“Here I am stuck in a litter of paper,” he reflected, with unreasonable resentment, “supposed to hold all the threads in my hands, and yet I can but hold what is put in my hand, and nothing else.
— from The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale by Joseph Conrad

“What would Uncle Reed say to you, if he were alive?” was my scarcely voluntary demand.
— from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë

The picture which Dürer painted for the Fondaco de’ Tedeschi was until recently supposed to be a “St. Bartholomew;” but it is now believed that it was the renowned “Feast of Rose Garlands,” which is now at the Bohemian Monastery of Strahow.
— from Dürer Artist-Biographies by M. F. (Moses Foster) Sweetser

Adverting to his quarrel with the Sikhs, who, under Runjeet Singh, the old one-eyed "Lion of the Punjab," had wrested the rich valley of Peshawur from the Afghan Empire, he said, "the late transactions in this quarter, the conduct of the reckless and misguided Sikhs, and their breach of treaty, are well known to your Lordship.
— from The First Afghan War by Mowbray Morris

This attracted people to it with unprecedented rapidity, so that on, or soon after, the meeting of the new Congress in December, 1849, she already had a population of nearly a hundred thousand, had called a convention, formed a State constitution excluding slavery, and was knocking for admission into the Union.
— from The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln, Complete by Abraham Lincoln

The leaves are often as broad as a man’s height, with upturned rims, so that Indian women can cradle their children upon them safely while the mother does her washing in the river fringed with such weeds of truly “glorious feature.”
— from Kew Gardens With 24 full-page Illustrations in Colour by A. R. Hope (Ascott Robert Hope) Moncrieff

The Prussians, with undaunted resolution, stood two of the most violent attacks that were ever made; but at the third, overpowered by numbers, and assailed on both sides, they began to lose ground, and were forced to retire from one intrenchment to another.
— from The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. Continued from the Reign of William and Mary to the Death of George II. by T. (Tobias) Smollett

note: conversion of rial expenditures into US dollars using the prevailing exchange rate could produce misleading results @Iraq, Geography Location: Middle East, between Iran and Saudi Arabia Map references: Middle East, Standard Time Zones of the World Area: total area: 437,072 sq km land area: 432,162 sq km comparative area: slightly more than twice the size of Idaho Land boundaries: total 3,631 km, Iran 1,458 km, Jordan 181 km, Kuwait 242 km, Saudi Arabia 814 km, Syria 605 km, Turkey 331 km Coastline: 58 km Maritime claims: continental shelf: not specified territorial sea: 12 nm International disputes: Iran and Iraq restored diplomatic relations in 1990 but are still trying to work out written agreements settling outstanding disputes from their eight-year war concerning border demarcation, prisoners-of-war, and freedom of navigation and sovereignty over the Shatt al Arab waterway; in April 1991 official Iraqi acceptance of UN Security Council Resolution 687, which demands that Iraq accept the inviolability of the boundary set forth in its 1963 agreement with Kuwait, ending earlier claims to Bubiyan and Warbah islands or to all of Kuwait; the 20 May 1993 final report of the UN Iraq/Kuwait Boundary Demarcation Commission was welcomed by the Security Council in Resolution 833 of 27 May 1993, which also reaffirmed that the decisions of the commission on the boundary were final, bringing to a completion the official demarcation of the Iraq-Kuwait boundary; Iraqi officials still refuse to unconditionally recognize Kuwaiti sovereignty or the inviolability of the UN demarcated border; periodic disputes with upstream riparian Syria over Euphrates water rights; potential dispute over water development plans by Turkey for the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers Climate: mostly desert; mild to cool winters with dry, hot, cloudless summers; northernmost regions along Iranian and Turkish borders experience cold winters with occasionally heavy snows Terrain: mostly broad plains; reedy marshes in southeast; mountains along borders with Iran and Turkey Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, phosphates, sulfur Land use: arable land: 12% permanent crops: 1% meadows and pastures: 9% forest and woodland: 3% other: 75% Irrigated land: 25,500 sq km (1989 est) Environment: current issues: government water control projects drain inhabited marsh areas, drying up or diverting the streams and rivers that support a sizable population of Shi'a Muslims who have inhabited these areas for thousands of years; the destruction of the natural habitat also poses serious threats to the wildlife populations; damage to water treatment and sewage facilities during Gulf war; inadequate supplies of potable water; development of Tigris-Euphrates Rivers system contingent upon agreements with upstream riparians (Syria, Turkey); air and water pollution; soil degradation (salinization) and erosion; desertification natural hazards: NA international agreements: party to - Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban; signed, but not ratified - Environmental Modification @Iraq, People Population: 19,889,666 (July 1994 est.)
— from The 1994 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency

[Pg 23] Incidents such as the bartering for skins with the Wineland Skrælings, and the combat with unfortunate results, seem to refer to something that actually took place; they cannot easily be explained from the legends of the Fortunate Isles, nor can representations of fighting in which the Norsemen were worsted be derived from Greenland.
— from In Northern Mists: Arctic Exploration in Early Times (Volume 2 of 2) by Fridtjof Nansen

In the College Chapel we have the original roof, and the brasses are exact reproductions of those formerly existing here; which, though carefully stored, were stolen when the pavement was undergoing repair some twenty years ago.
— from Royal Winchester: Wanderings in and about the Ancient Capital of England by A. G. K. (Alfred Guy Kingan) L'Estrange