Pilwe , sb. pillow, CM; pilewe , S2; 173 pilous , pl. , CM.—AS.
— from A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580 by A. L. (Anthony Lawson) Mayhew

All the plays and interludes which, after the manner of the French Court, had been set up, and began to increase among us, were forbid to act; the gaming-tables, public dancing-rooms, and music-houses, which multiplied and began to debauch the manners of the people, were shut up and suppressed; and the jack-puddings, merry-andrews, puppet-shows, rope-dancers, and such-like doings, which had bewitched the poor common people, shut up their shops, finding indeed no trade; for the minds of the people were agitated with other things, and a kind of sadness and horror at these things sat upon the countenances even of the common people.
— from A Journal of the Plague Year Written by a Citizen Who Continued All the While in London by Daniel Defoe

Pley , sb. play, C2; pleie , S.—AS. plega , brisk motion, fight, play (OET).
— from A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580 by A. L. (Anthony Lawson) Mayhew

Propaganda to friendly civilians whose country has been overrun by the enemy can be effectively promoted by collaboration with local patriots—unless political considerations prevent such collaboration.
— from Psychological Warfare by Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger

According to Plato (compare Phaedo; Symp.), as well as Xenophon (Memor.), he was punctual in the performance of the least religious duties; and he must have believed in his own oracular sign, of which he seemed to have an internal witness.
— from Apology by Plato

Thénardier rose in an unpretending manner, went to the fireplace, shoved aside the screen, which he leaned against the neighboring pallet, and thus unmasked the brazier full of glowing coals, in which the prisoner could plainly see the chisel white-hot and spotted here and there with tiny scarlet stars.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

The trade of Venice to Egypt and Palestine cannot produce so old a title, unless we adopt the laughable translation of a Frenchman, who mistook the two factions of the circus (Veneti et Prasini) for the Venetians and Parisians.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

But just to show you how liberal I am, I'm going to send a check for ten bucks to this Beecher Ingram, because a lot of fellows are saying the poor cuss preaches sedition and free love, and they're trying to run him out of town.”
— from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis

si mosse contra 'l fiume, andando su per la riva; e io pari di lei, picciol passo con picciol seguitando.
— from La Divina Commedia di Dante: Complete by Dante Alighieri

"Candidates for all degrees, who possess certain property," says the Oxford University Calendar, "must go out, as it is termed, Grand Compounders .
— from A Collection of College Words and Customs by Benjamin Homer Hall

In the proscenium boxes were the wife of the Austrian Ambassador and the Duchess Gladwin; in the amphitheatre Berthe d'Osigny and Jane Tulle, the latter made famous the day before by the suicide of one of her lovers; in the boxes, Madame Berard de La Malle, her eyes lowered, her long eyelashes shading her pure cheeks; Princess Seniavine, who, looking superb, concealed under her fan panther—like yawnings; Madame de Morlaine, between two young women whom she was training in the elegances of the mind; Madame Meillan, resting assured on thirty years of sovereign beauty; Madame Berthierd'Eyzelles, erect under iron-gray hair sparkling with diamonds.
— from The Red Lily — Volume 03 by Anatole France

“After careful consideration,” said the plan, “it was decided to be best for the interest of those [the second mortgage] securities that they should now be converted into 5 per cent preferred stock, possessing full voting powers and preferential rights as to principal as well as interest, rather than revert to their original form of ‘Income Bonds.’
— from Railroad Reorganization by Stuart Daggett

"I am willing to stand whatever punishment Captain Putnam sees fit to inflict.
— from The Rover Boys In The Mountains; Or, A Hunt for Fun and Fortune by Edward Stratemeyer

Long Ike and sweet Betsy attended a dance, Where Ike wore a pair of his Pike County pants; Sweet Betsy was covered with ribbons and rings.
— from Cowboy Songs, and Other Frontier Ballads by Various

Saphir , sb. sapphire; safiris , W (Apoc. 21. 19); saphires , pl. , C2, PP; safferes , P.—AF.
— from A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580 by A. L. (Anthony Lawson) Mayhew