He had become, especially during the last two or three years, silent and reserved; he rarely entered society; even the company of those who were once his intimates had ceased to attract him; he was really a melancholy man.
— from Sybil, Or, The Two Nations by Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield

The real Exmoor seldom exceeds twelve hands; has a well-shaped head, with very small ears; but the thick round shoulder peculiar to all breeds of wild horses, which seem specially adapted for inclemencies of the weather; indeed, the whole body is round, compact, and well ribbed.
— from A New Illustrated Edition of J. S. Rarey's Art of Taming Horses With the Substance of the Lectures at the Round House, and Additional Chapters on Horsemanship and Hunting, for the Young and Timid by J. S. (John Solomon) Rarey

These had been sent to the King of Sweden by Charles I. at the close of the campaign in 1627 as a mark of friendship and respect for his valour, and were the richest ever sent even to a sovereign.
— from Sir Christopher Wren: His Family and His Times With Original Letters and a Discourse on Architecture Hitherto Unpublished. 1585-1723. by Lucy Phillimore

From what has been said, it must rationally be concluded that order is never more than the necessary or uniform connection of causes with their effects; or that series of action which flows from the peculiar properties of beings, so long as they remain in a given state; that confusion is nothing more than the change of this state; that in the universe, all is necessarily in order, because every thing acts and moves according to the various properties of the different beings it contains; that in Nature there cannot be either confusion or real evil, since every thing follows the laws of its natural existence; that there is neither chance nor any thing fortuitous in this Nature, where no effect is produced without a sufficient, without a substantial cause; where all causes act necessarily according to fixed and certain laws, which are themselves dependant on the essential properties of these causes or beings, as well as on the combination, which constitutes either their transitory or permanent state; that intelligence is a mode of acting, a method of existence natural to some particular beings; that if this intelligence should be attributed to Nature, it would then be nothing more than the faculty of conserving herself in active existence by necessary means.
— from The System of Nature, or, the Laws of the Moral and Physical World. Volume 1 by Holbach, Paul Henri Thiry, baron d'

The beds were arranged in something like a circle around the fire, and acting on the advice of Elmer, who had been on the cattle range and knew what was right, each sleeper expected to keep his feet toward the fire.
— from Afloat; or, Adventures on Watery Trails by Douglas, Alan, Captain

Aunt Amelia and Ella watched silently as Marian, her eyes blazing and her cheeks growing a deeper red every second, emptied the stocking in which there was nothing but potatoes.
— from The Rainbow Bridge by Frances Margaret Fox

Se ella ti venisse a domandare chi noi porremo per terza persona, dirai che tu non ne sei informato ma che tu ci lo riferirai, e se ella te ne nominasse alcuno, tiengli a mente.
— from The End of the Middle Ages: Essays and Questions in History by A. Mary F. (Agnes Mary Frances) Robinson

The young larva when first emerged is about ⅛ inch in length; the head is brown; the body dull white, with a series of black tubercles round each segment, each tubercle emitting a tuft of bristles.
— from New Zealand Moths and Butterflies (Macro-Lepidoptera) by G. V. (George Vernon) Hudson