So, refusing a horse or carriage, I walk down, not unwilling to be a little early, that I may pace up and down the beach, looking off to the islands and the points, and watching the roaring, tumbling billows.
— from Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana

The Burgesses, as time went on, gradually increased in numbers until they became a large body, but the Council was always small.
— from Virginia under the Stuarts 1607-1688 by Thomas Jefferson Wertenbaker

He coolly observed that the fire-place was never used, and sending the frightened servant into the next kitchen for a hammer and nails, actually nailed up the board, and locked the door on the outside.
— from Sketches by Boz, Illustrative of Every-Day Life and Every-Day People by Charles Dickens

He felt the force of the question, and, inclining his head forward and running his fingers through his hair several times, seemed lost in reflection; then he placed his hand upon my knee and said, very earnestly: 'Grover, it's no use to be always looking up these hard spots !'"
— from The Every-day Life of Abraham Lincoln A Narrative And Descriptive Biography With Pen-Pictures And Personal Recollections By Those Who Knew Him by Francis F. (Francis Fisher) Browne

These are conjectures; I pretend to found nothing upon them; but, at least, they are probable.
— from Watson Refuted Being an Answer to the Apology for the Bible, in a Series of Letters to the Bishop Of Llandaff by Samuel W. (Samuel Ward) Francis

Indeed, it was not unusual to bury a live horse in a churchyard, to serve the purpose of conveying souls.
— from Strange Survivals: Some Chapters in the History of Man by S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould

The Duke is coming (nearly unprepared) to bring a lot of silly yokels into collision with fully trained soldiers ten times more numerous.
— from Martin Hyde, the Duke's Messenger by John Masefield

I disembarked, going ashore with the mail-boat managed by natives; from whence, by the politeness of the gentlemanly young clerk (a native gentleman) of Captain Davies', a native merchant, I was taken in a sail-boat, also manned by natives, up the bay, and landed at the British Consulate; whence I was met by Mr. Carew, the native agent of the Rev. J. M. Harden, a most excellent man, Missionary, and conducted to the Baptist Mission House.
— from Official Report of the Niger Valley Exploring Party by Martin Robison Delany

Believe me, I am not exaggerating the danger; you know that my notion used to be, as long as I could cherish it, to trust to gentleness, to time, and to public opinion.
— from The Life of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France by Charles Duke Yonge

Lands are not understood to become a lawful possession and absolute conquest from the moment they are invaded.
— from The Rights of War and Peace by Hugo Grotius