The imagination, and even the senses, were deceived by the illusions of distempered fanaticism; and the hermit, whose midnight prayer was oppressed by involuntary slumber, might easily confound the phantoms of horror or delight, which had occupied his sleeping and his waking dreams.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

A prefix or a suffix may essentially change the force of the stem, as in master-ful and master-ly , contempt-ible and contempt-uous, envi-ous and envi-able .
— from The Art of Public Speaking by J. Berg (Joseph Berg) Esenwein

Nor let compassion lead thy mind To shrink from blood of womankind; A monarch's son must ever count The people's welfare paramount, And whether pain or joy he deal Dare all things for his subjects' weal; Yea, if the deed bring praise or guilt, If life be saved or blood be spilt: Such, through all time, should be the care Of those a kingdom's weight who bear.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki

Cato the elder in his time said: So many servants, so many enemies; consider, then, whether according to the vast difference between the purity of the age he lived in and the corruption of this of ours, he does not seem to shew us that wife, son, and servant, are so many enemies to us?
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

For be well assured," he said, "most excellent Crito, that to speak improperly is not only culpable as to the thing itself, but likewise occasions some injury to our souls.
— from Apology, Crito, and Phaedo of Socrates by Plato

From Cleveland, which was within a few miles of Bristol, the distance to Barton was not beyond one day, though a long day's journey; and their mother's servant might easily come there to attend them down; and as there could be no occasion of their staying above a week at Cleveland, they might now be at home in little more than three weeks' time.
— from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

O'er other gods I spread my easy chain; The sire of all, old Ocean, owns my reign.
— from The Iliad by Homer

When the commons, worked upon by these expressions, were now wholly in the interest of the one individual, another circumstance was added, emanating from a scheme still more effectually calculated to create general confusion.
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy

One time it hapned that a Century or Party of One Hundred Spaniards making Excursions, came to a Mountain, where many People shunning so horrid and pernicious an Enemy conceal'd themselves, who immediately rushing on them, putting all to the Sword they could meet with, and then secur'd Seventy or Eighty Married Women as well
— from A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies Or, a faithful NARRATIVE OF THE Horrid and Unexampled Massacres, Butcheries, and all manner of Cruelties, that Hell and Malice could invent, committed by the Popish Spanish Party on the inhabitants of West-India, TOGETHER With the Devastations of several Kingdoms in America by Fire and Sword, for the space of Forty and Two Years, from the time of its first Discovery by them. by Bartolomé de las Casas

If an ill thing came near, I would but creep within thy mantle's folding, Shut my eyes close, thy hand yet faster holding, And soon forget my fear.
— from The poetical works of George MacDonald in two volumes — Volume 1 by George MacDonald

A savage, merciless expression came to her master's face.
— from A Son of the Sahara by Louise Gerard

So, Mr. Errol continued the splore, and smoked the Turk's head.
— from Two Knapsacks: A Novel of Canadian Summer Life by John Campbell

The fowls can do so little for themselves and require so much extra care that the poultry keeper knows from the start that he cannot make his business pay unless he gets a very high production.
— from Our Domestic Birds: Elementary Lessons in Aviculture by John H. (John Henry) Robinson

Blessèd be she who shaped mine erring course To better port, by turns who curb'd and lured My bold and passionate will where safety was secured.
— from The Sonnets, Triumphs, and Other Poems of Petrarch by Francesco Petrarca

Besides the regular studies we try to make the meetings entertaining by means of music, reading, spelling matches, etc. Connecticut (Thompsonville).
— from The Chautauquan, Vol. 03, July 1883 by Chautauqua Institution

" "Come here, my pet," said Mr. Eberstein, coaxing the little girl into his arms and setting her on his knee.
— from The End of a Coil by Susan Warner

But suddenly my ears caught the patter of feet, and I cowered against the trunk and tried to blend myself with its shadow.
— from The Adventures of Gerard by Arthur Conan Doyle