A nice old-fashioned table was soon spread, and Christie kept smiling at the contrast between this and Mrs. Stuart's.
— from Work: A Story of Experience by Louisa May Alcott

Now and then one may find such a cabin kept scrupulously neat, with merry steaming fireplaces and hospitable door; but the majority are dirty and dilapidated, smelling of eating and sleeping, poorly ventilated, and anything but homes.
— from The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) Du Bois

Upon hearing this, Crastin , with an Air of Deference, played Honoria's Fan, and repeated, Sedley has that prevailing gentle Art, That can with a resistless Charm impart The loosest Wishes to the chastest Heart: Raise such a Conflict, kindle such a Fire, Between declining Virtue and Desire, Till the poor vanquish'd Maid dissolves away In Dreams all Night, in Sighs and Tears all Day.
— from The Spectator, Volume 1 Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays by Steele, Richard, Sir

Nor a musician as I seem to be; But one that scorn to live in this disguise For such a one as leaves a gentleman And makes a god of such a cullion: Know, sir, that I am call’d Hortensio.
— from The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare

‘It is very bold in me,’ said Agnes, looking up again, ‘who have lived in such seclusion, and can know so little of the world, to give you my advice so confidently, or even to have this strong opinion.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Old Thurstan Coobragh led off on the advantages of marriage, saying it was middlin' plain that the gels nowadays must be wedded when they were babies in arms, for bye-childers were common, and a gel's father didn't care in a general way to look like a fool; but Nary Crowe saw no harm in a bit of sweetheartin', and Cleave Kinley said no, of course, not if a man wasn't puttin' notions into a gel's head, and Matt Mylechreest, for his part, thought the gels were amazin' like the ghosts, for they got into every skeleton closet about the house.
— from The Bondman: A New Saga by Caine, Hall, Sir

d, significant ceremonies, such as cross, kneeling, surplice, holidays, bishopping, &c., which have no use and praise except in religion only, and which, also, were most easily determinate (yet not determined) within those bounds which the wisdom of God did set to his written word, are such things as God never left to the determination of any human law.
— from The Works of Mr. George Gillespie (Vol. 1 of 2) by George Gillespie

If I had any opportunity of teaching the language, I should no doubt have been able to introduce many other improvements; as it is, I have had to rely mainly on the suggestions and corrections kindly sent to me by various teachers and students who have used this book, among whom my especial thanks are due to the Rev. W. F. Moulton, of Cambridge, and Mr. C. Stoffel, of Amsterdam.
— from Anglo-Saxon Primer, With Grammar, Notes, and Glossary Eighth Edition Revised by Henry Sweet

Shall a Christian knight shrink before any pagan [ 47 ] hound?
— from Household stories from the Land of Hofer; or, Popular Myths of Tirol by Rachel Harriette Busk

I generally added nothing further to such conversation; but a Voice, deep, sweet, and clear, kept sounding through my soul—"The silver and the gold are Mine."
— from The Story of John G. Paton; Or, Thirty Years Among South Sea Cannibals by John Gibson Paton