Their arms are bows and arrows, sword and mace; but above all the bow, for they are capital archers, indeed the best that are known.
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Rustichello of Pisa

She used to say,’ added Mr. Bray, addressing Arthur Gride, ‘that the sight of you always made me worse.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

It may be remarked with surprise, that in a democratic army after a long peace all the soldiers are mere boys, and all the superior officers in declining years; so that the former are wanting in experience, the latter in vigor.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville

“Ivan, go and see about Mr. Brayne again, and bring him here at once.”
— from The Innocence of Father Brown by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton

They build on high hills, in hot countries, for more air; or to the seaside, as Baiae, Naples, &c. In our northern countries we are opposite, we commend straight, broad, open, fair streets, as most befitting and agreeing to our clime.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

Among my workmen early: then to the office, and there I had letters from the Downs from Mr. Coventry; who tells me of the foul weather they had last Sunday, that drove them back from near Boulogne, whither they were going for the Queen, back again to the Downs, with the loss of their cables, sayles, and masts; but are all safe, only my Lord Sandwich, who went before with the yachts; they know not what is become of him, which do trouble me much; but I hope he got ashore before the storm begun; which God grant!
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

Hence the Three Laws, mentioned above, suffice for the better regulated States, and may be accepted as a rough exemplification of our Female Code.
— from Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (Illustrated) by Edwin Abbott Abbott

While these observations were being exchanged between Mr. Bob Sawyer and Mr. Benjamin Allen; and while the boy in the gray livery, marvelling at the unwonted prolongation of the dinner, cast an anxious look, from time to time, towards the glass door, distracted by inward misgivings regarding the amount of minced veal which would be ultimately reserved for his individual cravings; there rolled soberly on through the streets of Bristol, a private fly, painted of a sad green colour, drawn by a chubby sort of brown horse, and driven by a surly-looking man with his legs dressed like the legs of a groom, and his body attired in the coat of a coachman.
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

Some went at my legs and some at my back, and among the others, there was one tiny fish so gentle and polite that he did me the great favor of eating even my tail.”
— from The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

None of us were likely to join Cudjo in such a meal; but at all events, thought we, when the quills and skin are removed, our dogs might get a morsel of it as a reward for their sufferings.
— from The Desert Home: The Adventures of a Lost Family in the Wilderness by Mayne Reid

But the two squires got to their horses and rode briskly up to the Castle as silent as might be, and all the others followed at a foot's pace.
— from The Sundering Flood by William Morris

The two met directly under the gas lamp where Faith had been standing a moment before, and as they met Faith heard a sharp exclamation.
— from For Gold or Soul? The Story of a Great Department Store by Lurana Sheldon

No apter emblem could be found for a rapid and resistless element than birds or the wings of birds; and however incongruous such appendages may be, and anatomically impossible, it is figuratively as the messengers of God’s will to man that we have come to view these celestial habitants.
— from Fictitious & Symbolic Creatures in Art With Special Reference to Their Use in British Heraldry by John Vinycomb

In all such cases, however, as well as in cases of conscious projection, there is great danger, since, awake or asleep, we are never free from antagonistic Elementals, who would have no difficulty in seizing both our superphysical and material bodies, and appropriating the latter to their own use, were it not for the combatting and counteracting efforts of our guardian angels—the Benevolent Elementals.
— from Ghostly Phenomena by Elliott O'Donnell

Forms of state administration may be altered, and after all not much harm done; it is only changing one variety of power at the Tuileries for another.
— from Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 424 Volume 17, New Series, February 14, 1852 by Various

Yet—was Falkner such “a mere boy” after all?
— from A Frontier Mystery by Bertram Mitford

The electric time-beater in the latter system thus taps the measure gently on the sole of the performer's foot, and special signals, as may be arranged, are sent to him by preconcerted combinations of taps.
— from Twentieth Century Inventions: A Forecast by George Sutherland