After all, he thought, one need not be surprised to find the rare conjunctions of nature under circumstances apparently unfavorable: come where they may, they always depend on conditions that are not obvious.
— from Middlemarch by George Eliot

Having by this time cried as much as I possibly could, I began to think it was of no use crying any more, especially as neither Roderick Random, nor that Captain in the Royal British Navy, had ever cried, that I could remember, in trying situations.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

And for their sakes, the sun should backward go; } Against the laws of nature upward climb, And, mounted on the Ram, renew the prime; For which two proofs in sacred story lay, Of Ahaz' dial, and of Joshua's day.
— from The Works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 10 by John Dryden

It was of no use, cold as it made the tip of her nose, to strain her blue eyes across the snowy fields, or up the white, glistening reaches of the road.
— from Winter Fun by William O. Stoddard

I regard the pulpit at Burgos as likely to have been executed early in the fifteenth century, and the one now under consideration as of the close of the same century; and both may, I think, have been produced under the influence of the masters from Cologne, who did such wonders, and set so many fashions, in Burgos and its vicinity, especially at Miraflores.
— from An Architect's Note-Book in Spain principally illustrating the domestic architecture of that country. by Wyatt, M. Digby (Matthew Digby), Sir

The travellers saluted him with a discharge from their muskets, and while he went on shore, Richard arrayed himself in an old naval uniform coat, and his brother in the handsomest dress he possessed; their attendants put on new, white, Mahommedan tobes , while the British flag flew from the bow of their boat, so that they might show him all the respect in their power.
— from Great African Travellers: From Mungo Park to Livingstone and Stanley by William Henry Giles Kingston

These answers were given in a tone so firm and peremptory that the Spaniard saw it would be of no use combating a resolution which was evidently not to be shaken, and therefore he declined to make any further offers.
— from Wood Rangers: The Trappers of Sonora by Mayne Reid

It is of no use cruising about here.
— from In Greek Waters: A Story of the Grecian War of Independence by G. A. (George Alfred) Henty

He was quiet; he issued no orders, nor uttered complaints, and was unaffectedly grateful for whatever was done for him.
— from Jack Chanty: A Story of Athabasca by Hulbert Footner