Saxo was a cleric; and could such a man be of less than canonical rank?
— from The Danish History, Books I-IX by Grammaticus Saxo

If my bold plan succeeded and resulted in my becoming a member of the Red Band, I must be able to strip and wash myself before my fellow members, or to stand a merry bout of leapfrog or wrestling in the servants’ quarters.
— from Patroon van Volkenberg A tale of old Manhattan in the year sixteen hundred & ninety-nine by Henry Thew Stephenson

‘It is not half so amusing, mother; but, oh, look at the violets, how thick they are under the trees!’
— from Lady William by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant

Blue company had no right to send a man behind our lines to—" "Captain," Fyfe said with annoyance, "you are the most argumentative corpse I have ever encountered.
— from I Was a Teen-Age Secret Weapon by Richard Sabia

Distracted at having lost its comrade, which perished from the dreadful efforts which it made along with the others in drawing the avanc hen or old crocodile from the lake of lakes, it fled away from its master, and wandered about till coming to the glen now called that of Llan Ddewi Brefi it fell down and perished after excessive bellowing, from which noise the place probably derived its name of Brefi, for Bref in Cumric signifies a mighty bellowing or lowing.
— from Wild Wales: The People, Language, & Scenery by George Borrow

"Yes, Father," said one of the gossips, "ye shall have drink; but ye must first resolve a doubt which has arisen amongst us, to wit, What servant will serve a man best on least expense?"
— from The History of the Reformation of Religion in Scotland With Which Are Included Knox's Confession and The Book of Discipline by John Knox

Nowe I wyl aduise and counseill howe to kepe the same pure, for somoche as may be, or lesse enfected, and correcte the same corrupte.
— from The Sweating Sickness A boke or counseill against the disease commonly called the sweate or sweatyng sicknesse by John Caius

However, as the inheritance is small, and might be of little account to you, if you choose to waive it, I dare say we may make some arrangement.”
— from Openings in the Old Trail by Bret Harte

It must be such as might be of legal efficacy, or might be the foundation of some legal liability.
— from The Strange Schemes of Randolph Mason by Melville Davisson Post

Follow farther back and these sheaths are missing, but on long stretches between the growing tip and the leafless part of the branch the characteristic sheathed needle-bundles declare this evergreen to be a pine.
— from Trees Worth Knowing by Julia Ellen Rogers