The foundation of the whole matter is, after all, good sense, as the courts have often said.
— from The Common Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes

I have given him Directions, according to the most exact Rules of Opticks, to place himself in such a Manner that he shall meet his Eyes wherever he throws them: I have Hopes that when Will . confronts him, and all the Ladies, in whose Behalf he engages him, cast kind Looks and Wishes of Success at their Champion, he will have some Shame, and feel a little of the Pain he has so often put others to, of being out of Countenance.
— from The Spectator, Volume 1 Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays by Steele, Richard, Sir

It is a herb of the Sun, and therefore cordial; half a dram, or a dram at most, of the root hereof in powder taken in wine and vinegar, of each a little quantity, and the party presently laid to sweat, is held to be a sovereign remedy for those that are infected with the plague, and have a sore upon them, by expelling the poison, and defending the heart and spirit from danger.
— 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

When the candles at the piano had been lighted Miss Halcombe had changed her place, so as to continue her examination of the letters by their assistance.
— from The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

There will be a Ball and Supper at the Council House, Niagara, on his Majesty's Birthday, for such ladies and gentlemen as have been presented to the Lieut.-Governor and Mrs. Gore.
— from Toronto of Old Collections and recollections illustrative of the early settlement and social life of the capital of Ontario by Henry Scadding

He seemed to relish my advice, but withal told me, that although he had seen a great deal of the world both at land and sea, having cruised three whole months in the Channel, yet he should not be satisfied until he had visited France, which he proposed to do before he should settle; and to carry his wife along with him.
— from The Adventures of Roderick Random by T. (Tobias) Smollett

But all we said, not a word could we drag out of him; I almost felt like pushing him over, so as to change his position, for it was almost intolerable, it seemed so painfully and unnaturally constrained; especially, as in all probability he had been sitting so for upwards of eight or ten hours, going too without his regular meals.
— from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville

But the patriarch Nicholas refused his blessing: the Imperial baptism of the young prince was obtained by a promise of separation; and the contumacious husband of Zoe was excluded from the communion of the faithful.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

Then he leaped in the air to try the Shoes of Swiftness, and they carried him more swiftly than the wind, over the warm blue sea, over the happy lands of the south, over the northern peoples who drank mare’s milk and lived in great wagons, wandering after their flocks.
— from The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

We are told that Tom Smart’s uncle, on reaching the North Bridge connecting the old town with the new, “stopped for a minute to look at the strange irregular clusters of lights piled one above the other, and twinkling afar off so high that they looked like stars, gleaming from the castle walls on the one side and the Calton Hill on the other, as if they illuminated veritable castles in the air.”
— from The Dickens Country by Frederic George Kitton

They would sit down on the grass, and after a few moments of silence Gottfried would talk to him about the stars and the clouds; he taught him to distinguish the breathing of the earth, air, and water, the songs, cries, and sounds of the little worlds of flying, creeping, hopping, and swimming things swarming in the darkness, and the signs of rain and fine weather, and the countless instruments of the symphony of the night.
— from Jean-Christophe, Volume I by Romain Rolland

The average life of trolley wheels is 1,000 miles, and the conditions under which they operate are quite severe, as the company has on its main line eighteen railroad crossings.
— from Scientific American Supplement, No. 1157, March 5, 1898 by Various

They come to Calcutta because they are on their way out to make their fortunes, or on their way home because they have made them, or because their healths require change of station, and they come here to ask for it.
— from Miss Eden's Letters by Emily Eden

By the time Molly’s bedtime toilet was complete, the little evening prayer said, and the child had trotted off to bed, Dicky was fast asleep on the veranda floor, and Bertha had to undress him and put him into the water before he roused at all; even then he was almost asleep again before she could get him into bed.
— from The Youngest Sister: A Tale of Manitoba by Bessie Marchant

At short intervals two fresh attacks seemed about to convulse her, and then a great prostration, which again appeared to alarm the doctor, fell on the child.
— from A Love Episode by Émile Zola

Boswell had stopped at the Cozzens house for the night, and Kelly had gone to bed.
— from Hands Up; or, Thirty-Five Years of Detective Life in the Mountains and on the Plains Reminiscences by General D. J. Cook, Chief of the Rocky Mountains Detective Association by D. J.‏ ‎(David J.) Cook

A handsome, ruddy, expressive face, lit up by bright dark blue eyes, prepared one for his earnest words when he stood up to speak, and the cheers had subsided which invariably hailed his rising.
— from The Life of George Stephenson and of his Son Robert Stephenson Comprising Also a History of the Invention and Introduction of the Railway Locomotive by Samuel Smiles

He cannot bring himself to draw on her resources, so as to continue his studies till he can become a minister, which will not be for some years yet.
— from Janet McLaren, the Faithful Nurse by William Henry Giles Kingston