list, though they were dead, buried, and rotten long before; and fetch soules out of heaven or hell.—These, I saie, take upon them also the raising of tempests, and earthquakes, and to doo as much as God himselfe can doo.
— from Shakspeare and His Times [Vol. 2 of 2] Including the Biography of the Poet; criticisms on his genius and writings; a new chronology of his plays; a disquisition on the on the object of his sonnets; and a history of the manners, customs, and amusements, superstitions, poetry, and elegant literature of his age by Nathan Drake

As I crossed that beautiful building, lighted brilliantly, and filled with splendidly dressed company, and heard the deafening shouts which pealed through its roof as I entered it, I felt a good deal flurried.
— from The Choice Humorous Works, Ludicrous Adventures, Bons Mots, Puns, and Hoaxes of Theodore Hook by Theodore Edward Hook