The band stationed on the two flights of steps struck up a tune, while two eunuchs ushered Chia She, Chia Cheng and the other members on to the moonlike stage, where they arranged themselves in order and ascended into the hall, but when the ladies-in-waiting transmitted her commands that the homage could be dispensed with, they at once retraced their footsteps.
— from Hung Lou Meng, or, the Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel, Book I by Xueqin Cao

But when on the fourth day letters came to him, which informed him of the death of Tiberius, he obliged the multitude to take an oath of fidelity to Caius; he also recalled his army, and made them every one go home, and take their winter quarters there, since, upon the devolution of the empire upon Caius, he had not the like authority of making this war which he had before.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus

Tertium est, ut caveamus, ut ea, quae pertinent ad liberalem speciem et dignitatem, [139] moderata
— from De Officiis by Marcus Tullius Cicero

"Thou bastard son of a three-legged hunchback without thumbs!" roared the sovereign—"why didst thou but lightly tap the neck that it should have been thy pleasure to sever?" "Lord of Cranes and Cherry Blooms," replied the executioner, unmoved, "command him to blow his nose with his fingers.
— from The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce

But it is in Martial that we are able to sense the abandoned and cynical attitude of the Roman public toward this vice: the epigram upon Cantharus, xi, 46, is an excellent example.
— from The Satyricon — Complete by Petronius Arbiter

In the first place, there are intrenched positions occupied to await the enemy under cover of works more or less connected,—in a word, intrenched camps.
— from The Art of War by Jomini, Antoine Henri, baron de

At nightfall, therefore, he accompanied Sigmund to the king’s hall, and they entered unseen, concealing themselves in the cellar, behind the huge vats of beer.
— from Myths of the Norsemen: From the Eddas and Sagas by H. A. (Hélène Adeline) Guerber

Furthermore, none but Pliny mentions the excess under consideration.
— from 1601: Conversation as it was by the Social Fireside in the Time of the Tudors by Mark Twain

Don Juan, tú eres un cobarde Don Juan, you are a coward cuando en la ocasión te
— from Don Juan Tenorio by José Zorrilla

It is unnecessary to trace the art of Page 17 {17} decoration through embroidery upon clothes, but there is no doubt that as soon as shields came into use they were painted and decorated, though I hesitate to follow practically the whole of heraldic writers in the statement that it was the necessity for distinction in battle which accounted for the decoration of shields.
— from A Complete Guide to Heraldry by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies

In the past ten years she’s confessed to every unsolved crime on the planet.
— from Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper

Indeed, they seldom, save for the command of David Leslie, displayed military qualities, and later, were invariably defeated when they encountered the English under Cromwell and Lambert.
— from A Short History of Scotland by Andrew Lang

Gregarious in its habits; sessile, or narrowed into a very short stout stem, more or less pitted; nearly round and closed at first, then expanded until cup-shaped; margin at first involute; externally covered with a frost-like bloom; disk darker than the external surface, very changeable in color; lobes more or less split and wavy, somewhat thick; spore-sacs cylindrical, apex truncante, sporidia oblong-ovate, epispore rough, 8-spored.
— from The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise Its Habitat and its Time of Growth by Miron Elisha Hard

Devoted from his youth to the naval service of his country, and being formed under the discipline, and animated by the example of his renowned uncle, Sir Peter Warren, he distinguished himself as an able and experienced officer in many gallant actions, particularly on the 20th of November, 1758, when commanding the Buckingham, of sixty-six guns, and one hundred and seventy-five men, he attacked and defeated three French ships of war; one of them was the Florin, of seventy-four guns, and seven hundred men; but the Buckingham being too much disabled to take possession of her, after she had struck, the enemy, under cover of the night, escaped; during the action he received several wounds, and lost three fingers of his right hand.
— from Historical Description of Westminster Abbey, Its Monuments and Curiosities by Anonymous

Pauper children were farmed out to employers under conditions which were no better than slavery.
— from A Short History of English Liberalism by W. Lyon (Walter Lyon) Blease

There has in most of these states been a desire to avoid the evils usually connected with private management.
— from The Railroad Question A historical and practical treatise on railroads, and remedies for their abuses by William Larrabee

I have before given our reasons for not attempting to visit South Australia; and the Crown Colony of Western Australia, with its capital of Perth and still barren settlements, one would hardly go to except under compulsion.
— from Forty Thousand Miles Over Land and Water The Journal of a Tour Through the British Empire and America by Ethel Gwendoline Vincent

At that time the MS. formed two volumes, in the old parchment covers, with uncut leaves; it has since been half-bound in one volume, and the edges unmercifully cropped.
— from The Works of John Knox, Volume 1 (of 6) by John Knox

In the following year, 1876, at Venice at Christmas, he had vouchsafed to himself the inward assurance of an immortal life; he entered into a singular happiness; Fors became the organ of a mysticism truly Johannine; he loved to expound universal Christian truth, so catholic indeed in the true sense that Cardinal Manning aspired to turn him to Rome.
— from The Harvest of Ruskin by John W. (John William) Graham

Savannah was taken, Charleston was assailed, and the expedition under Cornwallis penetrated far into North Carolina.
— from Formation of the Union, 1750-1829 by Albert Bushnell Hart