As thou knowest, Sophronia, after long treaty between my kinsfolk and hers, is become my affianced bride; wherefore, should I now go about to say that I will not have her to wife, a sore scandal would ensue thereof and I should anger both her kinsfolk and mine own.
— from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio

"That is the truth," said the page; "for it is through Senor Don Quixote that Senor Sancho is now governor of the island of Barataria, as will be seen by this letter."
— from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

The depth of the sea is not great at Newfoundland—not more than some hundreds of fathoms; but towards the south is a depression of 1,500 fathoms.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne

There was a warlock in Hordaland called Vitgeir; and when the king sent a message to him that he should give up his art of witchcraft, he replied in this verse:— "The danger surely is not great From wizards born of mean estate, When Harald's son in Hadeland, King Ragnvald, to the art lays hand.
— from Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway by Snorri Sturluson

On Page 133 , change comma to a period after years in the sentence: “I never got a chance to try my hand at it, and I may never get a chance; and yet if I ever do get it I shall be found ready, for I have kept up my law-studies all these years,”
— from The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain

"She is not going at present—say for a year or so.
— from Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy

But if any one desires to hear what will be the end to the warfare itself, let him learn that the distance still remaining before we reach the river Ganges and the Eastern Sea is not great; and I inform you that the Hyrcanian Sea will be seen to be united with this, because the Great Sea encircles the whole earth.
— from The Anabasis of Alexander or, The History of the Wars and Conquests of Alexander the Great by Arrian

There surely is no general sympathy among knaves; nor have they, like freemasons, any common sign of communication.
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding

The incident of the dancing skeletons is not given by Schoolcraft, and seems to indicate a lost sequel to the story.
— from Myths of the Cherokee Extract from the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology by James Mooney

Every coffee-house took three or four papers; there seems to have been in this latter phase of the once social institution no general conversation.
— from All About Coffee by William H. (William Harrison) Ukers

Im sure Im not going to take in lodgers off the street for him if he takes a gesabo of a house like this Id love to have a long talk with an intelligent welleducated person Id have to get a nice pair of red slippers like those Turks with the fez used to sell or yellow and a nice semitransparent morning gown that I badly want or a peachblossom dressing jacket like the one long ago in Walpoles only 8/6 or 18/6 Ill just give him one more chance Ill get up early in the morning Im sick of Cohens old bed in any case I might go over to the markets to see all the vegetables and cabbages and tomatoes and carrots and all kinds of splendid fruits all coming in lovely and fresh who knows whod be the 1st man
— from Ulysses by James Joyce

Yet, Abi, a pavilion set upon the deck of a ship is no good place to plot the death of kings.
— from Morning Star by H. Rider (Henry Rider) Haggard

O, she is neither good nor bad, But innocent and wild!
— from Nets to Catch the Wind by Elinor Wylie

THE MIMIKA RIVER During the first months of our stay in New Guinea most of the energies of the expedition were spent in transporting supplies from the base-camp at Wakatimi to the camp at Parimau up the Mimika River.
— from Pygmies & Papuans: The Stone Age To-day in Dutch New Guinea by A. F. R. (Alexander Frederick Richmond) Wollaston

“My mother thought me dead; she is not guilty.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo, Illustrated by Alexandre Dumas

Of course the only gold that can be economically shipped is new gold.
— from Readings in Money and Banking Selected and Adapted by Chester Arthur Phillips

Sincerity is no guarantee of literary excellence.
— from Mr. Punch's History of Modern England, Vol. 3 (of 4).—1874-1892 by Charles L. (Charles Larcom) Graves

“Shall I never get to the wall?
— from The Living Link: A Novel by James De Mille