With an alacrity beyond the common impulse of a spirit which yet was never indifferent to the credit of doing every thing well and attentively, with the real good-will of a mind delighted with its own ideas, did she then do all the honours of the meal, and help and recommend the minced chicken and scalloped oysters, with an urgency which she knew would be acceptable to the early hours and civil scruples of their guests.
— from Emma by Jane Austen

It was now too late, however, to reverse the wheel of progress, and under the rule of such men as Hicks and Ross the conservative opposition gradually melted away.
— from Myths of the Cherokee Extract from the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology by James Mooney

And Mr. Quinion, calling in Tipp the carman, who was a married man, and had a room to let, quartered me prospectively on him—by our mutual consent, as he had every reason to think; for I said nothing, though my resolution was now taken.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

It was not enough for them to fight and to die bravely, but cheerfully too; insomuch that they were hissed and cursed if they made any hesitation about receiving their death.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

The paper was signed by John T. McCutcheon and Harry Armstrong, representing the Chicago Record ; O. K. Davis and P. G. MacDonnell, representing the New York Sun ; Robert M. Collins, John P. Dunning, and L. Jones, representing the Associated Press; John F. Bass and William Dinwiddie, representing the New York Herald ; E. D. Skeene, representing the Scripps-McRae Association; and Richard Little, representing the Chicago Tribune .
— from The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912 by James H. (James Henderson) Blount

When King Magnus Olafson heard of Hardaknut's death, he immediately sent people south to Denmark, with a message to the men who had bound themselves by oath to the peace and agreement which was made between King Magnus and Hardaknut, and reminded them of their pledge.
— from Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway by Snorri Sturluson

We had left the alehouse, where we first met, and hired a room to hold our club in.
— from Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

My ancestors have also resided therein time out of mind—they, as well as myself, steadily following the respectable and indeed lucrative profession of mending of bellows.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

Worn out by his failure in business and loss of fortune, Mr. Seymour died shortly after his daughter's marriage, without knowing who caused his misfortunes, and Horace Awtry returned to the North.
— from The Trials of the Soldier's Wife A Tale of the Second American Revolution by Alex. St. Clair (Alexander St. Clair) Abrams

It is almost impossible to lay down any rule which would define the variations of national manners as having any reference to climate.
— from The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 12, No. 334, October 4, 1828 by Various

He surprises the village, sets fire to the habitations and magazines, slaughters the men and horses, and returns to his boats.
— from Memoirs of General Count Rapp, first aide-de-camp to Napoleon by Rapp, Jean, comte

Even a road-racer, geared to a hundred and twenty, failed to satisfy him, and for a time he pined in vain at twenty miles an hour along roads that were continually more dusty and more crowded with mechanical traffic.
— from The War in the Air by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

Once I went to my work after the noon-day meal, and had already reached the wood when suddenly he overtook me, club in hand, his face wild, his teeth showing, and panting like a bear.
— from The Confession: A Novel by Maksim Gorky

We had been gone about ten minutes, and had almost reached the spot where we were to make our descent to the beach, when the earth shook and jarred violently beneath our feet, a dull, heavy boom burst upon the morning silence, a fierce gust of wind suddenly swept over us, and, looking back, we saw an enormous dim-coloured cloud, heavily charged with hurtling débris, dismounted cannon, and masses of shattered brick-work, hovering over the spot where the battery had been.
— from A Middy of the King: A Romance of the Old British Navy by Harry Collingwood

The chance of success in that resistance "depended," he said, "upon the sympathy of the British people, and an election would undoubtedly make a great difference in that respect"; he denied that Mr. Asquith had a "right to pass any form of Home Rule without a mandate from the people of this country, which he has never received"; and he categorically announced
— from Ulster's Stand For Union by Ronald McNeill

The charges made against him all related to misdemeanors and offenses arising out of his connection with Cleopatra.
— from History of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt by Jacob Abbott

Men and houses all ran together confusedly.
— from Saragossa: A Story of Spanish Valor by Benito Pérez Galdós