Up, and to the office, and there with W. Griffin talking about getting the place to build a coach-house, or to hire one, which I now do resolve to have, and do now declare it; for it is plainly for my benefit for saving money.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys

It was in no degree remarkable that there should be found two who were willing to claim so great an honor, for impostors, though rare, were not unknown among the natives; but it was altogether material to the just and severe intentions of the Delawares, that there should be no mistake in the matter.
— from The Last of the Mohicans; A narrative of 1757 by James Fenimore Cooper

The Home Secretary has already demanded an explanation from the civic authorities; but it has turned out that the horses which rode over the people belonged to a mare's nest, while the only charge upon the public by the City Police is a charge of so much in the pound by way of rate, which is, no doubt, rather a heavy one.
— from Punch - Volume 25 (Jul-Dec 1853) by Various

[1] FOOTNOTE: [1] "Though in its most general sense the substance and matter of all fine art is the same, issuing from the common source of the human desire for expression, yet the region of fancy corresponding to each medium of utterance is molded by intercourse with that medium, and acquires an individuality which is not directly reducible to terms of any other region of aesthetic fancy.
— from An Estimate of the Value and Influence of Works of Fiction in Modern Times by Thomas Hill Green

In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil: every one who is not doing righteousness is not of God, neither he that is not loving his brother.
— from Expositor's Bible: The Epistles of St. John by William Alexander

The following dialogue between an Irish Catholic servant and her evangelical mistress will serve faintly to illustrate what is the weekly, if not daily, recurrence in tens of thousands of families all over this "free country": "You can't go, that's the amount of it, Anne," said Mrs. Warren to an Irish Catholic servant maid of hers, who heard of the priest's being at the shanties on this morning.
— from The Cross and the Shamrock Or, How To Defend The Faith. An Irish-American Catholic Tale Of Real Life, Descriptive Of The Temptations, Sufferings, Trials, And Triumphs Of The Children Of St. Patrick In The Great Republic Of Washington. A Book For The Entertainment And Special Instructions Of The Catholic Male And Female Servants Of The United States. by Hugh Quigley

Some years after the song was composed, a lady, who is now dead, repeated to the author another imperfect line of [Pg 126] the original ballad, which presents a simple and affecting image to the mind: "I ride single on my saddle, "For the flowers of the forest are a' wede away."
— from Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, Volume 3 (of 3) Consisting of Historical and Romantic Ballads, Collected in the Southern Counties of Scotland; with a Few of Modern Date, Founded Upon Local Tradition by Walter Scott

"At last!" exclaimed Mrs. Adair as they came up; "I was almost getting frightened about you; and now let us go in and prepare for tea, which is no doubt ready."
— from Flora Adair; or, Love Works Wonders. Vol. 2 (of 2) by A. M. Donelan

Some two years ago I wrote a little book on indulgences[2], which I now deeply regret having published; for at the time I was still sunk in a mighty superstitious veneration for the Roman tyranny and held that indulgences should not be altogether rejected, seeing they were approved by the common consent of men.
— from Works of Martin Luther, with Introductions and Notes (Volume II) by Martin Luther

That is what is needed," declared Ruth, vigorously.
— from The Corner House Girls in a Play How they rehearsed, how they acted, and what the play brought in by Grace Brooks Hill

Practical work is, no doubt, required for the proper understanding of physical science, and so far it must enter into schooling, but it may be pointed out here that in many cases the educational faddist is overdoing the manual side of science study to a ridiculous extent.
— from Mankind in the Making by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells