Not venturing to attack her friend (for the little tyrant was of a timid feline nature, and only used her claws upon those who were weaker than herself), she maltreated all these, and especially poor Pincott, who was menial, confidante, companion (slave always), according to the caprice of her young mistress.
— from The History of Pendennis by William Makepeace Thackeray

I wondered what madness could command so huge a blaze in the month of August (albeit 'twas the last of the month), until he turned and I saw that he had been drinking heavily.
— from Corporal Sam and Other Stories by Arthur Quiller-Couch

The child of Mandane, whom we may call Cyrus, since that was the name which he subsequently received, was brought up in the herdsman's hut, and passed every where for Spaco's child.
— from Cyrus the Great Makers of History by Jacob Abbott

"No alien land in all the world," writes Mr. Clemens, "could so longingly and beseechingly haunt me, sleeping and waking, through half a life-time, as that has done.
— from A New History of the United States The greater republic, embracing the growth and achievements of our country from the earliest days of discovery and settlement to the present eventful year by Charles Morris

Until we have exhausted the human element in every form of belief, and that can only be done by what we may call comparative spiritual anatomy, we cannot begin to deal with the alleged extra-human elements without blundering into all imaginable puerilities.
— from The Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes: An Index of the Project Gutenberg Editions by Oliver Wendell Holmes