Hitherto we are not better acquainted with the constituent elements of soda than with those of potash, being equally uncertain whether it previously existed ready formed in the vegetable or is a combination of elements effected by combustion.
— from Elements of Chemistry, In a New Systematic Order, Containing all the Modern Discoveries by Antoine Laurent Lavoisier

Two or three of the girls were caught and beaten in error: they were from the most peaceful, even respected, families in town.
— from The Created Legend by Fyodor Sologub

That is precisely what the advocates of the present measure have attempted to do with the established marriage law of Scotland; but when they are asked to specify the practical evils resulting from it, they are utterly driven to the wall, and forced to take refuge under the convenient cover of vague and random generalities.
— from Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 66, No. 407, September, 1849 by Various

Without moving their fleet from Lesbos, the Athenians manned a hundred triremes, raising the crews from the whole body of the citizens, with the exception of the knights and the wealthiest class of the Solonian census, and pressing even resident foreigners into the service; and with this imposing force they made an armed demonstration before the eyes of their enemies at the Isthmus, and then, coasting along Peloponnesus, made descents wherever they pleased.
— from Stories from Thucydides by Thucydides

An effective kind, used for the background of many Stuart pictures, consists of a series of the short perpendicular stitches, arranged in a zig-zag or chevron pattern, each row fitting into that above it.
— from Samplers and Tapestry Embroideries Second Edition by Marcus B. (Marcus Bourne) Huish