It was a letter from his mistress; the contents were these: “I am pregnant of a child, the pledge of our mutual love; I can no longer have any doubt of it, my beloved, and I forewarn you that I have made up my mind to quit Rome alone, and to go away to die where it may please God, if you refuse to take care of me and save me.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

My Lord, I have no great acquaintance with this man, nor do I desire to have further knowledge of him; however, this I know, that he is a very pestilent fellow, from some discourse that, the other day, I had with him in this town; for then, talking with him, I heard him say, that our religion was naught, and such by which a man could by no means please God.
— from The Pilgrim's Progress from this world to that which is to come Delivered under the similitude of a dream, by John Bunyan by John Bunyan

The whole assembly wore an aspect of the most profound gravity; and in the faces of the knights might be perceived traces of military daring, united with the solemn carriage becoming men of a religious profession, and which, in the presence of their Grand Master, failed not to sit upon every brow.
— from Ivanhoe: A Romance by Walter Scott

My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon his face.
— from Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Illustrated by Arthur Conan Doyle

There are a few things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.
— from Anne of Green Gables by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery

That’s why I always catch nothing at the back of my palm (get a bald head) when I play balinsay .
— from A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan by John U. Wolff

I have the following answer: 'DEAREST MADAM, 'I am utterly confounded, and must plead guilty to all your just reproaches.
— from Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson

Mr. Poyser entered with interest into a project which seemed a step towards Adam's becoming a “master-man,” and Mrs. Poyser gave her approbation to the scheme of the movable kitchen cupboard, which was to be capable of containing grocery, pickles, crockery, and house-linen in the utmost compactness without confusion.
— from Adam Bede by George Eliot

The accounts of his début all showed that Mr. Pryse Gordon's account of it was fabulous.
— from The Works of Max Beerbohm by Beerbohm, Max, Sir

My professorial glee may easily be imagined.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne

So legitimate, indeed, is this wish, with such an intention, that our great Hurtado de Mendoza says that ‘we may pray God to visit with speedy death those who are bent on persecuting us, if there is no other way of escaping from it.’”
— from French Classics by William Cleaver Wilkinson

Say, that old fire-eater back yonder in the private car has got a mighty pretty gal, ain't he?”
— from A Fool for Love by Francis Lynde

“Oh, my poor girl!
— from The New Mistress: A Tale by George Manville Fenn

The interior became so beautiful with carvings, windows of marvellously painted glass, rich tapestries and frescoes, that the ritual seemed yearly more impressive and awe-inspiring.
— from Cathedrals and Cloisters of the South of France, Volume 1 by Elise Whitlock Rose