I allow that he would certainly have made a career, had it not been for the Three Days.
— from Night and Morning, Volume 4 by Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron

A comparison of military and civilian horsemanship is not a desirable theme, but it is surprising how many of the horsemen of the nation, even those who ride to hounds and between flags, are profoundly ignorant of all-round horsemanship and horse-training.
— from Our Cavalry by Michael Frederic Rimington

And there also you may behold Lord Spendall brought thither in his Coach very magnificently, and carried home in no less state; but seldom goes away before he hath either won or lost a pretty number of Guinneys.
— from The Ten Pleasures of Marriage and the Second Part, The Confession of the New Married Couple by A. Marsh

"Perhaps I should have," she said, lightly, but on her guard with her French in the presence of so meticulous a critic, "had I not just this moment dreamt of coffee.
— from The Eddy: A Novel of To-day by Clarence Louis Cullen

His story gave me another chance, however; I noted where the hole was in the hat, and made a precisely corresponding hole in the skull.
— from The Trees of Pride by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton

The turtle-dove: "It were better for many a creature had it never been born."
— from The Child and Childhood in Folk-Thought Studies of the Activities and Influences of the Child Among Primitive Peoples, Their Analogues and Survivals in the Civilization of To-Day by Alexander Francis Chamberlain

This “firmament,” that God made, and “called Heaven,” is not the same as mentioned in the first verse, but is included in the words: “The heavens and the earth.”
— from A Book of Gems, or, Choice selections from the writings of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

The time of The Heart of Midlothian is earlier than Waverley , but it is more of a modern novel than an historical romance, and even Old Mortality , which is earlier still, is modern also; Cuddie Headrigg is no more antique than Dandie Dinmont or the [21] Ettrick Shepherd himself, and even his mother and her Covenanting friends are not far from the fashion of some enthusiasts of Scott's own time—e.g. Hogg's religious uncle who could not be brought to repeat his old ballads for thinking of 'covenants broken, burned and buried.' Guy Mannering and The Antiquary are both modern stories: it is not till Ivanhoe that Scott definitely starts on the regular historical novel in the manner that was found so easy to imitate.
— from Sir Walter Scott: A Lecture at the Sorbonne by W. P. (William Paton) Ker