p. 555, who is followed by Muratori and the editors of Sigonius.)
— 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

If, then, we may assume the existence of such a Being, as God, by the consensus of theologians, is conceived to be, it seems that Utilitarians may legitimately infer the existence of Divine sanctions to the code of social duty as constructed on a Utilitarian basis; and such sanctions would, of course, suffice to make it always every one’s interest to promote universal happiness to the best of his knowledge.
— from The Methods of Ethics by Henry Sidgwick

If you, sir, know that, and I can yet give you happiness by a mere promise to marry at the end of six years, if my husband should not come back, it is a great honour to me.
— from Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

Surely I have now got down to the lowest gradation in Arthur’s affection, and discovered all the evils of his nature: if there be any further change, it must be for the better, as we become still more accustomed to each other; surely we shall find no lower depth than this.
— from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

Even the principles of justice, and the interest of society, would receive a fatal blow from the impunity of Maximus; and the example of successful usurpation would tend to dissolve the artificial fabric of government, and once more to replunge the empire in the crimes and calamities of the preceding age.
— 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

That he did not regard it as a desperate case, that he did not say a few hours must end it, was at first felt, beyond the hope of most; and the ecstasy of such a reprieve, the rejoicing, deep and silent, after a few fervent ejaculations of gratitude to Heaven had been offered, may be conceived.
— from Persuasion by Jane Austen

There came a morning at the end of September when Aunt Ann was unable to take from Smither's hands the insignia of personal dignity.
— from The Forsyte Saga, Volume I. The Man Of Property by John Galsworthy

[ 258 ] “And men say that Signy wept When she left that last of her kindred: yet wept she never more Amid the earls of Siggeir, and as lovely as before Was her face to all men’s deeming: nor aught it changed for ruth, Nor for fear nor any longing; and no man said for sooth That she ever laughed thereafter till the day of her death was come.”
— from Myths of the Norsemen: From the Eddas and Sagas by H. A. (Hélène Adeline) Guerber

Yeomen, on behalf of themselves and the rest of the Inhabitants of Willenhall, on the other part; and after making reference to a “Commission awarded upon the Statute of 43 Elizabeth concerning Lands given to Charitable Uses,” it proceeds to state that the lords consent, grant, and decree that the Copyhold lands therein referred to shall be let in the manner and for the purpose therein mentioned, and the effect of such consent, as before pointed out, is recited in the Memorandum entered on the Court Rolls.
— from The Annals of Willenhall by Frederick William Hackwood

And in succession Thomas Cromwell, Sir Thomas More, and the Earl of Surrey, suffered the fate of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard.
— from Bygone Scotland: Historical and Social by David Maxwell

"The miserable consequences of our political divisions (in 1757) produced a general unsteadiness in all our pursuits, and infused a languor and inactivity into all our military operations; for while our commanders abroad knew not who would reward their services or punish their neglects, and were not assured in what light even the best of their actions would be considered (having reason to apprehend that they might not be judged of as they were in themselves, but as their appearances might answer the end of some ruling faction), they naturally wanted that enterprising resolution, without which the best capacity, and intentions the most honest, can do nothing in war."— Annual Register.
— from The Conquest of Canada, Vol. 2 by George Warburton

And though men have, of late, made use of a pendulum, as a more steady and regular motion than that of the sun, or, (to speak more truly,) of the earth;—yet if any one should be asked how he certainly knows that the two successive swings of a pendulum are equal, it would be very hard to satisfy him that they are infallibly so; since we cannot be sure that the cause of that motion, which is unknown to us, shall always operate equally; and we are sure that the medium in which the pendulum moves is not constantly the same: either of which varying, may alter the equality of such periods, and thereby destroy the certainty and exactness of the measure by motion, as well as any other periods of other appearances; the notion of duration still remaining clear, though our measures of it cannot (any of them) be demonstrated to be exact.
— from An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume 1 MDCXC, Based on the 2nd Edition, Books 1 and 2 by John Locke

This is a precautionary measure against the escape of slaves to the English islands.
— from The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Part 2 of 4 by American Anti-Slavery Society

Numerous species of earthworms eat their way through the soil, taking in a mixture of earth, microbes, and the excrement of soil animals.
— from Organic Gardener's Composting by Steve Solomon

It was no longer the uphill fight of one against many; it was single combat between man and man, and the electricity of single combat charged the air.
— from Peccavi by E. W. (Ernest William) Hornung

Besides the improving of Santa Monica and the expanding of San Pedro, several harbor projects were proposed in the days of the Boom.
— from Sixty Years in Southern California, 1853-1913 Containing the Reminiscences of Harris Newmark by Harris Newmark