All night long, and every night, on this canal, there was a perfect storm and tempest of spitting; and once my coat, being in the very centre of the hurricane sustained by five gentlemen (which moved vertically, strictly carrying out Reid’s Theory of the Law of Storms), I was fain the next morning to lay it on the deck, and rub it down with fair water before it was in a condition to be worn again.
— from American Notes by Charles Dickens

No possible amount of talent, or authority, or explanation, could ever make her believe that any other way was better than her own, or that the course she had pursued in the smallest matter could be in the least modified.
— from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

A cry from every mouth will burst And all the world will hold me curst, Because I saw my high-souled son Unkinged, unfathered, and undone; “The king by power of love beguiled Is weaker than a foolish child, His own beloved son to make An exile for a woman's sake.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki

This conjecture is confirmed by the observation that the victims most commonly burned in modern bonfires have been cats, and that cats are precisely the animals into which, with the possible exception of hares, witches were most usually supposed to transform themselves.
— from The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by James George Frazer

It is believed that though Mr. Coventry be in appearance so great against the Chancellor, yet that there is a good understanding between the Duke and him.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

Uncle Charles and Mr Dedalus pulled Mr Casey back into his chair again, talking to him from both sides reasonably.
— from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

The daily subsistence of near a million of extraordinary subjects could be supplied only by constant and skilful diligence, and might continually be interrupted by mistake or accident.
— 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

I was standing against the wall with my arms folded over my chest, being invisible, when he came up to me and asked me, in accented English, what me and my friends were doing in the hotel that weekend?
— from Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

But come, your hand, my careless brither, I' th' ither warl', if there's anither, An' that there is, I've little swither About the matter; We, cheek for chow, shall jog thegither, I'se ne'er bid better.
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns

" "I hope the change may come before it is too late," said Merton.
— from Mr. Scarborough's Family by Anthony Trollope

The nation cared nothing for his hunting-parties, his pleasures, and his attachment to mediaeval ceremonies; but it did care for its own rights and liberties, purchased so dearly and guarded so zealously; and when these were gradually attacked by a man who felt himself to be delegated from God with unlimited powers to rule, not according to laws but according to his caprices and royal will, then the ferment began,--first in the legislative assemblies, then extending to journalists, who controlled public opinion, and finally to the discontented, enraged, and disappointed people.
— from Beacon Lights of History, Volume 09: European Statesmen by John Lord

In such cases, the moulding could be installed on the ceiling at a distance of 18 to 24 inches from the walls, forming a rectangle on the ceiling.
— from Hawkins Electrical Guide v. 04 (of 10) Questions, Answers, & Illustrations, A progressive course of study for engineers, electricians, students and those desiring to acquire a working knowledge of electricity and its applications by N. (Nehemiah) Hawkins

I had also this consideration, that if I should now venture all for God, I engaged God to take care of my concernments; but if I forsook him and his ways, for fear of any trouble that should come to me or mine, then I should not only falsify my profession, but should count also that my concernments were not so sure, if left at God's feet, while I stood to and for his name, as they would be, if they were under my own tuition,[73]
— from Works of John Bunyan — Volume 01 by John Bunyan

Hitherto, I have not given the subject much consideration, but I turn over a new leaf from the date of this adventure.
— from Glances at Europe In a Series of Letters from Great Britain, France, Italy, Switzerland, &c. During the Summer of 1851. by Horace Greeley

It is hardly possible that this meeting could be in continuation or in concord with the assembly convoked at the instance of Henry.
— from A Popular History of Ireland : from the Earliest Period to the Emancipation of the Catholics — Complete by Thomas D'Arcy McGee

"Well, I 'ope you will, Mr. Carey, because I 'ave my rent to pay, and I can't afford to let accounts run on."
— from Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham

He said to himself afterwards that he had from the first been half disposed to confess the whole story, and only wanted to know how she was likely to take it; but the truth was that, being as utterly unskilful as man could be in anything like deception, he had placed himself in a dilemma from which she only meant to let him extricate himself by telling her what was really in his mind.
— from A Canadian Heroine, Volume 2 A Novel by Coghill, Harry, Mrs.

The wealth of this country's frightful!' Jorian seemed annoyed that he could not excite me to defend my countrywomen; but I had begun to see that there was no necessity for the sanguine to encounter the bilious on their behalf, and was myself inclined to be critical.
— from The Adventures of Harry Richmond — Volume 6 by George Meredith