She caused me most indescribable pleasure yesterday, by playing my sonata in the most admirable manner.
— from The Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — Volume 01 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

I can take my oath of it, madam; so can Mrs. Mincing.
— from The Way of the World by William Congreve

Up, and after being trimmed, all the morning at the office with my people about me till about one o’clock, and then home, and my people with me, and Mr. Wayth and I eat a bit of victuals in my old closet, now my little dining-room, which makes a pretty room, and my house being so clean makes me mightily pleased, but only I do lacke Mercer or somebody in the house to sing with.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

“Dear Sir,” cried Miss Mirvan, “pray let us take the poor lady into our coach.
— from Evelina, Or, the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World by Fanny Burney

Thou shalt take up thine abode, young as thou art, here in my house and bear the name of Nathan, whilst I will betake myself to thy house and let still call myself Mithridanes.' Quoth Mithridanes, 'An I knew how to do as well as you have done and do, I would, without hesitation, take that which you proffer me; but, since meseemeth very certain that my actions would be a diminishment of Nathan's fame and as I purpose not to mar in another that which I know not how to order in myself, I will not take it.'
— from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio

HIGHWAY ROBBERY June 3, unknown, Dublin, Ga. INCENDIARISM Nov. 8, Gabe Nalls, Blackford, Ky.; Nov. 8, Ulysses Nails, Blackford, Ky. ARSON Dec. 20, James Allen, Brownsville, Tex. ASSAULT Dec. 23, George King, New Orleans, La. NO OFFENSE Dec. 28, Scott Sherman, Morehouse Parish, La. BURGLARY May 29, Henry Smith, Clinton, Miss.; May 29, William James, Clinton, Miss.
— from The Red Record Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynching in the United States by Ida B. Wells-Barnett

They suspect them of this, that, and the other;' and he suggested I should call myself Miss Cutbill.
— from The Bramleighs of Bishop's Folly by Charles James Lever

These roof holes to the ceremonial chamber are entered directly from the open air, while in the dwelling rooms it seems customary (much more customary than at Zuñi) to enter the lower stories through trapdoors within upper rooms.
— from A Study of Pueblo Architecture: Tusayan and Cibola Eighth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1886-1887, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1891, pages 3-228 by Victor Mindeleff

"Stop yer squarmin'!" snarled the fellow, who had thought to kiss her quickly before she could make much resistance, and then hasten along, it being his intention to boast of what he had done.
— from Frank Merriwell's Backers; Or, The Pride of His Friends by Burt L. Standish

Some ten men and six women at once came up; and, although it was now dark, and the sharks consequently much more to be dreaded, sprang overboard, and swam in towards the native village of Utwé.
— from Rídan The Devil And Other Stories 1899 by Louis Becke

This was done, and finding that they would not retract, they were put to death upon the Hill of Mercury (who was so much honoured by the Gauls), and which was subsequently called Montmartre ( Mons Martyrum ).
— from The Churches of Paris, from Clovis to Charles X by Sophia Beale

A painful suspicion crossed my mind, and I stole a glance at Basil for to see if the same thought had come to him.
— from Constance Sherwood: An Autobiography of the Sixteenth Century by Georgiana Fullerton

Luccock resided eleven years in Brazil, and he seems to have been a careful observer; his work gives much new and important information on agriculture, statistics, commerce, mines, manners, &c., but it is heavily written.
— from A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels - Volume 18 Historical Sketch of the Progress of Discovery, Navigation, and Commerce, from the Earliest Records to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century, By William Stevenson by William Stevenson

That horrid—well, I won’t say whom, Johnny—held him, and his arm was so twisted and grazed that he was obliged to come to me to put some lily-leaves on it, and if he would but show it, it is all black and yellow still.” Carey, much moved, went over and kissed both her boy’s champions, while Ellen said, with tears in her eyes, “Oh, Johnny, I’m glad you were at least not so bad.
— from Magnum Bonum; Or, Mother Carey's Brood by Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge

We do not find the long roulades and ornamental passages according to the taste of his predecessors, but instead of them, clear, sharp, concise, manly melodies—unfortunately, however, they are so near the line of the vulgar that only a refined treatment on the part of the singer can save them for poetry and beauty.
— from A Popular History of the Art of Music From the Earliest Times Until the Present by W. S. B. (William Smythe Babcock) Mathews

It is a state within a state, condoning many moral delinquencies, exalting some into meritorious deeds, smoothing others over as pardonable follies.
— from The Catholic World, Vol. 19, April 1874‐September 1874 by Various