549 The depth of the bed of ashes above the houses is variable, but seldom exceeds twelve or fourteen feet, and it is said that the higher part of the amphitheatre always projected above the surface; though if this were the case, it seems inexplicable that the city should never have been discovered till the year 1750.
— from Principles of Geology or, The Modern Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants Considered as Illustrative of Geology by Lyell, Charles, Sir

Here, I suppose, the Attorney-General intends to prove me guilty of speaking either truth or falsehood; for, according to the modern interpretation of Libels, it does not signify which, and the only improvement necessary to shew the compleat absurdity of such doctrine, would be, to prosecute a man for uttering a most false and wicked truth .
— from The Writings Of Thomas Paine, Volume III. 1791-1804 by Thomas Paine

As the pile is being constructed, vertical heavy wooden fence posts, 4 x 4's, or large-diameter plastic pipes with numerous quarter-inch holes drilled in them are spaced every three or four feet.
— from Organic Gardener's Composting by Steve Solomon

"A little after midnight I was awakened by a clamor from the poultry, and suspecting either two or four footed thieves, I was soon covering the hennery with my gun.
— from Nature's Serial Story by Edward Payson Roe

Bill walked with slow deliberation, stopping every three or four feet and scanning the ground around him with his brilliant, keen eyes.
— from The Plunderer by Roy Norton

It consists of an elevated track about thirty-six feet long, sustained every three or four feet upon standards, and having clamping jaws, which hold together the upper edges of the two lengths of carpet to be sewed together.
— from The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century. by Edward W. (Edward Wright) Byrn

It is a square enclosure three or four feet in height; the back is dug out of the sloping bank, the front wall is built up with turf.
— from With the Harmony to Labrador Notes of a Visit to the Moravian Mission Stations on the North-East Coast of Labrador by Benjamin La Trobe

We may, however, pass to the Deluge of the Renaissance and the special emergence therefrom of French fiction.
— from A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2 To the Close of the 19th Century by George Saintsbury