You must know, Sir, I have lately lost a dear Friend, for whom I have not yet shed a Tear, and for that Reason your Animadversions on that Subject would be the more acceptable to', Sir , Your most humble Servant , B.D. June the 15 th .
— from The Spectator, Volume 1 Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays by Steele, Richard, Sir

'I mean,' the mistress answers, 'to save you, my faithful servant, from disgrace and ruin; to prevent every penny that the captain has got from going to that rascal-monster, his brother, who slandered me; and, last and most, I mean to keep my husband from going away to sea again, by making him love me as he has never loved me yet.
— from The Dead Secret: A Novel by Wilkie Collins

I asked him was he ever at the “Island” before; he peered into my face with a look that infected me with risibility, without knowing why, shrugged up his shoulders, looked into the fire, and said “No,” with a dry emphatic cough after it—as much as to say, you may apply my answer to the future as well as to the past.
— from The Station; The Party Fight And Funeral; The Lough Derg Pilgrim Traits And Stories Of The Irish Peasantry, The Works of William Carleton, Volume Three by William Carleton

The recollection of what I underwent while buying my experience makes me anxious to spare you, my dear Annie, the pain of a similar ordeal; particularly as it is more disagreeable for a young newly married woman to feel in housekeeping difficulties than a single one; as it makes you fear your husband had a higher opinion of you than you deserve.
— from The Lady's Country Companion; Or, How to Enjoy a Country Life Rationally by Mrs. (Jane) Loudon

He paused a minute, and then said "You must not do so any more, Ellie."
— from The Wide, Wide World by Susan Warner

" She gave a little slighting laugh, as much as to say, "You might have arrived at that before, one would think!" "But Lucia," I said, entreatingly, "this is all very serious; do tell me what is wrong.
— from To-morrow? by Victoria Cross

And here, a vertical mile above the sea, you meet the daring western hemlock ( Tsuga heterophylla ), which braves the gale of ocean and mountain alike, indifferent to all but fire.
— from The Guardians of the Columbia Mount Hood, Mount Adams and Mount St. Helens by John H. (John Harvey) Williams

[Pg 44] “It has ever been my ambition to see your majesty grace with his presence my humble board.”
— from A Prince of Good Fellows by Robert Barr