" And effectively, in a few hours, her intelligence served her so well, that she learned that this conquest of mine was no other than Mr. Norbert, a gentleman originally of great fortune, which, with a constitution naturally not the best, he had vastly impaired by his over-violent pursuit of the vices of the town; in the course of which, having worn out and staled all the more common modes of debauchery, he had fallen into a taste of maiden-hunting; in which chase he had ruined a number of girls, sparing no expense to compass his ends, and generally using them well till tired, or cooled by enjoying, or springing a new face, he could with more ease disembarrass himself of the old ones, and resign them to their fate, as his sphere of achievements of that sort lay only amongst such as he could proceed with by way of bargain and sale.
— from Memoirs of Fanny Hill A New and Genuine Edition from the Original Text (London, 1749) by John Cleland

So deep the power of these ingredients pierced, Even to the inmost seat of mental sight, That Adam, now enforced to close his eyes, Sunk down, and all his spirits became entranced; But him the gentle Angel by the hand Soon raised, and his attention thus recalled.
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton

To his acquaintances he made no effort to conceal his elation.
— from An Interloper by Frances Mary Peard

On the foullest mud gleams sometimes the brightest phosphorescence: otherwise it were not easy to conceive how even momentary happiness could come of the house in the Rue Touchet!
— from The Man in Black by Stanley John Weyman

Weak, spent, and weary, the girl made no effort to consummate her escape, realising that it had been a forlorn hope at best.
— from Nobody by Louis Joseph Vance

'So deep the power of these ingredients pierced, Even to the inmost seat of mental sight , That Adam, now enforced to close his eyes, Sank down, and all his spirits became entranced.
— from Narrative and Miscellaneous Papers — Volume 2 by Thomas De Quincey

Wilbur Dill, who had not expected to close his eyes, was sleeping soundly, while Bruce in the adjoining room, who had looked forward to a night of rest in a real bed, was lying wide awake staring into the dark.
— from The Man from the Bitter Roots by Caroline Lockhart

He had his share of vanity, and in his confidential letters to his parents and sisters he made no effort to conceal his elation.
— from Nathaniel Parker Willis by Henry A. (Henry Augustin) Beers

Oscar put his feet upon the fore-chest, leaned back against the arches that supported the tent, and, although he did not expect to close his eyes in slumber, he was fast asleep in a very few minutes.
— from Oscar in Africa by Harry Castlemon

Nearly everything that concerned his entire life seemed to float before him as his hot eyes ransacked the productive dark.
— from The Web of Time by Robert E. (Robert Edward) Knowles

‘So deep the power of these ingredients pierced, Even to the inmost seat of mental sight, That Adam, now enforced to close his eyes, Sank down, and all his spirits became entranced.
— from Opium Eating: An Autobiographical Sketch by an Habituate by Anonymous

"It will not do," said Fleda, to herself, as she sat and looked at it "there is not enough to catch his eye, and there is too much , if it caught anybody else's eye 'R. R.', and 'his niece,' and 'Bleecker Street,' that would tell plain enough."
— from Queechy, Volume II by Susan Warner