Then lifting up his eyes he saw before him on the lake a barge, all draped down to the water’s edge, with silken folds and curtains, which swiftly came towards him, and touched upon the sands; but when he went up close and looked in, he saw no earthly creature.
— from The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights by Knowles, James, Sir

Probably I shall not even call upon him, as he might say he helped me.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

Here the old gentleman again sighed, and remained silent for some minutes: at last, looking earnestly on Jones, he said, “I have read that a good countenance is a letter of recommendation; if so, none ever can be more strongly recommended than yourself.
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding

Perhaps on account of my sins I was not considered worthy of the good fortune to behold them; for I could only see Francisco de Morla on his brown horse galloping up with Cortes, and even at this very moment, while I am writing this, I can fancy I see all passing before my eyes just as I have related it; although I, an unworthy sinner, was not considered worthy of beholding one of the glorious apostles face to face: yet again I never heard any of the four hundred soldiers, nor ever Cortes himself, nor any of the many cavaliers, mention this wonder, or confirm its truth.
— from The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 1 (of 2) Written by Himself Containing a True and Full Account of the Discovery and Conquest of Mexico and New Spain. by Bernal Díaz del Castillo

p. 495: "Horum sermo multum nocet: nam etiamsi non statim officit, semina in animo relinquit, sequiturque nos etiam cum ab illis discesserimus, resurrecturum postea malum."
— from Plutarch's Morals by Plutarch

Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny.
— from Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

With his blended private and professional habits alone I have to do; that harmonious fusion of the manners of the player into those of every day life, which brought the stage boards into streets, and dining-parlours, and kept up the play when the play was ended.—"I like Wrench," a friend was saying to him one day, "because he is the same natural, easy creature, on the stage, that he is off ."
— from The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 2 Elia and The Last Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb

5. Betrayed, deserted, disorganized, unprovided with resources, begirt with enemies, the noble city was still no easy conquest.
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by George Lyman Kittredge

“The devil!” “Nay, Sir, not enough courage for that!”
— from My Lady Peggy Goes to Town by Frances Aymar Mathews

And still we marvel at the Man, and still Admire his Finish, and applaud his Skill: Though, as that fabled Barque, a phantom Form, Eternal strains, nor rounds the Cape of Storm, Even so Pope strove, nor ever crossed the Line That from the Noble separates the Fine!”
— from Letters to Dead Authors by Andrew Lang

qu’il ny a point de Contumace, ou il n’y a point d’adjournement, ou du moins qui soit valable quia paria sunt non esse citatum, vel non esse legitimè citatum,
— from The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals by E. P. (Edward Payson) Evans

After she died Mas'r Hardy was gwine to Europe, an' tole me 'twas Col. Crompton, Troutburg, Massachusetts, who sent the money, but he wouldn't say nothin' else, 'cept that Col. Crompton had gin him his confidence and he should keep it.
— from The Cromptons by Mary Jane Holmes

It was a land of deep snows and much frost; of winds which whistled in the clear cold nights, and storms which travelled from seas no eye could reach.
— from Traditions of the North American Indians, Vol. 1 by James Athearn Jones

Let us illustrate: Ages ago when England was a part of the main land; when there was no North Sea nor English Channel; we are told that there lived in the forest tracts there about many large and ferocious animals; such as the elephant, the lion, and the tiger.
— from A Class Room Logic Deductive and Inductive, with Special Application to the Science and Art of Teaching by George Hastings McNair

During the night some sly thief had slipped egg after egg out from under her brooding wings, so deftly that she never even clucked a protest.
— from Wild Folk by Samuel Scoville