It seemed evident that certain Spanish officers charged with resistance yielded too easily; the idea of corruption was connected with the victory; it appears as though generals and not battles had been won, and the conquering soldier returned humiliated.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

Whence Adam soon repealed The doubts that in his heart arose: and now Led on, yet sinless, with desire to know What nearer might concern him, how this world Of Heaven and Earth conspicuous first began; When, and whereof created; for what cause; What within Eden, or without, was done Before his memory; as one whose drouth Yet scarce allayed still eyes the current stream, Whose liquid murmur heard new thirst excites, Proceeded thus to ask his heavenly guest.
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton

As soon as he had done bathing his beautiful feet, he wiped them with a towel he took from under the montera, on taking off which he raised his face, and those who were watching him had an opportunity of seeing a beauty so exquisite that Cardenio said to the curate in a whisper: “As this is not Luscinda, it is no human creature but a divine being.” The youth then took off the montera, and shaking his head from side to side there broke loose and spread out a mass of hair that the beams of the sun might have envied; by this they knew that what had seemed a peasant was a lovely woman, nay the most beautiful the eyes of two of them had ever beheld, or even Cardenio’s if they had not seen and known Luscinda, for he afterwards declared that only the beauty of Luscinda could compare with this.
— from The History of Don Quixote, Volume 1, Complete by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Whence Adam soon repeal'd The doubts that in his heart arose: and now 60 Led on, yet sinless, with desire to know What neerer might concern him, how this World Of Heav'n and Earth conspicuous first began, When, and whereof created, for what cause, What within Eden or without was done Before his memorie, as one whose drouth Yet scarce allay'd still eyes the current streame, Whose liquid murmur heard new thirst excites, Proceeded thus to ask his Heav'nly Guest.
— from The Poetical Works of John Milton by John Milton

These ills are found in prospering love and true; But in crossed love and helpless there be such As through shut eyelids thou canst still take in— Uncounted ills; so that 'tis better far To watch beforehand, in the way I've shown, And guard against enticements.
— from On the Nature of Things by Titus Lucretius Carus

The Union is strong enough to confer favors; it is strong enough to command service.
— from The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Volume 1 by Jefferson Davis

Tennyson was in a cheap seven-and-six edition; then came Swinburne, Pater, Rossetti, Morris, two novels by Rhoda Broughton, Dickens, Thackeray, Fielding, and Smollett; the complete works of Balzac, Gautier's Emaux et Camées, Salammbo, L'Assommoir; add to this Carlyle, Byron, Shelley, Keats, &c.c.
— from A Mere Accident by George Moore

CLXIX Upon the paladin's return the cry Redoubled, and the mourning louder grew Orlando to the corse approached more nigh, And speechless stood awhile, his friends to view, Pale, as at eve is the acanthus' dye Or lily's, which were plucked at morn: he drew A heavy sigh, and on the warrior dead Fixing his stedfast eyes, the County said: CLXX "O comrade bold and true, there here liest slain, And who dost live in heaven above, I know, Rewarded with a life, thy glorious gain, Which neither heat nor cold can take, my woe Forgive, if thou beholdest me complain: Because I sorrow to remain below, And not to share in such delights with thee; Not that thou art not left behind with me.
— from Orlando Furioso by Lodovico Ariosto

"Lord St. Eval," thought Caroline, suddenly becoming alarmed, "surely mamma and papa know nothing of his offer."
— from The Mother's Recompense, Volume 1 A Sequel to Home Influence by Grace Aguilar

For since the death of Gilbert of Bargany the King needed someone in Carrick strong enough to count spears with the Earl of Cassillis.
— from The Grey Man by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett

the gold brocade of the princess, might indeed be imitated by the merchant's wife—who at the present day is nearly her equal in wealth—the representative of political power in, what is called, a constitutional government; but the shop-girl and the dancing-mistress might break their hearts with spite, ere they could set up a system of dress in keeping with hoods of the kind alluded to.
— from Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 57, No. 352, February 1845 by Various