Appresso in questo loco Mise in assetto loco Li tigri, e li grifoni, Leofanti, e leoni Cammelli, e dragomene, Badalischi, e gene, E pantere, e castoro, Le formiche dell' oro, E tanti altri animali, Ch' io non so ben dir quail, Che son sì divisati, E sì dissomigliati Di corpo e di fazione, Di sì fera ragione, E di sì strana taglia, Ch'io non credo san faglia, Ch' alcun uomo vivente Potesse veramente Per lingua, o per scritture Recitar le figure Delle bestie, e gli uccelli….
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Rustichello of Pisa

In the first place philosophy will account for this by inbred sin, man’s pride, love of power, selfishness, spite; perhaps it will say in addition to this that the child’s consciousness of his own weakness makes him eager to use his strength, to convince himself of it.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

I came first upon the smaller manuscripts, among which I, found, jumbled together on the same and on separate scraps of paper, washing-bills, accounts, hotel bills, lists of letters written, first drafts of letters with many erasures, notes on books, theological and mathematical notes, sums, Latin quotations, French and Italian verses, with variants, a long list of classical names which have and have not been ‘francises,’ with reasons for and against; ‘what I must wear at Dresden’; headings without anything to follow, such as: ‘Reflexions on respiration, on the true cause of youth-the crows’; a new method of winning the lottery at Rome; recipes, among which is a long printed list of perfumes sold at Spa; a newspaper cutting, dated Prague, 25th October 1790, on the thirty-seventh balloon ascent of Blanchard; thanks to some ‘noble donor’ for the gift of a dog called ‘Finette’; a passport for ‘Monsieur de Casanova, Venitien, allant d’ici en Hollande, October 13, 1758 (Ce Passeport bon pour quinze jours)’, together with an order for post-horses, gratis, from Paris to Bordeaux and Bayonne.’
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

Pl. hebetia , teretia , late and rare; perpes , lasting through , Ab. perpetī , late only; praepes , swift-winged , Ab. -ī or -e , G. Pl. -um , no Ne.
— from A Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges by George Martin Lane

Lime made of close-grained stone of the harder sort will be good in structural parts; lime of porous stone, in stucco.
— from The Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius Pollio

Note 23 ( return ) [ For the private life of Probus, see Vopiscus in Hist.
— 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

Peter was to take command of this fleet, sail to Pomerania, land on Prussian soil, proceed as rapidly as possible to the large Russian army concentrated there, and return at the head of that army to St. Petersburg, which, as the old and bold field-marshal believed, would not even attempt to make resistance.
— from Famous Assassinations of History from Philip of Macedon, 336 B. C., to Alexander of Servia, A. D. 1903 by Francis Johnson

If there is a swelling of the throat it should be blistered with Pratts Liniment, or Pratts Spavin Paste—A Blister.
— from Pratt's Practical Pointers on the Care of Livestock and Poultry by Pratt Food Company

Caro, Marie , a French philosopher, born at Poitiers; a popular lecturer on philosophy, surnamed le philosophe des dames ; wrote on mysticism, materialism, and pessimism (1826-1887).
— from The Nuttall Encyclopædia Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge by P. Austin Nuttall

E. A valuable discovery was made in the course of the day by the men who were out with the dogs, the hills bounding the east side of Wellington Vale being found of the purest limestone, of precisely similar quality with that found at Limestone Creek.
— from Journals of Two Expeditions into the Interior of New South Wales by John Oxley

Godly and learned priests will indeed be needed; and between you and James Kennedy, when both are come to elder years, we may perchance lift our poor Scottish Church to some clearer sense of what a church should be.
— from The Caged Lion by Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge

Stranger, in pity lend one pensive sigh, For all that dy'd and all that yet may die, If wars intestine long their rage retain, This land must turn a wilderness again.
— from The Poems of Philip Freneau, Poet of the American Revolution. Volume 1 (of 3) by Philip Morin Freneau

The fair Anna delightedly accepted the commission, and retired from the stage to change the checked blouse, and the Professor ladled out presumably spoonfuls of germ on to the photographic slides, while informing the English prisoner that his accursed race would soon be non-existent.
— from Head of the Lower School by Dorothea Moore