Here rows of resplendent pewter, ranged on a long dresser, dazzled his eyes.
— from The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving

“If Caderousse had invented the story relative to the diamond, and there existed no such person as the Abbé Busoni, then, indeed, I was lost past redemption, or, at least, my life hung upon the feeble chance of Caderousse himself being apprehended and confessing the whole truth.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo, Illustrated by Alexandre Dumas

“Like a great lake turned upside down,” the sky hung lowering above the gloomy houses, and only allowed the pale rays of a leaden sun to pierce through it, at infrequent intervals.
— from Juliette Drouet's Love-Letters to Victor Hugo Edited with a Biography of Juliette Drouet by Louis Guimbaud

Another room in CYMBELINE'S palace Enter PISANIO reading of a letter PISANIO.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

As water did in stormes, now pitch runs out: As lead, when a fir'd Church becomes one spout.
— from The Poems of John Donne, Volume 1 (of 2) Edited from the Old Editions and Numerous Manuscripts by John Donne

Nero himself excelled, or affected to excel, in the elegant arts of music and poetry: nor should we despise his pursuits, had he not converted the pleasing relaxation of a leisure hour into the serious business and ambition of his life.
— 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 here I had a pleasant rencontre of a lady in mourning, that, by the little light I had, seemed handsome.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

Won’t you, please, ride on a little farther,” said Alpátych with a melancholy smile, “as it is not convenient in the presence of...?”
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

It consisted of a vertical cylinder, fitted with a piston prevented by suitable means from rising, except against great pressures; the piston resting on a liquid in the bottom of the cylinder, which was connected by a small pipe with a small pump, by which more liquid could be forced in.
— from Invention: The Master-key to Progress by Bradley A. (Bradley Allen) Fiske

Over her, like a swaying flower, a tiny parasol reared on a long tasselled stalk, held in Killigrew's hand as he lounged beside her.
— from Secret Bread by F. Tennyson (Fryniwyd Tennyson) Jesse

It is often well to let that prayer run on as long as it will.
— from Our Lady Saint Mary by J. G. H. (Joseph Gayle Hurd) Barry

In October, 1887, he was the happy and proud recipient of a letter from Tolstoy, saluting him as “Dear Brother,” which he published later, preceded by a fervid introduction, in “Les cahiers de la quinzaine.”
— from The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, August, 1913 Vol. LXXXVI. New Series: Vol. LXIV. May to October, 1913 by Various

This attendance on the last moments of the martyrs was often accompanied by great personal risk, or at least a heavy expense in the way of buying the good-will of venal officers; but it was a thing of the utmost importance, in view of the church’s doctrine concerning the veneration and invocation of saints, that nothing should be left undone which prudence would suggest to leave it beyond a doubt that the martyrs had confessed the true faith, and had suffered death for the faith.
— from The Catholic World, Vol. 22, October, 1875, to March, 1876 A Monthly Magazine of General Literature and Science by Various

What seems to us to-day to be an innate capacity, or an a priori quality, of our phronema, is really a phylogenetic result of a long series of brain-adaptations, formed by a posteriori sense-perceptions and experiences.
— from The Wonders of Life: A Popular Study of Biological Philosophy by Ernst Haeckel

Loving, as you do, Madam, the precious remains of antiquity, loving architecture, gardening, a warm sun, and a clear sky, I wonder you have never thought of moving Chaville to Nismes.
— from Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2 by Thomas Jefferson

Pierre reached over and lightly kicked a moccasined foot.
— from A Romany of the Snows, Complete Being a Continuation of the Personal Histories of "Pierre and His People" and the Last Existing Records of Pretty Pierre by Gilbert Parker

Who hath believed our report?' When he had ended, he resumed: 'This is not the history of a prosperous earthly monarch, but rather the painful record of a life of humiliation, of shame, and of contempt.'
— from The Prince of the House of David by J. H. (Joseph Holt) Ingraham