the ear is purforated in the lower part to receive various ornaments but the nose is not, nor is the ear lasserated or disvigored for this purpose as among many nations.
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark

And since its appearance near London, we may well besiege the Mercy-seat for our protection," said Mr. Bulstrode, not intending to evade Lydgate's allusion, but really preoccupied with alarms about himself.
— from Middlemarch by George Eliot

The main bodies had left at eight or nine in the evening, leaving detachments to keep up a fire from the batteries.
— from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. (William Tecumseh) Sherman

In the Shumins’ house an evening service celebrated at the request of the grandmother, Marfa Mihalovna, was just over, and now Nadya—she had gone into the garden for a minute—could see the table being laid for supper in the dining-room, and her grandmother bustling about in her gorgeous silk dress; Father Andrey, a chief priest of the cathedral, was talking to Nadya’s mother, Nina Ivanovna, and now in the evening light through the window her mother for some reason looked very young; Andrey Andreitch, Father Andrey’s son, was standing by listening attentively.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

That cloud of yours is screaming: it’s not in the evening light.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of 233 Short Stories of Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

We say that the most dangerous criminal now is the entirely lawless modern philosopher.
— from The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton

The dawn was coming now; the hermit observed it, and spoke up sharply, with a touch of nervous apprehension in his voice— “I may not indulge this ecstasy longer!
— from The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain

but how did I treat you just now, I, the examining lawyer?
— from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

In Johnson's Life of Savage, although it must be allowed that its moral is the reverse of—'Respicere exemplar vitae morumque jubebo,' a very useful lesson is inculcated, to guard men of warm passions from a too free indulgence of them; and the various incidents are related in so clear and animated a manner, and illuminated throughout with so much philosophy, that it is one of the most interesting narratives in the English language.
— from Boswell's Life of Johnson Abridged and edited, with an introduction by Charles Grosvenor Osgood by James Boswell

Flat cum Sharp: par nobile fratrum .—There is not a word in cant or flash vocabulary, nor, in the English language, taken in its right sense and meaning, that conveys so much, and is so generally applicable, as the simple monosyllable Flat .
— from The True History of Tom & Jerry or, The Day and Night Scenes, of Life in London from the Start to the Finish! by W. T. (William Thomas) Moncrieff

I think her "Ariadne" is one of the greatest novels in the English language.
— from The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Volume VIII. Interviews by Robert Green Ingersoll

“Have you a comma after the word 'nightingales’ in the English line as you took it down?”
— from Fathers of Men by E. W. (Ernest William) Hornung

To the Pope the Bishop went; and with the Pope he apparently remained for two years, for in January 1310–11, Edward wrote from Berwick to his Chancellor informing him that he had heard that the Bishop was 'busy suing his deliverance at the Court of Rome,' and commanding him, 'in concert with the Earl of Lincoln, the Lieutenant and Guardian, and the Treasurer of Scotland, to issue letters under the Great Seal to the Pope, and to the Cardinals named in the enclosed list, urgently opposing the Bishop's restoration either to his office or to his country, and pointing out his evil bearing ( mavoys port ), and his repeated violation of his oath, and anything else likely to induce the Pope to refuse him leave even to return to Scotland.'
— from King Robert the Bruce by Alexander Falconer Murison

After swallowing a mouthful, he exclaimed, "That water is nasty; it tastes exactly like the water I was sometimes obliged to drink in my cage.
— from The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 07, No. 39, January, 1861 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics by Various

Birmingham and Manchester furnish these emporiums to a large extent, the article finding most favour with the natives in the edible line being Huntley & Palmer's biscuits, which are imported to Kuching in great quantities.
— from On the Equator by Harry De Windt

A second experience of the same kind set me thinking how long it would take to go a mile or two at this rate (it was already half past four o'clock), even if I did not in the end lose my way altogether.
— from A Rambler's lease by Bradford Torrey

It was dark when we entered, but the next instant the electric light was switched on, and an apartment was presented which may be singled out as the only one of its kind ever built.
— from The Strand Magazine, Vol. 01, Issue 02, February 1891 An Illustrated Monthly by Various

For every advantage which they yield us the full price must be paid: nothing for nothing is the everlasting law.
— from Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things by Lafcadio Hearn