On a Thursday my dear father and mother were married; and, though poor, they are a very happy pair.—On a Thursday your poor Pamela was born.
— from Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson

We are inclined, therefore, to attach a value even higher than we have already done to the testimony of the living Fairy-Faith which confirms in so many parallel ways, as has been shown, the Fairy-Faith of the remote past.
— from The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries by W. Y. (Walter Yeeling) Evans-Wentz

“No, I thank you” (sighing as she spoke); “they are all very well.
— from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

By a continuous living tradition, and a vital power of rejuvenescence, this land has readjusted itself through unnumbered transformations.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

“No, not Mr. Knightley; he declined it from the first; and though I thought he would come, because Mrs. Elton declared she would not let him off, he did not;—but my mother, and Jane, and I, were all there, and a very agreeable evening we had.
— from Emma by Jane Austen

The birth and power of emir Houssein compelled him to accept a vicious and unworthy colleague, whose sister was the best beloved of his wives.
— 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

So you see that at a very early age I found out what it was to be poor.
— from Lady Audley's Secret by M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon

We were in haste to complete our lading, and were to carry twenty head of cattle with us to the West Indies, where they are a very profitable article.
— from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African Written By Himself by Olaudah Equiano

Charles the Fifth commissioned him to attempt a voyage of discovery down the coast of South [ 75 ] America, with the hope of finding a passage to the East.
— from A History of the Philippines by David P. Barrows

“After breakfast,” continued this benevolent Israelite, “I will give you an order upon my banker for five hundred pounds, that you may be enabled to appear at Vienna as the son and representative of Count Melvil; and you shall also be furnished with a letter of recommendation to a person of some influence at that court, whose friendship and countenance may be of some service to your suit; for I am now heartily engaged in your interest, in consequence of the fair and unblemished character which I find you have hitherto maintained.” The reader must appeal to his own heart, to acquire a just idea of Renaldo's feelings, when every tittle of these promises was fulfilled, and the merchant refused to take one farthing by way of premium, contenting himself with the slender security of a personal bond.
— from The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom — Complete by T. (Tobias) Smollett

The vacillations thus produced gave the other trappers time to reload, and, before it had made up its mind which to attack, another volley was fired, and three balls took effect, Redhand and Bounce still reserving their fire as at the first.
— from The Wild Man of the West: A Tale of the Rocky Mountains by R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne

Catholic emancipation was now treated as a vantage ground on which the battle of repeal might be waged.
— from The Political History of England - Vol XI From Addington's Administration to the close of William IV.'s Reign (1801-1837) by John Knight Fotheringham

He considers bladderworms as animals which have never escaped from their amnion, and Volvox as not having developed beyond the level of an egg (p. 7).
— from Form and Function: A Contribution to the History of Animal Morphology by E. S. (Edward Stuart) Russell

But there is reason to fear that at a very early period in their history the Inns of Court began to pay more attention to certain outward forms of instruction than to instruction itself.
— from A Book About Lawyers by John Cordy Jeaffreson

"Later on in the afternoon a very bustling personage made his appearance, much blown and overheated, who announced himself as 'acting under authority from Lloyd's,' and 'representing the under-writers.'
— from International Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science, Vol. 1, No. 3, Oct. 1, 1850 by Various

This is one of the very few books that are absolutely valueless, except in regard to such value as it gains from its rarity and association with a great firm of printers; yet Mr. Lang says that “there are at least four thousand people who would greatly rejoice to possess a Pastissier , and some of these desirous ones are very wealthy.”
— from Prices of Books An Inquiry into the Changes in the Price of Books which have occurred in England at different Periods by Henry B. (Henry Benjamin) Wheatley

He had written to his friend, George W. Greene, on June 27, 1830, that he had long ceased to attach any value to his early poems or even to think of them at all.
— from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow by Thomas Wentworth Higginson

'A fine thing and a very fine thing—a most particular fine thing—choose how she came by it.
— from Sylvia's Lovers — Volume 1 by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

The average annual value of the imports of merchandise for the ten years from 1881 to 1890 was $692,186,522, and during the year ending September 30, 1891, this annual average was exceeded by $132,528,469.
— from State of the Union Addresses (1790-2006) by United States. Presidents