The same man made in sculpture, on the arch that is over the door of the said church, in barbaric manner, a God the Father with certain angels, in half-relief and rather large; and in the arch he carved the twelve months, placing his own name underneath in round letters, as was the custom, and the date—namely, the year 1216.
— from Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 01 (of 10) Cimabue to Agnolo Gaddi by Giorgio Vasari

I thought it looked hideous, and longed for a snug cap instead, but my companions silenced me by their admiration.
— from The Letters of Jane Austen Selected from the compilation of her great nephew, Edward, Lord Bradbourne by Jane Austen

‘But next day, afore I’d gotten fettled up—for indeed, Miss, I’d no heart to sweeping an’ fettling, an’ washing pots; so I sat me down i’ th’ muck—who should come in but Maister Weston!
— from Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë

scīrgesceat (ȳ) n. property of a see , Ct. scīrham clad in bright mail , B 1895.
— from A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary For the Use of Students by J. R. Clark (John R. Clark) Hall

The readiest way to make the wench amends Is to become her husband and her father; The which will I-not all so much for love As for another secret close intent By marrying her which I must reach unto.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

They are coarsely woven and have been so commonly imitated by machine reproductions in English carpetry that even blue and white originals have small merit to boast of.
— from The Oriental Rug A Monograph on Eastern Rugs and Carpets, Saddle-Bags, Mats & Pillows, with a Consideration of Kinds and Classes, Types, Borders, Figures, Dyes, Symbols, etc. Together with Some Practical Advice to Collectors. by William De Lancey Ellwanger

Turning from Bessie (though her presence was far less obnoxious to me than that of Abbot, for instance, would have been), I scrutinised the face of the gentleman: I knew him; it was Mr. Lloyd, an apothecary, sometimes called in by Mrs. Reed when the servants were ailing: for herself and the children she employed a physician.
— from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë

There, on the beautiful island-studded coast, under the soft Ionian sky, a new Greece arose which, in its splendid cities, its busy marts, its solemn fanes, combined Greek subtlety and refinement with much of Asiatic pomp and 248 luxury.
— from Studies in Greek Scenery, Legend and History Selected from His Commentary on Pausanias' 'Description of Greece,' by James George Frazer

When the earth has been soaked by rain, instead of suffering compression, it becomes mud in the mould; even though it be but a little too moist, it cannot be worked; it swells under the blows of the rammer, and a stroke in one place makes it rise in another.
— from Cottage Building in Cob, Pisé, Chalk and Clay: A Renaissance (2nd edition) by Clough Williams-Ellis

Your lordship kens, or may ken, by experience of your ain, whilk is not as yet mony weeks auld, that small sums can ill be missed by those that have nane larger; and I maun e'en be plain with you, that men notice it of your lordship, that ye play wi' nane but the misguided creatures that can but afford to lose bare stakes.”
— from The Fortunes of Nigel by Walter Scott

The head he pushed away to the right, as far out of our course as possible, and then I dragged the writhing body from him, and, shuddering, cast it behind me as far as possible.
— from From Veldt Camp Fires by H. A. (Henry Anderson) Bryden

Graves's fleet, Arbuthnot's, and Rodney's, all here; with such a superiority, can it be matter of surprise if M. de Ternay should fall a sacrifice?
— from Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams During the Revolution with a Memoir of Mrs. Adams by Abigail Adams

Just as it was getting [Pg 125] dark, and Sue was expecting Mr. Travers every minute, who should come in but Mr. Martin!
— from The Adventures of Jimmy Brown by W. L. (William Livingston) Alden

Two long lines of snowy cloth, illuminated by myriads of wax-lights in massive silver candelabra, vanished in perspective like the iridescent path cloven by a ship at night-time.
— from My Lords of Strogue, Vol. 2 (of 3) A Chronicle of Ireland, from the Convention to the Union by Lewis Wingfield