They had more beautiful voices than any human being could have; and before the approach of a storm, and when they expected a ship would be lost, they swam before the vessel, and sang sweetly of the delights to be found in the depths of the sea, and begging the sailors not to fear if they sank to the bottom.
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. (Hans Christian) Andersen

At nightfall clouds of vampire bats softly swirl out on their orgies over the dead.
— from The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912 by James H. (James Henderson) Blount

It is long since, and my memory waxes dim on some subjects, or I should wish to convey some notion of the manner in which the pleasant creature described the circumstances of his own wedding-day.
— from The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 2 Elia and The Last Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb

Still, however, he is one of those fertile humorists that are continually throwing out new portraits and presenting different aspects from different points of view; and, often as he has been described, I cannot resist the temptation to give a slight sketch of him such as he has met my eye.
— from The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving

V. move slowly &c. adv.; creep, crawl, lag, slug, drawl, linger, loiter, saunter; plod, trudge, stump along, lumber; trail, drag; dawdle &c. (be inactive) 683; grovel, worm one's way, steal along; job on, rub on, bundle on; toddle, waddle, wabble[obs3], slug, traipse, slouch, shuffle, halt, hobble, limp, caludicate|, shamble; flag, falter, trotter, stagger; mince, step short; march in slow time, march in funeral procession; take one's time; hang fire &c. (be late) 133. retard, relax; slacken, check, moderate, rein in, curb; reef; strike sail, shorten sail, take in sail; put on the drag, apply the brake; clip the wings; reduce the speed; slacken speed, slacken one's pace; lose ground.
— from Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget

None of the Murrays were disposed to attend church in the afternoon, excepting Rosalie: she was bent upon going as usual; so she ordered the carriage, and I went with her: nothing loth, of course, for at church I might look without fear of scorn or censure upon a form and face more pleasing to me than the most beautiful of God’s creations; I might listen without disturbance to a voice more charming than the sweetest music to my ears; I might seem to hold communion with that soul in which I felt so deeply interested, and imbibe its purest thoughts and holiest aspirations, with no alloy to such felicity except the secret reproaches of my conscience, which would too often whisper that I was deceiving my own self, and mocking God with the service of a heart more bent upon the creature than the Creator.
— from Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë

Yet she had heard an ancient rumour fly, (Long cited by the people of the sky,) That times to come should see the Trojan race Her Carthage ruin, and her tow’rs deface; Nor thus confin’d, the yoke of sov’reign sway Should on the necks of all the nations lay.
— from The Aeneid by Virgil

The strange spectacle of these rapidly moving lights so alarmed and discomfited the Romans that they withdrew from their position, and Hannibal's army passed safely through the defile.
— from The Art of War by active 6th century B.C. Sunzi

Whenever the Disease terminates without Suppuration, the Fever, the Head-ach, the Heat in the Throat, and the Pain in swallowing, begin to abate from the fourth Day, some times from the third, often only from the fifth; and from such Period that Abatement increases at a great Rate; so that at the End of two, three, or four Days, on the sixth, seventh, or eighth, the Patient is entirely well.
— from Advice to the people in general, with regard to their health by S. A. D. (Samuel Auguste David) Tissot

As the Wieroos approached the figure upon the dais, they leaned far forward, raising their wings above their heads and stretching their necks as though offering them to the sharp swords of the grim and hideous creature.
— from Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs

When I read, in Uncle William’s admirable Life of his father, his own simple story of his early life—his loss of father and mother before he was eleven, his discovering (as true a discovery as Dr. Young’s of the characters of the Rosetta stone, or Rawlinson’s of the cuneiform letters) the Greek characters, his defence of himself against the astonishing and base charge of getting his learning from the devil (that shrewd personage would not have employed him on the Greek Testament), his eager, indomitable study, his running miles to and back again to hear a sermon after folding his sheep at noon, his keeping his family creditably on never more than £50, and for long on £40 a year, giving largely in charity, and never wanting, as he said, “lying money”—when
— from Spare Hours by John Brown

On the south side of the thoroughfare were the mansions of bishops and nobles dotted at sparse intervals; on the north was open country.
— from Inns and Taverns of Old London by Henry C. (Henry Charles) Shelley

We shall speak of it very soon.
— from The Geography of Strabo, Volume 3 (of 3) Literally Translated, with Notes by Strabo

It was interesting to visit Macao, because here, in its quiet prettiness, the poet Camoens, when banished, spent some of his lonely years, and wrote a great part of his epic poem "Lusiad;" and here also a French painter, named Chinnery, had produced some of his pretty paintings and sketches.
— from Peeps Into China; Or, The Missionary's Children by E. C. (Edith Caroline) Phillips

After picking enough sulphur off my clothes to make a box of matches, I reached gently over and tried to put the window up, but it was closed tighter than a sacred saloon on Sunday.
— from You Can Search Me by George V. (George Vere) Hobart

Love is full of unbefitting strains; / All wanton as a child, skipping and vain; / Formed by the eye, and therefore, like the eye, / Full of strange shapes, of habits, and of forms, / Varying in subjects as the eye doth roll /
— from Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources Including Phrases, Mottoes, Maxims, Proverbs, Definitions, Aphorisms, and Sayings of Wise Men, in Their Bearing on Life, Literature, Speculation, Science, Art, Religion, and Morals, Especially in the Modern Aspects of Them by Wood, James, Rev.

The boat soon filled and sunk, and the crew perished without a single sigh of lamentation, except that they had not feasted the alligators in the sacred waters of the Ganges, or perished at least under the shadow of the domes of the holy city of Benares, in either of which cases their salvation must have been unquestionable.
— from Melmoth the Wanderer, Vol. 3 (of 4) by Charles Robert Maturin