After I come home this evening comes a letter to me from Captain Allen, formerly Clerk of the Ropeyard at Chatham, and whom I was kind to in those days, who in recompense of my favour to him then do give me notice that he hears of an accusation likely to be exhibited against me of my receiving L50 of Mason, the timber merchant, and that his wife hath spoke it.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

“People are always too clever with their eldest children and try to make something exceptional of them,” said the visitor.
— from War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf

Towards noon there comes a man in as if upon ordinary business, and shows me a writ from the Exchequer, called a Commission of Rebellion, and tells me that I am his prisoner in Field’s business; which methought did strike me to the heart, to think that we could not sit in the middle of the King’s business.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

The farther back we go into barbarism the more we find life and mind busied with luxuries; and though these indulgences may repel a cultivated taste and seem in the end cruel and monotonous, their status is really nearer to that of religion and spontaneous art than to that of useful art or of science.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana

To the Middletons, to the Palmers, the Steeles, to every common acquaintance even, I had been insolent and unjust; with a heart hardened against their merits, and a temper irritated by their very attention.—To John, to Fanny,—yes, even to them, little as they deserve, I had given less than their due.
— from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

He was the father of the Emperor Claudius, and died in Germany of the effects of an accident. 11 “Studiosus.”
— from The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 1 (of 6) by the Elder Pliny

He heard the eagles chattering among the branches.
— from The Elder Eddas of Saemund Sigfusson; and the Younger Eddas of Snorre Sturleson by Snorri Sturluson

The Engineers Detained at St Louis—Off for Camp—Reception by Jeff CHAPTER XVII The Engineer Corps Arrive at Stone’s Landing CHAPTER XVIII
— from The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today by Charles Dudley Warner

King of Scotland, at his coronation spoke in Latin and French; and in 1291 the English Chancellor addressing the Scotch Parliament did so in French.
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Rustichello of Pisa

the Catholics considered as essential to the treaty, delayed and dismissed the ecclesiastical conference; after reproaching his bishops, that Clovis, their friend and proselyte, had privately tempted the allegiance of his brother.
— 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

The extraordinary circumstance accompanying this action, which has seemed so inexplicable, namely, the cessation of all phenomena when the magnet and metal are brought to rest, now receives a full explanation (82.); for then the electrical currents which cause the motion cease altogether.
— from Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1 by Michael Faraday

There must be two parties to every combat, and, unless there is perfect equilibrium in combat, one side or the other must definitely be playing an offensive rôle; and, even in equilibrium, both sides may be said to be as much in offence as in defence, whatever weapons they are using.
— from German Influence on British Cavalry by Erskine Childers

There was present at this council the Emperor Constantine, as the historian says, “Like an angel of God exceeding all his attendants in size, gracefulness and strength, and dazzling all eyes by the splendor of his dress, showing the greatest humility, seated in a chair covered with gold.”
— from The Gospel Day; Or, the Light of Christianity by Charles Ebert Orr

from a Longobardic miniature of the eleventh century; and a third occurs in the Bayeux Tapestry, Plate xvi .
— from Ancient Armour and Weapons in Europe From the Iron Period of the Northern Nations to the End of the Thirteenth Century by John Hewitt

Gringalet, who was let loose, ran towards the enormous creature, and barked at it from a safe distance.
— from Adventures of a Young Naturalist by Lucien Biart

St. Barnabas also perhaps furnished some details concerning the history of the early Church at Jerusalem.
— from The Books of the New Testament by Leighton Pullan

In his bedroom at his new abode McMurdo felt it safe to take out the coining moulds, and under many a pledge of secrecy a number of brothers from the lodge were allowed to come in and see them, each carrying away in his pocket some examples of the false money, so cunningly struck that there was never the slightest difficulty or danger in passing it.
— from The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle

The elected representatives of the people should have a voice in the selection of the Indian members of the Executive Councils and for that purpose a principle of election should be adopted.
— from Young India An interpretation and a history of the nationalist movement from within by Lala Lajpat Rai

I kept up beautifully the first three hours, and then George would make me go and look at the beautiful cabin, and taste the excellent coffee; and of course the motion of the beautiful cabin disagreed with the excellent coffee—and there was an end of me.
— from Miss Eden's Letters by Emily Eden

The tent was just large enough to take in the eight cots and to shelter such equipment as should be protected from the elements; but it now appeared there was so much to be “sheltered” and so many “luxuries” to be provided for, at the suggestion of the girls who had not learned real Scout camping as Corene had done, that the adjuncts in the way of “lean-tos” and annexes being made or proposed to be made by any or all members of the squad, threatened presently to be bigger and more important than the tent itself.
— from The Girl Scouts at Camp Comalong; Or, Peg of Tamarack Hills by Lilian Garis