The battle raged furiously all day, the whole army being brought into the fight as fast as the corps could be got upon the field, which, considering the density of the forest and narrowness of the roads, was done with commendable promptness.
— from Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete by Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson) Grant

Which his father Grangousier seeing, thought they had been lice, and said unto him, What, my dear son, hast thou brought us this far some short-winged hawks of the college of Montague?
— from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais

But now, after a long and servile silence, when one begins again 'facta moresque posteris tradere,' when he utters the first word where speech and almost memory (c. 2) had so long been lost, when he stands forth as the first vindicator of condemned virtue, he seems to venture on something so new, so strange, so bold, that it may well require apology."
— from The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus by Cornelius Tacitus

For his sake, Miss Brass, do us the favour to reveal the whole history of this affair.
— from The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

A little later in the history of the school we had a visit from General J.F.B. Marshall, the Treasurer of the Hampton Institute, who had had faith enough to lend us the first two hundred and fifty dollars with which to make a payment down on the farm.
— from Up from Slavery: An Autobiography by Booker T. Washington

She is reasonable enough to admit that she has been unable to find anything durable, but she does not yet despair of reaching it; she is as ardent as ever in this search, and is confident she has within her the necessary powers for this conquest.
— from Pascal's Pensées by Blaise Pascal

His wife, the original of Mrs. Micawber, then set up the famous Boarding Establishment for Young Ladies; but, in Dickens's words, no young ladies ever came.
— from English Literature Its History and Its Significance for the Life of the English-Speaking World by William J. (William Joseph) Long

A second messenger, who had been commanded to bring the rebel in chains, was trampled under the feet of an elephant, and manifestos were diligently circulated, exhorting the Persians to assert their freedom against an odious and contemptible tyrant.
— 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

Unbind the fetters of thine ears: listen!
— from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

The artizans then marched out and took the necessary food; they paid for it, but threatened the peasants with spoliation without repayment, unless they frequented the market with their goods as usual.
— from Freaks of Fanaticism, and Other Strange Events by S. (Sabine) Baring-Gould

St. Cleeve strolled off under the firs.
— from Two on a Tower by Thomas Hardy

Only after this high personal consciousness is kindled can a race enter the wider path of national life, where vivid and intense individuals unite their forces to a common end, reaching a common consciousness, and holding their power in common for the purposes of all.
— from Ireland, Historic and Picturesque by Charles Johnston

Why should not a few thousands out of the millions we spend on education be used to found fellowships of creative poetry?
— from The Joyful Heart by Robert Haven Schauffler

This parlor, which could be gorgeous on a fine day, was usually, under the Flemish skies, filled with soft shadows and melancholy russet tones, like those shed by the sun on the tree-tops of the forests in autumn.
— from The Works of Balzac: A linked index to all Project Gutenberg editions by Honoré de Balzac

They crowded in, guarded by fatted municipal underlings; they filled one-third of the court-room; and all day, like cigarette girls at a bullfight, they chewed sweetmeats and craned and whispered and grinned.
— from The Room with the Little Door by Roland Burnham Molineux

PAPER VII Thou pernicious caterpillar, that preyest upon the fair leaf of virgin fame, and poisonest those leaves which thou canst not devour!
— from Clarissa Harlowe; or the history of a young lady — Volume 6 by Samuel Richardson

Their fathers were labourers, their grandfathers and their great-grandfathers have all worked upon the farms, and very often almost continuously during that long period of time upon the farms in one parish.
— from The Toilers of the Field by Richard Jefferies

But now the final, the decisive spell Begins; near and more near the sounding stones, Some winding in, some bearing straight along, Crowd justling all around the mark, while one, Just slightly touching, victory depends Upon the final aim: long swings the stone.
— from The Every-day Book and Table Book. v. 2 (of 3) or Everlasting Calendar of Popular Amusements, Sports, Pastimes, Ceremonies, Manners, Customs and Events, Incident to Each of the Three Hundred and Sixty-five Days, in past and Present Times; Forming a Complete History of the Year, Month, and Seasons, and a Perpetual Key to the Almanac by William Hone