Urgent.'] in national characters ( kuo tzu ), and that when there was important state business the Emperor personally handed the tablet to the envoy, which entitled him to demand horses at the post stations, and to be treated as if he were the Emperor himself travelling.
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Rustichello of Pisa

The sports of the young savage involve long fasting, blows, burns, and fatigue of every kind, a proof that even pain has a charm of its own, which may remove its bitterness.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

The grave sage hern thus easy picks his frog, And thinks the mallard a sad worthless dog.
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns

The evening paper had not yet come; he had finished the Times, there was therefore nothing to do.
— from The Forsyte Saga, Volume I. The Man Of Property by John Galsworthy

The emperor professed himself a musician and architect, a poet and philosopher, a lawyer and theologian; and if he failed in the enterprise of reconciling the Christian sects, the review of the Roman jurisprudence is a noble monument of his spirit and industry.
— 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

He further states that the Egyptians paid honour to certain animal forms because they considered they possessed the characteristics of the gods, to whom they made them sacred.
— from Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt by Lewis Spence

He instructed Vitellius to this effect; and that officer (late in A.D. 36 or early in A.D. 37), having invited Artabanus to an interview on the Euphrates, persuaded him to terms which were regarded by the Romans as highly honorable to themselves, though Artabanus probably did not feel them to be degrading to Parthia.
— from The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 6: Parthia The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations. by George Rawlinson

The sloping line shows the earnings per hour at different efficiencies.
— from A Rational Wages System Some Notes on the Method of Paying the Worker a Reward for Efficiency in Addition to Wages by Henry Atkinson

Like the epicurean poet, he saw and approved the better way and yet he followed the worse.
— from Valeria, the Martyr of the Catacombs: A Tale of Early Christian Life in Rome by W. H. (William Henry) Withrow

I will that there be incontinently after my decease, as hastily as may be, a thousand masses said for my soul, and that every priest have for his labour 4d.
— from The Romance of Wills and Testaments by Edgar Vine Hall

In 1774, Sir Ralph Payne was ordered home, much against the wish of the Antiguans; and a petition was forwarded to England praying his majesty to re-appoint him.
— from Antigua and the Antiguans, Volume 1 (of 2) A full account of the colony and its inhabitants from the time of the Caribs to the present day by Mrs. Lanaghan

596 The Battas of Sumatra, who have totemism, believe that every person has a soul which is always outside of his body.
— from The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 11 of 12) by James George Frazer

I hurried up, expecting to see a storm closing in on us, but instead the sky was clear and Jack was excitedly pointing to a rocky island at the exact place he had told us of the night before.
— from Through the South Seas with Jack London by Martin Johnson

The good Priest was glad to find Ruth alone as he had news of great importance for her ... news that would lead to great developments in the near future; after being assured of their entire privacy, he said: "We will have work to do, my dear Daughter, before many more months have passed by.
— from An American by Belle Willey Gue

This eminent personage had already let Lothair slip from his influence.
— from Lothair by Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield