My Friend Sir Roger is very often merry with me upon my passing so much of my Time among his Poultry: He has caught me twice or thrice looking after a Bird's Nest, and several times sitting an Hour or two together near an Hen and Chickens.
— from The Spectator, Volume 1 Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays by Steele, Richard, Sir

Pentafylli. Of Cinqfyl, commonly called Five-leaved, or Five-finger’d grass: the root is very drying, but moderately hot: It is admirable against all fluxes, and stops blood flowing from any part of the body: it helps infirmities of the liver and lungs, helps putrified ulcers of the mouth, the root boiled in vinegar is good against the shingles, and appeases the rage of any fretting sores.
— from The Complete Herbal To which is now added, upwards of one hundred additional herbs, with a display of their medicinal and occult qualities physically applied to the cure of all disorders incident to mankind: to which are now first annexed, the English physician enlarged, and key to Physic. by Nicholas Culpeper

Narrent res immundas vetulae, ex quibus abominationem incurrat, et res [5680] sordidas et, hoc assiduent .
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

Footnote 1: When the Spectators were reissued in volumes, Vol.
— from The Spectator, Volume 1 Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays by Steele, Richard, Sir

If you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the rules is very easy.
— from Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters

'His power of reasoning is very strong, and he has a peculiar art of drawing characters, which is as rare as good portrait painting.'
— from Boswell's Life of Johnson Abridged and edited, with an introduction by Charles Grosvenor Osgood by James Boswell

A noble Alp far lighted in the blue, That in the flood of morning rends its veil of cloud And stands a dream of glory to the gaze Of them that in the Valley toil and plod.
— from What Is Man? and Other Essays by Mark Twain

Lybis amentavit habena, Se rotat in vulnus, telumque irata receptum Impetit, et secum fugientem circuit hastam.”
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

Hence all lamentation or impotent anger on account of the alleged mischief of rendering doubtful the coherency of your chain of reasoning, is vain pretentiousness, which would fain have us believe that the doubt here freely expressed as to your argument is a doubting of sacred truth, in order that under this cover the shallowness of your argument may pass unnoticed.
— from Kant's Critique of Judgement by Immanuel Kant

Another diagnostic symptom of value is that in traumatic pericarditis respiration is painful, not difficult, and the respiratory rate is very much increased on movement.
— from Special Report on Diseases of Cattle by Dr. (Benjamin Tilghman) Woodward

Reader, in view of the teaching of this new and widely heralded sage, how many "superfluities" must you and I strip off from our "conception" of life!
— from Know the Truth: A Critique on the Hamiltonian Theory of Limitation Including Some Strictures Upon the Theories of Rev. Henry L. Mansel and Mr. Herbert Spencer by Jesse Henry Jones

Of Religion in Virginia.
— from The Present State of Virginia by Hugh Jones

The Normans introduced into England, if not a higher standard of morals, at least a greater refinement in vice.
— from The History of Prostitution: Its Extent, Causes, and Effects throughout the World by William W. Sanger

Hollenbeck Park on Boyle Heights in the older residence section east of the river, is very beautiful but perhaps the least frequented of Los Angeles playgrounds.
— from On Sunset Highways: A Book of Motor Rambles in California by Thos. D. (Thomas Dowler) Murphy

Audrey obeyed, but her face was still raised in voiceless supplication as Mrs. Raleigh opened the letter.
— from The Safety Curtain, and Other Stories by Ethel M. (Ethel May) Dell

Yet if you asked my opinion I should say that Cola di Rienzo is very eloquent, possessed of great powers of persuasion, and ready of speech; as a writer also he is charming and elegant, his diction, if not very copious, is graceful and brilliant.
— from Petrarch, the First Modern Scholar and Man of Letters A Selection from His Correspondence with Boccaccio and Other Friends, Designed to Illustrate the Beginnings of the Renaissance by Francesco Petrarca