I will allow either of the two I have mentioned, or any other of the fraternity, to be not only astrologers, but conjurers too, if I do not produce a hundred instances in all their almanacks to convince any reasonable man that they do not so much as understand common grammar and syntax; that they are not able to spell any word out of the usual road, nor even in their prefaces write common sense or intelligible English.
— from The Battle of the Books, and other Short Pieces by Jonathan Swift

This appropriation gave great offence to the advocates for prerogatives in England, who affirmed that the commons had no right to apply any part of the unappropriated revenue, nor even to take any such affair into consideration, without the previous consent of the crown, expressed in the most explicit terms.
— from The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. Continued from the Reign of William and Mary to the Death of George II. by T. (Tobias) Smollett

If I from lack of sense and you from choice Grieve the judicious and the unwise rejoice, No equal censure our deserts will suit— We both are fools, but you're an ape to boot!
— from Shapes of Clay by Ambrose Bierce

I will allow either of the two I have mentioned, or any other of the fraternity, to be not only astrologers, but conjurers too, if I do not produce a hundred instances in all their almanacks, to convince any reasonable man, that they do not so much as understand common grammar and syntax; that they are not able to spell any word out of the usual road, nor even in their prefaces write common sense or intelligible English.
— from The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift

But its Barbarism is yet more conspicuous, when we consider its Educational Establishments , and the unhappy results naturally ensuing from their imperfect character.
— from Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 06 (of 20) by Charles Sumner

“The total zone, measuring less in the direction north and south than in the direction east and west, since it often leans upon the corona, would be expected to have an elliptical form; but that does not always happen: it has been seen circular, the unequal rays not extending to a greater distance than from eight to twelve degrees from the zenith, while at other times they reach the horizon.
— from Auroræ: Their Characters and Spectra by J. Rand Capron

An emerald mine was accidentally discovered in the Ural range near Ekaterinburg so late as 1830.
— from Due North; or, Glimpses of Scandinavia and Russia by Maturin Murray Ballou