During the prevalence of a speculative mania there is not one person in ten among the English public that can be induced to weigh any arguments or facts that run counter to their fancies; but by the small proportion capable of giving heed, the following résumé of British banking experience during the twelve years from 1846 to 1857 will be considered valuable.
— from Knowledge for the Time A Manual of Reading, Reference, and Conversation on Subjects of Living Interest, Useful Curiosity, and Amusing Research by John Timbs

My skin was a patchwork of mementoes of all the minute fauna of the past week, and an itching like the constant prick of myriad red-hot needles was relieved only briefly by each dip in the stream.
— from Vagabonding down the Andes Being the Narrative of a Journey, Chiefly Afoot, from Panama to Buenos Aires by Harry Alverson Franck

There is a street of jewellers, and there is a row of booksellers; but even down in places where nobody ever can, or ever could, penetrate in a carriage, there are mighty old palaces shut in among the gloomiest and closest walls, and almost shut out from the sun.
— from Pictures from Italy by Charles Dickens