The seed hereof is very effectual to expel the tooth ache, and the ashes of the burnt herb to cleanse the gums, and make the teeth white.
— 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

Though tolerably well treated at the villages where he stopped, he in vain endeavoured to obtain a guide.
— from Great African Travellers: From Mungo Park to Livingstone and Stanley by William Henry Giles Kingston

Apparently relinquishing her intention of quitting the room, she stood with her hands clasped, regarding him with a look of mixed interest and alarm; but as his broad chest rose and fell, convulsed by the sobs he in vain endeavoured to repress, she drew nearer to him, exclaiming:— “Mr. Oaklands, are you ill?
— from Frank Fairlegh: Scenes from the Life of a Private Pupil by Frank E. (Frank Edward) Smedley

"Who only sorrows when she sees him pained, Then knows to pluck away pain's fiercest dart; Or, love arresting, ere its gaol is gained Steal half its venom ere it reach his heart.
— from Zophiel A Poem by Maria Gowen Brooks

"My dear Mr. Lorrequer—As her ladyship and my son have in vain essayed to get any thing from you in the shape of reply to their letters, it has devolved upon me to try my fortune, which were I to augur from the legibility of my writing, may not, I should fear, prove more successful than the"—(what can the word be?)
— from The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer — Volume 3 by Charles James Lever

XLVIII But is too slow withal; for on her feet She finds Marphisa, with such fierce disdain Inflamed, at being in that second heat So easily reversed upon the plain, She hears in vain exclaim, in vain entreat, Rogero, who beholds their strife with pain.
— from Orlando Furioso by Lodovico Ariosto

His maid servant, however, sought him in vain, even in the church-yard.
— from Memoirs of John Abernethy With a View of His Lectures, His Writings, and Character; with Additional Extracts from Original Documents, Now First Published by George Macilwain

Time after time he struck deep into the planks the knife which he still held, in vain endeavor to raise himself out of the water by this leverage.
— from The Bride of Mission San José: A Tale of Early California by John Augustine Cull