Of such melodious strings is Miss Pleasant Riderhood formed.'
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

" Then thus the king: "Shall I my prize resign With tame content, and thou possess'd of thine?
— from The Iliad by Homer

Master Pedro refused to take the money, saying, "I will not receive payment in advance or until the service has been first rendered;" and then with his right hand he gave a couple of slaps on his left shoulder, and with one spring the ape perched himself upon it, and putting his mouth to his master's ear began chattering his teeth rapidly; and having kept this up as long as one would be saying a credo, with another spring he brought himself to the ground, and the same instant Master Pedro ran in great haste and fell upon his knees before Don Quixote, and embracing his legs exclaimed, "These legs do I embrace as I would embrace the two pillars of Hercules, O illustrious reviver of knight-errantry, so long consigned to oblivion!
— from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

It was about ten o' clock at night; I had been dining by myself at a restaurant, and having returned to my small apartment, was sitting in my parlour, reading I heard the cracked tinkling of the bell, and, going into the corridor, opened the door.
— from The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham

It will be observed that sound is more promptly reacted on than either sight or touch.
— from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James

Where such exists, knowledge could not long remain stationary; it must perforce retrograde.
— from Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 1 of 3 or the Central and Western Rajput States of India by James Tod

The prospect of going to bed in my airless chambers, and the prospect of gradual suffocation, seemed, in my present restless frame of mind and body, to be one and the same thing.
— from The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

I made many other experiments, and though I have not room for them all in this day's speculation, I may perhaps reserve them for another.
— from The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886 by Ontario. Department of Education

When night fell they struck into more practicable roads, always keeping wide of the villages and hamlets, lest the watch-dogs should betray them.
— from Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada, from the mss. of Fray Antonio Agapida by Washington Irving

The sharp sea winds have eaten into the stone in many places, reducing it to an apparent honeycomb.
— from The Continental Monthly, Vol. 4, No. 5, November, 1863 by Various

These three stones in my palm represent a substantial fortune."
— from Jack Haydon's Quest by John Finnemore

If so, I may perhaps relieve you of them.
— from The Works of Balzac: A linked index to all Project Gutenberg editions by Honoré de Balzac

It is superficial in most places, resting either upon a cold clay, or upon sandstone; and is, as I have already remarked, a ferruginous compound of the finest dust.
— from Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia — Volume I by Charles Sturt

When we were satisfied, he invited us, with his mistress's permission, into the house of the Canovas adjoining the gallery; and there we saw many paintings by the sculptor,—pausing longest in a lovely little room decorated after the Pompeian manner with scherzi in miniature panels representing the jocose classic usualities:
— from Italian Journeys by William Dean Howells