It is therefore apparent, that this measure, considered as a coercive measure against France, is nugatory in the extreme.
— from Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. 4 (of 16) by United States. Congress

The figure of this young man was but imperfectly visible, as he stood behind the high-backed chair, on which the old man, whom from the similarity in their features, if not in their expression, Jasper took to be his father, was seated.
— from Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXV, No. 2, August 1849 by Various

The tiny candle that burns gloomily from its niche in the earth wall of the dug-out leaves half the compartment in sharp shadow.
— from The Secrets of a Kuttite An Authentic Story of Kut, Adventures in Captivity and Stamboul Intrigue by Edward O. (Edward Opotiki) Mousley

The moment school was out, the cap was hastily snatched from its nail in the entry, and they both sallied forth together—where, or for what purpose, we tried in vain to discover.
— from A Grandmother's Recollections by Ella Rodman Church

The very idea of drinking such filth is nauseating in the extreme.
— from Rural Hygiene by Henry N. (Henry Neely) Ogden

The Mexicans now sought to blockade their enemies and reduce them by hunger; and, as Cortez had not the command of the lake, he found it necessary immediately to evacuate the city.
— from The Gallery of Portraits: with Memoirs. Volume 6 (of 7) by Arthur Thomas Malkin

If true, what philosophers all will assure us, Who dissent from the doctrine of great Epicurus, That the spirit's immortal (as poets allow): In reward of his labours, his virtue and pains, He is footing it now in the Elysian plains, Indulged, as a token of Proserpine's favour, To preside at her balls in a cream-colour'd beaver.
— from The Wits and Beaux of Society. Volume 1 by Philip Wharton