The hind-toe is absent, the toes are unseparated, recognisable only by the broad flat nails, and fitted below with a callous couch, whilst the whole foot is covered with short dense feathers like hair, and is more like a quadruped's paw than a bird's foot.
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Rustichello of Pisa

Glancing at some phases of the actual unwritten religions of Japan we name Shamanism, Mythical Zoölogy, Fetichism, Phallicism, and Tree and Serpent Worship.
— from The Religions of Japan, from the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji by William Elliot Griffis

Although a man may lose a sense of his own importance when he is a mere unit among a busy throng, all utterly regardless of him, it by no means follows that he can dispossess himself, with equal facility, of a very strong sense of the importance and magnitude of his cares.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

There was in the broken, violent speech of that man, unveiling before me his thoughts with the very hand of Death upon his throat, an undisguised ruthlessness of purpose, a strange vengeful attitude towards his own past, and a blind belief in the righteousness of his will against all mankind, something of that feeling which could induce the leader of a horde of wandering cut-throats to call himself proudly the Scourge of God.
— from Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad

But in Julie’s presence, looking at her red face and chin (nearly always powdered), her moist eyes, and her expression of continual readiness to pass at once from melancholy to an unnatural rapture of married bliss, Borís could not utter the decisive words, though in imagination he had long regarded himself as the possessor of those Pénza and Nizhegórod estates and had apportioned the use of the income from them.
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

Here I found some young onions, a couple of gladiolus bulbs, and a quantity of immature carrots, all of which I secured, and, scrambling over a ruined wall, went on my way through scarlet and crimson trees towards Kew—it was like walking through an avenue of gigantic blood drops—possessed with two ideas: to get more food, and to limp, as soon and as far as my strength permitted, out of this accursed unearthly region of the pit.
— from The War of the Worlds by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

If the Internet is to truly become the global network that it is promoted as being, then all users, regardless of language background, should have access to it.
— from Entretiens / Interviews / Entrevistas by Marie Lebert

The others sat round the fire, 540 talking away, utterly regardless of the lapse of time, till Meg, whose maternal mind was impressed with a firm conviction that Daisy had tumbled out of bed, and Demi set his night-gown afire studying the structure of matches, made a move to go.
— from Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Louisa May Alcott

The others sat round the fire, talking away, utterly regardless of the lapse of time, till Meg, whose maternal mind was impressed with a firm conviction that Daisy had tumbled out of bed, and Demi set his nightgown afire studying the structure of matches, made a move to go.
— from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

from one part of the town to another, under restrictions " " officers of M. Madmen cannot be Masons Maims, how far disqualifying candidates " reason for the rule relating to Mass meeting of the craft cannot organize a Grand Lodge Master, Grand.
— from The Principles of Masonic Law A Treatise on the Constitutional Laws, Usages and Landmarks of Freemasonry by Albert Gallatin Mackey

They are usually retailed, or raffled for on Saturday and Monday nights, at 6 d. each, but the trade is a small one.
— from London Labour and the London Poor (Vol. 1 of 4) by Henry Mayhew

Humanly speaking, the destiny of the church in the United States is to be determined by the education which we give to our children, and the almost universal recognition of this truth by the Catholics of America is, we are persuaded, the most certain evidence that we have really made progress.
— from The Catholic World, Vol. 20, October 1874‐March 1875 by Various

Nevertheless, France interpreted the conduct of the Emperor as indicating an earnest desire for peace, and this feeling had been strengthened by the absolutely unconditional release of the Pope on January twenty-second.
— from The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Vol. 4 (of 4) by William Milligan Sloane

When I consider the exceeding Candour and Good-nature of our Author, (which inclin’d all the gentler Part of the World to love him; as the Power of his Wit obliged the Men of the most delicate Knowledge and polite Learning to admire him;) and that he should throw this humorous Piece of Satire at his Prosecutor, at least twenty Years after the Provocation given; I am confidently persuaded it must be owing to an unforgiving Rancour on the Prosecutor’s Side: and if This was the Case, it were Pity but the Disgrace of such an Inveteracy should remain as a lasting Reproach, and Shallow stand as a Mark of Ridicule to stigmatize his Malice.
— from Preface to the Works of Shakespeare (1734) by Mr. (Lewis) Theobald

The probability that they were caused by the pressure of an individual, that belonged to an unknown race of men, ignorant of the art of tanning hides, and that this took place in a much earlier age than the traditions of the present Indians extend to, this probability I say, is strengthened by the extraordinary size of the feet here given.
— from Travels Through North America, During the Years 1825 and 1826. v. 1-2 by Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Bernhard

For some time you will be unable to comprehend the nature of the scene: at last you discover that an ultra republican, of the most inflamed ideas, wants to establish a Jacobin club.
— from Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 63, No. 391, May, 1848 by Various

No ship can enter or leave any of your ports without incurring the almost unavoidable risk of——” A rat scampered across one of the speaker’s feet, and startled him.
— from The Day of Wrath: A Story of 1914 by Louis Tracy

The almost universal resource of the Creoles, is the gaming table, at which numbers of them spend a large portion of their time.
— from Rambles by Land and Water; or, Notes of Travel in Cuba and Mexico by Benjamin Moore Norman

Parties were divided into debtors and creditors, and a New England writer in 1749 noted: "The Debtor side has had the ascendant ever since anno 1741 to the almost utter ruin of the country."
— from The Paper Moneys of Europe: Their Moral and Economic Significance by Francis Wrigley Hirst

According to the following samples of admissions to the Fever Hospital of Ennis in the several months, the summers were the season of greatest sickness, a fact which was noted also in the epidemic of 1817-18: Year Month Patients 1846 November 93 " December 224 1847 June 757 1848 February 210 " May 705 " November 400 The almost uniform report of medical men was that the epidemic of fever began in 1847, in the spring months in most places, in the summer in others.
— from A History of Epidemics in Britain, Volume 2 (of 2) From the Extinction of Plague to the Present Time by Charles Creighton