Coming back, you pass the needle under the stuff and the stitch on the right side, and bring it out at the bottom of the stitch; then you make a back stitch over two horizontal and two vertical threads, pass the needle over two straight threads, put it in behind the same, bring it out again near the upper stitch and then insert it near the bottom vertical stitch; after this you carry it to the second stitch lower down and pass it over the same.
— from Encyclopedia of Needlework by Thérèse de Dillmont

tsulie′na—the nuthatch ( Sitta carolinensis ); the word signifies literally “deaf” (a plural form referring to the ear, gûlĕ′ ), although no reason is given for such a name.
— from Myths of the Cherokee Extract from the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology by James Mooney

But without Steddinesse, and Direction to some End, a great Fancy is one kind of Madnesse; such as they have, that entring into any discourse, are snatched from their purpose, by every thing that comes in their thought, into so many, and so long digressions, and parentheses, that they utterly lose themselves: Which kind of folly, I know no particular name for: but the cause of it is, sometimes want of experience; whereby that seemeth to a man new and rare, which doth not so to others: sometimes Pusillanimity; by which that seems great to him, which other men think a trifle: and whatsoever is new, or great, and therefore thought fit to be told, withdrawes a man by degrees from the intended way of his discourse.
— from Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

un annuaire des sites littéraires découverts avec passion sur le web et chroniqués, une information littéraire au quotidien:
— from Entretiens / Interviews / Entrevistas by Marie Lebert

But, in no long time after the physician's death, the wearer of the scarlet letter disappeared, and Pearl along with her.
— from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Then his touches were so exquisitely wanton, so luxuriously diffused and penetrative at times, that he had made me perfectly rage with titillating fires, when, after all, and much ado, he had gained a short-lived erection, he would perhaps melt it away in a washy sweat, or a premature abortive effusion, that provokingly mocked my eager desires: or, if carried home, how faultered and unnervous the execution!
— from Memoirs of Fanny Hill A New and Genuine Edition from the Original Text (London, 1749) by John Cleland

‘Then hand round the plum-cake, Monster,’ the Lion said, lying down and putting his chin on his paws.
— from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll

She looked demure and pretty, and made a graceful picture in her blue cashmere dress and little blue hat, with a plaid shawl drawn neatly about her shoulders and a clumsy pocket-book in her hand.
— from My Antonia by Willa Cather

An Instance of this Kind may afford you some little Diversion: A practical Apothecary coming to see his Customer, a Cobler, that lay indisposed of the Cholick, observed him to crack a Fart (for so it is express’d in the Original) upon which, said the Apothecary, Sir, that’s nothing but the Tonitruation of Flatuosities in your Intestines; this was no sooner out of his Mouth, but the Cobler crack’d another, and reply’d to his Doctor, Sir, that is nothing but your Hobgoblin Notes thundring Wind out of my Guts; which literal Return of his Terms of Art in plain
— from Medicina Flagellata; Or, The Doctor Scarify'd by Anonymous

She looked discontented and peevish, and the manner in which she addressed the waiter indicated that she felt under no obligation to disguise her feelings.
— from Betty Gordon at Boarding School; Or, The Treasure of Indian Chasm by Alice B. Emerson

My dear Dr. Guthrie ,––When you wrote me some time since upon the subject of the communication made to me by the late Dr. Chalmers upon the all-important question of education, I could not take upon myself to say positively (though I had very little doubt in my mind) whether that document took its origin in a desire expressed by me to have Dr. Chalmers’ opinion on the general question of education, or merely upon the scheme laid down and pursued by the Committee of Privy Council.
— from Leading Articles on Various Subjects by Hugh Miller

Those who sail past in a boat would hardly believe that this is so, for the sun has baked its face, and the wind dried it, till it is cracked and seamed, and makes a brave imitation of red granite; but the clammy ooze, when the sea goes down, tells its nature only too plainly, and Sidmouth will never be a popular watering place for children, for there is no digging sand castles here, and a fall will stain light dresses and pinafores a ruddy hue, and the young labourers will look as if they had been at work in a brick field.
— from With Wolfe in Canada: The Winning of a Continent by G. A. (George Alfred) Henty

Other kings had arrogated to themselves a certain qualified dignity, and after their deaths had sometimes been placed by some of their successors on a par with the [Pg 100] real national gods; but it remained for Rameses to associate himself during his lifetime with such leading deities as Ptah, Ammon, and Horus, and to claim equally with them the religious regards of his subjects.
— from Cleopatra's Needle A History of the London Obelisk, with an Exposition of the Hieroglyphics by King, James, Vicar of St. Mary's, Berwick-upon-Tweed

She looks distracted and pale.
— from The Dynasts: An Epic-Drama of the War with Napoleon by Thomas Hardy

There was more reason than might appear in what Lucy said: the girls of her class were more orderly, and fonder of her than Sophy’s of the grave young lady whose earnestness oppressed them, and whose shyness looked dislike and pride.
— from The Young Step-Mother; Or, A Chronicle of Mistakes by Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge