The dreary Gascoigne had a gift to know whatever evil and lamentable thing had stained the bosom of Mother Earth; and when his funereal voice had told the tale, it appeared like a prophecy of future woe as well as a tradition of the past.
— from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The children of these [four] were these: Sabas, who founded the Sabeans; Evilas, who founded the Evileans, who are called Getuli; Sabathes founded the Sabathens, they are now called by the Greeks Astaborans; Sabactas settled the Sabactens; and Ragmus the Ragmeans; and he had two sons, the one of whom, Judadas, settled the Judadeans, a nation of the western Ethiopians, and left them his name; as did Sabas to the Sabeans: but Nimrod, the son of Chus, staid and tyrannized at Babylon, as we have already informed you.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus

A prick-eared fellow; one whose ears are longer than his hair: an appellation frequently given to puritans, who considered long hair as the mark of the whore of Babylon.
— from 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose

But if these, as it were, extreme and lowest things have been committed by Him who presides universally over life and sense to these gods as to servants, are these select gods then so destitute of servants, that they could not find any to whom even they might commit those things, but with all their dignity, for which they are, it seems, deemed worthy to be selected, were compelled to perform their work along with ignoble ones?
— from The City of God, Volume I by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

"The Scarlet Letter," which explains as much of this unique imaginative art, as is to be gathered from reading his highest single achievement, yet needs to be ranged with his other writings, early and late, to have its last effect.
— from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Your words, Euthyphro, are like the handiwork of my ancestor Daedalus; and if I were the sayer or propounder of them, you might say that my arguments walk away and will not remain fixed where they are placed because I am a descendant of his.
— from Euthyphro by Plato

Thou knowest well that the king was betrothed before to the Lady Eleanor Talbot; that such betrothal, not set aside by the Pope, renders his marriage with Elizabeth against law; that his children may (would to Heaven it were not so!)
— from The Last of the Barons — Complete by Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron

That same evening I was engaged at least two hours in the stable, in rubbing the horse down, and preparing him for the exhibition which I intended he should make in the fair on the following day.
— from The Romany Rye A sequel to "Lavengro" by George Borrow

Thou knowest well that the king was betrothed before to the Lady Eleanor Talbot; that such betrothal, not set aside by the Pope, renders his marriage with Elizabeth against law; that his children may (would to Heaven it were not so!) be set aside as bastards, when Edward's life no longer shields them from the sharp eyes of men."
— from The Last of the Barons — Volume 04 by Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron

But afterward very fine tune; but afterwards, having tickled and sounded the humor of the whole company, and found that most were inclined to pleasure and would suffer him to play what effeminate and lascivious tunes he pleased, throwing aside all modesty, he showed that music was more intoxicating than wine to those that wantonly and unskilfully use it.
— from Complete Works of Plutarch — Volume 3: Essays and Miscellanies by Plutarch

"But most of the livestock was eaten at, like the heifer," Parker objected.
— from Police Operation by H. Beam Piper

In religion he was eclectic and loved to hear theological argument.
— from Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 1 by Eliot, Charles, Sir

Once when Mr. Shaw was escorting a lady through his gardens, she said, "I cannot understand, sir, how you are able to remember all these different and difficult names.
— from Famous Givers and Their Gifts by Sarah Knowles Bolton