When he was baptized in the Jordan, the Christ, the first of the aeons, the Son of God himself, descended on Jesus in the form of a dove, to inhabit his mind, and direct his actions during the allotted period of his ministry.
— 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

The old game of HANDICAP (hand i’ the cap) is a very different affair; and, as it is now almost obsolete, being only played by gentlemen in Ireland, after hunting and racing dinners, when the wine has circulated pretty freely, merits a description here.
— from The Slang Dictionary: Etymological, Historical and Andecdotal by John Camden Hotten

515 , 4 blue and 4 écru alternately, and make a double horizontal bar.
— from Encyclopedia of Needlework by Thérèse de Dillmont

When Anna Akimovna had promised to give Masha a dowry, he had hesitated for a time; but once a poor student in a brown overcoat over his uniform, coming with a letter for Anna Akimovna, was fascinated by Masha, and could not resist embracing her near the hat-stand, and she had uttered a faint shriek; Mishenka, standing on the stairs above, had seen this, and from that time had begun to cherish a feeling of disgust for Masha.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

'So he gave you my address; did he?' asked Miss Wren.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

I have never seen the sun rise but Mary and Dickon have and from what they tell me I am sure that is Magic too.
— from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

She reached him her mouth and drank his full kiss, drank it fuller and fuller.
— from The Rainbow by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence

Cursed by my wrath for many a day, His wretched life for sin shall pay.”
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki

The lines of their lives converged, but King had moulded and directed his life logically, scientifically, as Adams thought American life should be directed.
— from The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams

v [A12; a12] make a direct hit.
— from A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan by John U. Wolff

Some months previous he had told Doctor Frémy that between madness and death he would not hesitate; a lucid moment had shown him his fate, and he sought death.
— from Ivory, Apes and Peacocks by James Huneker

of thy sun; And mark'd, how near him with their circle, round Move Maia and Dione; here discern'd Jove's tempering 'twixt his sire and son; and hence Their changes and their various aspects Distinctly scann'd.
— from The Divine Comedy by Dante, Illustrated, Paradise, Complete by Dante Alighieri

He was a materialist, and described himself as one: he disbelieved in what he called the soap-bubble theory, that somewhere in us there is something like a bubble, which controls everything, and is everything, and escapes invisible and gaseous to some other place after death.
— from Catharine Furze by William Hale White

The mounts are docile, hardy and nimble, with large reserves available.
— from Origin of the Anglo-Boer War Revealed (2nd ed.) The Conspiracy of the 19th Century Unmasked by C. H. Thomas

It was one of our favorite forms of amusement to locate a cook house and shoot it up; and when a shell made a direct hit, if, among the pots and pans flying through the air, we could distinguish a German cap or something that looked like a part of a boche, there was much rejoicing in our lines.
— from The Emma Gees by Herbert W. McBride

Then calling one of his aids, he said, "Go to major ——, and desire him to send me Mr. Cross's sword immediately."
— from The Life of General Francis Marion by M. L. (Mason Locke) Weems