Ye have plundered my mails—torn my cope of curious cut lace, which might have served a cardinal!—Another in my place would have been at his 'excommunicabo vos'; but I am placible, and if ye order forth my palfreys, release my brethren, and restore my mails, tell down with all speed an hundred crowns to be expended in masses at the high altar of Jorvaulx Abbey, and make your vow to eat no venison until next Pentecost, it may be you shall hear little more of this mad frolic.”
— from Ivanhoe: A Romance by Walter Scott

It forms a very free and vigorous mass of vegetation, and, though perhaps scarcely refined enough in leaf to justify its being recommended for flower-garden use, no plant is more worthy of a place wherever a rich herbaceous vegetation is desired; whether near the rougher approaches of a hardy fernery, open glades near woodland walks, or any like positions.
— from The Subtropical Garden; or, beauty of form in the flower garden. by W. (William) Robinson

He proceeds in this strain for four pages, elaborating his topic with detailed tactical instructions, and then comes the usual nullifying paragraph: "It must be clearly understood that in this case, as in the other where the Cavalry is on the flank of the army, there will seldom be an opportunity for a charge."
— from German Influence on British Cavalry by Erskine Childers

pg 30] Cypriote Pottery From left to right: Amphora, white ware painted in black and red, X-V centuries B. C.; jug, red slip ware, XX-XV centuries B. C.; amphora, white ware painted in black and red, X-V centuries B. C.; jug, base ring ware, XV-XII centuries B. C.; oinochoe, white ware painted in black and brown, X-V centuries B. C. The earliest of the fabrics illustrated, i.e., the red slip ware, though usually not polished, is made evidently in imitation of the still earlier red polished ware.
— from Handbook of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts With 143 Illustrations by Harry B. (Harry Brandeis) Wehle

‘Mr. Tartar!’ urged Neville. ‘Pray! It makes me giddy to see you!’
— from The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens

If, therefore, when several burners are used, no provision is made for the escape of the corrupted air and for the introduction of pure air from without, the health will necessarily suffer.
— from The Book of Household Management by Mrs. (Isabella Mary) Beeton

For let us never part in mind with this fact, that every earnest effort along any line makes the end aimed at just a little easier for each succeeding effort, even if, as has been said, apparent failure is the result of the earlier efforts.
— from What All The World's A-Seeking The Vital Law of True Life, True Greatness Power and Happiness by Ralph Waldo Trine

sc. 2) that it was formerly very common to exhibit fishes, either real or imaginary, in this manner, and that it appears from the books of Stationers' Hall, that in 1604 was published, "A strange reporte of a monstrous fish , that appeared in the form of a woman from her waist upward, seene in the sea." The Italians use Nuovo Pesce in much the same manner as we employ the phrase "a strange fish."
— from A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 13 by Robert Dodsley