Two hundred miles west of the Canaries, the compass ceased to point to the North Star.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden

By his order, the soldiers burst in the tower-door; when, stationing guards to defend it from the now surging mob, the chief, accompanied by his former associate, climbed the winding stairs.
— from The Piazza Tales by Herman Melville

When he had been a prisoner with the noble some time, those who attentively observed him, by his countenance, habit, and discourse, took notice, that he was not of the meaner sort, as he had said, but of some quality.
— from Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England by Bede, the Venerable, Saint

Messer Gentile took order that 475 all things needful should be forthcoming and that she should be tended as she were his proper wife and presently returned in secret to Modona.
— from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio

Now, if a man has a father or mother, or their fathers or mothers treasured up in his house stricken in years, let him consider that no statue can be more potent to grant his requests than they are, who are sitting at his hearth, if only he knows how to show true service to them.
— from Laws by Plato

And buy me a pair of reindeer gloves, number eights, and a tie to match that new suit of mine, at Eale & Binman's.
— from Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw

After the repetition, by special request, of the Ninth Symphony at the concert on Palm Sunday had revived me, I tried to find comfort and refreshment for the further progress of my new work by changing my abode, this time without asking permission.
— from My Life — Volume 1 by Richard Wagner

The large armies kept on foot in our day by the great states of the world prevent descents with thirty or forty thousand men, except against second-rate powers; for it is extremely difficult to find transportation for one hundred or one hundred and fifty thousand men with their immense trains of artillery, munitions, cavalry, &c. We were, however, on the point of seeing the solution of the vast problem of the practicability of descents in great force, if it is true that Napoleon seriously contemplated the transportation of one hundred and sixty thousand veterans from Boulogne to the British Isles:
— from The Art of War by Jomini, Antoine Henri, baron de

“Think not so vilely of us, Jews though we be,” said Isaac, eager to improve the moment of apparent sympathy; “the hunted fox, the tortured wildcat loves its young—the despised and persecuted race of Abraham love their children!”
— from Ivanhoe: A Romance by Walter Scott

That mechanical communication was not formed between the exhibitor and the figure, was obvious from the fact, that no such communication was visible, and that it was not necessary to place the machine on any particular part of the floor.
— from Letters on Natural Magic; Addressed to Sir Walter Scott, Bart. by David Brewster

[ 6 ] For, after all, is there not something rather absurd in our ordinary notion of external things being good or bad in themselves?
— from The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy by William James

The church stood on the N. side of the quadrangle and was divided from the cloister garth by a blank wall in which will be noticed a recess.
— from Somerset by J. H. (Joseph Henry) Wade

For some time the efforts of the commanding officer at Camp Floyd were measurably successful in restraining undue intercourse between his men and the people of the neighboring settlements.
— from John Stevens' Courtship: A Story of the Echo Canyon War by Susa Young Gates

Indeed, I doubt whether they will be able to carry it at all; it is as solid and almost as strong as a stone wall, and as there are thirteen or fourteen of us to defend it, it seems to me that nothing short of battering the cases to pieces will enable them to force a way."
— from At Agincourt by G. A. (George Alfred) Henty

Clay from the James River shores and the Chickahominy was available, and reeds from the marshes at hand furnished the necessary straw.
— from Domestic Life in Virginia in the Seventeenth Century by Annie Lash Jester

Those who sat on the north spoke first, saying, "The image of God and the likeness of God are the two lives breathed into man by God, which are the life of the understanding; for it is written, ' Jehovah God breathed into Adam's nostril the soul of LIVES; and man became a living soul ,' Gen. ii. 7; into the nostrils denotes into the perception, that the will of good and the understanding of truth, and thereby the soul of lives, was in him; and since life from God was breathed into him, the image and likeness of God signify integrity derived from wisdom and love, and from justice and judgment in him."
— from The Delights of Wisdom Pertaining to Conjugial Love To Which is Added The Pleasures of Insanity Pertaining To Scortatory Love by Emanuel Swedenborg

You must try to form a conception of how the land was shaped in miocene times, before that tremendous upheaval which reared the chalk cliffs at Freshwater upright, lifting the tertiary beds upon their northern slopes.
— from Health and Education by Charles Kingsley

A remarkable comet first observed in the northern states, which caused considerable controversy whether it was a comet or the zodiacal light.
— from The Every Day Book of History and Chronology Embracing the Anniversaries of Memorable Persons and Events in Every Period and State of the World, from the Creation to the Present Time by Joel Munsell