His invasion of Kent was probably provoked by an attempt on the part of that kingdom, at Wulfhere's death, to resume a position of independence towards Mercia.
— from Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England by Bede, the Venerable, Saint

A fellow passing presently by, Adams asked him if he could direct him to an alehouse.
— from Joseph Andrews, Vol. 1 by Henry Fielding

It became very indistinct about 1858, and was then recut by the Warden of Winchester, with the aid of a plan possessed by a lady living in the neighbourhood. FIG.
— from Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney

Chancing to look out of the window at that moment he saw a flock of people passing by, and perceived them to be the congregation of the upper church, now just dismissed, their sermon having been a longer one than that the lower parish was favoured with.
— from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

I love the boy, but he tries my patience past bearing, and I don't know how it will end, if we go on so."
— from Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Louisa May Alcott

The most trifling forms of tongue slips are just the ones which have no particular illumination to throw on the hidden psychic processes, but are nevertheless not difficult to penetrate in their motivation.
— from A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud

The constables everywhere were upon their guard not so much, It seems, to stop people passing by as to stop them from taking up their abode in their towns, and withal because of a report that was newly raised at that time: and that, indeed, was not very improbable, viz., that the poor people in London, being distressed and starved for want of work, and by that means for want of bread, were up in arms and had raised a tumult, and that they would come out to all the towns round to plunder for bread.
— from A Journal of the Plague Year Written by a Citizen Who Continued All the While in London by Daniel Defoe

Professed patriots being always addicted to abusing their own country, it is presumed that the height of patriotism would consist in an Englishman writing leading articles for a French Radical newspaper.
— from The Comic Almanack, Volume 2 (of 2) An Ephemeris in Jest and Earnest, Containing Merry Tales, Humerous Poetry, Quips, and Oddities by Gilbert Abbott À Beckett

The mother answered me in plain prose, briefly and carelessly, that her daughter was very sorry that she had always had an idiosyncratical antipathy to herrings; so strong indeed, that she had not been able to sit out the last play of the celebrated Wilibald Alexis, having accidentally heard that his real name was Herring.
— from Tour in England, Ireland, and France, in the years 1826, 1827, 1828 and 1829. with remarks on the manners and customs of the inhabitants, and anecdotes of distiguished public characters. In a series of letters by a German Prince. by Pückler-Muskau, Hermann, Fürst von

The AEsthetics of Pianoforte Playing, by Adolf Kullak.
— from Chopin : the Man and His Music by James Huneker

[ 218 ] PARTICULARS OF MARRIAGE PRICE PAID BY A MARA FOR HIS BRIDE.
— from The Lushei Kuki Clans by John Shakespear

He had no theory except of his art; no "ideas" and no "problems"; he did not wish to change anything or to reform anything; but he saw all his people pass by as before a window, and he heard their words.
— from English Literature: Modern by G. H. (George Herbert) Mair

The book is divided into six parts, preceded by an introductory chapter on Government, and why we study it.
— from The Book Review Digest, Volume 13, 1917 Thirteenth Annual Cumulation Reviews of 1917 Books by Various

Soon after, this association assembled at St. George's Fields, to the astonishing number of fifty thousand people, marshalled in separate bands, with blue cockades; and this immense rabble proceeded through the city of London to the House of Parliament, preceded by a man carrying a petition signed by twelve hundred thousand names.
— from A Modern History, From the Time of Luther to the Fall of Napoleon For the Use of Schools and Colleges by John Lord