To sum up, I believe that species come to be tolerably well-defined objects, and do not at any one period present an inextricable chaos of varying and intermediate links: firstly, because new varieties are very slowly formed, for variation is a very slow process, and natural selection can do nothing until favourable variations chance to occur, and until a place in the natural polity of the country can be better filled by some modification of some one or more of its inhabitants.
— from On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life by Charles Darwin

[130] Non ego ventosa venor suffragia plebis ; again, non sum adeo informis , I would not be [131] vilified:
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

The pebbly fragments of the entire slope, which during spring-time were sparingly covered with dwarfish herbs, such as the Androsace occidentalis, Draba Caroliniana, Plantago Virginica, Scutellaria parvula, are now crowded with plants of taller growth and variegated blossoms.
— from The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 07, No. 43, May, 1861 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics by Various

This style is still adopted with many works, particularly with those having a small margin; in fact, it is, both for elasticity and durability, far superior to any mode that is practised; it is, however, a very slow process, and necessarily an expensive one; and many binders who pretend to bind in this manner, to obviate this, have their books sewed in the ordinary way, and then, by sticking false bands upon the back, give them the appearance of having been sewn on raised bands.
— from A Manual of the Art of Bookbinding Containing full instructions in the different branches of forwarding, gilding, and finishing. Also, the art of marbling book-edges and paper. by James B. (James Bartram) Nicholson

When she had said all this with due vehemence, she posted after Ned, who was dragging himself along as best he could, and deploring his unhappiness in most dismal tones.
— from Bentley's Miscellany, Volume I by Various

As their colour was the same with the heavens, there was a spherical harmony in their motion; and that mingled with a vivacity so penetrating, as neither the firmest eye, nor the strongest soul, could arm themselves with a resistance of proof against those pointed glories.
— from The Female Quixote; or, The Adventures of Arabella, v. 1-2 by Charlotte Lennox

About a dozen years ago Captain Von Selmnitz projected a new mode of employing the bayonet, and afterwards paid such attention to it that it became very popular; and many officers in the service of other countries resorted to Dresden to study under him.
— from Soldiers and Sailors or, Anecdotes, Details, and Recollections of Naval and Military Life, as Related to His Nephews, by an Old Officer. by Old Humphrey

However, the Zu-Zu was the rage, and spent Bertie's money, when he got any, just as her willful sovereignty fancied, and Rake rode on now with his master's note, bearing no very good will to her; for Rake had very strong prejudices, and none stronger than against these fair pillagers who went about seeking whom they should devour, and laughing at the wholesale ruin they wrought while the sentimentalists babbled in “Social Science” of “pearls lost” and “innocence betrayed.”
— from Under Two Flags by Ouida

On Tuesday I breakfasted with Macaulay, very small party and nothing remarkable.
— from The Greville Memoirs, Part 2 (of 3), Volume 3 (of 3) A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1852 by Charles Greville

Its teeth are very small, pointed, and numerous.
— from Mrs. Loudon's Entertaining Naturalist Being popular descriptions, tales, and anecdotes of more than Five Hundred Animals. by Mrs. (Jane) Loudon