“Then, Friday,” says I, “do exactly as you see me do; fail in nothing.”
— from The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Clarinets specialise in diminuendo effects and are capable of decreasing their tone to a breath ( morendo ).
— from Principles of Orchestration, with Musical Examples Drawn from His Own Works by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov

The different actors in this strange scene remained facing one another, without uttering a single word; the queen standing near the door, D’Artagnan half out of his hiding place, the king raised on his elbow, ready to fall down on his bed again at the slightest sound that would indicate the return of the multitude, but instead of approaching, the noise became more and more distant and very soon it died entirely away.
— from Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas

She is to me the only Ark Of that high mystery which locks The lips of joy, or speaks in dark Enigmas and in paradox; That potent charm, which none can fly, Nor would, which makes me bond and free, Nor can I tell if first ’twas
— from The Angel in the House by Coventry Patmore

Why you must have gone on drinking, and swearing, and—' JOHNSON (with a smile,) 'I drank enough and swore enough, to be sure.'
— from Boswell's Life of Johnson Abridged and edited, with an introduction by Charles Grosvenor Osgood by James Boswell

And if the boy have not a woman’s gift To rain a shower of commanded tears, An onion will do well for such a shift, Which, in a napkin being close convey’d, Shall in despite enforce a watery eye.
— from The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare

The other places at the table are empty, and the table somewhat in disorder, evidently a meal having recently been finished.)
— from An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen

It sometimes happened that some innocently gaping gentleman, on suddenly catching his straying, lustreless, questioning eyes, was scared and all of a tremor, and at once inserted into some important document either a smudge or some quite inappropriate word.
— from White Nights and Other Stories The Novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky, Volume X by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

sent ij drunken Englishmen abord the Moone , the one called Gray, a calker, for misusing the admerell in ill termes, as many witnesses heard.
— from Diary of Richard Cocks, Volume 2 Cape-Merchant in the English Factory in Japan, 1615-1622, with Correspondence by Richard Cocks

The constitution, therefore, of England must be to inquisitive men of all countries, far more to ourselves, an object of superior interest; distinguished especially as it is from all free governments of powerful nations which history has recorded by its manifesting, after the lapse of several centuries, not merely no symptom of irretrievable decay, but a more expansive energy."
— from Constitutional History of England, Henry VII to George II. Volume 1 of 3 by Henry Hallam

My harper here?—ere life depart, strike me some warlike strain; Some song of my own battle-field I would hear once more again: Unfurl the silken Sunburst 6 in the noontide's golden shine, In death, even as in pride of life, let it wave o'er Geraldine!" VII.
— from Bits of Blarney by R. Shelton (Robert Shelton) Mackenzie

She has arranged an alliance in her own mind between the Princess Sabaroff and her own cousin Alan, Lord Gervase, whom she is daily expecting at Surrenden.
— from A House-Party, Don Gesualdo, and A Rainy June by Ouida

Flowers of spring, summer, and autumn are blooming then, according to the progress of the seasons in different elevations and habitats.
— from Olympic National Park, Washington by Gunnar O. Fagerlund

The manufactures of Pescado probably surpass in decorative excellence all other modern Pueblo pottery, while both in their lack of variety and in delicacy of execution of their painted patterns the fictiles of Ojo Caliente are so inferior and diverse from the other Zuñi work that the future archæologist will have need to beware, or (judging alone from the ceramic remains which he finds at the two pueblos) he will attribute them at least to distinct periods, perhaps to diverse peoples.
— from A Study of Pueblo Pottery as Illustrative of Zuñi Culture Growth. Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1882-83, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1886, pages 467-522 by Frank Hamilton Cushing

By his conduct during the voyage, he had secured the attachment of several important friends for himself; opened for himself excellent prospects for prosperity in life; and earned the advantages of seeing a new country in a manner which few succeed in doing even after long residence in it.
— from Ralph Denham's Adventures in Burma: A Tale of the Burmese Jungle by G. (George) Norway

"Even at the present time," the priest continued, "sin is dominant everywhere among the people.
— from The Scarlet Banner by Felix Dahn