Here rose in discourse at table a dispute between Mr. Moore and Dr. Clerke, the former affirming that it was essential to a tragedy to have the argument of it true, which the Doctor denied, and left it to me to be judge, and the cause to be determined next Tuesday morning at the same place, upon the eating of the remains of the pasty, and the loser to spend 10s.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

But there are always six of them making their way above the earth; for, corresponding to that part of the last sign which in the course of its revolution has to sink, pass under the earth, and become concealed, an equivalent part of the sign opposite to it is obliged by the law of their common revolution to pass up and, having completed its circuit, to emerge out of the darkness into the light of the open space on the other side.
— from The Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius Pollio

There has been a change, but, strange as it may seem, there are in some places upon the earth to-day some of the same species of plants which were abundant during the coal-forming periods.
— from Boy Scouts Handbook The First Edition, 1911 by Boy Scouts of America

Their influence was everywhere felt and acknowledged, while the country still prospered under the effects of the vigorous and progressive administrations of Anda and Vargas in the preceding century.
— from The Social Cancer: A Complete English Version of Noli Me Tangere by José Rizal

The name of Pausanias’ mother was Alcithea, as we are informed by Thucydides’ scholiast, who only says that it was reported, that when they set about walling up the gates of the chapel in which Pausanias had taken refuge, his mother Alcithea laid the first stone.”—Coste.] who was the first instructor of her son’s process, and threw the first stone towards his death, nor Posthumius the dictator, who put his son to death, whom the ardour of youth had successfully pushed upon the enemy a little more advanced than the rest of his squadron, do appear to me so much just as strange; and I should neither advise nor like to follow so savage a virtue, and that costs so dear.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne

Según me ha referido Perfecta esta mañana cuando volví de Mundogrande, Pepe Rey, a eso de las doce de la noche, penetró en la huerta de esta casa y se pegó un tiro en la sien derecha, quedando muerto en el acto.
— from Doña Perfecta by Benito Pérez Galdós

A Kelso Convoy. —What is the origin of a Kelso convoy ,—a Scotch phrase, used to express going a little way with a person?
— from Notes and Queries, Vol. IV, Number 97, September 6, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Various

Caravan took the clock, which was one of those grotesque objects that were produced so plentifully under the Empire.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant

The Beautiful prepares us to love disinterestedly something, even nature itself; the Sublime prepares us to esteem something highly even in opposition to our own (sensible) interest.
— from Kant's Critique of Judgement by Immanuel Kant

He never waggled them black whiskers—just naturally opened his mouth, and the hills on the skyline pricked up their ears to listen.
— from Red Saunders' Pets and Other Critters by Henry Wallace Phillips

These creatures, whilst nearing a drought, and as the supply of water is about to fail, burrow deeply in the beds of the lagoons, water-holes, or swamps, piling up the excavations on the surface over their holes, which I take, amongst other reasons, to be a provision against excessive heat."
— from Austral English A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia by Edward Ellis Morris

The southern States all did the same thing with such practical unanimity that even the foreigner may know that the same cause was at work in every one of them.
— from The Brothers' War by John C. (John Calvin) Reed

It will suffice to name the principal collections created under the inspiration of this idea, such as the Russian Archives , and also the XVIIIth and XIXth Centuries , of M. Bartenev, guardian of the Library of Tcherkov; the Old Russian Times ( Russkaïa Starina ), of M. Semevski; the Historical Society of the Annalist Nestor , formed at Kiev, under the presidency of M. Antonovitch; the Collection of the Historical Society of St. Petersburg , under the exalted patronage of the czarovitch; without enumerating the periodical publications issued by societies which were already existing, as at Moscow and elsewhere.
— from The Catholic World, Vol. 21, April, 1875, to September, 1875 A Monthly Magazine of General Literature and Science by Various

In that year a fiery preacher in one of Cairo's mosques so played upon the emotions of his congregation with a preachment against coffee, claiming that it was against the law and that those who drank it were not true Mohammedans, that upon leaving the building a large number of his hearers, enraged, threw themselves into the first coffee house they found in their way, burned the coffee pots and dishes, and maltreated all the persons they found there.
— from All About Coffee by William H. (William Harrison) Ukers

That the operation of those orders would be extended to Spain and Portugal, should the embargo be repealed in part, I infer from this positive assertion of the British Secretary: "It is not improbable, indeed, that some alterations may be made in the Orders in Council, as they are at present framed; alterations calculated not to abate their spirit or impair their principle, but to adapt them more exactly to the different state of things which has fortunately grown up in Europe, and to combine all practicable relief to neutrals with a more severe pressure upon the enemy."
— from Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. 4 (of 16) by United States. Congress

The scouts pricked up their ears.
— from Ian Hamilton's March by Winston Churchill

Phanes avoided it cleverly, in the same moment hitting the giant with his naked fist so powerfully under the eyes, that the blood streamed from his nose and mouth, and the huge, uncouth fellow fell on the ground with a yell.
— from An Egyptian Princess — Complete by Georg Ebers

Before the houses were thoroughly completed and organized, the closing of the Dublin mendicity institution threw a sudden pressure upon these establishments, especially upon that of the South Dublin union, as many as 500 poor persons having been admitted there in one week, and 1,473 within the first month, a great majority of whom had been previously supported in the Dublin Mendicity.
— from A history of the Irish poor law, in connexion with the condition of the people by Nicholls, George, Sir

All the lines stretching taut as bow-strings to the pressure made a musical humming which sounded pleasantly upon the ears of the listening men aft.
— from Bahama Bill, Mate of the Wrecking Sloop Sea-Horse by T. Jenkins (Thornton Jenkins) Hains