I place the extraordinary crown on my head, the circle maximus on my shoulders, and, seizing the sceptre with one hand, the wonderful knife with the other, I go down into the yard.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

The embassy consisted of men of mark and importance, being Licinius Cossus, Valerius Potitus, and Fabius Ambustus.
— from Plutarch's Lives, Volume 1 (of 4) by Plutarch

I shall not pretend to consider it any matter for wonder, that the extraordinary case of M. Valdemar has excited discussion.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition Table Of Contents And Index Of The Five Volumes by Edgar Allan Poe

Elizabeth, feeling it incumbent on her to relieve him from so unpleasant a situation, now put herself forward to confirm his account, by mentioning her prior knowledge of it from Charlotte herself; and endeavoured to put a stop to the exclamations of her mother and sisters, by the earnestness of her congratulations to Sir William, in which she was readily joined by Jane, and by making a variety of remarks on the happiness that might be expected from the match, the excellent character of Mr. Collins, and the convenient distance of Hunsford from London.
— from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

He revised the existing code of morals and the social law.
— from The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors; Or, Christianity Before Christ by Kersey Graves

For even now, in cases where numbers contribute nothing to the easier comprehension or more satisfactory knowledge of anything, they are both carelessly transcribed, and still more carelessly emended.
— from The City of God, Volume II by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

This recalcitrance has, I think, been mainly due to the erroneous conception of Marivaux as, if not a mere fribble, yet a Dresden-Shepherdess kind of writer, good at "preciousness" and patch-and-powder manners, but nothing more.
— from Joseph Andrews, Vol. 1 by Henry Fielding

Elizabeth, feeling it incumbent on her to relieve him from so unpleasant a situation, now put herself forward to confirm his account, by mentioning her prior knowledge of it from Charlotte herself; and endeavoured to put a stop to the exclamations of her mother and sisters by the earnestness of her congratulations to Sir William, in which she was readily joined by Jane, and by making a variety of remarks on the happiness that might be expected from the match, the excellent character of Mr. Collins, and the convenient distance of Hunsford from London.
— from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Very weary, I followed him to a nasty and badly lighted house, where I gulped down the wine with hasty ill-humour to warm myself, and listened to the embarrassed conversation of my good-natured friend and his companion, whilst I turned over the day's papers.
— from My Life — Volume 1 by Richard Wagner

The fabric of Lyme Regis, for a period, came more before the public eye, for that old, deserted, and half-forgotten mercantile city, in the eighteenth century, once more raised its head as a fashionable watering-place.
— from History of Lace by Palliser, Bury, Mrs.

We have endeavoured to present the most salient points in the eight centuries of Mohammedan rule without prejudice or extenuation, and while not neglecting the heroic characters and legends which appeal to the imagination of the reader, we have especially sought to give a clear picture of the struggle between races and creeds which formed the leading cause of political movement in mediæval Spain.
— from The Moors in Spain by Stanley Lane-Poole

By E.T. ABBOTT, Member of the Engineers' Club of Minnesota. Read December 12, 1884.
— from Scientific American Supplement, No. 484, April 11, 1885 by Various

When Sheffield lined up against the Elkana center once more, he spat out a curt, "Everybody in it this time," and jumped and batted the ball to S. S. That in was the signal for the old forward crisscross.
— from The Boy Scouts of Lakeville High by Leslie W. Quirk

Meanwhile I had little opportunity of following up my intimacy with Miss Dashwood, and as I rather suspected that, on more than one occasion, she seemed to avoid our meeting, I took especial care on my part, to spare her the annoyance.
— from Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon, Volume 1 by Charles James Lever

Read in Greek first part of the eighth chapter of Matthew; the account given of the centurion seems very striking in the Greek.
— from Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910 by Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards

Nor did the eighteenth century open much more auspiciously.
— from The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 3 by Frederick Whymper

And hence it follows that we must adapt our laws and actions to the existing character of mankind—that we must estimate the good or evil resulting from this or that arrangement, and so reach a posteriori a code fitted for the time being.
— from A Review of the Systems of Ethics Founded on the Theory of Evolution by Cora May Williams

"That I will, ma'am," said Paul touching his hat as gallantly as an admiral; "you see, it was during a severe engagement with the Dutchmen that Mat and I were ordered to the main-top,—but hardly had we reached it, when a shot from the enemy cut our mainmast fairly in two, and hurled us both on to the enemy's deck, in the midst of more than a hundred heavy-bottomed Dutchmen!
— from Wise Saws and Modern Instances, Volume 1 (of 2) by Thomas Cooper