The Syrian captives recognized the form and situation of their native abodes: baths and a stately circus were constructed for their use; and a colony of musicians and charioteers revived in Assyria the pleasures of a Greek capital.
— 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

He was a little conscious of defeat, however, with Mr. Mawmsey, a chief representative in Middlemarch of that great social power, the retail trader, and naturally one of the most doubtful voters in the borough—willing for his own part to supply an equal quality of teas and sugars to reformer and anti-reformer, as well as to agree impartially with both, and feeling like the burgesses of old that this necessity of electing members was a great burthen to a town; for even if there were no danger in holding out hopes to all parties beforehand, there would be the painful necessity at last of disappointing respectable people whose names were on his books.
— from Middlemarch by George Eliot

I gained them by my constant practice, and by them I maintained a continual reputation in the world, and I doubt not but the world will honour thee for divulging them; and my fame shall continue and increase thereby, though the period of my Life and Studies be at hand, and I must now bid all things under the sun farewell.
— 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

My sister Rosalie, who had become the chief support of our household, obtained an advantageous engagement at the theatre in Prague, whither mother and children removed in 1820, thus giving up the Dresden home altogether.
— from My Life — Volume 1 by Richard Wagner

Vauquer to give him a room on the second floor, and to make a corresponding reduction in her charges.
— from Father Goriot by Honoré de Balzac

Then, too, I was unpleasantly impressed by the fact that women of Kisotchka’s sort, not deep or serious, are too much in love with life, and exalt what is in reality such a trifle as love for a man to the level of bliss, misery, a complete revolution in life. . . .
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

I felt the spur above me shake beneath the shock of his impact, and as it did so I saw the huge rocking-stone, that had been violently depressed by him as he sprang, fly back when relieved of his weight till, for the first time during all these centuries, it got beyond its balance, fell with a most awful crash right into the rocky chamber which had once served the philosopher Noot for a hermitage, and, I have no doubt, for ever sealed the passage that leads to the Place of Life with some hundreds of tons of rock.
— from She by H. Rider (Henry Rider) Haggard

I did not hear a prayer made, a chapter read in public, nor see anything approaching to a religious service, for two years and a quarter.
— from Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana

If he makes a cheeky remark in form, the master's just retort is: 'Jones, you seem to like talking.
— from Public School Life: Boys, Parents, Masters by Alec (Alexander Raban) Waugh

In the Brockie system the regulation is automatic, and is made at certain rapid intervals by the motor engine.
— from Scientific American Supplement, No. 360, November 25, 1882 by Various

It is a recognition of this rhythm that makes a child read in a “sing-song” tone, as natural a thing as it is to sing.
— from Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 10: The Guide by Charles Herbert Sylvester

"There is many a corporation right in the city of Boston that spends more money in lobbying at the State House than it does in producing its goods, [Pg 201] yet the officers of those same corporations go around without having their best friends tell them they are 'branded with the ear-marks' of their business.
— from The Bachelors: A Novel by William Dana Orcutt

The judicial establishment of the United States requires modification, and certain reforms in the manner of conducting the legal business of the Government are also much needed; but as I have addressed you upon both of these subjects at length before, I have only to call your attention to the suggestions then made.
— from State of the Union Addresses (1790-2006) by United States. Presidents

But the heavens are finite too, for they make a complete revolution in twenty-four hours.
— from A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy by Isaac Husik

One of the [180] fellows catching sight of the barn across the meadows, half-hidden by pines, they made a circle round it, closed in, and forced the door.
— from Uther and Igraine by Warwick Deeping

It is quite true that when you put the last question to me a circumstance rushed into my mind which—so far as the strict letter was concerned—might seem to demand ‘Yes’ instead of ‘No.’
— from Max Carrados by Ernest Bramah

He mentioned what had passed upon the subject of the Monthly and Critical Reviews , in the conversation with which his Majesty had honoured him.[90]
— from Life of Johnson, Volume 3 1776-1780 by James Boswell